AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where are you off to so early?” he asks.
“I have a big day. Work and all that.”
“Heather’s having someone fill in for you.”
“Who?” I demand.
“Does it matter?”
I guess not.
“If you’re freaking out over what I said last night…”
I freeze with my sweater halfway on, covering my eyes. I can’t see a goddamn thing.
“What thing?” I ask tentatively through the nylon-polyester blend.
His hands suddenly yank my sweater the rest of the way down so his gaze meets mine. Oh good, eye contact. My favorite thing.
“That I’m falling for you. You heard that, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yes. Okay. So that really did happen. I wasn’t sure.”
“Do you have any thoughts about it?”
“Love? In general? I think it’s good.”
“Whitney…”
“I don’t know, Derek.” I feel caged in in his bathroom, put on the spot. He’s blocking my only exit and I can’t really go out the window seeing as we’re a million stories off the ground in a freaking castle. “I need time to think about things. Yesterday morning we were fighting and then last night…well, I can’t even look in the direction of your shower without my knees going weak. Now you’re asking me to break down my emotions?” I tap my temple. “It’s a jumbled mess in here. Chaos, really. I’m trying not to worry about Cal, trying not to make the wrong move with you. I thought about leaving before you woke up so I’d look cool, but you ruined that.” I toss my hands up in defeat.
“Sorry?” he says, bemused.
“Apology accepted.” I start to move around him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to see Cal one more time before I go back to my dorm—”
His palm stops me in my tracks, flat against my chest. He’s not exerting pressure, really, but his hand is steady and big and the gesture is clear: Stay put.
“I won’t leave you again.”
I’m a tiny bird perched on a wire, ready to take flight at a moment’s notice.
“What?”
“I won’t do what I did eight years ago.”
My heart beats against his palm as he stares down at me expectantly. Yesterday, we supposedly put this behind us, didn’t we? That fight on the float was about me not giving him a clean slate.
I should laugh this off. Minimize the ache.
Derek continues before I can.
“Back then, you opened up to me about your family. That day in the coffee shop when you cried? Do you remember? Your parents weren’t coming down for Thanksgiving and you felt alone and you opened up to me about it. I was your friend and, through my own thoughtlessness, I hurt you when you were at your most vulnerable. I left and didn’t even say goodbye. I sent you an email.”
I don’t flinch. I remain perfectly still like that tiny bird, wings at the ready.
“I know we said the past was in the past, but that’s not how life works. I hurt you then and I’d like to make up for it, to earn your trust again.” He tilts his head. “Won’t you say something?”
The muscles around my throat are constricted. Speech is an ability I don’t possess at the moment.
“Whitney,” he says, lifting my chin gently to get a better look at me.
His soft brown eyes are marred with worry. He’s just cracked himself open for me, and though more words fail me, I do manage a quick, “Yes. Okay. I’ll try,” before lifting up onto my toes and kissing him. Then I stay there, my face pressed against his so we’re cheek to cheek. We’ve slept wrapped up in one another and it shows. We carry the same scent. His soap mingles in the air between us.
I brush my cheek against his rough stubble, enjoying the burn for a moment before stepping back and taking his hand so we can go check on Cal together.If I’d realized the whirlwind that was in store for us in the coming days, I likely would have stuck around in that room a little longer, barricaded the door, soaked in time with Derek while I still had the chance. With Cal on sick leave, Derek is now essentially running Fairytale Kingdom on his own. He’s busier than ever. I never see him. When I go to check on Cal, Derek’s not in the penthouse. When I walk through the Underground, I look for him incessantly (much to the annoyance of Carrie) but he’s nowhere in sight. I spot Heather every now and then, but even she maintains a near-sprint pace at all times, hand wrapped around her growing belly.
Ryan has officially moved back into the role of His Royal Highness. The first day I saw him, I prepared myself for the worst, thinking maybe he’d still be angry with me for the other night, but he smiled and shrugged. “Friends?”
We shook on it and that was that. He’s been in the parade with me as well and now, I get married to him instead of Derek. I try not to feel too sad about it. Ryan’s not so bad, really. We make it fun and silly. I lie and tell him he’s just supposed to kiss me on the cheek and Thomas never corrects us. After my hardcore make-out with Derek on the first day of the parade, he probably agrees that less is more.
