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Chapter Seventeen
Derek held Nick’s garage door open for Kylie. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to wipe the goofy grin off his face. He must’ve been right about that, given both Nick and Adam winked at him from their camp chairs in the garage.
“To the woman of the hour!” Audrey lifted her drink into the air.
“Salut!” everyone chimed in.
Derek looked at Kylie who was covering her face with her hands.
She took an empty seat by Audrey and Steph, and he joined the guys. Jillene came in carrying a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
“I must be nesting.” She giggled as she passed out the cookies. “I want to bake all day long.”
He took the tray for her so she could sit down and carried it around to everyone else. When he stopped in front of Kylie, he caught her gaze.
He must’ve stopped long enough for people to notice because Adam, as classy as ever, dog whistled and broke the trance.
Derek cleared his throat and returned to his seat.
“So.” Adam leaned toward him, crossed his legs, and clasped his hands like a talk show host. “How’s it goooooing?”
“Bug off.” Derek swiped his elbow at him.
“You know your hair’s messed up and you’ve got pink lip gloss on, right?”
“Not now, okay?” He tried to act casual as he wiped a hand over his mouth and straightened his hair.
“All right, all right.” Adam waved his hand in defeat. “Just don’t be forgetting what you so adamantly told me, ‘It’s only temporary’.”
He was right of course. It was only temporary. So really this was a fling. The thought hurt Derek more than it should’ve. Somewhere in all this he’d started to see Kylie as a fixture. He’d have to be careful there.
Maybe he was playing out his high school fantasy of dating her. But watching her then, surrounded by mutual friends, here in Camden, he could pretend for a little while at least.
~ * ~
“You were running late?” Audrey leaned closer to whisper. “Or you got a flat tire on the walk over here? Or maybe you were mugged?”
“What are you talking about?” Kylie whispered back.
“I’m just trying to figure out why it took you so long to get here when you should’ve left the café shortly after I did.” Audrey waggled her eyebrows.
“I had to clean up.”
“And…”
“And Derek stopped by to help.”
“And…”
“And then we came over here together since I have a bag full of cash on me.” Kylie kicked the bag on the floor in front of her.
“And…”
“No ‘and’. That’s it.”
“You know your hair’s a mess and your lip gloss is smudged, right?” Audrey smirked.
“What?” She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair to smooth it down. “It’s windy out.”
