Dwindle [Motough]

{Chapter 8} Part 1

Derek's POV

I turned the key beside the steering wheel, turning the ignition on. Beth sat in the passenger seat. She held a chocolate chip frappachino in her right hand, raising the cup along with the straw to her lips every so often, taking another sip.

There was a delicious strawberry banana smoothie sitting in the cup holder beside me. It took every ounce of strength I had to not dump the entire contents of the smoothie into my mouth.

I pressed my foot down on the gas pedal. The car lurched forward. I tapped my fingers on the rim of the steering wheel and kept my eyes focused on the road ahead of me.

I spun the steering wheel, turning the car along with it. I knew the route from our house to Starbucks so well that I could drive to and fro with my eyes closed.

It was Thursday. A boring, everyday Thursday with no plans...well, except a dance practice with Jen. It's week 8 and we haven't been in jeopardy, which was a good thing; but at the same time, Whitney and Harry haven't been in jeopardy as well.

I pulled into our driveway and turned off the ignition. I stayed in the car, sitting in the driver seat. Bethany stayed sitting as well. I leaned my head back onto the head of the seat. I reached my hand along the cup holder and toke hold of my smoothie. I brought the straw to my lips and toke my first-and extremely delicious-sip of my smoothie.

"Derek..." Bethany toke a deep breathe before continuing her sentence. I braced myself for her words.

"I'm breaking up with you"

"What?...why?" I asked, shocked at the words that Bethany had said.

"I think we need some space from each other...and I don't want to hurt you anymore"

I bit my lip. She knew about the times I had cried. I thought she didn't notice, but I guess I was wrong.

I shook my head. "It's not your choice, it's mine-" I paused and toke her hand in mine."-I love you and I want to be with you, whether or not you have cancer, because that's what I think love is, staying even when it's hard...please take it back, please just tell me that you love me too"

We sat there for a moment. She bit her lip and toke a deep breath and separated her lips so that she could reply to my plea.

She shook her head. "No, I can't hurt you like that Der"

I toke a deep breath in. "Okay then, goodbye Beth"

I opened the car door and exited it, leaving Beth by herself in the car. I didn't turn around and I didn't turn my head to look back. Instead, I unlocked the door as quickly as I could and entered the house. I would not break and I would not cry. My weakness is what got me into this mess in the first place.

Beth's POV

He slammed the car door shut. I released a shaky breath. On one hand, Derek would not have to face the burden I brought, but on the other, I did love him. I so completely wanted to run into the house and insist to him that I want to stay with him and to emphasize to him on how much I love him but I can't. I've got to remain strong and hold my ground.

Derek will hurt no more.

I stayed in the car for who knows how long simply crying until I couldn't produce tears...

...and then I weeped and weeped.

***

I sat on the living room sofa. It was a fiery red colour, one bursting with flames. that's why Beth and I picked it, because she felt that the sofa was fierce and feisty. Of course, I didn't really see the emotion in the sofa, but I bought it anyway because Bethany loved it and I loved her and if a bloody red sofa was what it toke to please Beth, well, of course I would buy it in a heartbeat.

I held my phone in my right hand. It read "slide to unlock". I slid my thumb from the bottom left side of the phone to the bottom right. The password for it was demanded. I typed it in.

2-3-8-4

The phone unlocked and I opened the Instagram app. The application toke a few seconds to refresh and load. Finally, once it had, I scrolled through my Instagram feed.

I saw a short video posted by the dancing with the stars official account. It was a short video of Beth and I's Vietnamese waltz that we did on season 19 alongside the same Vietnamese waltz that we did yesterday during practice in the studio. The clip was captioned "remember season 19, it has been quite a while since then, but these two show that love doesn't age".

Yeah, love doesn't age until your significant other gets diagnosed with a life threatening disease.

I pressed play on the video. I think that in the first time we had preformed the dance, the one we had done a few years ago, Beth had acted the emotions, but in the time we had done it yesterday, she embodied it. Two totally different actions.

Then, I heard the click of the front door.