What she left Behind | ONGOING

CHAPTER 08

───── Chloe ─────

What Derek said left me in a state of shock. His random question about why I hate him so much caught me off guard but then he said all those things about Savannah and how he's feeling. That's something I never imagined he would share.

I took it too far. I truly did.

Now, I am sitting on the couch, questioning everything.

He didn't seem to care too much and that was driving me crazy, but knowing he had all those thoughts and feelings burning inside of him, surprised me and it made me not quite know what to do next.

Well, apologizing should be the best option here. He is mad at me for a good reason. It confuses me because it's always the other way around.

I look at the time and see it's almost 9:00 p.m. and think is a good idea to start dinner. Maybe I can make that a peace offering to see if he can finally come down so we can finish our conversation, but with a calmer tone.

I will try to apologize too, that would be the best peace offering honestly.

I search through the cabinets and find some pasta—quick and simple, perfect. I begin to boil the water and when I see the bubbles, I pour the pasta in. As I stir, I think about today. I hate to admit it, but he was right.

We both have different ways to deal with this and it was so uncalled for me to say those things. No wonder he's not coming out of his room. He must be so pissed, and he has the right to be.

Once the pasta is all done, I decide to walk up the stairs to approach Derek's room. I debated on whether I should knock on his door or leave him alone. But then again, we can't avoid each other forever. We're sharing this place for the rest of the weekend, and I see him every day since we work in the same building.

I guess I'm nervous to reach out to him since I know that I reacted in a way that I shouldn't have. The things I said, I admit that they were hurtful, but I truly believed he didn't care since he didn't show that at any point. I never saw Derek react the way he did; now I know how devastated he truly is and I feel awful.

I hate feeling this way. I hate that he's right, but I must be honest and admit that I made a mistake.

I softly knock on Derek's door and receive no answer from the other side. I decide to knock a bit harder in hopes that he isn't still too mad to answer me.

The door slightly opens, revealing Derek's towering figure. His facial expression is something I have never seen before, and I feel taken aback by it.

"What do you want?" he asks, coldly.

"I did pasta," I say, wishing he would understand that this is an invitation for us to spend dinner together, but he doesn't budge. So, I try again.

"Um, I made pasta and if you're hungry, maybe you would like to come down and join me," I say, and he stares at me for a moment. He doesn't say anything for what seems like forever, and it is driving me crazy.

"I found some beer too, we can have a drink," I keep trying, to see if it convinces him to accept my peace offering.

He closes the door in my face. He's still mad, I understand.

"I will serve you a plate and place it inside the microwave if you get hungry later," I say through the door. I sigh heavily and proceed to walk down the stairs, to serve both of us a plate, but knowing that tonight the table will be set for one person.

I am not used to seeing him like this, especially because of me. I hardly ever talk to him, for obvious reasons—mainly because we are sort of an explosive combo. We're so different yet I didn't think about the one thing we have in common. I am so used to him being such a clown with zero sense of responsibility that I felt too annoyed with him to even try to have the conversation regarding Savannah. I just always assumed he wouldn't take that subject seriously and the bare thought of that made me mad, so I avoided it at all costs.