Insufferable Teacher's Pet

Chapter 10

Friday afternoon, Derek saw that Paige accepted his friend request. They chatted for a bit over Messenger, then Derek asked if she'd like to go for coffee. She agreed, and they met up. It was a little awkward at first, not having seen each other in a decade. He started off by apologizing for breaking her heart and never giving a reason why, but she just laughed and reminded him it was just a high school romance. When he explained he was gay, she said a part of her knew back then but didn't want to admit it. Then Paige told him about her husband, how he worked as a teacher at Beacon Hills High. She talked about her son who just turned two, and how he was already reading. Paige beamed talking about her family, and shone even brighter when she talked about her job as a nurse, how passionate she was about it. She seemed really happy, and Derek was happy for her.

Derek wasn't all that great when it came to talking about himself, but he tried to leave out the macabre details of his life after the fire and keep it light. He told her about living in Santa Barbara and teaching high school for three years, and then just getting back here last fall to teach college. When she asked if he was seeing anyone, his mind jumped to Stiles. But they weren't seeing each other, they were just fooling around. Besides, a relationship? With Stiles? It'd never work. Hell, Derek wasn't even sure he was cut out for a relationship. Not a real one, like the one Paige had.

After a few hours, Paige had to leave and get her son from daycare. She gave him a hug before leaving, and it was nice: hugging someone. It made Derek realize just how touch-starved he was. Sure he and Stiles hooked up a few times, made out, but he hadn't hugged anyone in probably over a year. He and Peter didn't even hug. Ever. Their relationship was so odd; Derek was certain if they weren't related, Peter and he wouldn't even associate with each other. They had basically nothing in common, but he was Derek's only relative left, and Peter was his mom's brother. His mom and Peter were close growing up, but she never told Derek what happened, what put a rift between them. She always said, "I'll tell you when you're older". But she never got the chance.

Derek was kind of in his head Friday evening, after coffee with Paige. He'd gone for a run, then swung by Pizza Hut on his way home. Kind of counteractive, working out and then eating pizza, but whatever. He was never a cook, and he hadn't gone grocery shopping in a while. It was just a small pizza for one, not like it was that big of a deal. But as he sat on the couch eating pizza and watching tv, he just couldn't help but look around at his apartment. The bookshelves were filled with books, but there was no art on the walls, no photos of friends or family. All the photos from his childhood got destroyed in the fire, aside from a few Peter had that he gave to Derek afterward. He kept them in a fireproof safe, except for the one he had framed on the bookshelf: the family portrait they all took when he was 10. Mom, dad, Laura, Cora, even Peter. They were a real family, and a happy one.

And as he looked around the rest of his apartment, how empty and lonely it was – save for Penelope who mostly just slept – Derek wondered if he could've had a life like Paige. If he could've met someone and settled down and instead of living in a little one-bedroom apartment that felt cold and lifeless, he would have a house out in the suburbs, a partner, maybe even kids. Well...no, probably not kids. Even before all the trauma, Derek was never really the nurturing type. He never let himself think too deeply into any of that stuff, because going down the "what if" rabbit hole never ended well. So instead, he took an Ambien and went to bed early, knowing not even tv could distract him. Stiles had texted, but he ignored it. He'd just get back to him tomorrow.

That Ambien worked a little too well, because despite Derek going to bed at 9 PM, he didn't wake up until almost noon. He had 7 texts from Stiles, all from last night.

SS: hey, did u still wanna hang tonight?

SS: hey did my text go thru? Your phone is so old it doesn't have iMessage so I can't tell if it went thru or not