Rollercoaster [Motough Fanfic]

chapter 19

Bethany woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. She squeezed her eyes shut for a few moments before crawling out of bed and putting on the fluffy slippers that are always next to her bed. She threw her long locks up into a messy bun before opening her bedroom door and dragged her feet downstairs. 

"Good Morning," Derek said in a sing-song voice. 

Bethany flinched at the sound of his voice, not expecting him to be here. "Stop shouting, please." 

Derek laughed. "Fun time last night, huh?" 

Bethany glared at him, a look that warned him to stop teasing. 

"Okay, okay." Derek said, putting his hands up in surrender. "Here, take this." He pushed an Advil tablet towards her. "Drink this," he said, pushing a water bottle towards her as well. He moved to her side of the island and turned her around, "and go lie down on the couch. Breakfast is almost ready." 

Bethany took the items and walked over to the couch with a tired, but annoyed, stare. Not annoyed at Derek, but just everything in general. 

Derek shut off the stove and arranged the toast and scrambled eggs on a plate before walking over to Bethany. Upon his arrival, Bethany swung her legs off of the couch so Derek could sit beside her. 

"I would like to personally apologize for last night," Bethany started as Derek sat down close to her, and he placed her legs so they were draped over his own. "But, I don't really know what happened last night." 

"Would you like me to enlighten you?" Derek asked, a smile forming on his face. 

"Please." Bethany said as she stabbed the eggs onto her fork. 

"Well, we got there and Mark thought it would be a good idea to take shots. So you did, and then you took mine." Bethany nodded as she continued to eat, "then you guys went to the bar, and then again. I tried to get you to calm down and take you home, but you kept running away from me." 

Bethany frowned, mostly with embarrassment. 

Derek continued, "and then the final time I caught you, you threw up." 

Bethany let out a whine. 

Derek nodded with a slight laugh, "yeah, almost on my shoes, too." 

Bethany widened her eyes and let out a bigger whine than the last. "I am so sorry." 

"It's okay." Derek let out another laugh and kissed the top of her head. "As much as I would love to hang out here with you and recap the night, we still have a dance to rehearse. I'll give you an hour to rest up." 

She rolled her eyes, "ugh, okay." 

Derek smiled, sliding out from under her legs and kissing her forehead once more. "I'll see you in an hour." 

"You're not staying?"

Derek chuckled, "I'll see you in an hour. Bye, Bethany." 

Bethany tilted her head over the arm of the couch to watch him leave. "Bye!" 

. . . 

Bethany finally showed up at the rehearsal studios wearing sweatpants, the shirt she slept in, and a pair of big sunglasses. 

"There she is!" Mark sang, "You were so much fun last night." 

Bethany rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, "stop it. I don't want to talk about it." Her tone was a little harsh, but she acted stupid last night and she just wanted to forget about it. She knew better to know that Mark would continue to tease her about it. He'll probably keep teasing her about it until she dies. He will never let it go. 

Derek laughed alongside his best friend. 

"Can we please just dance, now." Bethany said, growing irritated by the second. Today was not the day for jokes.

"I guess that's my cue." Mark said, and waved them off. "Bye, Derek. Bye, Beth." 

Derek turned to Bethany. "You ready?" He asked. 

"As ready as I'll ever be." 

Every time there was a slight bounce in a dance step Bethany winced, but she didn't let it interrupt their practice. On the other hand, Derek noticed and stopped in the middle of the move to make sure she was alright, and would be able to continue. 

"Maybe practice today was a bad idea. Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Derek asked again. 

"Derek, I'll be fine. I promise." Bethany paused for a moment, "although I won't object if you want to end a little early today." She flashed a smile at him.

Derek tilt his head back with laughter. "On that note, you're fine! We'll practice through the whole night!" 

Bethany whined. "No, no, no we will absolutely not. If you want me to perform my best I need my sleep. Every single night." 

"You're lucky you're extremely adorable." Derek smiled, kissing the tip of her nose before they continued on. 

Their night finally concluded, and Derek walked Bethany to her car. "You're pretty amazing, you know that, right?" Derek said, opening the car door for her. 

"Well, thank you. Why are you saying that, though?" Bethany asked. It was a pretty random thing to say right now, she hadn't done anything "pretty amazing" today. 

"I just want to make sure I say it enough." Derek shrugged, pulling Bethany into him so he could kiss her lips quickly.

Bethany smiled as she climbed into the driver's seat. "Well, thank you. Good night." 

Derek looked up at her, smiling as he closed the door. 

"Oh, and Derek?" 

"Yeah?" 

"You're pretty amazing, too." Bethany said. 

Derek waved her off and waited until she was on the road before getting into his own car and driving home.