Wish You Were Mine | Derek Morgan

three

    Eden
    eleven years ago

Typically, Evan and I would be spending winter break with our family, taking a road trip a few states over to our Grandparents' holiday cabin.

This year, however, for my parents' twentieth wedding anniversary, they've decided to treat themselves to a month-long vacation somewhere nice and sunny- their 'kid-free treat', as they'd called it, making us sound like we were a couple of hyperactive five year-olds again.

As much as I missed my parents between not seeing them as much while I'm away at college and their getaway trip, I didn't mind them spending Christmas away because it was a break well-deserved.

While I've opted to spend my break winding down, Evan had decided to take advantage of the empty house, throwing what I took as a 'last hurrah' in his transition from college man-child to responsible working adult with it being his senior year, throwing party after party this week.

I've managed to experience a few parties now despite my disastrous first time and eventually, I've just decided that they weren't for me, but I still let Zen drag me along to a few every once in a while when the mood strikes.

My friendship with Zen remained strong. I think the ordeal scared her almost as much as it did me and she never leaves my side during parties now...though, I could tell Derek wasn't as forgiving as I was of my friend.

Even through my hazy mind, I can still remember how he held my hair back when I was purging the drugs in my system out into a bucket on his dorm room floor, and how he held me in his arms right after as I slept.

I'm not sure what changed after, but I hadn't seen much of him since that night. I chalked it up to a busy schedule, but couldn't shake the uncertainty that plagues me.

Standing in front of my bedroom mirror, I fuss with my hair and put on some light makeup even despite not planning to join in on the party. Instead, the reason behind my dolling up (if you could even call it that) was a much more complicated one; Derek was going to be here.

It's silly, really. I knew that. But it didn't stop me from wanting to look nice for him...not that I thought he would come looking for me or even notice if he did.

I fix my hair in the mirror one last time and force myself not to check my appearance in the mirror again.

Even with my room door shut and my windows locked, shielding me away from the outside world in my own little bubble, I could hear Evan's party starting to pick up pace downstairs.

I fell back onto my bed with a sigh- my done-up hair be damned- and buried my face in my hands. What the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn't care this much about a boy who would never feel the same way about me as I do him.

With a grunt in frustration, I shove myself off of my bed. Fuck this.

Grabbing my makeup remover from my dresser, I soak a facial towel in the liquid and start wiping my face down, ignoring the pinch in my chest knowing how much money's worth of makeup is going to waste.

I refuse to let myself pine over a guy like this and strip out of my fancy shorts and top, I slip into my pyjamas and sink back into my bed.

Pulling my blanket up to my chin, I snuggle into bed and plug in my headphones, willing sleep to claim me.

I'm not sure how much time has passed, but the next thing I know, I'm jackknifing out of bed at the sound of a knock on my door. It wasn't loud, but despite my efforts to relax, my body was on high alert.

Before I could get to the door, it cracks open a hair and the thumping bass of the party going on outside spills into the room, shattering the silence.

"Can I come in?" A low, velvety voice that I knew embarrassingly well, asks and I nod in response.

Derek pushes the door open further and slips into my room, shutting the door firmly behind him with a resounding click.

For a moment, I'm so overwhelmed by his presence that I almost have to remind myself to breathe.

"What are you doing up here?" I questioned in a whisper even though we were alone and there was no one else around to listen in on us.

"You should've locked the door," He dives right into a lecture, "Anyone could've come in here."

My heart stutters at the sight of him, looking strapping in his letterman jacket and shrug, hoping that he wouldn't be able to sense my nervousness.

"Well, you're here now," I say, my voice comes out sounding more breathless than I hoped it would, "I'm sure you'll deal with anyone who tries."

His eyes held mine as his lip quirked up into a smile that steals the oxygen right out of my chest and I took a deep breath in to assure myself that I was, indeed, still capable of breathing.

"I'll never let anything harm you, you know that."

I smile at his words because he was right. That is something I knew for certain.

Plopping down on the foot of my bed, I tilted my head to one side, staring up at him appraisingly. "And what brings you up here tonight? Is Evan's party not wild enough for you?" I tease.

His smile widened into a big grin, and I knew just from looking at it that it meant that he had something for me.

Just as the thought crosses my mind, he pulls his hands out from where he'd held them behind his back, revealing the pink cupcake box from our local bakery that he'd been hiding from me.

I almost squealed in excitement at the sight of it but managed to contain myself. Scooting to make space for Derek's huge form, I pet the spot beside me in invitation.

His eyes twinkle as he lowers himself beside me and flips the top to reveal three cupcakes; one each of my three favourite flavours.

I dive right into the treats that he'd brought, starting with my least favourite out of the bunch and working up because I like to save the best for last.

Derek seems to know this well because he picks up the double-chocolate cupcake and hands it over to me.

I smile at his thoughtfulness as I peel the wrapper, my prickling with awareness that Derek is watching me the entire time.