The Vacation

** Here goes meeting for the first time...again **

Her eyes were clouded with tears; she dared them to fall before she went out of the restaurant. She grabbed her coat and walked out in the December cold. Before she could dab away her tears, she bumped into someone, head on. She mumbled an apology and turned to go when a familiar voice said, "Is it...you? Hey? Are you alright?"

She blinked her eyes and then it registered in her head, it was Derek, Derek from college. She looked around inside her head, searching for her equilibrium. Hesitatingly she brought herself to say, "Derek! Yeah, I am okay."

"No, you are not. What happened? You are crying...what's wrong?"

She just shrugged when a lady came up from behind him and asked, "Hey Derek! You ready?" she looked at the crying specimen suspiciously and then at Derek, questioningly.

She was still crying when she said something about him being on a date and her not wanting to waste his time. She then continued walking, searching her bag for a hanky. She heard Derek's voice explaining something to 'Hope' about why he couldn't make the date and 'Hope' calling him names, daring him to call her ever again. As it turned out, it had been their third date; and even years later, Hope would look at Derek full of spite at weddings.

Derek dashed towards her and crossed over to face her. He gave her his handkerchief and said, "You really shouldn't cry when you have lenses on."

She looked at him with a weird expression. She hated Derek seeing her like this. "I don't have... I don't wear lenses", she said angrily.

"Oh! No? No lenses, no spects? Your myopia cured itself out?"

She was still walking and he was still with her, "Shut up! It's none of you business!"

"It became my business when I blew my date for it."

She was practically running now and he was still with her. "Go away, Derek!"

"I won't..."

She ran quite a bit before she stopped abruptly. Derek didn't notice that immediately and had to come back to where she was. Both of them were panting. She said, "Did you know Ravi is married?"

"What?"

"Yeah! For the past five years..."

"But you have been going out with him for the past three years."

"...He also has a three-year-old daughter and his wife is expecting again. He wants to give his marriage a shot NOW!"

"But that means...he cheated on you...he cheated on his wife...he cheated on both of you!"

"No shit, Sherlock!"

They both fell silent and kept their gaze on each other, waiting for the other to say something. Derek finally grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. She protested a little but then gave in and soaked in the familiar smell. The last time she had embraced him like this, it had been goodbye. He hoped this was hello.

********

The apartment was different, but the duvet was the same and it smelled heavenly, it smelled of Derek. It took her brains some time to remember all the details of last night. She remembered Ravi announcing to her that he was married, her finding Derek, a walk in the cold with Derek's arm over her shoulders, grabbing takeaway dinner, coming to Derek's apartment, crying herself to sleep in Derek's bed while he took the couch. She wanted to crawl back under the covers and stay there the entire day. But it wasn't her house and it was 8:30 in the morning on a weekday. She knew she wouldn't be going to work today but Derek obviously would and she needed to get out of his apartment. Coming out of bed she was glad to notice that she was still in her jeans. Congratulating herself for not being in Derek's clothes, she went to the kitchen, which was mainly an area of huge neatly arranged piles of dirty dishes and pizza boxes. She looked over to the living area; it bore every evidence of a guy's place of existence. So, he was single. 'Hope' was, apparently, no one important. Derek was still in his pajamas and was making eggs.

"Hey! Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I did. Thank you...so much for everything, Derek."

"It's okay. So...! Ready for breakfast?"

"Ummm... I should go. It's a Tuesday. You have work, obviously. I have already taken too much of your time..."

"You are eating and then leaving. I'm gonna go to work at around ten. It's okay! Why don't you go wash up? I'll pour you some juice and I made eggs."

"Derek, I...", she stuttered. 

"...am gonna go have a wash and thank you so much, I'd love some orange juice", he finished for her and added, "Okay. Good girl! I'll get you orange juice", he looked at her like he meant it.

She smiled weakly and turned in the general direction of the bathroom from what she remembered from last night. She freshened up and they had breakfast with some short talk in between. At around 9:30, she said thank you for being with her the last night and sorry for taking so much of his time and left.

Derek dodged Hope all day at work. He wondered what the odds were that he was there at the exact moment she found out about Ravi. Whatever it was, he couldn't help liking the circumstances. He wanted to call her and enquire how she was holding up but decided against it. It was too soon, and she needed her space.

She wondered whether she should call and thank Derek. Last night, she really needed someone to take care of her and he had. He was still the person he was in college, and she was thankful for it. She also thought about Ravi and tried to decipher her feelings for him now. She was blank; she wasn't angry or sad or confused; she was, simply, blank. It was almost evening when she decided that she had had too much of dry cereal for one day. She got up to make herself something to eat but ended up near the phone instead. It took her few minutes to find his number out. It ringed four and half times before he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Derek? It's me."

"Hey! Everything okay?"

"Yeah...yeah! Everything is okay. Listen, I was thinking whether you were busy tonight?"

"No! I am not."

"Ummm...would you like to meet at The Drunk Tank in about an hour?"

"I can do that. Okay!"

"See you there then." And she hung up.

She reached there a few seconds before him. He tapped her on the shoulder and she smiled when she turned and saw him.

"Thank you for not blaming the straight guys. Can I get you a drink?"

She laughed and said, "Thank you. I'd love that."

It was one of the very few times when she actually blushed.



I know that the flashbacks are quite small which is why I will be uploading the next chapter fairly quickly, tomorrow if possible. Thanks for reading, guys. More than 250 views and 34 votes, I am so excited. 
As always, please comment, vote and share with anyone who you think would enjoy the story.