How To Be Straight

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a/n: If any of you are familiar with my other works, then you will know that I do these random competitions once throughout every story. If not, then it's quite simple. Whoever leaves the most inline comments on this chapter by the time I upload the next one will get a follow and a dedicated on the following chapter.

CHAPTER 21

[ Derek ]

I escaped the icy afternoon air as I stumbled through the front door of my house with Maya at my side. We were both panting heavily, partly because of the cold weather and partly because we had just jogged around the whole neighborhood twice and we were both, essentially, out of breath.

As soon we were in the warmth of my home, I shut the front door and leaned against it, ripping off my gloves and breathing into my hands to warm them up. It didn't get that cold in the winter compared to up north, so no one was really used to it when it did get cold. Thankfully, though, we only had a few weeks until it was officially spring.

Maya unzipped her fleece jacket and tossed it to the floor, leaving her in only a plain skin-tight tank top with the straps of her bright pink sports bra clearly visible. It didn't take her a long time to return her breathing back to normal because between the two of us, she was more of a runner, being the track star that she was.

Her rosy lips curled into a tiny smile as she walked over to me to poke my stomach. "You've been slacking on me, Derek. You can barely catch your breath."

"Are you kidding?" I asked in a bare whisper because I was still breathing heavily. "It's cold as shit outside."

She rolled her eyes. "No excuse."

I tried to speak but a sharp intake of breath sounded instead, which didn't really help my case. Maya's smile turned into a teasing grin as she slipped her hair out of the ponytail it was in and let the black waves fall around her shoulders. "You need some water," she noted while she breezed through the foyer and rounded the corner into the kitchen.

Reluctantly, I followed her into the kitchen and slid into the bar stool near the island. I watched as she reached into the fridge and retrieved two bottles of water, tossing one to me. "You should really join track," she proposed once she was at my side again.

I snapped the cap off the bottle and took a sip of the water. "Sports aren't my thing."

She groaned. "Derek, you're like the most athletic person that I've ever met, but you refuse to use your talents. Why is that?"

He shrugged. "Sports require commitment. I'm not really committed to anything."

"But you're committed to Calvin, aren't you?"

"I like him," I corrected her, "I'm not committed to him. There's a difference."

Maya studied me with her dark eyes. "So he's just someone that you want to fool around with once in a while?" When I shook my head, she heaved a sigh. "Okay, so if you don't fool around with him, then what do you guys do?"

I shrugged. Normally, I wouldn't hesitate to tell Maya about all of my adventures since she was my best friend and everything, but telling her about Calvin just felt wrong. I couldn't really explain why.

"We kiss," I said, short.

That didn't seem to be an sufficient answer, because she leaned against the island and raised a brow. "That's it? You don't try to-"

"No," I cut her off before she could finish.

"Why?"

"Because he's a boy."