Stuck Like Glue (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #2)

Chapter Six: Loss

Three weeks later     

I threw my head back and laughed uncontrollably at Isaac’s comment on “double dates.” I’d been bedridden for the past three weeks, but had just gone through my first week back at school now that I was all healed up. It was Friday night now, and Isaac, Alice, Derek and I were on one of those fatefully clichéd double dates – movie, dinner, ice cream, the whole deal.

“Seriously, though – you guys are freaking engaged and this is our third date! We’re not exactly at the same level of couplehood,” Isaac snorted, finishing off his ice cream and dumping it into a nearby trashcan as the four of us walked around downtown Beacon Hills. Derek and I were sharing a large double chocolate shake, and Alice had a vanilla cone; secretly, I’d been keeping tabs on my friend to make sure none of us accidentally let something slip about werewolves. After all, it was almost too easy to forget that Alice wasn’t actually Erica – they were both blondes. Just as I licked chocolate off of the corner of Derek’s mouth, which earned me a knee-shaking kiss, Alice leaned over to press her lips against Isaac’s almost aggressively. And there is the key reminder that that is not Erica, I joked to myself in my head, smirking as I broke the kiss and instead settled for squeezing Derek’s hand in mine and grinning at him auspiciously.  Another change that had occurred since I’d gotten back to school was the fact that everyone now knew we were engaged. I’d told Alice, and she’d told Lydia, Allison, and Danny, who’d told all their friends; then I’d made the announcement to my basketball team, who were already bummed that I wouldn’t be able to play until the end of the season. But everyone had been happy for me, congratulating me and that had been a nice segue to telling my closer friends about the baby. So far, only Alice and Monica knew, but I was planning on telling my other friends sometime soon. Until then, I’d been covering my small baby bump by wearing loose shirts and sweatshirts.

“About time you popped the question,” Derek joked, elbowing Isaac playfully. Alice giggled, and clutched my arm as though to keep herself from falling over with laughter. Secretly, though, she leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “Girl talk. Now.” I nodded, delicately excusing the two of us to use the ladies room in a nearby Barnes & Nobles.

“What’s wrong?” I spun around, examining Alice’s face frantically the instant we were in the privacy of the girls’ bathrooms.

“Nothing, nothing…I just, um, I’m worried about Isaac.”

“Why, what’d he do?”

“Nothing…yet. I just feel like maybe he likes me a little more than I like him?” Alice blanched, ending her confession as though it were a question. Immediately I went over to her, wrapping my hand around her shoulder and trying to assuage her worries.

“It’s okay. Just tell him you wanna slow things down, and it’ll be fine-“

“But I don’t wanna slow things down! I really like him, Chris.”

“Okay, well now I’m confused,” I said, scrunching up my forehead.

“I think…I’m sorry, I lied. I think I might like him more than he likes me. And I’ve never liked anyone that much,” Alice confessed, color staining her perfectly made-up cheeks a rosy pink. I couldn’t help but sigh, squeezing my friend into a tight hug and grinning broadly.

“That’s a good thing! Go, Alice. Tell him how you feel.”

“Absolutely not! That’s not how you keep a guy!” Alice exclaimed, regarding me as though I’d suffered another head injury. I sighed again, this time exasperatingly.

“Trust me, Isaac will appreciate it. Go,” I told her encouragingly, leading Alice out of the bookstore and back to where our boyfriends waited by the frozen yogurt store. The minute he spotted me, Derek jogged forward to wrap his arm around my waist and kept me plastered to his side for the rest of the night.