Stuck Like Glue (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #2)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Halo

            Before we’d even gotten home, I knew Derek was upset. He sped through all the stop signs and red lights, going eighty miles an hour until slamming on the brakes in front of our apartment building. I jerked forward, almost snapping my neck from the whiplash before I hurried into the lobby and up the elevator with Derek.

“Do you want to-“

“No,” Derek answered coldly before I’d even finished my question. His voice was hard as flint and just as emotionless. Storming into the apartment and slamming the door shut behind him, Derek flung himself down onto the couch and dropped his head into his hands. I approached him slowly, perching on the couch beside him hesitantly and placing my hand on his knee. When Derek didn’t shrug it off, I scooted closer and wrapped both of my arms around him. To my surprise, Derek leaned in and rested his head against my chest, allowing me to cradle him in my arms like he’d done to me so many times.

“Shh, it’s okay, Derek. It’s all gonna be okay,” I murmured softly, running my hand through his hair and dropping a gentle kiss onto the top of his head. I knew Derek wouldn’t want me to draw attention to the fact that his tears were soaking into my shirt, but it still warmed my heart to realize that Derek felt comfortable letting his guard down with me; he trusted me enough to show me his vulnerability. We sat like that for an immeasurable amount of time, me stroking his head, back, and shoulders and Derek crying quietly into my chest. Tears streamed down my cheeks too, dropping onto Derek’s t-shirt, but he didn’t seem to mind; we were both suffering from the loss of another friend, although for Derek he was losing another pack member. Still, it felt like we’d lost a sister.

            After a while, Derek sat up and stared into my bloodshot dark brown eyes with haunted, sorrow-filled green ones. His cheeks showed signs of drying-up tears while mine were still soaked as I continued to cry.

“I’m sorry,” he said simply, now pulling me into his arms while my grief burst out in an explosion of sobs that I’d been holding back for his benefit. My shoulders shook and my chest constricted with each wracking sob, and as I wrapped my arms around Derek’s torso and held onto him tightly, I felt his muscles quiver as he cried too. The dull ache from losing Boyd was expanding into a gaping hole of agony now that we’d lost Erica, and I wondered how much pain I could take before I’d just fizzle away into nothing. Derek and I sat together all night, holding onto each other tightly and crying in our shared misery. Eventually we both drifted off into sleep, but it was scattered and nightmare-filled. I woke up several times gasping for air, struggling to breath over the tears caught in my throat, and Derek would squeeze me against him more firmly and kiss my forehead to soothe me. Whenever he jerked out of a nightmare, I could feel it because Derek’s arms tightened around me and his chest rose and fell rapidly beneath my cheek. I’d lean up to kiss him tenderly and rub my hands up and down his arms to calm him down when that happened.  

                When morning finally arrived, Derek and I got up to have breakfast but couldn’t seem to go through with it. I sat at the table with my cup of coffee between my hands, hiccupping slightly as my weeps faded. I’d been reminded of every time Erica and I had sat at this very table, drinking coffee and talking about our problems together in the way that only girls can. Derek wasn’t eating anything, just sitting beside me and staring blankly ahead. My head pounded from all the crying and my eyes were puffy and swollen.

“Hey guys,” Isaac’s voice came suddenly from the doorway, although neither Derek nor I even moved a muscle at the alert. Isaac walked into the room slowly, his eyes bouncing from my face to Derek’s as concern made his eyebrows furrow and the corners of his lips turn down.

“Are you guys okay?” he asked again, and this time Derek snapped his gaze from a space somewhere above the cabinets to Isaac’s face. I let two more tears slip down my face, also turning to face my friend despite the grief that threatened to crush me.