If I Only Knew

Chapter One

Derricks POV

July 19, 2013:

I take a deep breath in and out, the water is calm and still. I charge, one foot in front of the other until i get to the end of the board. I slam down my feet and soar into the air. the world is spinning around me, I twist and pull, landing perfectly facing forward as I dive into the water.

"OOOOOOHHHHHH" i yell as i climb the latter out of the pool "I told you guys i still got it!!!" I walk up to Christian and John sitting in their lawn chairs next to the pool shed.

"Now hand it over!" i demand reaching my hand out at them. They stare at me in shock trying to comprehend what just happened.

"Dude I can't believe you just did that!" Christian exclaims

"A full twist!! I thought for sure you were gonna slam on your back!" John says

"Yeah, yeah, yeah just hand it over" I tell them. They both start digging around in their wallets counting out money. Christian hands over a 20 and John outs four 10s in my hand.

"Hey, I believe you bet 50 dollars John" he rolls his eyes and went back into his wallet and plopped another 10 in my hand.

"Pleasure doing business with ya boys" I say pretending to tilt a hat. Just then Ales pulls up into the driveway. He hops out of his car and runs over to us slamming open the gate.

"GUYS, GUYS GUESS WHAT!!! I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!!" he yells jumping up and down in excitement. Alex graduated from mad school a few months ago and applied to an internship at the hospital just out of town. His dad worked there as an amazing nurse for 30 years before he retired so his family is kind of well-known down there. He's been waiting forever to see if he got in. I'm really proud of Alex (even though we all knew he was gonna get in the minuet he applied) he loves what he does and he's good at it. Me on the other hand, I graduated collage with and undetermined the whole time mostly just taking classes that seemed interesting. Now here i am three years later working at target, barely making enough money to pay the rent on my apartment with still not a clue what I want to do for a career. Alex just reminds me of that every time he talks about medicine and how great he's doing.

"congrats man" I say giving him a pat on the back forcing a smile.

"Thanks! Brice and I are going out later to celebrate, you guys wanna come?

"Yeah sure" says John and Christian at the same time. He turns to me and smiles waiting for my answer.

"I'm in" I say finally

"Great! Meet us at Peteiz at 10:00" He turns and runs back to his truck smiling like a fool as he drives off.

"i can't believe he got in" says Christian as he takes a sip of coke

"oh common, everyone there knows his dad, he had the job even before he applied" i say shoving a handful of hips into my mouth.

"True" John agrees

"Well I have to go I told Katie I would meet her for lunch" Christian says as he stands up slipping on he's sandals (Katie is Christian's girlfriend) "see ya later" he waves as he gets into his truck. I finish drying off and throw on my tee shirt and shoes

"You leaving too?" asks John

"Yeah I have some errands to do" I say grabbing my keys off the table. He stands up, wave's goodbye and brings the chips and soda back up to the house as I drive off.

I pick up some groceries on my way home and hop into the shower to wash all the chlorine out of my hair. When I'm done I throw on some clothes and count up my money to see how much I can spend tonight. I attempt to pay some bills and I make myself something to eat. After that i check the clock, its 7:30 so I turn on the TV and flip through the channels. Eventually i doze off on the couch.

I wake up groggy, I lay there for a while until I full wake up. I check the clock, its 9:56. Crap! I jump off the couch and run into the bathroom and quickly comb my hair. i grab my wallet, keys and my phone and head out to my car.

I turn the corner to Peteiz, our favorite bar in town. We always come here for celebrations and just to have a good time. They have the best beer and there's a bunch of foose ball and pool tables that we play and compete with each other on. Plus we are really good friends with the owner Paul, he went to the same high school as us. I walk in to an instant smell of tobacco and Buffalo wings. Smoke fills the air as a big crowd of drunken college students stumble around into each other, laughing and having a good time. We all walk through; pushing and shoving to get to our seats and start to order some beers. Alex, Christian, Brice and John are all laughing having a good time, but I find myself zoning out, my mind filled with worries, I can't stop thinking about how I'm going to get enough money to pay the rent in a couple of weeks. It's really starting to become a problem; I pay them later and later each month.

Then all the sudden a woman stumble in disrupting me from my thoughts.

I watch her as she limps over to the seat next to me. She has gorgeous long brown hair that falls perfectly over her shoulder like she's in a movie. She's wearing a purple sweater with white string woven in and white shorts to match. The most adorable freckles sprawl across her nose like splatter paint and her eyes... beautiful... big blue eyes that catch your attention make you feel like you're in a trance and you don't want to ever look away. She sits down, makeup running down her face as she cries into her hands. I scoot my chair closer as she takes a big long gulp of vodka.

"Ahh alcohol, it fixes everything" I say jokingly as i raise my glass. she giggles a little and looks up at me

"Well... not everything" she says staring off into space. you can see the sadness and exhaustion on her face, dark circles cascade under her eyes making it look like she hasn't slept in weeks. i dig a tissue out of my pocket and hand it to her.

"Thanks" she says attempting to fix her makeup in the reflection of her phone.

"I'm Derrick, Derrick Greenly"

"Hi, I'm Nicole Miller" she replies after another long sip. I stretch out my arm to shake her hand, as she does the same I see a big bruise on her wrist that used to be covered by her sleeve. I guess i started to stare because she pulls her sleeve over her hand and covers her face with her arm

"So what happened to your leg?" I ask trying to keep a conversation going.

"Ohh... I ughh... I'm just clumsy" she says with a nervous look on her face. I can tell she's lying but we just met so I decide to drop it.

We talk for hours and after a while she even started to look happy. When she smiles, it lights up her whole face, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I learned a lot about her too, she told me she graduated collage 4 years ago with a master in teaching. She's always loved kids and ever since middle school she's wanted to be a third grade teacher but she hasn't been able to get a job.

It's getting really late and I have to take Jack out before he goes to the bathroom in the house (Jack is my friend's dog I'm babysitting while him and his family is on vacation) I dig a crumpled up piece of paper out of my pocket and ask my friend for a pen. I start to write my down my number when I look up and see a wedding ring on her finger. I give a sigh and hand the pen back to Brice and throw the paper on the floor. Discouraged I say goodbye and heads towards the exit. I'm almost out the door when I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn around to see Nicole and her beautiful smile.

"Thanks for cheering me up, I really appreciate it. I hope we can talk again sometime." She slips something into my hand, picks up her bag and disappears out the door. I open my hand to find a little piece of paper containing a phone number, her name and a cute little heart.