Chances

Chances Ch. 25

After work, I follow Derek to his house with my car and see that it's a nice apartment that is near where my old one was. "This is the place." He says, inviting me inside and turning the lights on. "I can't think you enough, Derek." I say, hugging him again. He takes me into the guest bedroom, which is small and masculine, but he is a guy. I set down my belongings on the bed and follow him back to the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?" He asks me.
"Doesn't matter to me." I say. He takes out some chicken and starts making chicken tacos.
Later that night, we're sitting on his living room floor and talking.
"So you stayed with Daniel on Saturday?" He asks. I blush before I respond.
"How did you know that?" I ask. He laughs at me and looks at my neck.
"There's hickies on your neck. ." He says. I look at my neck and see very light hickies on my neck.
"We didn't do anything, Derek. Trust me." I say as I cover them up.
"Mhmmm." He says, grinning wildly at me. I playfully pick up a pillow and throw it at him. He takes no time to pick it up and recover from the hit, crawling closer to me and throwing it back. The pillow knocks me over on my back, and I'm too tired to get up, so I just lay on the floor and stare at the spinning ceiling fan. Derek crawls over and hovers over me.
"Are you ticklish?" He asks, slightly smiling a devilish smile. Not this.

"..no.." I say, hiding my fear.
He immediately starts tickling me, and through my laughter my arms attack his, until he holds them down beside my head.

"Derek, stop!" I scream, still unable to control my laughter. Since my arms are of no use, I use my legs to kick him in the butt, and I finally get a reaction out of him. "Ow!" He says, somewhat laughing. I feel sort of bad now, so I just look at him. My hands are still pinned beside me, and he's still on top of me. He leans closer to me, and I can tell he's about to kiss me.
"We can't do this." I say.
"I know." He whispers. He gets off of me and says goodnight, then goes into his room. It takes me a minute to recuperate, but I get up and go into the guest room, changing my clothes and falling asleep.
"Wake up, sleepyhead." I hear. I open my eyes to Derek, but he's already left the room. I use his shower and get myself ready, then leave for work right behind him.

One Month Later

"Thank you so much, Ms. Williams!" I exclaim.
"No problem, child! I know you'll take care of the place." She says. I'm surprised she's in New York, since her southern accent is so thick.
"I'll see ya later, Emma. Please call me if you need anything. My house number is on the fridge." She says, pointing to her fridge, which is now sort of my fridge. After we say our goodbyes, she leaves me alone in my new apartment. I take a look around it once more. It's actually a sleek place, and it has some really modern decorations to it. The appliances aren't exactly up to date, but that's not a concern of mine. The apartment is on a higher floor, with some pretty large glass windows. I'm really surprised I can afford it. The kitchen is pretty mediocre, along with the living room. But, there's TV and a house phone, which is great. The bathroom is to the left of the kitchen, and my room is beside it.

My room. Something I haven't been able to say in such a long time. It's a rather large room, and the bed is Queen-sized. The designs are very feminine, which makes me feel really comfortable. I take my bag of stuff and sort it, putting my clothes in the closet and my toiletries in the bathroom. I turn on the TV and it's on the David Letterman show. I watch it for a moment, and it's actually pretty entertaining. I get up and go in the kitchen and grab a bottle of water, then sit back down. He's talking about some musical guest, and shows an album that has a girl's ass with a glove on it. It's hard to read, since the TV is cheap and doesn't have good quality. I take a big sip of water while he talks. "This is The Strokes, with Someday!" He exclaims to the live audience. All of a sudden, water flies out of my mouth, and I see them. Julian, Nick, Albert, Nikolai, and Fab. They start playing and you can tell they're really nervous. The camera fixes on Julian and he starts singing. His voice sounds rugged, different than before. And he's sad. He looks like he hasn't slept in days. He's probably wasted.