Inner Beauty

Chapter 16

This chapter is dedicated to danivalla54 . Thank you for all your feedback!

Where is she? Should I call her?

Knock! Knock!

Derek let out a sigh of relief.

"Come on in," Derek yelled.

"Hello?"

He could hear a quiet voice coming from the entryway.

"I'm in the kitchen, Anna."

Derek had thought she would be here earlier, so he had ordered the pizza already.

"Yeah, just take a seat at the table. I ordered a pizza, if that's...okay?"

Derek's eyes widened when he turned to look at Anna.

Her outfit was something out of a magazine. She had her hair down around her bare shoulders, her long legs were milky white and toned, and her toes were painted a dark red colour.

"Something wrong?" Anna asked.

"Uhm...no," Derek croaked.

He watched as Anna fidgeted with her shirt and let her hair fall forward around her face.

I am such an ass. I made her uncomfortable.

Derek cleared his throat and turned away.

"So pizza is alright?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, pizza sounds good," Anna said.

There was a shy quality to her voice. It was breathless and sweet.

What am I doing? Just friends, remember?

"So why weren't you here earlier?"

That sounded gruff even to his own ears.

"I didn't know I was on a time schedule. You did say take your time, remember?"

He could handle this side of Anna. He wasn't so sure if he knew what to make of the shy Anna, yet.

"I said that, yes, but I didn't think you would take an hour," Derek said.

"Ugh, you are insufferable. I don't know why I even came over here. I thought..."

She stopped short to clamp her lips together. He wasn't letting her get away with that. He wanted to know her thoughts. He wanted to know her.

"What? What did you think?" Derek asked.

"I just thought that maybe we could get along, but I guess not."

"I think you are wrong."

"That seems to be the theme of the night."

Derek's face went blank with shock before a deep laugh broke from his chest.

"Are you laughing at me?" Anna asked, outraged.