slow burn // derek discanio

seventeen

It was a chilly March day. The weather was trying to get warmer, yet there were still patches of snow in the grass and a bitterness to the air. The sun shined down on my and tried to warm my skin as I walked Max through Central Park, just like old times.
The winter had been rough. I had been endlessly sad and in a rut. My hope for seeing Derek again continued to dwindle as each day passed. It's been a year since I had seen him last and my life fell apart.
The promise of spring was giving me hope, though. I didn't know what for, but it felt like something good was coming my way. When I woke up this morning, I wasn't as empty as usual. I decided to take Max on our old route, which we hadn't walked in forever.
Seeing all the old surroundings was making me so sentimental. I missed the old life I had and the regularity of doing things like taking Max on walks.
Far down the path, I spotted the bench where I saw Derek again after the first time we met. If it weren't for that bench, I never would have seen him ever again after that first night we spent together.
Tears poked at my eyes and I looked down so I didn't look ridiculous crying while walking my dog. I used my gloved hand to wipe the tears away as I kept my head down.
Suddenly, Max tugged extremely hard on the leash and I lost my grip as he sprinted away, barking out of control. I ran after him, though my vision was blurry from my tears. Max leapt onto a guy sitting on the bench and started licking him like crazy.
"Max?" the guy said, surprised.
I halted in my tracks, a few yards away from the bench. The guy frantically looked up and started searching around until his eyes landed on me. As soon as I saw his face, I knew it was Derek and my heart felt like it could burst.
"Albany," he breathed, urgently running over to me.
I burst into tears as Derek wrapped his arms around me for the first time in ages. His body warmed me in the frigid air. He grabbed me face and kissed me over and over. It felt so right to be in his arms again.
I had to pull Derek's face off of mine in order to speak. "I'm so sorry," I cried.
I noticed the tears forming in Derek's eyes. "Albany, you should be anything but sorry. I know what happened. I can't believe you would to that for me." His voice cracked as he spoke. "Thank you so much for sacrificing so much for me, I don't deserve it. I love you so, so much."
I kissed him again. "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had known that I ruined your career."
I could tell that hit Derek hard. He pulled me in even tighter. "I'm sorry."
"Wait, so what were you doing here?" I asked, trying to put everything together.
Derek took a deep breath. "It's a long story."
I smiled. "I've go all the time in the world."
We sat down on the bench still wrapped in each other's arms. "After you left, Steve kept making up all this bullshit to cover up you leaving. I didn't believe any of it. When I came home to see that you had moved out, I knew something was wrong. We threatened to break our contract with Free Steel if he didn't explain. Eventually he did, but we broke the contract anyway. There was no way we were working for someone as evil as him."
Derek wiped the tears off my cheeks and face me a quick kiss before continuing. "We got signed onto a better label, Pure Noise. Everyone is unbelievably nice and they've gotten us much farther than Free Steel. That's when I started looking for you all over the place. I went to Harley's, but it was always some new guy there that didn't know you. I spent hours at the coffee shop and somewhere in the park for most days since then." He smiled, warming my hand between his. "And it's finally paid off."
Even more tears were in my eyes than before. "All through winter, you waited here for me?" I asked. He nodded. "I haven't been able to go to any of those places because they reminded me of you. Until today."
"Well, it's a good thing that you changed you mind today," Derek said. He stood up, still holding my hands. "Speaking of which, would you like to get some coffee?"
I smiled. "There's nothing I'd rather do."