Freaks in The Night

Chapter 9- Dollar Bills

I felt warm—safe as I sat in Derek's arms. He smelled like the woods and strong cologne. I closed my eyes inhaled deeply. I pulled myself out of his grasp and sat on my knees. "J-Jackson got me that dress." I croaked. "He didn't like the dress I was wearing so he made me change" I stared at the dress. "I guess just seeing it set me off. I-I can't stand how bright and modest it was, it's not me. I don't even like the color blue. It's too blue.." I trailed off in attempts to justify myself. "And I didn't want to destroy it completely. I just was cutting it because I was going to make another dress out of it."  Derek looked at me sympathetically. "Okay." He shrugged.  "That's it? You're not going to ask me anything else?" I asked a bit stunned.  "No I'm not." He replied standing up. "I hate when people push for an answer when I'm either not ready to give it to them or if I've already told them." He explained offering his hand to help me up.  "Thank you for that, not a lot of people understand that you need to stop after a certain extent."  "Yeah, tell me about it." He smirked. He looked down at the dress. "F*ck it is hideous."  I giggled. "I know, I looked like my Grandma!"  "What dress did you wear anyways?"  "Here," I mumbled while scrolling through my phone. "I still have a picture from earlier that night." I explained as I handed him the phone.  His eyes grew wide. "Holy f*ck you looked  hot!" He handed me back my phone in shock. "We're so going to go and get you something identical to that."  I shook my head. "No way, this is my father's gala. I need to look sophisticated."  "Or like a prude who in six years will be a boring housewife who vacations in the Hamptons and has boring every Thursday night sex with her 9-5 big brand owning husband." Derek interrupted.  I grimaced. "You know as blunt and as disrespectful you sound at times you always do tell the truth and I respect it."  "Of course you do. Who likes liars? Be upfront about it now or cry about it later."  "Nice philosophy."  Derek shrugged and began to walk downstairs. I followed after him and shut the door as we made way to his car. I tried to hide my smile as I sat down in his sleek black Impala. Not only did it resemble Dean's car from Supernatural but it made a nice statement as we passed by the number of Mercedes and other luxury cars in our town. I peeked over at Derek and studied his face for a few seconds. He was so different compared to his brother. Jackson would never get a tattoo yet Derek sat here with a few pretty large and noticeable designs on display. His sleek black attire suited him and his mysterious aura and I would be lying if it didn't make scream danger. I stared at my black jeans and coat and bit my lip to hold vs I a smile. We looked alike today. Although I still did seem to have that preppy vibe going when it clashed with Derek's it seemed to fit perfectly.  "Are you done eye balling me or do I need to start worrying?" Derek spoke up suddenly with his eyes still studying the road.  I blushed and turned away. "Shut up!" I whispered.  His chuckle echoes throughout the car. He reached over and turned on the radio and I drummed along my fingers to the beat. Time flew by and soon enough we were parked in front of a well known plaza in our town. On a typical day it would be full of girls from Viroid and dozens of socialites that my mom would love to brag to. It didn't help that the gala was tonight either, nearly every girl from our side of town would be there. Already a few stares could be seen and both Derek and I looked at each other, well aware that we both would be the talk of the town for the next few weeks.  Derek rummaged around and tossed a black hat and pair of aviators to me. "They can only talk if they know who you are," he explained. "this way you won't have to tarnish the lovely Fray family name because you're seen taking to a boy from the wrong side of town."  I felt my heart drop. "I don't need to hide myself. If you want to you can. Don't tarnish you street credit."  He chuckled darkly. "Honey, I walk in there with you and every single teenage girl in this town will wage up the next world war for Jackson and in the process they'll just tear you down."  I shrugged. "I can handle it, can you?"  He smirked. "I knew I liked you for a reason. But don't say I didn't warn you. If a someone tries me I'm throwing these hands."  "Well I'll be there to hold your bags." I smiled stepping out of the car. We both began to walk side by side. It was funny really. You wouldn't think something like this would be a big deal. Just two kids at the mall shopping but I could see why it seemed a bit odd to people. For one, I never ever wore black. I also never left the house without some sort of bright or floral dress on. Now suddenly here I was decked our in black, walking alongside one of the most notorious boys from in town. His tattoos screamed danger and his aviators concealed his piercing eyes. The smirk on his face made him seem even more daunting.  It wasn't until we were actually in the middle of the court yard type area between the stores that I caught a glimpse of the extravagantly dressed friends of my mother. The group consisted of about seven women with the exception of my mother. I only knew about three of them well. Linda, Tammy, and Jessica. Each had a daughter on the cheer squad with me, each was meaner and b*tchier than the next. It was Jessica who noticed me and she quickly whispered into Linda's ear and one by one each woman turned to face me. I smiled  brightly and waved to them. I began to walk forward them and Derek pulled my hand.  "Are you insane?" He snapped.  "What? They're my moms friends! Come on, led me introduce you."  "I refuse to shake hands with a woman who insists on spending her free time at a shopping center to brag about her husbands wealth. And I mean seriously look at her, she's so evil looking."  I scoffed. "I'm sure they think you look mean and evil too."  "Ha-ha!" Derek mocked. I rolled my eyes and dragged him over to the group. Derek whined like a child and I was laughing as I walked up to them.  "Hi! How are you?" I asked. "Are you all attending the my fathers Gala tonight?"  They all seemed absolutely shocked. Linda was the one to speak up first. "Bridgette..." she cooed. "we're ecstatic to attend. But we hace a few pressing matters on hand, for one who is your friend here?" She asked pointing her manicured finger  up and down at Derek before grinning wickedly at me.  "Oh, this is my friend Derek. Derek this is Linda, one of moms best friends."  Derek smiled and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."  She stared down at his hand and grimaced as she saw a tattoo peak our from under his sleeve. "I don't think so.."  I stared at her confused. "Why? He just wants to shake your hand."  "Is that a goth?" Tammy asked out of the blue.  "I heard they call them elmo's now." Jessica added.  "What? No that—look it's emo, not Elmo and he's not either. He's just a normal boy who wanted to shake your hand because it's the polite thing to do."  "But he's a freak. He's so..." Linda trailed off unsure of what to say.  I scoffed. "Well good luck shaking his hand when he's welcoming you into the party his father is throwing. You know him, Matthew? Matthew Ambrosia? The multi-billionaire whose party you are now uninvited to?"  Derek tsked. "Damn, cold as ice."  Linda's eyes widened. "Y-You're joking..Matthew only has one son." She chuckled looking back at her shock stricken friends.  "No, actually he has two, unfortunately." Derek interrupted. "And he just decided that he's dealt with one too many prissy b*tches today. So don't bother showing up, any of you actually. Maybe that'll help you learn not to judge a book by its cover."  Linda frowned. "B-But I thought Jackson was-"  Derek pulled out his wallet. "Here's some cash to cover the cost of your next Botox session. Clearly from the frown you're wearing it doesn't seem to be working." He smiled throwing her wad of cash.  My eyes widened as Derek pulled my hand and we left the faces of the three very humiliated women. I burst into laughter as we stumbled into a nearby store and Derek stood fuming.  "Y-You—oh my god!" I giggled unable to breath. "That was amazing!"  Derek faked a bow. "Thank you, thank you. To book me to deal with more b*tchy housewives call the number below."  I giggled shaking my head. "You're literally the best person I've ever met."  Derek smiled. "Thanks. You are too."