Old, But Not That Old [Motough]

10. juicy [derek]

Sadie trips and falls to the ground, cursing quietly under her breath.

"Oo, you alright?" I ask, helping her up.

She laughs slightly. "Yeah. Gosh, that scared me. Good thing the camera man isn't here yet. I wouldn't want him to catch me cussin' on camera."

I smile. "You're fine."

"I just barely do it!" She says, covering her face. "I wouldn't want people to think I do it all the time. I would've like begged him to delete it."

I nod, and then speak without thinking. "Yeah, that was like me after I kissed Beth. I literally paid him to delete the footage."

I laugh to myself before I realize what I just said. My mouth suddenly goes dry. I glance at Sadie whose eyes are wide.

"You... kissed her?" She looks shocked but is tryng to hide a smile.

I cough uncomforably. "Are you hardcore judging me right now..?"

"No! Of course not," Sadie tells me, although I'm not sure if she's lying.

I sigh deeply, trying to figure out if I should discuss the situation with Sadie or let it go. I guess I have to explain myself, so I walk over to the mirror, turn, and slide down until I am sitting.

"It was during practice for our rumba," I begin. Sadie walks over and sits, cross-legged, across from me. "I just... got caught up in it, I guess, and the small feelings I had for Bethany that I'd been trying to ignore just suddenly came rushing to the surface and then... it happened."

Sadie watches me, hanging on my every word. She has a compassionate look on her face and suddenly I feel like pouring my soul out to this sweet girl.

"I don't know," I say, running a hand through my hair. "I freaked cause I didn't want everyone to react to the kiss before we even reacted to it, so I paid the camera guy to delete it and keep his mouth shut, and Beth and I talked it over and... now it's just kinda our little secret." I pause. "Well, except now you're in on it too," I say, with a small laugh, gesturing to Sadie.

"So are y'all like... a thing now?" Sadie asks, looking at me.

"I guess so, I mean we don't want anyone to know, but kinda," I try to explain. It's definitely a weird situation.

"Why don't you want people to know? I'm sure some of the Motough shippers would go nuts..." Sadie giggles.

I can't help but smile too. "Yeah, I dunno, they might think it's great, but there also might be a lot of people who find it... innapropriate and weird, and I don't want anything to get in the way of our chances in the competition, you know."

Sadie nods. "I guess I see what you're sayin."

"So you can't tell anybody," I say, pointing to her, with a small grin. "And now that you know, you have to shoot down any Motough dating rumors you hear to help us out."

She laughs. "Fine." There's a pause. "But wait," she mutters, looking at me. "Can I at least tell Mark? He can help me rebut the rumors."

I sigh, but smile slightly. "Yeah, I guess he should know too."

"Can I FaceTime him right now and tell him?" She asks me. I sigh, but suppose that until we both get this off our chests we won't be able to fully have our heads in the rehearsal game.

"Yeah, sure."

She runs over to her bag and opens her laptop. I walk over, cautiously, and sit next to her. How is Beth gonna react when she finds out I let the secret slip? I take a deep breath as Sadie dials Mark.

The line connects and it looks like Mark and Beth are in a car. I lean in so I'm in the shot.

"Hey, Sadie, what's up?" Mark says, sipping a Dunkin' Donuts drink.

"We have to tell you something. You're alone, right?"

Mark looks around. "Yeah, unless someone's hiding in my car." Beth giggles. "Nah, I'm kidding," Mark says, with a laugh. "It's just us. We just came for some coffee before rehearsal." Bethany holds up her coffee cup with a cheesy grin, and I find myself smiling uncontrollably. She's adorable. "What do you have to tell us?"

"Well..." Sadie looks at me. I gulp. "Wanna tell him, Derek?"

With a deep breath, I look at the camera. "Soo... I accidentally slipped and told Sadie a little... secret I have." I watch as Bethany's smile drops, but then she slightly grins, shaking her head.

Mark looks at me with wide eyes. "Which is...?"

I take one more deep breath and then come right out with it. "Bethany and I are kinda... together."

Mark's mouth drops, but curves into a smile. "I freaking knew it!"

Beth turns to look at him and I scrunch my eyebrows. "What?? How?"

"Derek, we live together, I know you well enough to know you've been acting different lately."

"Different how?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"You've been..." He looks at Beth with a smile and then back at me. ".. happier. And a little dazed at times. And suddenly you blush when I mention Bethany..."

My hands shoot up to my cheeks. "Shit, really??"

"Aww," Sadie laughs, looking at me. Beth and I make eye-contact (I think... I can't tell over FaceTime), and she gives a shy smile and looks down.

Mark laughs hard. "Dude, relax. It's not that noticeable."

I laugh slightly. "Oh man... Sorry I spilled the secret, Beth."

"Oh it's fine. I accidentally told Troye in Australia," she admits, scrunching her nose.

"And you didn't tell me??" I joke. "Well, it's fine. We're even now. But Troye's not gonna squeal right?"

She laughs. "No, I told him not to tell anyone."

"Good." I sigh.

"Why do you wanna keep it a secret?" Mark asks. "By the way, Der, you owe me major details later on." He waves his Dunkin' cup in front of the camera as he says 'major' to add effect.

"I'll fill you in," I assure him, with a laugh. "But I mean, I don't want anything to get in the way of our chances in the competition, you know."

He nods. "Makes sense, man. I'll keep your secret."

Beth smiles, looking at him. He glaces at her and then back at me. "But wow, this is so cute," he says. "And some juicyyy information, if I do say so myself." He raises his eyebrows and sips his drink.

The camera man opens the door, and I realize we should probably get back to rehearsal. "Yeah, well we gotta go, man, see you later."

"Have a good rehearsal."

"Yeah, you too. See ya, Mark."

"Bye Mark!" Sadie chirps, waving. "And bye Beth. You have to text me later!"

"Girl, I will," Beth assures. "See you guys."

"Byeee," I say. I look at Bethany one last time. "Bye Beth."

She gives me a small smile and looks at me with those sweet brown eyes. "Bye Derek."

Mark giggles. "Don't have too much fun without us."

"We'll try," I say. I look at Beth and wink at her. She giggles shyly and puts her head down as the call ends.

"Ohh man," I say, standing up and then offering my hand to help Sadie.

We get into position and she giggles.

"What?" I ask.

She bites her lip. "Oh nothing...." After raising her eyebrows, she wipes the smug grin off her face and gets serious.