Red String [h.s] (Completed)

Chapter 7

"And I've always lived like this
Keeping it comfortable
Distant
And up until now I swore to myself that I'm content
With loneliness
Because none of it was ever worth the risk

Well you are the only exception"

When they get back, Amy makes the conscientious choice to put her phone upstairs in her purse and not look at it for the rest of the night. She can't be distracted by some guy, no matter how famous he is, when she has a boyfriend right here.

Dinner goes smoothly, and surprisingly everyone is really polite to her. She tries her best to join the conversations as much as she can and Derek squeezes her hand encouragingly under the table.

After dinner, Derek and his brother get out cards to play poker. Amy is feeling exhausted. She kisses Derek goodnight and heads up to sleep. She thinks only once about checking her phone and then decides against it as she snuggles into bed and is asleep almost instantly.

The next morning she wakes up and finds Derek asleep next to her. She thinks she must have been in a really deep sleep because she doesn't even remember him coming in. She goes across the hall and gets into the shower, brushing her teeth when she is done. She gets dressed and heads downstairs, Derek still asleep.

She's the only one awake and puts on a pot of coffee. Feeling ambitious she decides she is going to make everyone pancakes. This is a recipe she is familiar with. Often her parents would make breakfast for dinner, and her and her sister thought it was so silly and fun that they started doing it as teenagers for their parents. She finds some fresh strawberries in the fridge and makes a strawberry sauce to go with the pancakes. She places the pancakes in the oven as she goes to keep them warm.

Lured by the smell of coffee and pancakes, it doesn't take long before everyone starts appearing in the kitchen. When Jane sees what Amy has done, her eyes practically pop out of her head.

"You made this?"

"Yes."

"From scratch?"

"Yes, you're always cooking for everyone. Thought it would be nice if someone cooked for you."

Derek's dad doesn't hesitate and gets a plate and starts stacking pancakes on it with lots of strawberry sauce. Dan follows suit and does the same while Jane stands there mouth agape for longer than is polite.

Derek comes down last and he looks as shocked as his mother.

"You did this?"

"Yes. I just wanted to do something nice for your family."

Derek puts his arms around her and kisses her forehead. Amy hugs him back appreciating the gesture. After breakfast, Derek's dad motions to the other men and all the plates.

"Come on. She cooked, so let's clean."

If Jane was shocked earlier at Amy having cooked everyone breakfast, she is even more shocked now at her husband and sons offering to wash the dishes. Amy is a bit giddy at the idea that she may have caused this change of routine. Derek helps clean up at home (mainly because Amy insists) but she has never seen him clean up at his parent's house.

Amy is enjoying a glass of lemonade on the couch with Jane when the door bursts open. In comes Derek's younger sister, Alicia, with a big smile on her face, followed by her boyfriend. They've been together for just under a year and Amy has only met him twice.

"We're getting married!" she shouts, thrusting her left hand out. On her finger is an engagement ring.

Amy hears Derek's mom let out a loud squeal and runs to embrace Alicia. Her dad walks over to shake the was-boyfriend now fiancé's hand. Amy stands up but now that she is standing she is not quite sure what she should do. She has never hugged Alicia before but this feels like a hugging moment. Unable to decide she just stands there awkwardly. When everyone else has shared their congratulations, Alicia makes eye contact with Amy. Amy takes this as her moment and steps forward to hug her. Luckily, Alicia accepts the hug and Amy isn't left feeling any more out of place than she usually does.