Motough Prompts

She Could Be The One

This is a prompt sent in by deborah_ag16. I hope you all like it. 

"What was that about?" 

Derek finishes pulling his t-shirt over his head before turning to find Mark standing in the doorway of his trailer. He's silent for moment confused about what his best friend is trying to ask him.

"Mark, are you drunk?" Derek finally responds as he sits down to put on his shoes.

The brunet man groans sitting down next to Derek. "No, I'm not drunk. I'm trying to ask you why you practically ripped Bethany's arm out of it's socket earlier when I kissed her cheek?"

"I did not practically rip her arm out of it's socket." He argues back. Derek panics for a moment because if Mark is on to him then so is Bethany and probably the rest of the world. Damn it Derek, why do you have to be so jealous? 

"Okay, so that was an exaggeration, but you did pull her away from me." Mark retorts as he scrolls through his phone. "I mean is there something going on between you and Bethany?'

"What? N…no, of course not." Derek answers too quickly stumbling over his words. "I was just pulling her ahead so that she can go up the stairs first. I was being a gentleman."

Mark rolls his eyes, sighing loudly. "Derek, you're my best friend, my brother, I've known you for pretty much my whole life. Which is why I know you're lying."

"Let it go, man. There's nothing going on." He stands up, grabbing his cell phone off of the table and putting it in his pocket. Derek starts toward the door, Mark following close behind.

"Okay, so there's nothing going on between you and Beth, but do you like her?" Mark presses, whispering as they walk across the CBS lot together.

Derek stops in his tracks, groaning before turning to face his best friend. "Why are you so concerned with my feelings for Bethany?"

"So you do have feelings for her?" He asks flashing Derek a smug smirk.

"I didn't say that exactly." Derek sighs as he watches Mark's smile grow. Sometimes he really hated how well Mark knows him. It was always more trouble than anything else.

"I know it's not ideal to develop feelings for your partner, especially with the age difference, but honestly man, Bethany is perfect for you." The shorter dancer tells him sincerely. "I really think she has feelings for you too."

"It'll never work. Getting involved with Bethany would be a disaster." Derek explains more for his benefit than Mark's. The one thing Derek would hate more than anything is if he hurt Bethany and that's why he needed to remind himself that nothing romantic could happen between them. "Like you said there is an age difference, a significant one and I don't want to be the first person to break her heart."

"Then don't break her heart." Mark tells him like it's the most obvious solution in the world.

"It's not that simple, man. Besides it's sort of an unspoken rule that you shouldn't date your temporary, barely legal dance partner." 

"It's unspoken because that rule doesn't exist." Mark rolls his eyes before speaking again. "All I'm saying is that if the only reason you have for not dating her is that you could possibly break her heart then that's really stupid. Heartbreak is inevitable, everyone is going to go through it, whether you break someone's heart or they break yours. Bethany is going to deal with it at some point, so why would you deprive yourself and her from having a good relationship for however long its lasts."

Derek is silent letting Mark's words really sink in. He knows that his feelings for Bethany are more than just an attraction sort of thing. He also knows that if given the chance he would try his hardest to be the best boyfriend Bethany could imagine, but the thought of subjecting her to the backlash of dating a man 10 years older really scared him. He cares about her too much to make her deal with that. 

"Who says that you guys will break up though? I mean for all you know she could be the one." 

That last sentence hits Derek in the chest like a ton of bricks. She could be the one. Was he really going to let a few stupid fears stand in the way of the one girl that he could spend the rest of his life with? 

"You know what, you're right?" He finally speaks making Mark laugh.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to need you to repeat that…on camera if possible." 

Derek laughs at his best friend, realizing that sometimes the trouble Mark brings into his life could be worth it. 

"Hey, what are you guys still doing here?" They both turn around to find the center of their conversation stepping out of the hair trailer grinning at them. Bethany walks down the steps completely rid of her I Love Lucy make up and hair.

"Hey Bethany." Mark sing songs nudging Derek with his elbow like an annoying high school boy. "We were just having a conversation about Derek's feelings."

Derek turns to Mark giving an 'I'm going to kill you' look, immediately regretting ever telling Mark anything. 

"Derek's feelings about what?" Bethany inquires quirking an eyebrow up at the two dancers.

"Global warming." Derek answers immediately causing Mark to laugh. "Yeah, global warming. Terrible right?"

Bethany looks between the two dancers, an even more confused expression on her face. "Yeah, it's terrible. Well I'm starving so I'm going to go get something to eat."

"That's funny Derek was just saying how he's starving too." Mark adds quickly before Bethany can leave. "Right, Derek?"

"Uh yeah. Do you want to go get something to eat…with me?" Derek asks taking the hint. "My treat."

Bethany smiles brightly, her confused expression long gone. "I'd love to."

"Great. Let's go." Derek says holding out his arm for her to link her's through.

"I won't wait up. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Mark shouts after them making Bethany laugh.

"I'm sorry about my idiot best friend." Derek tells her with a laugh.

"I'm not." Bethany whispers so quietly that Derek wasn't sure if he had heard her right, but when his eyes met hers he knew exactly what she meant. 

He would definitely have to thank Mark later, no matter how painful that was going to be.

I hope you all enjoyed this. I had two prompts that were supposed to go up before this one, but I reread them and I want to change a few things before I post them. They should go up soon. Also look out for a new chapter of Like Real People Do. I am almost finished with it, so all I'll have to do is proofread and post, so it could go up tomorrow morning. 

Thank you all for sending in prompts. You can still send in more, it is always greatly apprecaited. Also let me know your thoughts. I love getting your feedback.