“Derek, you don’t understand.” Evette pressed. “Sarah is using you.”
Her best friend since forever shook his head. “I promised her I wouldn’t ignore her just because we were breaking up. I was with her for over a year. You know I can’t just abandon her. I still care about her.”
Evette crossed her arms, leaning against the locker next to his. “Why did the two of you break up then?”
He didn’t answer. He never did. It had been a month and he still hadn’t shared why the two of them had broken up. That wasn’t like him. He told her everything.
There was no love lost between Evette and Sarah. In fact, Sarah had made it clear over the past year that she hated everything about Evette simply because she had known Derek first.
“I know why.” She finally admitted.
Derek’s head snapped up. “What?”
“I heard Sarah telling her friend.”
He slammed his locker shut and pulled her down the hall. “What did she say?”
“Her dad threatened you with something and you were furious. She thought you broke up with her the week prior to the actual break up because you were so distant. Then you caught her flirting with another guy and actually broke up with her then.”
Derek groaned. “This is how rumors get started.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was lying to make herself look good. In that story she is just the sweet innocent victim.”
At this point they were nearing the empty soccer fields. Derek slowed. Looking around to find no one else around, his shoulders relaxed and he sighed. “Evette, I probably should have told you this, of all people, but it was too embarrassing and I was trying to make sense of my feelings.”
“What?” She pressed when he stopped talking.
Derek took off his backpack and threw it under a nearby bench. He began to pace, not saying a word.
Knowing him and how long it would take for him to find the words, Evette moved to the bench and sat down. He’d get out what he was trying to say eventually. She just needed to give him the time to walk it out and through his head first. So she waited.
“Evette.” He stopped right in front of her. “We’ve been friends for a really long time.”
She nodded, not sure where this was going.
He shook his head. “I don’t know if you ever noticed but Sarah was always very jealous of our friendship.”
“She hated me. I knew that.” Evette shrugged.
Her admission apparently surprised him as his eyes widened. “No.”
“Yes. Keep going.”
“I…ugh.” He paced for another minute, processing what she had just admitted. “Evette, I didn’t break up with Sarah.”
In shock, all she could do was blink. He started to pace again.
“Wait, so you two are still together? I don’t understand.”
“No.” He flopped onto the bench next to her and leaned over his knees, head in his hands. “She broke up with me.”
“What? Why?” Evette shook her head. “She still cries and goes the other way when she sees you. And she’s still using you for rides and stuff.”
Derek’s shoulders slumped further. “I know.”
“Did she give you a reason for breaking up at least?”
“You.” He spoke so softly and muffled that she almost didn’t hear him at all.
When she realized what he had said she jumped up. “Me?”
He sat up and looked at her with sad eyes. “Yeah.”
“Why me? That doesn’t make any sense at all. If anything we have been hanging out less and less since the two of you started dating.” Evette threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “I mean I’m not saying that I suddenly like her but I don’t want to be the reason the two of you broke up.”
“It’s not your fault.” Derek stood and caught her.
“Hey, I let you pace.” She snapped at him.
He chuckled and pulled her into a hug. “I don’t blame you for our relationship ending. And I like pacing, it helps me think. You hate pacing.”
She nodded into his shoulder.
“So she broke up with you because you are friends with me. I thought she liked you more than she hated me.”
“It wasn’t that we are friends.” He looked away, his hug loosening.
Evette stepped back. “Then why?”
Suddenly Derek wouldn’t look at her.
She stepped back in front of him, forcing him to face her. “Why?”
He still wouldn’t look at her.
“Derek. Look at me.”
When he wouldn’t she took his face in her hands and forced him to look straight at her. Laughing, he closed his eyes. So she poked him hard right in the stomach.
“Hey!” He grabbed her, softly throwing her over his shoulder. “You looking for a fight?”
“No!” She screamed as he tickled her.
He didn’t let go. It was several minutes of screaming, laughing, kicking, and poking before she managed to get her feet back on the ground.
She heaved a deep, long suffering sigh. “Now will you tell me?”
“Aww.” He shot her a devilish grin. “I thought I had distracted you.”
“Yes. But I didn’t forget. It’s hard to forget when I may have been the one to end a relationship without doing anything.” She paused with a grimace. “Did I do something and not even realize I was doing something?”
“No.” With a deep breath he repeated himself in a calmer voice. “No. You didn’t do anything. It was me.”
“Wait, now I’m confused. She broke up with you because of me but it was something you did?” She threw her hands up, ready to shake him.
He stepped back, shaking his head.
“Spit it out already before I go crazy.”
“Sarah was…is…convinced” He sighed. “She is convinced that I am in love with you.”
“What?” Evette stepped back. “But you aren’t.”
Derek’s gaze shot up to capture hers with a forcefulness that made her shiver. She couldn’t look away.
“I’m not?” He whispered.
Evette’s chest tightened. “You are?”
He nodded with a small chuckle. “I didn’t really think about it until Sarah threw it in my face. Now it’s all I can think about. It’s so obvious to me now. I don’t blame her for breaking up with me.”
“You…love me?” Evette stammered, a smile bursting across her face.
He nodded again and picked her up in a bear hug, her favorite kind of Derek hug. “That I do. And since I seem to be jumbling this whole thing up maybe now would be a good time to ask will you go on a date with me and be my girlfriend?”
Her laughter filled the air. “That sounds like a fantastic idea.”
