Lesson #12: Walk away from Petty Arguments

As much as I hated waking up to the annoying sound of my alarm, today I dreaded it even more. I remembered Derek mentioning that he was coming over this morning, but there was no telling what time exactly that would be. I woke up late, due to the snooze button looking so appealing while I was still half asleep. Now I had only an hour before school, so I hurried up and hopped in the shower. I could have stayed in there all morning if I wasn't worried about Derek coming over soon. After standing under the hot water for a few minutes too long, I shut it off and dried off, then wrapped the towel around my waist.

I knew I should have considered the possibility, but I was not prepared for Derek to be sitting on my bed when I walked back into my room. There was a brown paper sack next to him, and he sat with his legs crossed as he scrolled through his phone. He slowly looked up, his eyes meeting mine only after scanning my body from my legs, up to my face. "Hey, good looking," he teased, a bit of a smirk on his lips. "You don't look too happy to see me."

"I need to tell my dad to stop letting you inside the house," I complained, tightening the towel around my waist as if that would make me less revealing. "I'll make your ass wait in the car next time."

Derek laughed, making me squirm. "What? You're telling me you don't enjoy walking into a room half naked with the most gorgeous man you've ever laid eyes on sitting on your bed?" he retorted, his eyes staring into mine. "That's like a dream come true for me."

Now it was my turn to laugh, but it was accompanied by an immense feeling of comfortableness. "Who says you're the most gorgeous man I've ever laid eyes on?" I shot back, raising an eyebrow. Derek's jaw dropped, but he had no response. "Can you, like, turn around or something? I have to get dressed."

Derek sighed, but scooted around until he was facing the wall. I quickly dug my clothes out of the drawer and got into them before he could turn around again. "I brought you breakfast, just like I promised."

"I see that," I answered, moving closer to the bed. "You can turn around now." He turned around immediately, grabbing his paper bag to pull out the contents.

He handed me my breakfast as I sat on the bed next to him. "So I was thinking," he started, glancing at me in a shy way that I'd never really seen from him before. "Well, since Lydia kind of knows that we're friends now, maybe we can talk more at school."

I almost choked on my french toast, so Derek put his hand on my back, a worried look on his face. "I'm okay," I mumbled with a small laugh, taking a drink of a water bottle next to my bed. I cleared my throat before looking at him again. "So, you really want to talk at school? We can actually. . . you know, be friends? For real?"

I couldn't tell, but it looked like Derek was. . . blushing? That was odd. "Yeah," he half whispered. We finished our breakfast soon after that, then it was time to rush to school before the first bell. Derek didn't even park in the back of the parking lot this time, which made me feel good. Though, we parted ways quickly after entering the building. Baby steps, I guess.

Scott met up with me at my locker, leaning back against the surrounding lockers. "How's it going?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "I noticed you and Lydia disappeared last night," he said quietly, inching closer.

I rolled my eyes, thumping him in the forehead to push him away. "Yeah, she wanted to talk to me about. . . Derek," I admitted, looking away from his eyes. I didn't want to admit to him that Derek had me all messed up right now, especially after telling him that I was going to stop hanging out with Derek so much to get over the little crush. That "little" crush was becoming something a little more difficult to manage. After dancing with Derek on my lawn last night, something felt different. "And she asked me to go to the party with her, but I'm already going with Erica. Derek said it's good that I turned her down. I have to play hard to get.

"Oh shit," Scott grumbled, visibly sighing. "I forgot that party was this weekend. Allison is making me go. At least you'll be there too." The bell rang, signaling five minutes before class would start. "We better get going." I nodded in agreement, following after him as we went to our first class of the day.

After school, we had our first lacrosse practice. I was a little nervous about it, but equally excited. As much as I was against starting a sport so late into my high school career, I was beginning to find joy in playing. It was actually a lot more fun than I had anticipated, so I wanted to keep practicing. That way, I wouldn't get benched.

Practice was out on the field, so anyone was welcome to come watch, and usually it was just the girls who had boyfriends on the team. They would sit in the stands on their phones, bored out of their minds. I knew this because of how many times I had to sit in the bleachers at practice waiting on Scott in the past years. However, the first practice of the year had a few more people, including Lydia, Derek, and surprisingly, Erica Reyes. Of course, Derek was sitting between them, acting as a wall. I couldn't help but wonder if he invited her on my behalf, to make Lydia jealous. As I huddled with the rest of the team, listening to Coach talk about how our year was going to go, I couldn't take my eyes off the three of them. It was only when another person, some really tall guy with pretty eyes and short brown hair, sat down behind Derek and wrapped his arms around Derek's neck that I tore my eyes away. My stomach was suddenly in knots, but I tried to ignore it. Everyone broke apart to start stretching,

"Everything alright?" Scott asked, jogging up beside me. "You froze. Is it because Lydia is here? Or is it Der-"

"Nothing," I cut him off, glaring at him. I wasn't sure what it was that was making me so upset, but I did feel bad that Scott was in my line of fire. We finished our stretches in silence, then listened to Coach bark orders as practice started. I expected him to go easy on us for the first practice, but I was wrong. I didn't mind too much, given that the guy I was trying to push away my feelings for was sitting all cozy in the bleachers with his hot boyfriend while the girl I was trying to date laughed at his jokes. Practice was a nice distraction. Not to mention, I apparently played better when I was frustrated, because Coach cheered every time I made a goal, or played well on defense.

When practice ended, Coach called me over to talk, and I tried to keep my focus on him, not on Derek and Brett, who were smiling and laughing an awful lot as they got up to leave. "What's up, Coach?" I greeted him, hoping this was nothing bad.

He smiled, clapping my shoulder approvingly. "Stilinski, why haven't you tried out for the team before this year? What I just saw out there, that was great!"

I laughed, my face a little red from the compliment. "Thanks, Coach. I guess I never really had the courage to try out until now," I admitted, twirling my lacrosse stick between my fingers.

He squinted his eyes at me, before smiling again. "Well, it's great to have ya," he said, waving me on. "Now get outta here. See you at practice tomorrow." I gave him a head nod before running off to the locker room to grab my things. Apparently, the showers weren't working, so I had to shower at home before going over to Derek's. That's if I was still going over there. Not if Brett was going to be there.

When I got to my car, Derek was waiting there. . . alone. I bit back a smile as I approached him, moving around him carefully to throw my bag in the back of my Jeep. "Where'd your friend go?"

Derek put his hands in his pockets as I turned around to face him. "Sent him home," he replied with a small shrug. "Him being here was a surprise. I told him I already had plans after the practice. He got mad that I wouldn't ditch, but he'll get over it." He didn't seem too torn up about it, so it made the knot in my stomach a little looser. "Do you want to grab something to eat and then head over to mine?"

"I can't keep leaving my car in the school parking lot," I joked, opening my car door.

Derek smiled. "Okay, so you drive this time." Without letting me respond, he walked around to the passenger side and hopped in, waiting for me to get in and start the car. "Come on, I'm starving."

I rolled my eyes, getting into the Jeep. "Okay, well I stink. I need to shower before we go anywhere in public. Can we stop by my house?"

Derek shrugged. "You're driving."

So five minutes later, we were walking into my house. Dad was at work, so Derek sat on my bed while I sat under the spray of the hot water for way too long, relaxing my muscles and trying to sort out feelings that couldn't be sorted. I couldn't shake the image of that guy all over Derek, but at the same time, Derek was with me, and not him. I couldn't figure out if I should be happy, or not. Also, Lydia was at the practice, which was good, but also only confused me more since I was so beat up about Derek and his little friend.

After my shower, I dressed in the bathroom and went back into my room only to find Derek fast asleep with his head on my pillow. He looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake him. I would have been content to sit there and watch him sleep, which was creepy, but he was cute. . . But his phone started ringing, which woke him up. He rubbed his eyes, glancing at me before answering his phone. I looked away, busying myself with something around the room as he talked.

"Brett, I told you, I had plans already," he mumbled, still half asleep. There was a long silence. "Stop- No, Brett, you can't hang out with us." More pausing. "Does it matter who I'm with? A friend. I'm not getting into this right now." And then he hung up, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

"Everything okay?" I wondered, trying not to show how satisfied I was that they were fighting.

"Lesson number 12," Derek sighed, laying his head back on my pillow. "Walk away from petty arguments. They're not worth it." He sighed again, heavier this time. "Also, boys are stupid, so I'm pretty sure that applies to girls too. Are you sure you want to keep trying?" I knew he was teasing, but for a second, I contemplated agreeing with him. If I called it off, I wouldn't be trying to get Lydia anymore. But then would Derek still talk to me? We were friends, of course, but if we didn't have a reason to get together as much, would he still spend time with me?

"Let's revisit that question after the party this weekend," I joked, watching his lips twitch into an adorable smile. "I think you still owe me some dancing lessons, right?"

"I'm too tired," he mumbled. "Can we take a nap first?"

I laughed, pushing him towards the wall so I could sit down. "I thought you were hungry?"

He scooted his head closer, almost in my lap. "Brett killed my appetite with his horrible attitude. I'll be hungry after a nap, though." He grinned, giving me wide eyes as he popped out his bottom lip.

I thought about it, then rolled my eyes. "What about your homework, Der?"

"Later," he mumbled, closing his eyes again. I sat there while he fell back asleep, until he was snoring softly into my pillow. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair, but I held back out of fear of waking him up. It was when he reached out and his fingers locked with mine that I realized I liked him for sure. There was no getting around this crush, because it wasn't just a crush anymore. Here he was, asleep, holding my hand, and I realized how happy I was in that moment. The thought of Lydia never made me that happy. Even being with Lydia the other night, even after she asked me to go to the party with her, none of those feelings compared to this.

But Derek had a boyfriend, and I wasn't about to break them up on purpose. I wasn't that kind of guy, no matter how much I liked Derek. So, for now, I was still on track to get Lydia. Maybe the more I got to know her, I'd like her just as much as I liked Derek. Maybe.