Friday afternoon and I hadn't decided on if I were going to see Janice or not. Why should I? Should I? Could I? Would I be able to keep from blowing up in her face?

"Hope," Hailey said and I looked at her.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Give Derek a shot," she said.

I sighed. "Hailey—"

"No, listen," she said. "He likes you and you're a good person. I don't care if you two get together. He told me what you said. I don't wanna hold you back."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded and gestured for me to turn around.

I turned around and Derek was standing there with a single rose and handed it to me. "Will you go to prom with me, Hope?"

"O-oh, I..." I laughed nervously and looked at the rose and back at him. "Okay. Yeah, sure."

He smiled and took my hand. "Come with me."

We walked out of the school and he set me in his passenger seat and started driving. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"My dad wants to put a face with a name," he said.

He talked about me?

"You okay?" He asked, pulling into a neighborhood.

I nodded. "Yeah, just didn't expect all this."

"I'm just glad this finally happened," he laughed.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "And when do you have the time to talk to your dad about me? I thought he was always at work or bars."

"He is, but since I don't sleep well, I'm up when he gets home—if he comes home—and I fill him in. Like I said, he's a good guy. He's more of a big brother than a dad," he said.

I nodded as he pulled into the driveway and we went inside. What I assumed to be his dad, was sitting on the couch and he looked at us and smiled. "Is this the infamous Hope?"

"The one and only," I chuckled extending my hand.

He just hugged me and I laughed awkwardly, looking to Derek.

"Dad," Derek laughed.

"Sorry," he let me go and I just smiled.

"It's okay," I waved it off.

"So, you hungry? Thirsty?" He asked.

"No thank you," I shook my head.

"You're all bone though," he gestured to me.

"Dad," Derek said and he held his hands in surrender.

"Okay, I get it. I gotta run back to work, but great meeting you," he smiled, leaving.

"Well he's nice," I laughed.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "So, you wanna watch TV? Go out?"

"TV sounds fine," I said.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I shrugged.

"You just seem distant," he said.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" I checked.

"I'm great," he said, pulling me in a hug.

I melted in the hug and just let him hug me. He petted my hair and I could fall asleep standing up, but I wasn't going to. He rubbed my back and I pulled back. "So what do you wanna watch?"

He laughed. "I don't care."

We sat on the couch and flipped through channels. Suddenly I found myself asking, "Do you remember your mom?"

He seemed surprised, but answered. "Hardly. We weren't close."

"If she got clean and sober, would you forgive her?" I asked.

He sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. Why?"

"I was just curious," I said.

"It'd have to depend on a lot of things, but I could forgive her. Apart of me already has. She didn't put me in harms way. Like, she did, but once the divorce started and she left, she never looked back. I probably would've turned out worse had I lived in that environment," he said.

"Janice killed my dad. Not in self defense. She told me everything," I shrugged. "I'm having a hard time forgiving her."

"I would too. But you're Hope, you'll come around. Maybe not tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, but you will. You always do," he said.

"Not always," I looked down, thinking of Wade and Eric and the Trio From Hell.

He seemed to pick up on the last one, because he said, "What they did was awful and sick. They had no right. And like with Janice, may not be any time soon, but you have a good heart."

"Thanks," I said, laying my head on his shoulder.

He rubbed my arm and kissed the top of my head. "Get some sleep, if you want."

"No, I'm okay. Let's watch Family Feud," I said as he scrolled through the TV channels and landed on it.

He clicked on it and we acted like we were in Orlando, playing Family Feud. Sometimes our answers were good, other times I wasn't sure what were thinking. Derek and I had a really deep connection that I didn't feel with Chase.

Chase was nice at first, but he was always on the go, making us do things I had no clue of. And he didn't act like a boyfriend. He just acted like a guy who liked me. But Derek... He was a gentleman, his eyes made my heart sit on my sleeve; exposed and vulnerable. He always cared about how I was, even if he didn't admit it to me or hisself at first.

I couldn't believe I wasted all this time with Chase and not even giving Derek the chance he deserved. We were together now though, so that was all that mattered. He wasn't gonna let anything happen to me—I was sure of it. If he still wanted to be with me after all my emotions I'd gone through since meeting him, then I was set.
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So I dunno if this was the end or not! Maybe 1 or 2 more chapters? Help me! Haha I love y'all so much!
WritingMelody🙏🏻❤️✌🏻️