Page 74 of All In Good Time

The rumors about Derek had always been bad, but these were just outlandish. Half of them attributed his sudden and lengthy disappearance as something to do with her.

They weren’t far off about that—it just wasn’t as simple as they imagined.

“Hello?” Nicole waved a hand in front of her eyes.

Becca pulled away from the same small section of sandwich she’d been working on for the past five minutes. “What?”

“Thoughts on these theories? Or, perhaps, some insider knowledge.” Nicole tapped her notepad, where she’d scribbled down theories, with tick marks next to them for each time she’d heard them repeated.

“I’m not really sure.”

Nicole threw her head back and groaned. “Bullshit.”

“Nicole.”

“No, bullshit. Bullshit on this, bullshit on that.” She slapped her pad onto the metal bleacher, and it echoed in the air. Her joking, prying smile was gone now. “Iknowyou know. IknowMarty knows too. You both know stuff, and I feel like some squeaky third wheel trying to play catch-up in this little secret you’ve all got going on. I mean, come on! How can Marty share a secret with Derek Stokes and not tell me? I’m dying over here.”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Becca lied.

“I’m not stupid, Lewis. I speak three languages, okay? Four if you count how fucking good I am at reading body language.” Nicole held up her fingers, putting down one each time she listed off something. “Translation one: Stokes goes missing and, coincidentally, you and Marty both start acting like you’re hiding something. Translation two: Stokes shows up a week and a half later and you—the one person he can’t get enough of—avoids him like the plague. Translation three: Stokes won’t tellanyonewhere he was, and if anyone even mentions your name, he tells them to go fuck themselves.”

“He what?”

“Oh, translation four: you didn’t knowthateither.”

Becca sighed and gave up on her lunch. Nicole accepted the barely-touched sandwich without question and took a bite. “Please, Nicole. I-I can’t do anything else about it, and I’d rather just try to forget everything.”

Nicole’s expression went from offended odd-man-out, to protective friend. She leaned forward. “Did Stokes do something to you?”

“God, no.” Becca cringed at the thought of anyone thinking he’d done something wrong. “No. It…It was me. I did something I said I wouldn’t and ruined everything. That’s about it.”

Nicole put her hand on Becca’s shoulder. “That’s heavy.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s one way to describe it.”

The bleachers were supposed to be a quiet spot where Becca could get away from the gossip and, most importantly, Derek. Wishful thinking on her end.

A rush of chanting from inside the cafeteria drew their attention.

“What the hell is going on?” Nicole muttered, her interest growing when it got louder and moved from inside the cafeteria to the outdoor area where they were.

The chant gradually became clear—“fight, fight, fight.”

Nicole rose from her spot and walked to the top bleacher to look over at the action below. Becca didn’t care much until Nicole mumbled a quiet, “Oh, shit,” under her breath.

Interest piqued, Becca got up, too, and stood next to Nicole to lean over the edge and look down over the area.

In the crowd, it didn’t look like anything more than a typical fight. A couple of guys sending punches at one another, until one of them emerged at the top and got the upper hand. Something Becca never cared about.

But once she saw who was fighting, Becca cared. She cared more than she should.

Derek grabbed the kid by his collar, saying something into his face before tossing him to the ground. A couple of the guys followed Derek around, cheering him on by calling his name and patting him on the back. He didn’t eat up the attention like he used to. He just frowned and walked away from the crowd back inside, ignoring the people who urged him to continue.

Becca didn’t realize her hands were gripping tight onto the railing until they ached. This was the first time she’d seen Derek in a week. His eye which had been swollen closed before looked normal now, and all the bruises were gone—at least that she could see from her perch as he disappeared into the building.

Nicole’s attention was on Becca, waiting for something specific to happen.

Whatever Nicole expected her to do, Becca was sorry to disappoint. She turned and walked down the bleachers, opposite where the fight took place. She’d apologize to Nicole later about ignoring her calls, or maybe she would just pretend she never heard them.

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