Page 103 of Ours
“I wasn’t out there with him, Dad.” Derek sighed.
“Why was he alone?” Robert was used to the three boys being together.
“He wasn’t alone. There was a party.” Derek tried to disguise the frustration in his voice. What little information his parents gathered had all came secondhand. “I just decided not to go. Then the storm came in, and it was canceled, but Cory was still out there.”
“And you took off on your own like that?” Linda chimed in. “Derek, that’s so dangerous! You could have been hurt.”
“I was fine, Mom,” Derek half-lied. “I had Nic with me. Once we found Cory, we rode out the rest of the storm out in the cabin.”
“Is the cabin okay? What about your car?” Dad questioned.
“I didn’t use my own car, and the cabin’s fine, Dad.” Derek was starting to get whiplash being bounced between his two parents.
“I’m just glad you boys are all okay.” Linda steered the conversation back to what mattered. “I don’t ever want you running off like that again without telling me first.”
“How was I supposed to tell you, Mom?” Derek was done hiding his annoyance. “You haven’t been home in months.”
“I…” Linda didn’t have a response to that. “I’m sorry, Derek. Actually … your father and I are coming home a little early now, next week.”
“You are?” Derek was dumbfounded. He hadn’t even bothered keeping track of when they were supposed to be home.
“Yes. We’ve been gone longer than usual, son.” Robert confirmed their plans. “Hopefully when we get home, we can talk and catch up on everything.”
Derek was silent for a moment, completely caught off guard. “Yeah, Dad. Sure.”
“We love you, sweetie,” Linda told her son.
“Love you, too.” Derek looked around the room as he spoke, watching his other two friends engrossed with their own families. Last night had led to a lot of things changing. Hopefully for the better.
It was a few hours before Cory would be released, and Julia insisted that Derek come over and spend the night at their place, not wanting him alone after everything. Derek accepted, hidinghis reluctance due to not knowing how Cory felt about it, though Cory himself made no objection.
Nic went home with his parents, and Derek, after getting Jackson’s number from Stephanie, texted him to let him know he was driving his Jeep back to the diner. He left the doors unlocked, tossing the keys in the glovebox when he swapped over to his own car, smirking as he imagined Jackson’s stress over his car’s security. He then drove to his house, changed, packed for the night, and headed to Cory’s.
Things felt much weirder than it had any other time Derek had been over. After eating an oversized lunch Julia had prepared for them, the two boys went up to Cory’s room alone. After a few minutes of awkward silence, both boys attempted to break the ice at the same time.
“So do you want to—”
“I think we should—”
After both stopped, Derek motioned for Cory to continue, letting him take the lead on things here.
“I know we still have a lot of things to talk about,” Cory started to explain his plan for the evening. “But we need Nic here for that. He probably won’t be able to come over here until tomorrow, so for tonight do you think we could … press pause on all of that stuff and just hang out? Like we used to?”
“Yeah.” Derek smiled at Cory. He could do that. “Smash Bros.?”
The two spent the rest of the evening together, playing video games and watching TV, any thoughts of sex or romance buried under the mountain of pizza the two eventually ordered. Things didn’t get weird again until it was time for bed. The boys had shared a bed hundreds of times in the past—hell, they cuddled in one last night—but for some reason, Derek felt like he should be sleeping on the floor. Cory had to physically pull him onto the bed, assuring him that it was fine. Before the two slept, a fewtexts back and forth with Nic confirmed that he’d be coming over the following day to talk.
The two boys woke late in the morning, eventually plied out of bed with the promise of breakfast, once again far larger than it needed to be. Cory and Derek then headed back to his room to kill time until Nic got there.
Just before noon, a knock on the front door signaled his arrival.
“Hey, Ms. Davis,” Nic greeted Cory’s mother when she opened the door.
“Nic! Good to see you, sweetie.” Julia gave him a hug after letting him in. “The boys should be in Cory’s room. I’m actually about to run out to the grocery store, so I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Thanks!” Nic headed down the hall to Cory’s room, finding the door open and Cory and Derek sitting on the bed waiting for him. “Hey, guys.”
“Hey.” Derek smiled.
