My Boyfriend's Best Friend

by Pixie Perkins

  “Britt?” she snaps. “This better be important!”

  “It is,” I assure her. “Well…kind of.”

  She sighs. “I’m on a date, Britt.”

  “Oops.” I laugh some. “Sorry—tell Darren I say hi.”

  “Who the heck is Darren?” another voice asks.

  A guy voice that is not Darren’s voice.

  My eyes widen. “Del!”

  “Relax!” she hisses. “We broke up yesterday…I’ll talk to you later.”

  She hangs up and I blankly stare at my phone.

  Darren and her broke up?

  When yesterday?

  Why?

  Where?

  What?

  How?

  Why the heck doesn’t anyone tell me anything???

  I call Liv, but she doesn’t answer and I don’t bother leaving a message.

  Something tells me that she wouldn’t be too fond of the idea of spying anyway…

  Maybe Derek will help me.

  I call him and soon his voice comes on. “Hey, what’s—”

  “Derek,” I cut him off, “how’d you like to spy on Zach with me?”

  “I can’t.”

  “What?” My shoulders drop. “You too?”

  “I have plans,” he explains. “Actually…we have plans.”

  My eyebrows crease. “Dinner’s not until tomorrow.”

  “I know…I have plans for us.”

  Plans for us?

  “What do you say, Britty-Boo?”

  “Don’t call me that,” I say while groaning, “it was a joke!”

  He laughs even though it’s not really funny. “Yes or no?”

  I sigh. “I’m guessing you’re not going to tell me what you have planned, right?”

  “You got it,” he comments in approval, “see you in a few…dress casual.”

  He hangs up and I put my phone on “sleep” before slipping it into my back pocket as I walk into the family room. “Mom, is it okay if I go out with Derek?”

  I can always cancel if it’s not…

  “Of course you can,” she chirps, “just remember your curfew—and we’re watching the next movie tomorrow night, right?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I smile. “See ya later.”

  “Behave!” she calls after me as I run upstairs and I roll my eyes. “I will!”

  I quickly change tops, slip a pair of ballet flats on, do my makeup, and then thank God my hair looks decent as I go back downstairs.

  Soon the doorbell rings and I yell that I’m leaving before opening the door. “Hi.”

  “Hey.” Derek smiles some. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Uh-huh.” I step down and close the door behind me. “So no hints, right?”

  He shakes his head as we walks toward his truck. “Nope.”

  “None?”

  “None,” he echoes. “So don’t bother trying to get any out of me.”

  “Fine,” I grumble, pulling open the passenger door, “be that way.”

  I get in and he just grins as he closes the door for me.

  Where could we possibly be going?

  Think, Britt.

  Think.

  “Don’t over-think it, Britt,” Derek says, getting into the car and closing his door.

  “Are you a mind-reader or something?” I ask as he buckles his seatbelt. “You always seem to know what I’m thinking about.”

  He starts the car up. “I just know how you are.”

  “Ah, that’s right.” I put my seatbelt on. “I’m easy to read.”

  He mutters something under his breath as he pulls out of the driveway, but I can’t really make out what it is.

  Hopefully nothing important…

  Like the fact that Owen knows you and Derek are fake-dating?

  What? That’s not even what I was thinking! It’s true though.

  Owen knowing that Derek and I aren’t really together is important. And I haven’t told Derek.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” I quickly lie, “why would—”

  “I can tell. What is it?”

  Yeah, telling him is not a good idea. He’ll get mad.

  What are you going to tell him then?

  Aha—got it!

  “Where do think Zach’s at?” I try to sound casual. “And what do you think he’s doing? He wouldn’t tell me.”

  He raises an eyebrow, briefly glancing at me. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

  “Well yeah,” I reply somewhat honestly, “so what do you think he’s doing?”

  “I don’t know.” He squirms a bit in his seat. “Maybe he—”

  “Oh my gosh!” I exclaim in realization. “You do know what he’s doing!”

  How does he know and I don’t?

  Why would Zach tell him and not me?

  He sighs. “I didn’t say that—”

  “What is he doing?” I cut him off. “Where is he?”

  He licks his lips. “I don’t know exactly.”

  I cross my arms. “Tell me what you know!”

  “I can’t, Britt,” he replies in exasperation, “even if I wanted to.”

  I look at him with some level of ill will. “You mean to tell me that Zach swore you to secrecy?”

  “In a way…” he trails off, looking unsure, “yes.”

  “That’s totally unfair!” I uncross my arms. “Why do you get to know but I don’t?”

  “Britt, don’t—”

  “Stop the car,” I command him.

  “I’m not stopping the car,” he informs me with a slight scoff. “You need to—”

  “I’ll jump out,” I threaten with my hand on my seatbelt. “Stop the car.”

  I’m not really going to jump out.

  That’s ridiculous, I’m not looking to commit suicide…I’m just trying to get my point across.

  He looks at me like I’m crazy though. “Britt, move your hand away from the seatbelt.”

  Instead of listening—I unbuckle it.

  Del’s done it plenty of times, as have I, so I know there’s no real harm in it.

  Derek curses as he pulls off to the side of the road and then he puts the car in “park.”

  “What the heck is wrong with you?” he asks, reaching over me and putting my seatbelt back on. “Do you know how many people get killed from not wearing their seatbelts?”

  I find it hard to swallow as he looks at me intently, our faces inches apart.

  Somehow, I manage to shake my head. “N-no…”

  He stares at me for a few seconds then pulls away. “Are you going to behave?”

  Great, now I get to be treated like a kid.

  “Yes,” I mumble, “I’ll behave.”

  He nods before turning back on to the road and I bite my lip. “Derek?”

  “Yeah?”

  I look at my lap. “I’m sorry.”

  He sighs. “You’re forgiven.”

  Good.

  I’m still mad that he won’t tell me about Zach though.

  Chapter 38: That’s My Derek

  ——————————————————

  “Bowling?” I ask, closing my car door. “Really?”

  “What?” Derek looks at me with creased eyebrows as he walks around the front of his truck. “You don’t like bowling?”

  “I suck at bowling,” I grumble under my breath, “I always get gutter balls.”

  If I get lucky…I might hit one pin.

  One, lousy pin.

  I remember when we went bowling as a family some time last year, and I dropped my ball on an employee’s foot—of course it was an accident, but it was so humiliating!

  He kept wheezing: “My foot! My foot!”

  Among other things that is…

  So, it’s safe to say that I haven’t bowled since then.

  “Come on,” Derek urges with an encouraging smile, “it’ll be fun.”

  I reluctantly let him lead me inside of the buil
ding then while he pays and whatever…I look around, noting that there’s not a lot of people here.

  “Britt, shoe size?”

  “Uh, I’m a—an uh,” I stutter, “I’m a seven-and-a-half.”

  Right? I think so.

  Another reason why I hate bowling, you have to tell the world your shoe size.

  And I hate being put on the spot…it just makes me uneasy.

  Derek hands me a pair of black and white bowling shoes and I try to look at the bright side that they match my striped shirt.

  I follow him to our lane and sit down on one of the chairs when I realize that I don’t have socks.

  This could only happen to me.

  “What?” Derek asks, pulling his sneakers off. “Why are you frowning?”

  “I don’t have socks.”

  “I thought about that…” he trails off before pulling a pair of socks out of his pocket, “which is why I brought these.”

  I raise an eyebrow and point at the hot pink ankle socks. “Where did you get those from?”

  “Faith,” he replies with a shrug, “I figured they’d fit.”

  Okay, weird…

  “They’re clean,” he adds as if for good measure. “I made sure.”

  What?

  I hesitantly take them from him and after pulling my flats off, I slip the socks on.

  And oh my gosh are they soft. So soft.

  Like a fluffy stuffed animal. You just grab the cuddly thing and—

  “What are you doing?”

  Realizing that I’m hugging an invisible plushy to my face, I let my hands quickly drop. “Nothing?”

  “Uh-huh.” He gives me a disbelieving look, standing up, “I’m going to get a couple of bowling balls.”

  “All right,” I say as he walks off, “I’ll be here…putting my shoes on.”

  I shove my feet into the shoes and scramble to tie their laces.

  “There.” I sigh in approval as I stand up. “Done.”

  Now, where’s the ball-room?

  I being walking and mumble the signs out loud. “Bathrooms, arcade room, party roo—OOF!”

  Tripped again…I love how graceful I am.

  “Ow,” I whine, rolling over on to my back, “why are you such a klutz, Brittany?”

  “Here, let me help you.”

  I look up to see a familiar dark-haired, light-eyed girl holding her hands out to me.

  Violet Cummings.

  “Thanks,” I say, taking her hands as she helps pull me up. “Violet, right?”

  “That’s me.” She smiles. “And you’re Derek’s girlfriend?”

  I nod. “I am…Derek’s girlfriend.”

  Still not used to saying that.

  “I was totally clumsy after class the other day and crashed into him.” She laughs, making her eyes shine even more. “He was sweet enough to help me with my stuff.”

  “That’s my Derek.” I force a smile. “Always helping…”

  What’s wrong with me?

  I should be happy that Derek’s helpful, even if he is helping perfectly tanned girls that are tall and look like supermodels with pitch-black hair and cool blue eyes.

  “Are you here with him?” she asks, looking around.

  “Who?” My eyebrows crease. “Derek?”

  She laughs once again. “Who else?”

  “Right,” I drawl, “who else?”

  Blake. Shut up.

  She looks at me expectantly. “Well, are you?”

  “Oh!” I exclaim. “He’s in the ball-room…getting our bowling balls.”

  Yeah, ’cause what else would he be doing in the ball-room?

  “Well…” She clicks her tongue. “Tell him Vi says hey.”

  And then she walks off.

  Vi? Does everybody call her that?

  Or just Derek? No, that’s stupid.

  Why would he be the only one to call her Vi?

  “Got ‘em!” Derek announces, holding up two green bowling balls. He motions to my shoes. “Your laces are untied.”

  That would be the cause of my fall. Stupid laces.

  I drop to one knee and tie the laces of one shoe then switch and do the other one…making sure to double knot both.

  I stand up straight again and point to the bowling balls. “Are one of those mine?”

  He chuckles some. “I think these are going to be a little too heavy for you, Britt.”

  I cross my arms. “Let me be the judge of that.”

  They can’t be that heavy.

  He sighs. “Fine, suit yourself.”

  I hold my hands out for the ball and he shakes his head as he gives it to me.

  A groan immediately escapes my mouth as my arms sink from the weight…okay, so it is heavy.

  Darn it.

  “Told ya,” he says, taking the ball from me, “too heavy.”

  “Fine…” I pout, rubbing my arms, “you were right.”

  “Hey, don’t feel bad.” He grins. “It’s a habit of mine.”

  I roll my eyes at that. “I’m going to pick my own ball out.”

  So I go around him and enter the ball-room.

  “Let’s see…” I trail off as I examine a rack of bowling balls. “Which ball do I want?”

  I lift up a few to find that they’re too heavy and I blow some hair out of my face in frustration.

  This is hopeless.

  I’m just not meant to bowl…

  “Need help?” a light voice asks.

  I turn to see a brown-haired girl smiling while wearing—

  “You work here!” I exclaim, happily noting her nametag. “Thank goodness, I need a ball!”

  “No prob!” She walks past me and easily picks up a ball. “This one should work fine for you.”

  “Thank you!” I gush, taking the ball from her to find that it’s the perfect weight. “You have no idea how grateful I am!”

  She smiles. “You’re welcome.”

  “No, I’m serious!” I insist. “You should be like employee of the month or something!”

  “Yeah, thanks…”

  And then she dashes out of the room, obviously thinking that I’m completely weird/crazy.

  “Sorry!” I call after her.

  I should’ve dialed it back some.

  Too grateful.

  I start walking back to where Derek’s—talking…with…Violet?

  And smiling.

  And laughing.

  What the heck is he doing? He’s supposed to like Liv!

  Why is he flirting with Violet?

  Well, he’s not going to be flirting with her now.

  “You’re—”

  “I got my ball,” I interrupt Violet, holding the bowling ball up with my attention glued to Derek. “Ready to bowl, babe?”

  I know.

  Cringe.

  “Uh…yeah,” Derek replies, giving me a weird look. “Britt, have you met—”

  “Violet?” I cut him short. “Yeah, we met a few minutes ago.”

  I wish she had been the one that tripped…

  “Well, I better go,” Violet says before smiling at Derek. “I’ll see you in class.”

  I watch as she walks off, her long and beautiful hair swishing around—gag.

  “Babe?”

  I turn to Derek and roll my eyes. “She thinks that we’re a couple.”

  “Yeah, I know, but—”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Are we going to bowl or not?”

  He licks his lips then motions to the lane. “Ladies first.”

  Yay.

  I walk to where the line is and let out a deep breath.

  Okay, I can do this. It’s just bowling. No big deal.

  Quit stalling.

  Derek’s watching.

  I swing my arm back then bring it forward, letting the ball roll to the side…into one of the gutters.

  I. Hate. Bowling.

  “Want some help?”

  I purse my lips at his offer. “No thank you.”

  Please, I can do this
myself without any of his help.

  Once my bowling ball come out of the machine, I pick it up and walk to the line again, then repeat my earlier process of rolling the ball only to get another gutter-ball.

  I sigh and turn around, almost bumping into Derek. “Sorry.”

  “You’re fine.”

  He grabs his bowling ball and easily throws it, causing it to roll down the lane…perfectly, earning him a strike.

  How fair is my life?

  “Good for you,” I mutter, grabbing my ball once again.

  “Why don’t you let me help you?”

  “Fine,” I give in, “you can help me.”

  He smiles and leads me a few feet away from the line. “If you start away from the line you’ll have more force.”

  With my fingers in the bowling ball, Derek puts his hands over mine. “Now we’ll swing back.”

  He swings our arms back. “And then bring it forward.”

  After “swinging back” and “bringing it forward” multiple times, he finally says, “All right, let’s throw it.”

  Derek guides our actions as we move from our current spot to where the line is. “And here’s where you’d let it go…it’s three steps.”

  He grabs his bowling ball then walks back over to me. “I’ll show you.”

  I step aside and watch as he shows me the three steps, only half-listening though, because all I can really think about is how lucky Liv is.

  Why is she hesitating? Derek is such a great guy!

  She needs to hurry up before someone like Violet snatches him.

  “Got it?”

  My eyes widen.

  Shoot.

  I should’ve been paying attention.

  Derek laughs a little. “I’m gonna take that as a no.”

  He walks back to his first position. “I’ll show you again.”

  I nod, forcing myself to carefully watch him this time.

  “Swing your arm back, take a couple of strides, and bring it forward…” He lets the ball go. “Then release.”

  The ball rolls down the lane and knocks all the pins down but two.

  Why does he have to be so good at everything?

  Once the bowling ball comes out of the machine, he picks it up and chucks it at the two remaining pins…knocking them both down.

  “All right,” he says after the pins reset, “you try.”

  I slowly walk to the spot a couple of feet away from the line and mimic Derek’s steps: back, stride, forward—

  I let it go and…gutter-ball.

  Shocker.

  “It’s okay,” Derek assures me, “try again.”