Taboo Love

Chapter 2

Just by Derek's tone of voice, the way he held himself up, I just knew he was going to be trouble. For anyone else, I don't know, but for me? Oh yeah, there's definitely going to be a problem somewhere here in the future.
I accepted his hand shake and suddenly, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my cold skin. I chuckled as Dani pushed his face away with the palm of her hand and he scoffed.

"Real mood killer Dani.", he said as he fixed his backpack over his shoulders.
"Yeah, well don't be a fucking weirdo Derek."
He shrugged as he looked at me, "I bet she liked it."
I laughed as I moved the hair that was settling on my forehead out of the way.
"Don't get it twisted. I may look easy but you've got the wrong idea. And my name is V, but you can call me Veronica. You're going to have to earn nickname status."

"Oh, so it'll be a reward?", he said as he leaned on the wall next to my bed, crossing his arms.
I looked at Dani, and she just shook her head.
"You're right, he is a fucking weirdo.
We both laughed as he mocked us and she pulled her wax pen back out.
"You better be careful. You get caught and mom's not going to let you go easy."

"I am a grown ass woman-", she paused to hold in the smoke. "I do what i want, when I want to. I don't care what our dead beat of a mother has to say with her alcoholic self."
He uncrossed his arms, and the expression on his face was enough to say that those words cut deeper than anyone could've thought.

"Yeah, a grown ass woman with childish and ignorant tendencies. Sure do have a lot to say about her when you're a dope head yourself, you hypocrite.", he said as he picked up his laundry basket, and suddenly an awkward void filled the air.
"Grow a fucking pair and watch what you say around people, asshole.", he added, turning around and leaving the room.
She handed her pen to me, and she chased after him.

"Derek, wait-"

I looked around the room, not really sure what to think as I went ahead and took another hit, and another, then set it with her things as I went to hop in the shower to get ready for work.

~~~~

My music was blasting as I turned the shower off, grabbing my towel from the railing and wrapping it around my body. I grabbed my speaker and my phone as I opened the bathroom door and began to walk to my dresser just to see Derek sitting on Dani's bed, with no Dani,, making me freeze in the process.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?", I asked with genuine concern on my face as I wrapped my towel tighter around my body as he just stared at me with no words seeming to form on his lips.

"Hello!?"
He blinked and his eyes rose up to mine.
"Nice eyes.", he said, referring to the red that filled up the previous white spaces around my pupils.
"You're not answering my question, get out dude." I said, grabbing my work clothes from the end of my bed.
"Let's just say I wanted to get a good look at you again.", he says, cocking his head to the side as he takes another glance.

"What I said earlier still stands." I said as I headed back to the bathroom, going to close the door when his hand suddenly stopped the motion.
"This isn't funny Derek. Find some business."
"I saw it all over your face when I walked in. Why are you denying it.", he said leaning on the doorway.
"What are you referring to?", I asked, going to close the door but again, he stopped me.
"You know exactly what I'm referring to. Usually girls would've pounced at me by now."
I raised my eyebrows at him and laughed, trying to cover up the exact thing he was accusing me of.
"Again, you have the wrong idea."
He inched closer to me, and I began to step back until my back hit the counter.

"Do I really? Or do you just not want to admit to the idea?"
I pressed my index finger to his chest, pushing him back from me.
"Yes, you really do. You're not some dude I want to get tangled up with, especially not my roommate's brother. And, on top of that, you're corny."
He grabbed my wrist to pull away from his chest, his eyes still locked in with mine.
"I'll have you locked in eventually. Who said it has to be a thing when we can just fool around."

I scoffed.

"Yeah, right. And just by that comment, I definitely don't want anything to do with you. I'm for the real shit, not some toy that you play with.", I said, pushing past him to leave the bathroom, but he took my hand and spun me back around to face him, his body inches away from mine as I felt the warmth of his radiating off of him.

"Come on now, maybe I do want something real."
"No. You don't. And not with me. You just want a fuck buddy, and that will not be me. Find somebody else."
I tried to pull away from him, but it was no use. Instead, he pulled me closer, his musky cologne surrounding me.
"But I want you.", he whispered, his glance switching from my eyes to my lips, and I didn't know what to say. It was just silence, the energy rising as we stood there as one.
"Like I said-", I pulled my wrist from his grip. "Find somebody else."

"Derek, what the hell are you doing in here? She's in a towel, you creep.", Daniela said as she walked into the dorm holding hangers and dryer sheets, yet he kept his eyes on mine, looking down on me, still not a single motion in his muscles.

"Derek!"

"Fine.", he says, his pupils still lingering in mine until he finally looked away towards Dani's location, but still, he stood so close to me, making it seem like he didn't want to leave my presence.

I can admit, a part of me didn't want him to leave either, but my self respect said otherwise. No matter how much I craved this kid, I knew better. I knew my morals.
He took one last look at me, then pulled himself away from my bubble and quietly left the room. I just stood there, still trying to comprehend what the hell just happened in the span of the three minutes and seven seconds of my time that was taken away from my precious minutes of getting ready. It took me a while to realize that Daniela was standing right in front of me, waving her hand in my face to attempt to get my attention.

"Earth to Veronica-", she said, stretching out my name. "Are you ok?", she continued. I blinked a few times to regain my sense of reality as my vision focused on her.
"What?", I replied, forgetting what she had asked me just a few seconds ago.

She gave me this look, squinting her eyes as her posture loosened, seeming like she already knew what happened.

"What did he say to you?", she asked and I shrugged while re-entering the bathroom.
"Let's just say he was being a boy."
"You don't think he's hot or anything like that, right?", she asked while plopping on top of her bed.
"I mean, he's attractive, yes, but I don't have any intentions.", I said, letting out a chuckle that I hoped masked my words.
"Are you positive?", she asked, hoping for reassurance, and I gave her exactly what she wanted to hear, knowing I was only lying to her and myself, but was only trying to deny it to myself in the process.
"100%. You have nothing to worry about."

"Good because I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to see my roommate and my brother having sex right next to me, and besides-", she paused as I just looked at her with a blank face, not really sure how to feel about that statement. "I don't believe he needs to be in a relationship right now, with everything going on with our parents, and just some issues he has within himself, I just don't think it's a good idea, and I've told him this multiple times but the little twat doesn't take what I say into consideration."

I just nodded, signifying that I understood where she was coming from, and I went to close the bathroom door when her voice stopped me.

"Victoria-", she paused, waiting for my acknowledgement as the door recoiled back open by my grip. "Promise me?" I gave her a smile and nodded.

"Of course. You have my trust.", I said, but my trust in myself was unreliable. She gave me a halfway smile as I closed the door to continue getting ready for work.