In My Fiction

Chapter 1 -

Derek kicked his legs up on the coffee table, and ran his fingers through his short, black hair. There was nothing ever on TV. This was the third time he had flipped through all the channels, and seen the same shows, on the same networks, hoping something interesting would come on. But it was five after three. The shows that he saw now would be on for the next eighteen to twenty minutes. But, for lack of better things to do, Derek worked the muscles in his palm, flipping through the channels, all three-hundred seven, even the HD channels he couldn't receive, for the fourth time.
After another failed attempt at even the slightest bit of anything that could be considered entertainment, the tv was turned off, and Derek looked at his clock. 3:08. Excellent waste of day, so far. Directly under the the black and white clock was a calendar. Derek liked this calendar, he got it for free for being the 100th subscriber to dictionary.com. One of those neat little "word-a-day" things. Todays word was "Insanity." And, despite it being number three in his top ten favorite words, he couldn't define it to save his life. So, rolling lazily over to the other side of the couch, he peered up to the calendar, to see what the definition was.
"Insanity(n) - Repeating or continuing the same events, hoping or expecting a different result each time.' - Ben Franklin." Derek read the definition over and over again in his head, and even aloud. Then, thinking back to his past twenty-six minutes of life, realized he had been living insanity, in itself.
"Whatever..it's probably not even the right definition. Besides, how do they know what some old dude five hundred years ago said anyway?" Annoyed now, Derek rolled back over in more or less the same manner as he originally had, to find the same warm spot that he'd been sitting in since 10 a.m. The tv was turned back on, and just as he was about settle on "The People's Court", the phone rang. Being the lazy bum he was, Derek had pre-set ringers for the people who called him the most. This happened to be an old 80's song, the only one he'd gotten. "Crap. I forgot to call Teran.." Teran was Derek's on again off again girlfriend since senior year. Now, six years later, Teran had gone off to college. UNC at Wilmington. She'd grown up there, and new several of the teachers there. It was her dream school. Derek, on the other hand, had yet to even start classes after graduation, preferring to pursue his floundering acting career.
"Hey..babe..! I called you but you didn't answer. Didn't you get my voicemail?" Derek could be crafty when he wanted, or he would like to think that, but Teran was just a little slow to pick up on things. But after years of his lies, she knew when he was full of it.
"Oh shove it, D-wreck. This is the third time I asked you to call me when you woke up this week, why can't you think of someone else for a change?" D-Wreck was the nick name coined by Teran after Dereks fifth at-fault car accident. It sent him to the hospital, and broke his leg. It wasn't long after that before the rest of Dereks friends and family called him that too. He hated it, but played along. If anything, he was not one to kill a running gag just because it was a little offensive. And he was a little accident prone. Besides, it was just a joke, right? Derek came up with something to defend himself.
"I said I would call you when I got up if I got up after noon. I woke up at 11:34 this morning, and I was busy. I still am, a little."
"Doing what?"
"..Cleaning the apartment!" Grabbing a t-shirt from the couch, he aimed a carefully thrown shot into the corner, and with his available hand, rattled some silverware around in a glass jar.
"Yeah? Well, I'll be over there in about 10, if that place isn't spotless, someone has to get his kicks somewhere else tonight.."
"Oh no..what ever will I do.." Simply by the tone in her voice, he could tell she was kidding. They had sex, every night, reguardless of the condition either of them might be in. Once, Teran had the flu, and just when Derek thought she was about to climax, he found himself covered in vomit. Needless to say, that was the one night neither of them got what they wanted.
"Shut up jerk! I'll be there soon, hurry and clean up the place. Maybe if it's clean enough to fool me, I'll play xbox with you." Derek was an avid gamer, and one of the things that he loved about Teran was that she was too, she just enjoyed different types of games than he did. But he did have the only girl on the street who could own him any fighting game ever created.
"I love you too, sweetheart. Kisses!" In a mock-romantic tone, Derek blew kisses to his high school sweet heart and hung up the phone. 10 minutes later, Teran let herself in, to find him, asleep, in the exact same position as he was the day before, and not an item of clothing disturbed. Mad, at first, she couldn't help but roll her eyes and giggle. She started to remove her shoes, but then, noticing the small line of ants along the wall, decided against it, and set her bag down on the chair. Sneaking as quietly as one could in flip flops, Teran crept over to her dreaming boyfriend, and leaned in to kiss him, but before her lips graced his own, his eyes shot open, and his arms grabbed her wrists, all in one fluid motion.
"BOO!" Bellowed Derek, trying not to laugh. Teran screamed and fell backwards, landing her tight little backside on the coffee table, inadvertently sitting on a stray fork as well. She'd immediately jump back up, and hold her backside, pale white face turning a bit red from embarrassment, and maybe a little pain.
"Derek! You were supposed to clean up!" Emphasis on clean up, and she let go of one butt-cheek to slap her boyfriends arm on each syllable. Derek, chuckling, curled up under the pillows, using them for whatever protection they could provide. After the initial onslaught of Teran's deadly hands, Derek slipped out from behind the pillows and grinned up at her playfully.
"It's so much more fun when you help me though, it's like tag team or something."
"It's fun for you because I do all the work, and you watch tv!" Teran retorted, wrinkling her nose up at a pair of dirty boxers next to the empty bowl of cereal on the coffee table. Derek loved it when she did that. Getting to his feet, Derek wrapped his hands around her waist, and only being a few inches taller than her, let his head rest on her shoulder, swaying both of them to the constant lullaby in his head. It was the only thing that kept him from talking to himself, most days.
"So, what are we gonna do today?" He asked in hushed, semi-romantic tones.
"Well, mom wants to meet us at the hotel for lunch. She said something about a trip..her and dad are probably going on a vacation or something and want us to housesit. You know, feed the dogs and cats, keep the place clean, and discourage the neighbors from telling the guys in the crack house down the street that the place is empty." There wasn't really a crack house down the street.
"In other words, you want me to stay at the house while you, Tiff, and Megan get trashed?"
"Pretty much." With a cute little giggle, she twirled out of Dereks arms, short blond hair whipping him across the face. "Take a shower and put on some semi-clean clothes. I told mom you were trying to clean up your act, going in a wife beater and those elmo boxers probably won't fly at a four star hotel.." And with that, Teran fell into Dereks little indention in the couch. She was smaller than he was, but not by much, so her form fit neatly into his former spot, and she kicked her feet up on the coffee table, mocking him cutely. Rolling his eyes, Derek slithered off to the bathroom, to take a shower.
Later, the couple pulled up in the parking lot of Forest Hill Suites, where Teran's mother Jennifer was Operations Manager.
"Hey kids. Thanks for coming." Jennifer was a slim, attractive brunette, with glasses and laugh lines around her face. Derek would always joke about what side of the family Teran got her looks from.
"Mom! I'm not a kid! And neither is Derek!" Teran joked with her mom, playfully slapping her mother on the arm, following it with a sincere hug. "I never get to see you anymore, you're always in this damn hotel.."
"Well, it'll pay off when you're student loans are paid off before you're 30." Grinning, she returned the hug, eyeing Derek over her the shoulder, who was staring at a piece of abstract art in the entrance hall. The two ladies joined him.
"What's for lunch?" Teran gave her her high school sweetheart a dirty look. Derek immediately withdrew his comment by turning to look at the carving in the wall. "..nice..art..?" There was a moment of silence.
"Come on," Jennifer spoke up, to break the silence. "Lets go to the cafeteria." And the trio headed for the cafeteria. Once seated, they'd all order, and dine on salad while waiting for the meal to arrive, but Derek, being the male stereotype he was, only played around in his.
"So what's this big news that you had to drag us all the way out here to tell us?" Teran spoke through a mouthful of lettuce.
"You're pregnant aren't you?!" Derek joked.
"How'd you know!" Grinning mischievously, Jennifer shook her head. "Nah, I'm way paste the age where I can do that. Hell, I can barely get you're father to-"
"Mother! If you finish that sentence, I'm never speaking to you again." Teran shuddered, and tried to put away the thought with another forkful of salad. Giggling, Jenn followed suit.
"You're stalling..what's up Mrs. P?"
"Well, Greg and I have been looking into this foreign exchange program..it sounded interesting, so we applied..and we have a young man from France coming to stay with us..he'll be here next month!"
"Mom, that's great! How old is he?"
"Sixteen. He's an A student, and wants to go to Yale for international studies."
"In other words, he's some stuck up jerk looking for a free green card." Obviously annoyed by the idea of some strange boy coming into his life, even if indirectly, Derek leaned back in his chair and looked around the restaurant, hoping to see the waiter arrive with their food.
"Derek, that's so mean, he wants to learn about our country, not show up and disappear into the workforce." Teran sent a menacing look at her boyfriend.
"She's right, Derek. Would you like to go to some other land and learn about other cultures?"
"Nope, I'm good right here, in this seat, eating my T-BONE STEAK IF IT EVER SHOWS UP." The last part of his sentence emphasized to almost a yell.
"Oh...Derek.." Teran sighed, taking a sip of water. A few minutes later, the food arrived, and after slightly less-involved conversation, Derek and Teran headed back to Derek's apartment. Teran drove, it scared her when Derek drove during rush hour, and refused to get in the car with him until he took a state-sponsored drivers ed class. The rest of the day was uneventful, Teran went to work at the local coffee shop, Derek scanned a few classifieds in uninspired hope he'd find a job he'd be interested in doing. After 20 minutes, he spent the rest of the day on the computer, and listening to music. Teran showed up later that night to engage in their nightly rituals, and the couple fell asleep in each others arms.
The next morning, and Teran had already left for class. Rolling out of bed, he threw on a t-shirt and a pair of dirty jeans, and wandered out to the living room to fill his pre-defined seat in the couch, only to find that the seat was already occupied. Sitting their, watching TV, was some teenaged kid, not older than 18, probably younger. His initial reaction was anger, but, deciding that hitting a kid in the face before he found out who he was would be bad.
"..So.who are you? You better be one of Teran's friends, or you're gonna see the first floor of this apartment real quick."He asked, in a non-threatening manner, or is non-threatening as Derek could be. With the couch positioned away from the bedrooms, the child's face couldn't be seen, and there was no response. "Hey, I'm talking to you kid!" Again, with no response from him, Derek's original feeling of anger took hold, and he pushed cartoon-watching intruder on the shoulder, lightly. "Come on, now, talk, or do I need to talk for you with my fist!" Nobody said Derek was the smartest kid in the class, far from it. But still, without a response, Derek, stormed over in front of the kid, grabbed him by the t-shirt collar, and lifted him up to eye-level..and froze. Derek was staring at himself. An indistinguishable twin brother, only shorter and less framed in stature. Immediately dropping the pint-sized clone, Derek stumbled back a few steps." ..."What the ..hell?!"