Dereck's Pov:

I groaned and snuggled deeper into the blankets and Vin's warmth. I heard him laugh but ignored it. Just like I ignored the blaring alarm when it went off. I was too comfortable and just too damn tired to even think about getting up.

"You gotta get up babe or we'll be late." He cooed running his hand down my chest. "Uggh don't care, let's just not go." I mumbled burrowing deeper into him.

His fingers found my hip bone and tickled. I jerked and my eyes flew open. He grinned and tickled me even harder.

"Okay okay I'm up. Stop!" I whined

"We gotta be at school in 30 minutes so get a move on sexy!" He chirped

"You're way too peppy. It's annoying and why the hell are you already dressed?" I asked getting out of bed and stretching, trying to wake myself up.

He shrugged. "I woke up before the alarms even went off. I'm not annoying, I'm amazing... At least that was what you were moaning last night, and the night before and the night before that and the one before that and"

"Alright! I get it... Shut up." I said blushing like crazy.

I threw the pillow at him but before it could smack him in his over inflated head he caught it. "If I had known sex was gonna make you a pain in the ass we would still be waiting!" I snapped.

He burst out laughing. I thought back on what I'd said and rolled my eyes at myself.

Note to self.. No talking until I've been up at least 10 minutes and my brain is functioning properly!

"Pain in the ass! Hahaha. Your's or mine sweeting? Because there has been a whole lot of switch hitting!" He was still laughing when I closed the bathroom door.

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I leaned tiredly on my locker as I waited for Vin to get his crap out of his locker. He shot me a grin and shook his head. "Babe you gotta perk up! How can you be so damn tired when we just had like a three week vacation?"

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe because I only got a few hours of sleep last night. While someone was snoring my ear off I was wide awake." I complained.

He slipped his arms around me and gave me a tender kiss.

"I do not snore. But you should've woke me up. Next time we go out of town we're not gonna fly in the night before. You get jittery and it screws with your sleep. If you're that tired we can go home. Tell the nurse you're sick or something."

"No I'm fine, once school gets rolling I'll wake up. I might crash in class if the teacher lets me." I said snuggling into him. The bell rang and I went to pull away but he just tucked me into his chest and led us to class.

The day passed by uneventfully and now we're in lunch. Vin made me sit down and went to get our food. I laid my head on the table and closed my eyes. I felt the chair beside me move and a few seconds later a gentle hand smoothed my hair.

"MMm that was fast babe. Whatdya get to eat?" I murmured finally opening my eyes. The smile I had died instantly and I sat up completely alert now.

For a few seconds neither of us said anything.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders but spoke anyway. "I'm back... Look can we talk? I just want to lay everything out and put all this crap behind us." His tone of voice was so very different then it had been the last several months.

I nodded. "Yeah but first I want to say I'm sorry. I honestly thought I'd only winded you. I was gonna go see you after the game but Vin thought I should give you and Evan time to cool off."

He smiled and shook his head. "No I totally deserved that. I know Vincent will be back in a minute. So I really want to get this over with before he gets here. It'll be less awkward that way."

I quirked my eyebrow for him to continue but I had a feeling this is where he goes into why he's never really liked me and how he was always into Vin and I stole him or whatever.

I don't particularly want to hear all this but if it'll stop the fights and drama I'll do it. He still hadn't said anything else so I figured I'd get the ball rolling.

"You've had a thing since Sophomore year for Vin and that was why you were cold to me. When we told you we were together you flipped and I-" His laugh made me stop

"No I've never had a 'thing' for Vincent. Yeah I considered him one of my best friends but that was it." He took a deep breath and continued.

"Actually it was you. No don't make that face at me. Really it was you I had a thing for. I don't know how it happened but all of a sudden I was crushing on you. My heart fluttered and palms would start to sweat when you were around. Before that I talked to you just as much as Vincent but once I realized I had feelings for you I just couldn't. You made me feel awkward and tongue tied. As time went on I got angry at myself for feeling that way. At you for being so amazing and making me fall for you when at the time I thought you were 'straight.' So I kept my distance trying to shake the feelings off and was a total dick to discourage you from being my friend. So you'd never catch on to what I was feeling. Then out of no where you and Vin start dating and that night was...... Well, shitty for me. I was jealous and hurt and yeah I was beyond pissed."

My mouth was literally hanging open and Robert laughed a little but leaned over and pushed my chin up to close my mouth. "But.... How.. You said that Vin..."

He shrugged and waved my inarticulate questions away.

"So I lashed out that night and you saw how that went down. I still cant believe Ariel tased me. Anyway everything just kind of snowballed from there. At first I thought there was no way you two would last even a month. Too much history together ya know. Plus you're both kinda hoes. But I watched as day after day you fell more in love with each other. I was an assh*le pure and simple and I'm damn lucky Vin and I never threw down over it. Because lets face it, the man is not someone to piss off. You might have messed me up a bit but I'm not so sure he wouldn't have put me in the hospital on like life support or something!"

I gave an awkward laugh but he just continued.

"Anyway, back to the confession.The night of the game after you dislocated my shoulder I thought about it all. At first I was even more pissed that you took it that far and was ready to throw down again. But the more I thought about the last few months, the more I felt guilty and incredibly immature. See I felt kind of like he stole you from me. Pissed because if I'd just manned up and told you how I felt maybe you'd have given me a chance."

I sat speechless while he continued on. The more he talked the more my heart went out to him. It all boiled down to him lashing out because he was hurt. We'd hurt our friend even if it was totally unintentional. Poor guy.

"You are the most chilled even tempered person I know but twice I'd pushed you beyond your limit. It made me realize what a d*ck I'd been and I'm beyond sorry. I really am. I hope one day we can all be friends again but I'm not stupid. I'm pretty high up on Vin's shit list and I deserve it. Even if this all blows over it'll take time for tempers to cool. I'd really like a truce in the mean time."

He looked so sincere and I felt bad for him. If I had been in his shoes I probably would have been a little crazy too. If I'd realized I'd loved Vin but stayed quiet so I didn't freak him out, only to find out he's dating another guy. I'd have been crushed.

I grinned and bumped fists with him. "We're good bro."

He smiled "In case you were worried that I'll make a pass at you or something. I wont."

"Now why would my boyfriend be worried about that?" Vin stood with his arms crossed and glared at Robert. I stood up and stepped between them.

"Chill out babe." I said trying to defuse the tense atmosphere.

Robert raised his hands up and spoke calmly. "Vin really I'm not here to start problems. I don't know how much you heard but this is the long and short of it. I apologized and told Dereck the reason I've been a prick. Yeah I had a crush on him but that doesn't excuse the crap I pulled. Before you get all crazy that I'm trying to step between y'all. I'm not and I don't feel that for him anymore. But I do miss my two best friends."

Vin narrowed his eyes for a second glanced at me and then sighed.

"Try anything on him and I'll have you pissing blood. Clear?" Vin growled.

Robert nodded.

"Welcome back Rob" He muttered shaking his head as if he already regretted saying that.

VIn grabbed our trays off the table behind him and sat in his usual seat. I bumped my shoulder with his. "You have nothing to worry about. You know that right?"

"I wasn't just talking about him trying to hook up with you. That threat applied to him causing you trouble too. It's too soon to tell if he was honest about wanting peace." He said shrugging.

I rolled my eyes. "Right and that had nothing to do with you being jealous that a good looking guy was saying he USED to have feelings for me." I teased making him smile.

"Nope not at all. I'm way hotter and I have documentation that you'll be mine always and forever!" He said smugly while he pointed to the chain and pendant I'd gotten him.

"Absolutely" I readily agreed.

I love that he wears it. In fact the only time he takes it off is to shower. My boy is just as whipped as I am. Thank god for that.