Money Can't Buy Everything

Chapter 16 Meet Up

---Derek's POV---

Ding..

Ding..

Ding..

I hear my phone beeping at me, waking me out of my sleep.. that It doesn't feel like I got any sleep at all. I reach out to try to find my phone and when I finally do, I open the screen to see why my phone is beeping. I blinked a couple of times in this dark room, looking at my bright phone screen, seeing it's from Missy. I sit up quickly to make sure I'm focusing when talking to her.

'You didn't mess up anything........ I just........ I don't know!......... dammit I'm sorry.... its late!" She sends multiple messages feeling like an i***t, but I really don't think she is one. I wasn't born without a heart, I can sympathise. 'Let me talk to you about this please.' I asked her hoping I can convince her even if it's late. 4 am, to be exact. But she is up and now so am I.. So might as well try.

'OK, that's fine.' she replies, making me smile as I jump out of bed before typing back. 'You can come over unless you want to meet somewhere outside again like before.' I waited for a moment before I finally heard a Ding again. I look down to see her reply that gets my heart racing. 'OK, if you're really up for this, I'll meet you at your place.' I smile but jump out of bed quickly, cleaning up my place, throwing anything I have sitting out, making it look a little more organized in here. I'm a pretty clean-kept person, but I don't want her to see the couple of messes I have made.

'517 16th street' I message back making sure she knows where she is going since she is not getting any sleep, anyways.. or maybe she just got off of work.. who knows. I keep running around the house making sure everything looks alright for her before turning on the porch light. I start to pace back and forth before changing my shirt into one that looks better and the same for the shorts. I throw some gel in my hair, making sure I look nice with her coming over.

I hear a resounding knocking, since it's just me in this big house, it almost echos at the sound of her knocking. I quickly made my way down the stairs and to the front door, opening it slowly to see that it's her looking around outside, not noticing that I had opened the door just yet. She checks her watch, before she starts to get cold feet, saying to herself, "You're so stupid.. what are you doing here really?" I smile as she talks to herself like I do with myself. "No you're not." I say back to her, making her jump and squeal. I jumped in response before saying apologetically, "I'm so sorry Missy, I thought you heard me open the door."

She holds her chest as she laughs at me, then shakes her head. "No I didnt." I stare over at her for a moment as I watch her nervously fidget with her hands. "Oh I'm sorry.. please come in." I invite her while gesturing with my hands for her to enter as well. I watched a smile emerge across her face as she takes my invitation, entering my place. "Wow, this place is beautiful." She says, looking around as I shut the door behind us. "Thanks, I searched for a house for a while but when I saw this one, I was sold." I explain to her as she bites her lip, nodding at me. "Well stunning choice." she softly says to me as I respond without hesitation. "Well I'm great at seeing the beauty in things that everyone else might not see." She looks at me noticing I'm staring at her and I think she gets what I'm implying, since she is now blushing. "Are you hungry or thirsty?" I asked her, leading her to the kitchen. She keeps wandering as she looks around. "Thirsty, yes please.. um.. Do you live here alone?" She asks me curiously.

"Yes.. it gets pretty lonely honestly. But I want a family eventually, so this place will be perfect when that finally happens." I say to her, just passing by, grabbing myself a drink, trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible. "So.. did you just get off of work?" I ask her as she nods at me not answering outright.. still not wanting to talk about her job but I won't be pushy. So I got her the drink she wanted, before leading her through the house and to the main entertainment room. I quickly made my way around the room grabbing my weed kit and supplies to load a bowl to smoke. She follows me around and in the living room as I flop down on my couch and put on some music before loading the bowl. I feel her sitting down right next to me on the couch as I just try to act as casual as possible hoping she can feel comfortable around me.

"So why are you up?" She asks me softly before I reply just as softly. "I couldn't sleep." I can see in my peripherals that she is staring over at me. "Why not?" I think she knows why but I'll tell her if that is what she wants from me. "I couldn't stop thinking about you and hoping I didn't mess this up. I just didn't control myself around you and that was obviously the wrong thing to do since I didn't respect you and I'm so sorry.. not about the kiss itself, because it was amazing. Can't be sorry for that." I find myself babbling before I feel his hand get placed on top of mine. The warmth of it gets my attention so I just shut up before looking over at her.

"You were fine.. It's my fault.. I'm just.. scared honestly." she whispers to me, looking away, instantly losing the little bit of confidence she had left. "What scared you?" I ask her, just wondering if there is something I can do to help ease her mind or fix this problem. "The way you make me feel." She states even, softer only saying it to herself but I heard it loud and clear. "Why does that scare you?" I ask her curiously before she quickly responds, "Because if I give into these feelings, it's just going to hurt so much more when you leave me like everyone else has."

"I don't think there is anything you can tell me about yourself that I would leave you over." I explained to her before reaching over and lightly placing my hand on her leg. She quickly jumped up and walked to my glass back door, staring out at the stars or whatever. "I'm sorry Missy."

I said to her as she sniffled lightly but shaking her head. "Derek, I'm not lying to you about this.. but I'm broken.. I have been hurt so many times and done so many things, that I don't even know what to do to have a healthy relationship." She states to me before I reach out, touching the sides of her arms, to turn her around and pulling her into my frame. "Its ok we all are broken some way, some how.. But we can always try to get through this together. I'm more than willing to try that with you.. like smoking.. come on, let's smoke. That will make you feel better." I stated to her as she nodded to my chest. I grabbed her hand, slowly pulling her beside me to the couch. I hand her the loaded bowl so she can green it. She smiles and takes a hit before passing it back to me.

"I love this song." She states starting to sing under her breath to herself. I just listen and observe her being her playful self and to say I'm astonished is a complete understatement. "Who is your favorite singer?" I ask her as she scoffs at me. "That's not possible to decide.. there are so many I love and for so many different reasons that I couldn't ever pick a better one. Aretha Franklin for her rumbling soul-filled voice.. to Khalid, whose music always makes me relax.. To Bob Marley, whose music makes my body want to dance every time.. I just can't choose when there is so much more that I love for plenty of other reasons." She exclaims to me, making me smile. "They are good.. But I'm a classic kind of man. I love the swag Frank Sinatra brings to the table or the fluency of the Beatles have, and I love the style NF brings to the table along with versatility by MGK." I claim making her smile right back at me.

So this is where the debates about our likes and dislikes started. We debate and discuss, talking about everything we can think of leading from one topic to the next, just genuinely enjoying each others company. I don't think there was a moment that she didn't have a smile on her face. Those bright whites and petal lips forming into the most beautiful smile, that creates the most enthralling laugh. The combination of both is so contagious that I can't help but smile just as much as her. The more we talk, the closer we inch across the couch towards each other. Until she gets right next to me but instead of stopping like I expected her to do. She grabs hold of my arm and wrapping it around her shoulders so she can sit with me.

We keep talking together until, at some point, she falls asleep next to me on the couch. I notice her adjust, causing her body to slowly move down the couch and my arm, until she is fully leaning on me. She adjusts more into my side, making me smile as I make sure my arms are comfortably wrapped around her. I let her snuggle into me instinctively before I get comfortable closing my eyes, letting this feeling take over. Just loving this moment with her lying completely melted into my side. I let out a deep relaxed breathe, taking in her sweet scent that lulls me into a relaxed state before letting the darkness consume me.