* * * * CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT * * * *
Dominick was lying in bed when Derek snuck into his room. He didn’t pounce on him and wrestle as usual. He simply climbed on top of him and relaxed.
“Um… Can I help you with something?” Dominick asked in confusion.
“What? You’ve never laid on someone before?” Derek asked.
“Not unless I was about to fuck ‘em.” Dominick answered.
“Oh. Well you should try it some time. It’s pretty comfy.” Derek teased. Dominick could feel Derek’s stomach shaking with laughter against his back. It made him laugh, which in turn made Derek laugh more.
“I miss you.” Dominick sighed. It slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it.
“What do you mean? I’ve seen you every day since you’ve moved here!” Derek laughed again.
“Yeah… But things have been different between us lately. It feels like we were closer when we lived two thousand miles apart.” Dominick confessed.
“Oh. I don’t know what you mean. Everything’s fine.” Derek replied. His tone changed to the voice he has when he’s rehearsed an answer. It sounded almost robotic.
“Maybe I’m just crazy, then.” Dominick decided to take the pressure off the situation.
“Like that was ever in question!” Derek laughed as he tickled Dominick’s ribs. Dominick bucked wildly and laughed as he shouted for Derek to stop. Derek got such a kick out of taking advantage of the fact that Dominick was extremely ticklish.
“Hey, I don’t have to work on Friday. We should go to that amusement park you wanted to check out and then do dinner or something.” Derek said after the roughhousing settled.
“I could probably do that. Let me check on something, okay?” Dominick answered bashfully.
“Oh. Him.” Derek muttered as he climbed off the bed and crossed the hallway.
“What the hell just happened?” Dominick asked himself out loud.
He grabbed his phone off the dresser and texted Logan.
Dominick: Hey sweet thang!

Logan: Haha. What’s up?
Dominick: Do we have plans on Friday?
Logan: Not yet. Wanna do something?
Dominick: Derek wants to go to the park and dinner. We should get together on Saturday, though!
Logan: That kid is so gay, I swear to God.
Dominick: Haha. So we’ll get together Saturday, then!
Thursday night Derek came home with some exciting news. At least he thought so.
“We got invited to a party!” He exclaimed.
Dominick didn’t respond.
“We gotta leave in like an hour. Do you need to shower?” Derek wasn’t picking up the hint.
“I’m not going to another party with you, Derek.” Dominick answered sternly.
“Are you kidding me?” Derek asked, “That was a long time ago!”
“Not long enough. Have fun, though!” Dominick stood his ground.
“C’mon, Nicky. You’re my best friend and we can’t even hang out together anymore?”
“Sure we can. Just not at parties.”
“This isn’t even at Gina’s house. It’s another friend from work. It’s not even a girl I’m trying to get with!” Derek pleaded.
“I’m gonna be honest with you right now. Our friendship hasn’t finished healing after our last party together. We don’t need to add any stress to it.” Dominick argued.
“Please?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Have I been talking to a wall for the past ten minutes?”
“So that’s something else you’re going to hold over my head for the rest of our lives?” Derek sounded more angry than upset now.
“You clearly don’t care what’s being held over your head or you wouldn’t do the shit you do, Derek. Whine all you want. I’m not going tonight.”
“Glad I have such a forgiving best friend.” Derek muttered and started walking away.
“Since when do you have a best friend?” Dominick slipped. That was a little more harsh than intended.
Derek stopped in his tracks and turned back to Dominick. Dominick resisted making eye contact with him for a few seconds. He finally looked toward the stairs when he realized Derek wasn’t moving.
Derek looked devastated. His face was dropped completely and his gaze wasn’t even directed toward Dominick. It was like he slipped into a coma or something.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” Dominick started. Derek continued his trance for several seconds before responding.
“Don’t worry about it.” He finally said. He turned slowly and continued a slow walk down the hallway. Dominick felt terrible. He followed up the stairs after a few moments of total silence.
“I’m really sorry. When people hurt me, I think of horrible shit to say to them. I had a long walk home to think of a few for you that night. It slipped out because I was upset.” Dominick explained.
“No, I get it. We’re not even best friends anymore.” Derek answered solemnly.
Dominick couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he walked out of the room. The truth was, they were growing apart rapidly since the events of that night. Dominick’s guard was up. The more Dominick thought about it, the worse he felt. He wished he could be like Derek sometimes and not care what other people thought.
After a half an hour, he returned to Derek’s room dressed for a night out.
“Are you going out?” Derek asked, still with a somber tone.
“We’re going out. Get dressed.” Dominick answered.
Derek’s mood visibly improved as he got dressed for the night.
When they arrived at his friend’s house, she was waiting outside for him. Dominick was having a mean case of déjà vu.
“Hi, I’m Kellie!” she extended a hand to shake.
“Dominick!” He smiled, shaking her hand.
She was gorgeous. It was rare for Dominick to find a female that he was really attracted to. He saw girls that had nice features usually, but rarely did they capture his attention like this. Her long blonde hair landed perfectly across the front of her chest, outlining her breasts. Her dark tan brought out the brown in her eyes. Her teeth were perfectly white and her smile was genuine. Dominick was surprised to like her so much on his first impression of her.
They followed her into the gigantic house. The party was in the basement, which might as well have been its own house. Dominick was thrilled to see that the group looked a lot like his friends back home. They had the same “feel” to them.
Kellie introduced them to several people before leading them back to the couches in the corner of the room. There was a group of people playing a drinking game at the table in front of them. They joined in after the first round was finished.
Dominick instantly clicked with everyone. They were all mellow and funny, which was perfect. Derek still seemed down, though. He was present and not texting people as usual, but it didn’t seem like he was having a good time.
A few hours later, everyone was playing beer pong and eating the Mexican food that Kellie’s mother had ordered. Dominick noticed he hadn’t seen Derek in a while, though. Kellie was playing beer pong, so he didn’t sneak off with her. The bathrooms were empty, too. Dominick texted him to figure out where he was, but there was no response.
After searching the house, he finally found him in the laundry room laying on top of the washer and dryer in silence.
“Derek?” Dominick edged closer to him. Derek shifted his head slightly to view Dominick, but didn’t respond.
“What are you doing?” Dominick asked.
Dominick was right beside him now. He put a hand on Derek’s thigh gently.
“Just taking a break. I think I drank too much.” Derek lied. Dominick had seen him “too drunk” a few times. He typically got obnoxious and volatile, but never introverted.
“What’s wrong?” Dominick asked after a period of silence.
“Nothin.” Derek answered.
“Do you want to leave?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Okay. Well I’ll come back and check on you again in a few, alright?” Dominick assured. Obviously he wasn’t in the mood to talk about whatever was on his mind.
The party continued without Derek. Kellie didn’t ask where he’d disappeared to for another hour or so when the party was starting to wind down. They went back to check on him again and he was in the same position as before.
“I’m gonna go warm up the car and we’ll head home, okay?” Dominick told Derek.
“Okay.” Derek answered solemnly.
Dominick went outside and started Derek’s car. It was freezing outside. When he went back into the house, he used the restroom before returning to the laundry room to retrieve Derek.
The only problem was Derek was gone. Dominick checked around the house again. He wasn’t on any of the couches or in any of the bathrooms. He checked the car to see if he went out while Dominick was in the bathroom. Nope. He tried texting and calling, but there was no response again. He began to panic, thinking he was walking down the street somewhere in the middle of the night. Maybe this was his way of turning the tables.
He finally decided to check upstairs for him. When he reached one of the bedrooms, he heard Derek’s voice. He knocked on the door quietly.
“Come in!” Kellie said.
“Is Derek in here?” Dominick asked.
“Yeah he’s right here.” Kellie answered.
“What the fuck, Derek? I went out to start the car and you vanished! You could at least have the courtesy to answer my calls so I know you’re not wandering the streets alone!” Dominick ranted.
“That’s kind of your routine, isn’t it?” Derek replied.
“Whatever. I have the car started. Are you coming or not?” Dominick asked.
“Don’t take my car!” Derek murmured.
“You know I don’t sleep over at parties. I’m going home. Are you coming with me?” Dominick asked again. Derek didn’t bother to respond.
“Fine. Figure out how you’re getting home tomorrow because I’m not coming back for you, asshole.” Dominick stomped down the stairs and out the front door.
He was fuming the entire drive home. This just confirmed it. No more parties.
He couldn’t sleep when he got into bed, so he turned on his lap top. There was an unread e mail from Jennifer in his inbox. She had found a house and wanted to know when he’d be moving to Los Angeles.
Logan was the first thing that came to mind. Things were really working out with Logan and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to walk away from that. Not yet anyway. As much as he enjoyed Logan’s company, there was something missing, though. He just didn’t think they were “soul mates” if such a thing existed. That’s not to say that Logan wasn’t in his heart. He did like him a lot… Ugh. What a mess.
Left with the option to continue thinking about Derek, Logan, Jennifer, and Los Angeles, he opted for sleep instead. It took a half hour of staring at the ceiling, but Dominick finally got some rest.
To be continued...