Ivy was back at school. The weekend after everything happened, she pulled herself together, caught up all her school work and woke up early Monday morning completely refreshed and ready. Lindsay had been pissed to say the least but after a few apologies and a little bit of gossip, she was her normal self again. Ivy had told Lindsay that this was the week her parents had died, all those years ago and so she had taken some time off to get away and rethink her life. Lindsay seemed to buy it.
Or she was just too busy trying not to break the news that she and Kurt were finally together. Ivy knew it before she said it. Even under her anger, Lindsay was bubbling with that teenage girl 'I finally got together with that cute boy I like' look. Ivy laughed and congratulated them both. They were good together and they looked happy. Plus, it meant that Lindsay would stop sleeping around so much and bringing random jock guys to sit with them at lunch.
It had been almost three weeks now since Ivy had last seen Heath or Derek. Heath; despite all his boasting and gloating, had disappeared, seemingly scared. And Derek, well, Ivy had no one idea what had happened to him. She had gone to church both Sundays since then and she hadn't seen him at either service. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to see him.
He made her heart flutter, her stomach hollow and her breath leave her. He made her palms sweaty and her cheeks flush red when she thought of him. But she still wasn't sure. He was a minister. They weren't allowed to get involved with anyone. Let alone someone as young as herself. Derek was what, 34? Ivy wondered how many times she had pondered this.
Almost every day she thought of him. She thought of his sexy body, his hard stomach and chest, his tattoo and the scares that decorated his muscular torso. She thought of his beautiful bronze eyes and dark, wavy hair that always look slightly unruly. She thought of his strong, lightly stubbled jaw and the curve of his mouth when he smiled, she imagined his strong arms around her. Embracing her. Safe.
She knew though, that her life was much less complicated without him. She had not felt whole before she met him true, but maybe she just felt less empty while she was with him because she was too busy worrying about all the trouble he was causing. She had to admit she had been lonely the past two weeks. Especially with Kurt and Lindsay dating now. She felt like a third wheel most of the time. Even when she went to visit her grandparents for the weekend, she had felt out of place.
She was back in the city now; it was Thursday night. Tomorrow would mark three weeks since she had seen Derek. That was good. She had heard it took three weeks to make or break a habit. Derek was just a habit. If she could go three weeks without him, then she would be fine and she could move on. In theory.
She sat at her desk in the small study, right next to her parent's room, studying for her exams. There were more coming up in about two weeks. She hated exams. You only just finished them before you have to start studying for the next ones. Next week would be fairly quite at least. There were some cheerleading competitions coming up the week after that. Ivy was lucky she was quite talented, otherwise she would have been cut from the team for missing so many practices. She had been to practice every day since. Ivy decided it was fair to say, she really had her life on track now. In a few weeks, she would be out of the city and back home with her grandparents, exams finished and ready for spring break.
Derek fumbled with the keys to his apartment. He opened the door and stumbled in, barely making it to the couch before he collapsed. The past weeks had been rough. He would work all day and drink all night. It glanced at the clock. His vision was slightly blurry and he couldn't see straight. He figured it was around 2am.
Derek drank a fair bit when he was younger. But only on weekends, wild Friday and Saturday nights. Before he met Ivy, he had been sober for almost 3 years. Now, he was getting drunk most nights for the past three weeks. Luckily, with the help of a lot of aspirin and some old hangover tricks, he was still managing to hide it from the other ministers.
He couldn't sleep at night. He tried. Thinking of Ivy would keep him awake. And if he ever did get to sleep, the nightmares would haunt him. He would wake up in a tangle of sweat and bed sheets, heart pounding. Each day he looked worse. The dark rings of sleeplessness under his eyes would grow and his cheeks would get hollower. He had seen Ivy at church the last two weeks but both times retreated to his office, locked the doors and not come out until well into the evening.
He didn't know why he didn't want to see her. He knew he needed to resist, and he guessed that avoiding her would be the easiest way to do that. But it was killing him. Literally. If he kept drinking like every night, he was going to get himself killed. Especially seeing that he went to shady bars in dodgy neighbourhoods, to ensure that no one he knew caught him out getting drunk.
He thought about her every minute of every day. Every drink he drank, every step he took, he was thinking about her. He thought about her laugh and her smile. The curves of body and her perfect ass. He thought about her full lush lips and caramel tanned skin. Her dark, wavy hair and he perfect breasts. No matter how he tried to distract himself, it always came back to her. The only thing that stopped her from coming into her mind, the only thing that let him sleep at all; was the drink.
He couldn't help but hate himself for what he had allowed himself to become over the past few weeks. He was sick. Sick and dying and there was only one cure. Ivy. She was his cure.
The next day went like any other for Ivy. She woke up, went to school, watched Kurt and Lindsay talk, laugh and flirt over lunch, then went to cheer practice for a couple of hours.
Her life was almost exactly the same as it had been before she met Derek. Except a lot lonelier. Now she was living by herself in the city and her two best-friends were dating. She felt more empty now than ever. Ivy stood outside in the cold night air, the city was silhouetted against the evening sky. Lindsay had just left to go and hang out with Kurt for the evening. Something about catching a movie then trying to sneak into some clubs.
Ivy wondered what she would be doing on her Friday night. She didn't have a lot of close friends and she wasn't about to join in on Kurt and Lindsay's date. She leaned against the brick wall outside the gym and wondered about it for a moment. What she really wanted was to go to the church. Talk to some random minister about her life, her loneliness. She really needed some more friends. Maybe then she would have someone other than a minister to talk to.
She decided to go. She would keep an eye out for Derek and leave right away if she saw him. She doubted she would see him. She was fairly sure he was avoiding her. When she told him to leave that day. She hadn't planned on not seeing him again. It was only after he hadn't come back or been at church that she decided she was better off without him anyway.
Ivy made it to the church within a few minutes. She stepped in, grateful that despite its ancient looks, modern heating was appreciated by the church too. Ivy turned and was about to walk up the aisle when she saw Derek standing at the other end. He was frozen, still as a statue. Staring at her. She froze. She knew her plan was to leave if she was him but she couldn't. She just stood and stared right back at him from the other end of the church.
She noticed how terrible he looked. His cheeks were sunken, there were deep, dark rings under his red eyes, his hair was messy and face unshaven. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.
Before either of them could say or do anything a voice broke their connection. "Minister Heathen. You are dismissed. You have a lot of paperwork to catch up on." Derek's eyes widened and he paled but didn't take his eyes from her. Slowly he turned and then hurried out of the room.
Ivy's heart was pounding, her mouth was dry and her eyes wide. There were butterflies in her stomach from seeing him and a longing between her legs. She turned slowly to the other minister. He was a large burly man with an almost bald head. He looked to be about in his 60's.
Ivy suddenly didn't want to talk to anyone so much. He didn't look approachable. She had been hoping for some nice elderly man who looked like he wanted to talk. Not some disapproving giant of a man. She turned slowly and rushed out the door.
Derek hurried out the back of the church and into the night. He wasn't sure where he was going but he needed to get away from here. He didn't think he knew where he was going but his legs seemed to be guided by his subconscious. About half an hour later he ended up in a smoky bar which had bad rock music playing in the background as he ordered a bourbon.
He sat at the bar and stared at the brownish liquid in his glass. He turned the glass in circles and wished for an easy option. He wanted to see Ivy. Every inch of him. But this job was everything to him. God had saved him from himself more than once. God had given him life and Derek wanted to thank him by devoting that life to God. But now, all he wanted to do was turn on God and run into Ivy's arms. He knew he needed to serve and thank God. He grabbed the drink and downed the whole thing before slamming it down on the counter and demanding another.
