[xx Leila xx]

While I was still lying in bed and mulling over ideas, I heard Deryck roll over.
“Avril? Are you awake?”
“Mmph,” I replied.
“Do you still hate me?”
I lay in bed for a minute. After a while, I said, “I love you.”
“Are you still mad at me?”
That I couldn’t answer. I wasn’t mad at Deryck. But I didn’t know what to tell him. Deryck sighed when I hadn’t answered after a minute or so.
“I guess you are.” He started to get out of bed. I swear to God I felt my heart rip in half. That was it. I rolled over and grabbed Deryck’s waist.
“I love you,” I whispered. Deryck turned around and saw the tears forming in my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me. It felt good not to be fighting anymore. I lay on him and listened to his heartbeat. Deryck and I both fell back asleep somehow.
I woke up and glanced at the clock. Eleven-thirty a.m....fuck, I thought. I pulled myself out of bed and got some wet washcloth from the bathroom. Instead of washing my own face with it, I walked back into the bedroom and threw the washcloth at Deryck’s face.
“WAUGH!” he screamed. “Jeez!” he exclaimed, looking at me. “Talk about a rude awakening!”
“You’re welcome,” I giggled. “Der, it’s past eleven already. We need to get going.”
“Alright, alright. You woke me up. Give me five more minutes, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll be in the shower. And you’d better be up in five minutes!”
“I will be, I will be. Don’t spin out on me again!”
When Deryck said that, something in me just snapped. “I am not spinning out on you! Jesus!”
Deryck could tell he had caused me emotional distress. “Av...please. I don’t want you mad at me again. I love you. I didn’t mean to make you upset when I said that, I swear.” I sighed.
“Sorry. I don’t know what got into me there...I’m really sorry, Der. I’m gonna go take my shower. I’ll be out in a half hour or so.” I gave Deryck an awkward kiss on the cheek and left.