Derek resisted the urge to regain consciousness as he tried to figure out where he was. Ummm... ow.... not my bed... too bright and... loud to be my room... shit, I passed out in the common room
"Ngh. Good," he said, holding his head and standing up. He looked around, then started very decidedly toward the door toward the XUB and not toward the dorms.
"I'll have 'em make me a burger or something. Wouldn't want you to go letting people get the wrong idea about us or anything," he said, more sharply than he would have sober. Like I had...
"What wrong idea?" Chloe said "Everyone knows we're friends." she dropped her voice "and we're hardly the only friends at this place who hook up on occasion"
"Yeah, and I like it too," he said, "And that's the problem. Yeah, I'm glad you're finally getting on with things and meeting guys you're actually interested in, but I can't keep getting jerked around like this."
"Yeah, I know," he said, rolling his eyes. "I've heard it all before. 'Oh, you're a great guy,' 'Oh, it isn't you, it's me,' 'Oh, you should look for something better'."
"The difference is that I'm not looking for a way to kick you out of my life." Chloe said "You're very dear to me, and I want to be your friend. You're very close friend. And just because I'm dating Trev....that doesn't need to change things for us."
"Yeah, I know, it means things 'won't' change," he said, making air quotes. "I could deal with it while you were with Simon, but... no, this is too much."
"How is this too much?" Chloe asked "I was very serious about Simon. This is just me trying to date for a bit. Casually date a nice bloke, waiting to see if anything will come of it. I don't know if he's the one for me. I don't know. I don't know if I'll ever have anyone who is right for me, who wants to be with me. But I have to try."
Derek looked at her for a few moments, his expression somewhere between neutral and upset. Then with a frustrated look he pulled the water bottle out of her hand and opened it. "Fine."