"You didn't know that?" I asked, frowning. "You're his father, he lives with you."
"I know that, but… I just assumed he was with you or… no, he shouldn't be working that much."
"Well, he is, and he's turning into a zombie. He isn't even doing half of his schoolwork, and Derek is too smart to be falling behind in school."
"He's falling behind in school?"
I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking if he knew anything about his son. "He's working two jobs and catering to Kayla; he doesn't have time for school." I stood up, putting my purse on my shoulder. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask you if you could do something about this. Derek thinks he needs the money, but he isn't thinking clearly right now. He's still young, and if this baby is so expensive then Kayla can start working, but it's not entirely Derek's responsibility and I don't know how to get that through to him. I can't undo what he was raised to believe."
With that, I offered a slight nod and made my way out of the house.
To my surprise, I got a call from Derek two hours later.
"What are you doing?" he asked me.
"I'm working on my research paper for human behavior, what are you doing?"
"Nothing yet. I was going to see if you wanted to come over, or me to come over or something."
"I thought you were working," I said.
"I was," he said on a sigh, "but my dad sent me home, said he was watching labor and he didn't need me. I thought… since we haven't been getting along very well lately…"
"That we should spend some quality time together?" I asked, smiling a little.
"Yeah," he said. "What do you say?"
"I say it's about damn time. Get your butt over here."
He chuckled. "I'll be there soon."
"Bring some homework just in case," I added.
"Yes, Miss Harmon," he said dryly.
"I'll see you in a bit," I said.
"Bye," he said.
Those were really fast results. Maybe Mike would actually listen to me. If only I could get my boyfriend to listen to me, too. It would sure make my life easier.
Once I got Derek focusing more on his homework and his future—not to mention his girlfriend—all I had to do was convince him that Kayla was not a damsel in distress. And if he didn't get that through his thick head… well, I didn't want to think about that. I wasn't willing to tolerate my boyfriend dropping me every other minute because some other bitch yanked on his chain.
When Derek showed up I made sure to get a nice long hug, just in case I didn't get another one for a while.
"Hey, stranger," I greeted.
"Hey," he said, giving me a kiss. "You look surprisingly happy to see me."
"Should I not be happy to see you?" I asked, wondering what new stupid thing he had done.
"I don't know, you haven't seemed overly fond of me lately."
"Well, you haven't been overly considerate of your girlfriend lately," I returned levelly.
He sighed, a flicker of irritation crossing his features. "I'm trying, Nikki."
I nodded, my arms still wrapped around his neck. "I know. You're trying too hard."