He merely frowned.
"Why did you lie to me?" I asked, not with anger, but with sadness.
His frown deepened. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"A buddy came over?" I asked. "Kayla's your buddy now?"
I hated the desperate, pleading sound of my voice, but not more than I hated the expressions that crossed his face next: confusion, shock, realization, and then anger.
"What?" was all he said.
"Why did you say a buddy came over when it was—"
He interrupted me, "What makes you think Kayla was here?"
"I saw her car in your driveway!"
Stony anger was his only response, and I felt like I was drowning in confusion. He lied to me and he got to be mad?
"How did you see her car, Nikki?" he asked quietly.
"I—I drove by," I managed, but he looked so angry that I felt like I had done something wrong.
"You were checking up on me?" he asked, a slight sneer on his face.
"No!" I said. "No, I wasn't—I had gone for the interview, and I thought I'd surprise you… Why are you angry?" I asked slowly.
"No reason," he said angrily, shaking his head.
"You…seem very angry," I observed. "There must be a reason…"
"No fucking reason, Nicole. I'm angry for no fucking reason."
"You're being—"
I stopped myself, realizing anything I said would only make the situation worse, and he was already turning to walk away from me.
He just shook his head as he walked away, and I followed after him, frowning. "Derek, stop."
"No," he said.
I felt sick to my stomach again. There was a gnawing feeling eating away at my insides, and everything felt all jumbled. I was sure that at any moment I was going to throw up if he didn't immediately stop being mad at me.
"I wasn't checking up on you," I said, still fo
llowing him, trying to figure out what I did to piss him off. "I—I was coming to see you. Why are you so mad at me? I didn't do anything."
"Whatever," he said.
That infuriated me out of my desperation. "Whatever? Are you serious? Are we 12?"
"Apparently," he said succinctly.
"Whatever?" I repeated again, stopping right there in the middle of the hallway, staring at his back in disbelief. "That's really all you have to say to me?"
He stopped and turned, still with that cold anger in his eyes. "What do you want me to say, Nikki?"
I could only stare at him in disbelief. He was being such an asshole, and I was the one who caught his conniving ex-girlfriend's car in his driveway when he claimed his "buddy" was over.