Come On, Sweet Catastrophe

"So, how were your classes today?"

I fingers drew patterns in the terry cloth material of the thick, inky blue towel folded neatly on my lap. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, for the room was becoming more and more humid as the steam billowed out from beneath the curtain. It was uncomfortably hot in here, especially considering the fact that it was the middle of July in Florida. It almost felt as though I couldn't breath because the air was so thick with moisture, but yet, I had become so used to this.

"They were okay. Boring, but what's new?" I had to yell to be heard above the sound of the water hitting the ceramics.

"What's the point of taking classes if they're boring?" Derek asked me, and I could hear him fumbling around, most likely looking for shampoo. "You're paying money to be bored. Why don't you just quit? Be a drop out, like me."

"Well, not all of us have friends with connections." I rolled my eyes, eying the chipped, purple nail polish on my thumb. "It won't be as easy for me to find a good paying job without a degree as it was for you."

Derek laughed, the sound echoing off of the tiled walls of the almost cave-like shower in the upstairs bathroom. I sat there on the ledge of his large, two-person bathtub with his pajamas and his towel folded on my lap. Yes, I do realize that this is probably the most peculiar situation for us to be in. Me, sitting in the bathroom with him, talking as he showered right next to me. I wasn't his girlfriend, or really even his friend. I was his house maid. However, I did not ask to be in this position--Though, being so close to him while he was completely naked and drenched was pretty wonderful--It was one of those things that Derek needed to cope. You see, when Sadie was alive, she'd do almost the very same thing. She'd sit in the bathroom, talking to him while he showered each and every night. It was a routine. Put Paige to bed and once she was asleep, they'd get ready for bed themselves. I remember the first time he had asked me to do this for him, about two weeks after Sadie and Paige's deaths. I'm sure you can imagine the shock I had felt, for he was so nervous when he requested it, he literally said, "will you take a shower with me?" We were both silent, and then he reworded his question, explaining to me what he had really meant. He just felt more comfortable when someone spoke to him while he was in the shower.

Derek didn't actually like to be alone, like he had lead most people to believe. He wouldn't admit it to you or me, but the time spent alone was terrifying to him. There's been so many times that he's called me when I was at school, saying that he just felt like talking to me. I always knew it was because he was lonely when I was gone, for I was the only one that really visited anymore. His mother came over a couple times a month, and his brother would occasionally take him out to dinner, trying to convince him to see a shrink.

Derek didn't want that though. Derek didn't think there was anything wrong with what he was doing. He had suffered a great loss, and any other person would cope the exact same way. He thought that the way he was living was healthy, when really, it definitely was not. I probably wasn't helping, though, for I was doing absolutely everything for him. I probably should have been using the whole tough love thing, and maybe pushed him a little bit to move on. But then again, I don't think Derek worked like everyone else did. He has always been so different from everyone else. He was very sensitive, and the accident just seemed to make him even more so. When Derek was pushed out of his comfort zone, he just shut down. People had tried, but it never actually helped. I suppose they just didn't know him the same way I did.

The water was shut off. "Okay, I'm coming out now!"

I held the towel out away from me, covering my eyes with my free hand and turning to face the wall opposite to the shower. Sure, I would like to have the chance to see Derek naked, but I suppose that I'd prefer it under different circumstances. I don't want to have to peak at him when he thinks I'm not looking at him.

I could hear the bottoms of his wet feet slapping against the bathroom floor, and he nearly ripped the towel out of my grasp. I could hear him chuckling under his breath as he grabbed his pajama pants from my lap, and pulling them on. "Okay. You can stop that now. I'm not naked anymore, and you look like an idiot."

I turned around, trying to avoid staring at his naked chest as I glared at him. He grinned back, though it didn't quite reach his eyes the way it used to. It never did anymore. He dried his hair with the towel, using his hand to clear the condensation from the mirror. I groaned. "Don't. I'm the one who has to clean your grubby fingerprints off when you do that."

He smirked at me, running his fingers around the mirror, drawing shapes in the fog with his fingers. I rolled my eyes at him, standing up from the tub ledge and picking up the clothing he had scattered around the bathroom floor. He had always had a habit of just dropping everything at his feet. I probably would too, if I had some girl that was willing to spend her free time cleaning up after me.

"Where are you going?" He asked as I started making my way out of the room.

"I'm going to go do your laundry." I scoffed. "You're going to bed."

"Yes mom." He said sarcastically, his shoulders slumping as he turned away from the mirror and followed me out of the bathroom. He made his way across his bedroom, collapsing on the plush surface of the bed he used to share with Sadie. He watched me as i made my way to his chest of drawers, going into the top one and grabbing his bottle of prescription pills. I shook out two, closing the bottle and tossing it back inside before making my way toward him. I handed him the pills, and he swallowed them dry, cringing at the bitter taste that chalky, white pills left on his tongue. He then got beneath the covers of his bed,pulling them up to his neck and shivering. I just smiled, lowering myself onto the edge.

"What do you want to talk about tonight?" I asked, just like I did almost every other night.

"Did I ever tell you about the band I used to be in?" He asked, staring up at the ceiling.

I raised a single brow at him. "You were in a band?"

He laughed and nodded his head. "I was. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"I don't know." I shrugged, chuckling at him. "You don't seem like the rock star type."

"Well, I was a rock star. I used to travel the world. I was barely even home." He grinned, and there was a sparkle in his eyes that I hadn't seen for a while. "We used to sell out shows, and we would have hundreds of kids at our shows. We were actually pretty big."

"Really?" I looked at him in disbelief. "That's so cool. What was it like?"

"Amazing." He said simply, shrugging his shoulders. "I fucking loved every second of it."

"What happened?" I asked, biting my lip. "Like, why did you guys stop?"

"Sadie was pregnant. She needed me home, because she was violently ill the entire nine months. They didn't think she'd be strong enough to hold a baby, so we took a break." His brows furrowed at he thought back, and the corners of his lips turned downwards into a frown. "Sadie had Paige, and everything was fine. And then one day, they were gone, and we just... We just never got back together as a band. Technically, we're still on break."

I looked down at him, watching the way his cheeks reddened, and moisture pooled on his lower lashes. I reached up, affectionately running my fingers through his wet hair, smiling sadly down at him. "Well, I think that's amazing that you guys were so successful, Derek. You guys should work on getting back together."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." He said sarcastically, smiling up at me through his unshed tears. We stared at each other for a while, and I could tell that the medication was taking it's affect on him as his eyes began to droop. I blinked at him, brushing his fringe back, away from his forehead. His eyes fell shut, and his lips parted to let out a long, restful breath. "Ruth, what would I do without you?"

I stared at him for a long time when he said that. This wasn't part of our routine. We never spoke about what I did for him. It was like, an unwritten rule between the two of us. I did all this work for him, and he silently appreciated it in his own little way. We understood each other, and just thinking about all the things i do for him just made it all kind of... Weird. It sort of made it clear, the fact that our bond was completely abnormal. We didn't like to think of it like that.

But thankfully, before I could even come up with an answer, Derek was fast asleep. I sat there and watched him for a while, like I did on a lot of nights. He looked so innocent while he was sleeping; like a child. When he was sleeping, he looked content. Sure, Derek would smile all the time, but it was never always sincere. It was always forced, or there was always a thought in the back of his mind, keeping him from being completely happy at that moment. His light, sleepy smile was real, though. Real smiles had always been attractive on Derek.