My Teenage Dream Ended by Farrah Abraham Page B

I saw Derek and a friend of his were fighting with my sister’s friend. They were all hitting each other, and I saw my sister run over and hit Derek too. I was freaking out. I felt like I should protect Derek, but those were my friends and my sister he was fighting with.
    Just then Derek looked up and saw me. That seemed to enrage him even more, and he started yelling at all my friends. He didn’t say one word to me, though. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran away from it all to my sister’s car. Two minutes later the cops showed up and everyone scattered. My sister and her boyfriend met me at the car and I asked, “Why were you fighting with Derek?”
    She was pissed. “He came here wanting to fight and talk shit, so he’s going to get hit.”
    As we drove off I looked out the car window. I looked for Derek but his car was gone. After how he had ignored me, I figured we were done.

COLD WAR GAMES

    The next day I went to work, but Derek wasn’t there. It was a Sunday, so it was pretty quiet and I had a good shift with great customers. I focused on work and tried not to think about the night before. Finally, when things were winding down, my manager came over and said he wanted to talk to me.
    “So, Farrah, what happened last night?”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    He looked at me strangely. “Derek called in to say he couldn’t work his shift because he had to go to the hospital last night. He fractured his wrist and hurt his arm. He said he got into a fight because of you.”
    I was pissed because I felt like Derek was trying to get back at me for the fight by getting me fired.
    “It wasn’t my fault. I was waiting for him to pick me up, and he started the fight with my friend. When I left the bar, his arm and everything seemed fine. As far as I know, he didn’t break anything last night. My sister told me all they did was hit him on the head.”
    “You know, Farrah, sometimes guys might keep a girl around because it’s comfortable, but maybe you should move on.”
    I knew he was trying to help and give me advice, but hearing that really hurt, though I tried not to show it. I didn’t want to accept what he was trying to tell me. I told myself that Derek only keeping me around because it was comfortable made no sense. His friends didn’t like me and my friends and family didn’t even want us talking to one another. That’s not comfortable.
    Still, I replied, “I’ll think about it.”
    Derek didn’t text or call me, so once again I had no idea what was going on in his life. When I didn’t hear from him by the following Friday I was sure we were done. That night, I got to work early. I said “hi” to everyone and made a special effort to be nice to Derek’s guy friends, hoping I could get them to spill to me what he had been up to, even if they were on Derek’s side.
    Derek hadn’t shown up to work yet, though it was past the time he was supposed to be there, and I overheard one of his guy friends saying, “Derek better show up and not let Farrah win.”
    I thought, What game are we playing? I haven’t even talked to him. But when Derek showed up I caught on to what game he wanted to play. He walked in and all the guys high-fived him and cheered. I played it cool and acted like I didn’t notice. A mutual friend filled me in later about what was going on in the restaurant, because I was up front hosting.
    He said, “Derek is back there, talking about some girl and how she picked out the color for his cast. He’s talking likes she’s his new girlfriend.”
    I acted like it didn’t bother me. “That’s cool. I don’t really care. Good for him, ‘cause my friend hit him in his face.”
    The night wore on and we all focused on doing our jobs—hosting, running food, serving. I overheard Derek a couple of times talking loudly about some girl and then looking at me as I walked up to the host stand.
    Our mutual friend came over again. “Farrah, I think he’s making some of this stuff up.