Derrick's Awakening - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

The start of a new short story, commissioned by an anonymous Patron.

Derrick turned the key again, though by now he knew, in his gut, that it wasn't going to make any difference. He didn't know a ton about cars, but he did know enough to be aware that something ought to be happening, and it very much wasn't.

"Wonderful," he muttered. After a long day working at the store, this was the last thing he needed... Especially right now, as he watched the closing manager's car pull out of the parking lot, leaving him all alone. 

She'd even asked, a minute ago, "Do you want me to stay and make sure you get out of here all right?" Why hadn't he said yes?! His car had been acting a little odd when he headed to work, taking an unusual amount of time to crank up and get the engine started...

He'd forgotten about that in the moment, though - even if his manager clearly hadn't forgotten him telling her about it - until now, when he was sitting behind the wheel, getting nothing. And there had been a hint of something in the pit of his stomach when she'd posed the question, something he'd taken as offense, that she was looking at him like some little kid, like one of the teens working there, just barely old enough to have a job at all. He was short, yes, even shorter than they were, but he'd been there long enough for her to know he was an adult.

He didn't particularly feel like one now, however, sitting behind the wheel, giving the ignition one more try, in case, by some miracle, the battery had been resurrected in the pause. It hadn't, of course; nothing had changed, except his manager getting further away, making it that much more embarrassing for him to call her and ask her to come back and help him out.

Fortunately, he didn't have to rely on her. His best friend, Malory, didn't live too far away, and, while she might tease Derrick a bit for it, she felt like a better option, so he gave her a call.

The phone rang and rang, and then, finally, her voice mail picked up. He could have left a message, but, instead, he decided to give her other number a shot. Malory still lived with her parents, who were some of the few non-elderly people Derrick knew who still had a landline. It had always seemed odd to him, though it was useful in times like these... It was hard to tell what Malory was doing, why she hadn't answered. If she'd just left her phone in another room or something, however, the landline rang much louder, so it would be easier for her to notice.

Sure enough, it was picked up almost right away. "Hey, are you busy?" he asked. "Could you come pick me up at work?"

"Derrick?" 

He blushed, recognizing Malory's mother's voice. He'd been calling her daughter, and therefore assuming she would be on the other end of the line, but obviously, with a landline, there was no guarantee of that. "O-Oh, sorry Mrs. Holland," he stammered. "I didn't mean to bother..."

"No, it's all right," Mrs. Holland told him. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Derrick tried to laugh it off. "It's no big deal! If you could have Malory call me, though..."

"Well, she's in the shower right now," the woman replied. "You know how long she can take in there. I'd be happy to come pick you up if you need a ride."

"Y-You don't have to worry about that," he shook his head in the darkness. "I can wait, or... I-I'm sure I can find somebody else to call."

"Don't be silly," Mrs. Holland said. "I can get there and back before Malory is out of the shower."

And, with that, the matter was settled. There was no talking her out of it, and, a few minutes later, a minivan was pulling into the parking lot. Sheepishly, Derrick got out of his car, giving her a wave as she stepped out, reminding him of why she'd always intimidated him, as she towered over him. "So, what's the problem?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I-I think it's the battery," he offered.

"Uh-oh!" she chirped. "Does it just need a jump, or do you think it's dead?"

Derrick squirmed, shrugged again. "Well," Mrs. Holland continued, "do you have jumper cables so we can test it out?" He shook his head, and at least this time he knew that the woman could actually see it. "I'm sure we have some somewhere," she said. "I could have looked for them if I'd known that was the issue." 

She didn't sound upset, exactly, though there was some light admonishment in her tone that made him reply, "Sorry."

"It's okay!" she smiled at him. "Come on, we'll get you back to our house, then we can figure it all out there! No need to leave you stranded here." She opened up the back door of her minivan. "Sorry, I have so much junk in the front seat, you'll have to sit back here."

"O-Oh, that's fine," he told her, as she offered her hand, helping him up into the vehicle. Derrick was blushing before he'd even sat down, seeing the baby toys strewn across the seat and on the floor, but, luckily, he didn't think she noticed as she closed the door, walked around to the driver's seat. He should have expected as much, he supposed... He'd almost forgotten that she was a stay-at-home mom, although, of course, Malory was too old for all of this stuff, the same as Derrick. She did quite a bit of babysitting, however, to earn some extra money for the family, so all of this must have been for those kids.

"Here you go," she said as she slid into her seat, grabbing an item from the front seat and handing it back automatically, like something she was used to doing with whoever was sitting in the back. "I bet you're hungry, huh?"

Without thinking, he took the plastic container, not looking at it at first, popping it open. He blushed, wriggling in his seat as he stared inside, seeing it was full of puffy, crunchy cereal, his discomfort only increasing when he glanced at the front of the container and saw the Gerber logo staring back at him, realized what it was. Baby cereal puffs, for little kids! 

Really little kids... He wrinkled his nose, staring at the stuffed animals and thick board books scattered around him. If she was accustomed to driving around people small enough to be entertained by those, they probably also liked to snack on that sort of thing... But that wasn't him! He was an adult, not some toddler being driven around by his babysitter!

"Umm..." he attempted to hand the puffs back to Mrs. Holland, but she was busy driving, and he didn't want to bother her, so, instead, he set them down in the cup holder, turning the logo away from him so that it wasn't staring at him, judging him as he sat there, surrounded by all those baby things.

He could still hear the water running in the upstairs bathroom as he stepped into the house, knew that meant Malory wasn't out of the shower yet. "You can use the bathroom down here if you need," Mrs. Holland told him. "I'm just going to see if we have jumper cables in the garage, okay?"

"O-Okay," he nodded. For all the time he'd been friends with Malory, he'd been in the downstairs bathroom only a few times... That was the nice bathroom, for guests, and at this point, that didn't seem like the right word for what he was. Besides, they usually hung out upstairs anyway, so it was more convenient.

It had been a long day at work, however, and he'd been so busy getting everything cleaned up and ready for tomorrow that he hadn't stopped by the restroom on the way out, assuming he'd be home before long. He slipped into the bathroom and turned on the light, and, immediately, he was faced with something that he definitely didn't see in the upstairs bathroom.

There, sitting on the counter, flanked by bottles of baby powder and lotion, was a whole stack of Pampers, all folded up, ready to go. He froze, cheeks burning for a reason he couldn't quite place. Was it just because of the ride there, with all that other baby stuff? He wasn't sure... He only knew that he couldn't take his eyes off of them, even reaching out, giving them a poke, a funny feeling welling up inside of him at the rustling noise they made, at the sensation of his finger pushing against the padding...

He couldn't say why he did it, exactly, other than the fact that there was no way Mrs. Holland would notice, as many of them as there were there. A part of him wished he were a girl, so he'd have had a purse with him, to make this easier, but he knew that was silly... What was he even going to do with them?! It would be a waste to take too many... Or any, probably, though his curiosity ensured he had to have one, at least, slipping it into the waistband of his pants, spending far too long adjusting his shirt, trying to position it so that it wasn't obvious he was smuggling something out...

He flinched when he opened the door, seeing Mrs. Holland waiting for him at the end of the hall, his hands tugging at his shirt, worrying he'd failed in his efforts to disguise his theft. "Got 'em!" the woman announced. "Let's go get you fixed up!" She saw his hesitation, the red in his cheeks, and it only got worse when she tilted her head, looking at him more closely. "Do you want to wait for Malory?" she asked.

"N-No," he shook his head. "No, sorry, I just... Long day."

"Ah," she smiled knowingly. "At least it's almost over, huh?"

He followed her back out to the car, sitting down, feeling the padding press against his stomach as he sat down, his heart pounding, wondering what it would feel like if it was on him, if he was wearing it properly... There was no way it could actually fit him, though, right? He'd been too scared to try it there, and too uncertain of how to do it in the first place to attempt to fumble through it in the bathroom, but once he got home...

What was wrong with him?! This was so weird... He really didn't know what had gotten into him... But, as he sat there, bouncing along in the back seat, he couldn't quite resist his urge to pop open the container of cereal puffs and take a couple out. They didn't taste too bad, actually... And there was something about them, and all of this, that felt so... right... no matter how ridiculous it seemed, how much it made him blush...