Derek grabbed the shirt, huffing as he looked at the food Conner offered him. "M' not, hungry. Thanks." He said curtly, storming off to the bathroom to change his shirt and clean up his mess. He wiped some sauce off his cheek, looking at himself in the mirror again and glaring.<br/><br/>"I can't do anything by myself...can I?" He muttered, his face falling. He lingered a bit, a knot in his stomach uncoiling and settling down like wet cement. His shoulders felt so heavy he felt as if he could just lay down on the bathroom floor and forget everything. He scurried outside, huddling underneath the awning as the rain continued to drizzle down. He once again cursed the loss of his umbrella. Reaching into his pocket he grabbed his pack of cigarettes, lighting one up and taking a long, much needed drag. Some of the tension left him as he exhaled and he leaned against the brick wall, letting his head fall back as he closed his eyes and listened to the not-so-secret gossip of his co-workers. The smoke burned in the back of his throat and he furrowed his eyebrows, grimacing. Ugh. Cheap cigarettes.<br/><br/>He wanted to snap at them. To tell them to shut up. But as he let the weight of realization dawned on him he couldn't find the venom to spit back. He had hoped his parents would reconsider but they hadn't so much as answered a phone call. he didn't even have a car so it wasn't like he could drive the couple hours away to go see them either. Not for the first time in his life he felt completely alone, except this time he didn't have the comfort of expensive booze and joy rides to ebb his pain away. He teetered between anger and self-pity, neither of them looking good for his self image.<br/><br/>Derek flicked his half finished cigarette at the other servers feet, glaring at them as he went back inside to finish his shift. Cleaning wasn't any better in his opinion and all of the side work was boring at best. He stared incredulously at the tubs of silverware, looking at the woman who had told him what to do and asking, "Wait,<u><i>all</i> </u>of these?" He was only greeted with an equally shocked stare and a nod. It seemed to take forever but finally (!) Derek was sent home. He smirked at Conner as he left, taking satisfaction in leaving before the man. He hardly offered a goodbye before he was out the back, flinging his coat over him and hurrying home. The rain was coming down harder now and by the time Derek made it he was practically soaked to the bone.<br/><br/>He walked up the concrete stairs up to the second floor to his door, for once looking forward to the small and confined walls of his tiny apartment. He dug into his coat pocket, expecting to find his keys. His heart froze as he realized they weren't there.<br/><br/>"No..." He whispered to himself in abject horror. He reached into the opposite pocket, finding nothing but his wallet. Derek frantically began to pat himself down, upturning pockets and cleaning himself of the barest pieces of lint as if a full sized key could be hidden in there. He was then greeted with the very vivid memory of his keys sitting on the kitchen counter.<br/><br/>"Fuck!" He yelled, kicking his door. He yelled again, grabbing his hair and pacing around the hallway. "Fuck!" He exclaimed again. There was no way he was getting through the window and no matter how many times he turned and jiggled the knob to his door it failed to budge. He screamed some more. Kicked the wall a couple of times before he finally burned himself out. The man was tried and hungry, having regretted denying the meal Conner had offered him. Sliding down his door he sat on the cold ground, huddling in his jacket as the cold seeped into his bones. He had no idea what to do now- he couldn't ask for keys from his landlord so late. Sighing in defeat he pulled out his pack and lit up another smoke.