Elastic Heart.
*
Derek put his head in his hands; he had no clue how to fix this. Ever since the finale, well more specifically ever since their elimination Bethany had fallen into a deep depression. She thought Derek hated her, that she let him down, but she didn't understand how Derek was proud of her, he told her constantly but she would just shake her head no and turn back to her computer.
*
Their whole lives changed because of it, he could no longer leave her alone. He was scared of what would happen if her mind and muddled thoughts got the best of her, he couldn't resist living without his Bethany.
*
He was constantly doing that; calling her his even though they were nothing more than great friends. Even Mark had pointed out that they certainly felt something for each other, he didn't even hesitate when Derek told him that Bethany would be staying at their house for a while, he understood how much they needed each other in moments like these, Mark himself couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with Bethany, she was a little sister to him, and it hurt him just as much as it hurt Derek to see Bethany kill the confidence that she had worked so hard for.
*
Her eyes had lost the light in them, they were lifeless now. She never went out, and when she did she always came back more quiet and lifeless than she was before.
*
It was getting out control, she would never come out of bed even though Derek constantly tried to worm his way into her to talk about something, but he would always only get a blank stare as an answer. It had gotten to the point where Bethany wouldn't even eat anymore. Derek and Mark would try to make her eat, but they never got more than two spoonfuls of soup into her; and it showed, Bethany had lost a tremendous amount of weight. She was already skinny before, but it had gotten to the point where you could easily count her ribs.
*
They had tried everything to talk to her, to convince her to let them back in, but she had walls for everybody. They had tried to send in Witney, Sadie, Janel, even Val had attempted to talk to her after seeing just how much everything was affecting her, but she rejected everybody who tried. And it was killing Derek. Everybody could see how this affected him. He rarely went out anymore, scared of what Bethany would do to herself if he was gone, she had been proud that she never had to resort to self-harm when she had been bullied, and Derek was going to make sure she kept it that way.
*
Until one night, Mark and Derek had a meeting for Dancing with the Stars, and Julianne had come over to try to talk to Bethany. Julianne had tried everything the others tried, and she had been more successful than them, even managing to get in a whole plate of soup into Bethany, she smiled at her telling her how much she missed her bubbly Beth, Beth smiled, Julianne was content with her reaction and decided that Bethany could be left alone for two minutes while she took the plate to the sink.
*
But she misjudged Bethany, by the time she had rushed upstairs, the bed was empty, she heard the bathroom door click shut. Julianne rushed to the doorknob pulling it desperately. "Bethany! Open the door!" she yelled, Derek had warned her about this, but she had misjudged her when Bethany had shown signs of getting better, if Derek didn't kill her when he would find out, she would do so herself if anything happened to Bethany because of her stupid mistake. She waited for Bethany to open the door, until she freaked when she heard a mirror crack.
*
With tears streaming down her face, she yanked her phone out her bag and called Derek. He answered already with a worried tone on his face; he had had an intuition that something wasn't right. "Julianne what's wrong?! Is Bethany okay?!" She cried into the speaker, "Get home! She locked herself in the bathroom and won't come out, I don't know what-", Derek hung up on her before she finished her sentence. She went back to the door attempting to yank it open again, but it was locked.
*
She heard the door open with three pairs of frantic steps following. She kept banging on the door, yelling at Beth to open it. Derek, Mark, and Val appeared with scared faces; Derek already had tears streaming down his face. He banged at the door, yelling to Beth that he was there, that nothing could hurt her- that he loved her. When she didn't open the door, Mark ran back after he went to his room, tears on his face, and yanked out a key, putting it in the bathroom lock and clicking it open.
*
Derek walked fast, freezing in his steps after seeing what was happening. Bethany was on the floor, a small smile playing at her face, holding a bloody piece of mirror, three gashes on her wrist. Derek fell to the ground yelling at them to call 911, he crawled to Bethany yanking her to his lap, hugging her tight to his chest, trying to tell her 'I love you' as many times as he could before it was too late.
*
The ambulance arrived, and the four of them followed, calling the rest of the cast to tell them what happened. They were met at the hospital by all of them, every single one on the border of tears, or already having set them free. Derek sat against the wall, head in his hands, unstoppable tears streaming down his face. He hadn't uttered one word to Julianne since the accident, and he was planning on not doing so for a while.
*
The doctor walked out, Derek sprang to his knees, awaiting news, crying harder when he confirmed what he had already thought, Bethany had severe depression- and it was all his fault. If he had just pushed her a little harder, given her harder choreography they wouldn't have been eliminated, they wouldn't be here. He fell to the floor crying, ignoring the pitying looks directed at him from the rest of the waiting room.
*
Bethany was allowed to go home after three days, and this time Derek wasn't letting her out of his sight. He watched movies with her, he held her in his sleep, he and Mark had even locked the bathrooms. Bethany had to ask one of them to open it so she could use it. It was so refreshing to hear her voice again after a month of not hearing it.
*
Derek invested all his time into Bethany, his girlfriend had even broken up with him because of the attachment he had to her. But nobody understood what it was like to have the love of their life in danger. That was right. He was in love with her, and after realizing the small amount of time left they could possibly have together, he decided he wasn't going to waste one second of it.
*
One day while taking a plate of soup that Bethany had refused to eat down to the kitchen, he heard the piano playing, he walked back upstairs to see Beth at the grand piano playing a haunting slow melody, when she started singing Derek was taken aback, it was so rare to hear her talk that he was shocked she had started singing a song he had never heard before. "I've got thick skin and an elastic heart, but your blade it might be too sharp, I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard-" She stopped singing just to say something, "I'll be okay." Derek closed the door of the room, a smile on his face walking into his room to take a well-needed nap, Bethany had just admitted she would be okay, and Derek knew from now on, they would be.
