Entry 11: Unfair Advantage
Title: Unfair Advantage
Entry Number: 11
Author: mihnn
Fandom: Life with Derek
Rating: PG13
Genre: Romance, Humour, Angst
Spoiler Warnings: None.
Summary: They were yin and yang, push and pull, and no matter where they were, it was always a power-struggle.
Word Count: 8143
Casey looked up from her bed towards the doorway. "I'm not going." She shot her mother a determined look.
Nora sighed at her daughter's stubbornness. "This is the last game of the season and we are all going. It wont be right if you're not there."
"I think it will be, Mom. He doesn't want me there."
"I think he does." Nora ignored the disbelieving look Casey gave her. "You know Derek, he wont show it, but he wants us all there. He wants his cheering team."
"Mom! He has the whole school to cheer for him. He won’t miss me." Casey turned around so that her back was to her mother. "I'm tired anyway."
"Casey!" Nora said sternly as she moved to face her daughter. "Don't make me use my mom card."
Casey groaned. "Can you not use the mom card yet?"
"Like you said, I'm entitled to certain favors from my eldest daughter since she will be leaving soon." Nora hoped the feeling of guilt might work.
"And this falls under that?" Casey's voice held a sense of dread, which her mother ignored.
"I'm afraid so." She looked at her daughter sympathetically. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but this will mean so much to George and Derek."
"To George? Sure. To Derek? I highly doubt it."
"Please? I wont ask you for anything the next few weeks," her mother said desperately.
She smiled at her mother's attempt. "Mom! You and I both know that that's not true."
"I know." Nora gave her daughter a knowing smile. "I just thought I'd give it a try."
Casey smiled. "Alright. I guess I can see one last excuse for sport filled violence before I go."
"Thanks, Casey. You don't know how much this means to me." Her mother hugged her gratefully before she headed towards the door. "Better get ready. We will be leaving in a little while."
Casey watched her mother walk out of the room. She just had to make sure that he didn't notice her.
* * *
"You ready?" Sam asked, hoping that his best friend would somehow get his head in the game. Since Derek had refused to go home after school, they had arrived at the hockey stadium early.
"Yeah man. I'm fine," Derek answered half heartily as he leaned against the railings adorned by the outside hall.
Sam looked at Derek again, hoping for some indication as to why he was so distracted. "So… Your family coming?"
"Some of them." He sounded bitter.
"Some?" Sam asked curiously. But Derek just nodded, showing no interest in explaining himself. The two of them silently watched the stream of hockey fans and parents enter the building. Some of them wearing the colours of the two rival schools with the same intensity as wearing war paint. Sam had chosen a spot where they could easily see the crowd, but the crowd couldn't see them. After all, who needed added pressure from their fans when they had pre-game jitters?
Derek watched his classmates as they excitedly called out to each other in greeting. He wished he could enjoy the excitement before a game. But then again, he never did. His nervousness always kept him busy. This time however, it was a certain step-sister who kept his mind preoccupied from being nervous. His thoughts were interrupted as he saw Edwin, Lizzie, Nora and Marti in the arms of his father walk through the entrance. At least he could always count on his family to be there to support him.
"Casey's not coming?" Sam asked, as he too had seen the McDonald-Venturi clan.
"Guess not," Derek mumbled, trying to rid the disappointment he felt by her absence. He knew it was a long shot to expect her to come, but he had hoped that her caring nature might win over her pride and anger towards him. Derek was about to head towards the locker rooms when he spotted her. He unintentionally stilled and his heartbeat increased as he watched her, Edwin, Lizzie and Marti walk up to one of the stalls selling their team memorabilia. She came? His mind repeated the question over and over. She came?
"Dude! We better go." Sam nudged his arm gesturing towards the direction his other teammates were heading.
"You go ahead. I just need to go meet the 'rents. You know how emotional Nora gets." Before Sam could say a word, he started walking towards the stall where his siblings were having an argument as to which designs suited them better. It was Marti who saw him first.
"Smerek!" she yelled as she ran towards him.
"Hey, Smarti" He picked up his sister affectionately and turned towards Edwin and Lizzie who had met him half way. He noticed that Casey stayed near the stall nervously watching them. "You guys are early."
"Dad wanted us to get good seats," Marti piped up.
"Where are they?" Derek asked looking around, willing his eyes not to fall on his other step-sister.
"They got tired of us arguing over what t-shirt we should get them, so they went in to wait for us." Lizzie answered before giving him a searching look. "Aren't you supposed to get ready now?"
"Derek is always late. He can’t help it," Edwin said shrugging.
"Gee, thanks, Ed," Derek said disdainfully before roughing up his brother's hair. "Glad to know you hold me up to such high esteem."
Edwin ducked getting away from his brother's grasp, and grinned up at him. "You know it, bro."
Derek ignored the cheeky comment and leaned forward as if he was about to share a trade secret. " Anyways, you shouldn't buy anything from this place, it's too over priced. We get the merchandise for free." He finished giving off an air of importance.
"You mean free t-shirts?" Edwin asked.
Derek nodded. "Yup." He put down his little sister. "Now scoot and I'll even throw in some caps."
"Really?" Marti asked.
"Really," Derek said before gently grabbing their shoulders and pushing them towards the entrance. "Now go get your seats. I need to go." He watched them as they shouted out good luck and joined the crowd. As soon as he was sure that they were out of earshot, he turned towards Casey, who quickly turned away as if she was caught staring. He started walking towards her when he was side tracked by two girls.
"Hi, Derek!" They both giggled. He shot a quick look at Casey and noticed that she was studying a cap with intense concentration. "We're looking forward to the party tonight." The blond said while her friend nodded enthusiastically. "We're sure it's going to be a victory party." They giggled.
"Yeah. See you there," he said walking around them. Derek doubted if he had ever been that rude to girls before. But right now, he was worried about why Casey decided to come watch his game when he had been a complete ass to her.
"Hey," he said hoping he would be able to string words together without sounding like an idiot.
"Hey." He noticed how she avoided looking at him.
"So... You came." Why did he have to sound like he learned the English language just yesterday?
"Yeah," she said somewhat shyly.
This was awkward, so very awkward. "Um..," He automatically placed his hands inside his pants-pockets hoping to avoid an image of his current jumpy state. "I thought you wouldn't." Since when did he become so honest?
"Yeah." She repeated as if she was at a loss for words. Then she looked at him. "I wasn't going to..."
"But?" Derek asked curious.
"But…" Casey looked down. "I realised that this is your day, and I should come and support you." She shared a small smile with him that made his heart feel ten times lighter than how it was a few minutes back.
"Um… Thanks…" Why couldn't he say anything remotely intelligent? Thinking quick for the need for some normal conversation, he picked up the cap she had been studying earlier. "You buying this?" He smirked causing her to blush. Whoever was selling the merchandise, thought that it would be funny to have a few caps and t-shirts that read 'Venturi's girl!' Needless to say, he got fifty percent of the profits since those items are the biggest sellers. He didn't miss the irony in Casey looking at that cap, and not to mention he loved it when she squirmed under his gaze.
"Venturi!" They were both startled as he heard his coach's booming voice yell for him. "You plan on socializing or playing hockey?"
Derek turned around to face him. "Hockey, Coach." He practically stood to attention. No one messed with Coach Smithson the day of a game.
"Then get yourself to the locker room. Now!" he said dramatically before storming off.
Derek turned to face Casey, feeling embarrassed that she saw how he cowered when faced with his coach. And as he saw her face, he knew he had a right to worry.
"Well, well, well, this is interesting. The great Derek Venturi is actually afraid of someone. Hm… Who shall I tell?" She tapped a finger against her cheek as she looked thoughtful.
"Ha ha! Very funny, Spacey. But for your information, I was not afraid." It was time for some Derek-style damage control.
"Really?" She looked at him in mock horror. "So that quiver in your voice was just showing him what? Respect?"
Damn her for mocking him. "I did not have a quiver in my voice."
"I think you did." She smiled evilly at him. "And to think you make comments on how I am the one who's scared of teachers. Looks like Derek Venturi actually cares about what other people think." She smiled at him triumphantly.
"Not as much as you do." He smirked.
"Oh, I don't know about that. You wouldn't want to get Coach Smithson pissed off or else he just might drop you from the team."
"Don't worry, Princess. I've got him exactly where I want him."
"VENTURI!" Derek groaned, dreading a second meeting. Casey giggled as if Santa had come early that year and earned a glare from Derek. He turned to leave, hoping to avoid his coach's continued fuming, but stopped when she grabbed his arm lightly.
"Good luck Derek." She smiled at him once more then leaned forward and lightly touched her lips to his cheek. Derek could feel his heart stop beating for that millisecond, as his mind froze with the thought that this was the first time she had ever showed such affection towards him. He couldn't stop the stupid grin that plagued his face as she pulled away.
"I don't need it, Princess." He smirked cockily which caused her to roll her eyes at him.
"Whatever, Hockey Star. Now I think you better hurry before the coach forgets about you."
"Don't worry he wont." Derek made a move to leave, but stopped and turned towards her as if he just remembered something. "And that's Hockey God," he said earning another eye roll.
Avoiding his coach's murderous gaze, he jogged towards the locker rooms, feeling happier than he had been recently. Sam noticed his friend's change in behavior. "You okay?"
"Never better." Derek grinned, as he began putting on his hockey gear.
As they prepared to go onto the ice, Derek clapped Sam on the back for the simple reason that he appreciated his best friend. "Let's go kick some shark tail," he yelled referring to the rival team mascot, and earned an energetic roar from all around the locker room. He didn't notice some of his teammates look at each other quizzically before shrugging away their confusion. After all, a happy Derek is a happy team.
* * *
Casey stood at the entrance of the stadium with the rest of her family as they waited for Derek for a celebratory dinner. It was a tradition started by George ever since his eldest son started playing hockey. After every game, win or lose, they would go out for pizza. The rest of the family were relieving some of the exciting moments of the game, while she stood slightly to the side and watched the entrance to the locker room. She didn't know what to think. Derek had actually been civil towards her. And he had played so well. She would never admit it, but whenever she saw him play hockey, she felt a growing sense of pride at his accomplishment. It was not a shock to learn that the three time MVP, and Captain of the senior hockey team had won a hockey scholarship. Four time MVP she mentally corrected herself, remembering the result of today's game.
That's when she saw him. He pushed open the doors, clad in his leather jacket, with his duffel bag slung behind him on his shoulders, surrounded by doting fans as they all tried to hug him or 'high five' him. He was definitely their high school celebrity. He suddenly looked up and his eyes met hers. His face broke into a wide smirk, and he winked at her. Casey shook her head, while trying to hide the amused smile fighting to appear on her face. It was Derek who managed to hunt her down even when it was his moment to celebrate, she thought as she saw him give one last cheer with the crowd and started walking towards her.
He was about to say something to her when her family noticed their star's arrival. She stood back as she watched them hug and congratulate him again and again, their faces showing pride. George relieved his son of his bag and was too busy ushering the rest of the family to their vehicle to notice that the two older kids were awkwardly hanging back.
"So..." Derek said.
"So..."
"What did you think?"
"What did I think about what?" she asked, trying to look confused by his question.
Derek sighed. "About the game." She was so difficult sometimes.
"It was okay," she said nonchalantly.
He raised his eyebrows at her questioningly. "What? No 'Congratulations, Derek!', 'Well Done, Derek!', 'I wish I was you, Derek!'?"
Casey rolled her eyes at him. "I don't think you need anyone else stroking your ego. And why would I want to be you?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe ‘cause I'm perfect?"
"I think there's a debate going around about that."
"A debate that I would win."
"You never win."
"I always win."
"Awww. You have taken too many hockey pucks to the brain." She looked at him in mock sympathy.
"I bet you would love that idea." He smirked.
"I bet you're right." She smirked back.
"Smerek! Casey! Come on!" Marti yelled. "We're going to get late!" She crossed her arms and huffed. Casey couldn't help but laugh at Marti's theatrics.
"Coming, Smarti!" Derek yelled back before grabbing Casey's arm and leading her to the rest of the family. She couldn't help but think how nice it was to not fight with him.
* * *
"Okay. How about this and this?" Casey turned towards her best friend as she brandished a skirt and top in front of her face. Emily groaned and fell back on her bed in agitation.
"Casey! How could you not know what you were wearing tonight? I picked out my outfit the day I found out I was going."
"I know, Em. But I was a little busy. Remember?" She shot her a meaningful look. “Now help me find something that could pass for a Halloween costume. I heard that there’s a ritual to drop ice on the person who shows up to the party without one.”
Emily shook her head in disbelief and got off the bed. "I like the skirt, but I'm not too crazy about the top."
Casey looked at her offended. "What's wrong with the top? Don't you think it's chic?"
"Yeah it is. But, this is a keg party. You don't wear super chic tops just in case someone pukes on you."
"Ew!"
"I know." Emily sighed. "But, I do have a really cute top that you could wear. It'll go great with the skirt."
"Which one?" Casey asked as she started putting away the large heap of clothes they had painstakingly gone through.
"The one that I wore for my cousins birthday. The one we bought after your dance rehearsal? You could go as that girl from dirty dancing."
"That one?" Casey smiled in memory of that day. "It will go perfect with this skirt."
Emily nodded as she sat back down on the bed. "Too bad we couldn't find anything today."
Casey shrugged. "You know how it is. We never find anything when we want to."
"But how is it possible that practically the whole of London has no cute costume?"
"It's okay, Em. I still have a cute outfit." Casey said in an attempt to make her best friend feel a bit better.
"True." Emily leaned against the headboard and watched her best friend as she organized her closet. Giving into her inquisitive nature, she broached the subject they had been avoiding.
"So… What did Max want to talk to you about?"
Emily observed Casey as her movements seems to slow before she turned to face her. "It's nothing. He just wants to get back together," she said in an attempt to sound unaffected by it.
"And?"
"And…we cant."
"Maybe you can."
Casey shot Emily a disbelieving look. "I doubt that, Em. I can’t go out with him again without telling him the truth. And I don't think that I'm ready for that yet."
"What about the other guy?"
Casey stiffened. "What about him?"
"Casey! Are you never going to tell me who it is? I have been one of the most patient people here. You know I would never tell anyone right?"
"I know! It's just that-"
"What?"
"I don't think that I'm ready to accept that this happened yet. I feel like I'm in a movie or something. It just doesn't feel real."
Emily looked at Casey, determined not to be deterred. "Is it Sam?"
Casey's head snapped up. "No! Em! I would never cheat on Max with my ex- boyfriend."
"Noel?"
Casey shook her head. "You will never guess, so don't bother."
"Someone who I will never guess?" Emily asked thoughtfully, ignoring the look of dread on Casey's face. "Is it someone on the football team?" Casey stayed silent hoping that her friend would drop the questions. "The basket ball team?" She still stayed mute. "The chess club? Maybe the student council? How about the hockey team?" Emily stopped when she noticed Casey stiffen when hearing the name of the last student group she mentioned. Emily felt excitement at being able to narrow down the mystery guy. "He's on the hockey team?"
Casey looked flustered. "Don't be silly, Em. I don't know where you get your ideas from."
"If I'm wrong, why aren't you looking at me?"
"I'm just… It's just... "
"Who is it, Case? You know I know the whole hockey team."
Casey felt frustrated. "He's not there, okay?"
But Emily ignored her since she knew that Casey was lying. "Is it Andrew? Simon? The non-punk Trevor?"
"Em! I told you, he's not on the hockey team, alright?"
"Look! I just want to know who it is."
"But why? Why do you have to know? We will be graduating soon, and we wont even see each other ever again." Casey's voice dropped at that last thought. "And we can pretend that this never happened." She whispered, momentarily forgetting the presence of her best friend.
"You really care about him, don't you?" Emily asked gently. She was taken by surprise by Casey's sadness over the situation.
Casey looked up at her, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Don't be silly, Em! He doesn't care about me, and I don't care about him. This is for the best." She turned towards her closet and started pulling some of her clothes out. "Now, could you help me? This closet is a mess."
Emily looked at her friend's immaculately arranged closet. "Sure. What are best friends for?"
* * *
Derek groaned as his cellphone rang for what felt like the millionth time. "What?" He snapped, not caring who was on the other end.
"Dude! Where the hell are you?" Sam asked.
Derek sighed, not in the mood to explain why he was still not at Jason's. "Someone, who shall remain nameless, decided to go through seven hundred different costume changes before she finally decided to choose a get up remotely acceptable," he replied annoyed. "Three guesses who."
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit?" Casey yelled equally annoyed from the kitchen.
"Don't think so," he yelled back before turning his attention back to his friend with a frustrated sigh. "As soon as the Princess has her dinner, we'll be over there."
"Dinner?" Sam asked confusion evident in his voice.
"Yup," Derek answered, finding it hard to believe that these words were about to leave his mouth. "For some weird reason, Her Majesty doubts that there would be anything worth eating at the party."
"Health food?" Sam asked remembering Casey's food fetish.
"Health food." Derek agreed.
"Alright man! See you in a few then."
Derek hung up the phone and went in search of Casey to find her in the kitchen eating salad.
"Yuck! Do you have any taste whatsoever?" he asked disgusted.
"Salads are good for you, Derek. I don't know why you're such a carnivore."
"A carny-wha-?"
"A carnivore. Meat eaters? How can you not know that? Don't you pay attention in science at all?"
"Do you really have to ask that question?"
Casey scrunched up her face. "I guess not."
"Great! Now that we have established that I don't like science, where's the other one?" Derek looked around the room impatiently.
Casey rolled her eyes. "She's getting ready."
"She went an hour ago." He complained.
"Well, that just means that she's probably doing her hair now."
"Ugh! Women!" Derek walked to the refrigerator to grab something to drink. After mumbling about the lack of Dr. Peppers, he picked Casey's favorite Cola and began to gulp it down.
"De-rek!" She shrieked. "That's my last one!"
"Your point?"
"My point is that it's mine." She stood up and made a move to grab the can away from him, but he eluded her.
"I don't think so, Princess. I'm a growing boy who needs nourishment."
Casey scoffed. "The only thing that you need to grow is a brain."
Derek leaned towards her in challenge. "You trying to tell me something, McDonald?"
"Are you sure you could understand what I tell you, Venturi?" She raised her eyebrows at him.
"I'm sure I could give it a try." He moved closer.
"So it wont hurt your head to think?" She leaned forward.
"I think… " He leaned even closer.
"What?" she whispered suddenly aware that he was tilting his head forward. He was staring at her mouth, which parted in anticipation.
"Maybe we should skip Jason's tonight," he mumbled nonchalantly, although his focus didn't waver.
"Maybe..." She watched him, waiting for his move.
After what felt like an agonizingly long minute of looking at each other Derek leaned forward, but at the last second, Casey panicked and moved her head so that he kissed her cheek instead. She closed her eyes hating what she did, and dreading Derek's possible wrath towards her. But she was met with silence. She opened her eyes and saw him looking at her with regret in his eyes.
"My mistake." His voice sounded heavy. "Won’t happen again." He turned to leave.
"Derek…" Casey called out to him, not sure what she wanted to tell him.
"No!" He turned towards her, his face a mask of hidden emotions. "You don't get to reject me three times." He laughed bitterly. "Twice is more than enough."
"It's not like that. It's just-"
"What?" He interrupted her. He felt his patience take a beating. "I know you broke up with Max, it's all over the school. So really, there is no reason for us not to do this unless you have been jerking me around all his time."
Casey looked down feeling ashamed for using Max as a shield from Derek. "I didn't mean for this to happen" she said sounding defeated.
"Well neither did I."
"Guys?" They both turned as Emily walked into the kitchen. She looked at them curiously. "What's going on? Am I interrupting something?"
"Nope." Derek started walking towards the living room. "Now lets move it. We are way past fashionably late." He grabbed his jacket, yanked open the door and slammed it shut after him.
Emily looked at Casey. "Is something wrong?"
Casey smiled, hoping that she could keep the tears that threatened to burst out at bay. "No, we just had another fight. Again."
"Are you alright?" Emily moved towards her.
"Yeah... I just need a tissue or something." Casey looked frantically around the kitchen. She could feel the tears running down her face.
"Here." Emily handed her a dishtowel, the closest thing within her reach as she held onto her sobbing friend.
"How about we stay in tonight? We could watch a movie and think of ways to kill Derek."
Casey laughed through her tears, which sounded like a choked hiccup. "No, Em! It's fine! You were looking forward to this all year."
"Casey!" Emily spoke sternly. "Missing a party is not the end of the world. Besides, college parties are so much more fun," she said causing Casey to laugh.
"Thanks, Em! But the truth is, I want to go."
"Are you sure?" She looked at her with skepticism.
"Sure." Casey grinned, feeling her tears cease.
"Okay then. I'll call my mom, she can drop us."
"No. It's alright, we can go with Derek." Casey removed herself from Emily's embrace.
"Casey! He made you cry."
"He always makes me cry." She retaliated.
"I can get her you know, it's not a problem."
"I know." Casey nodded. "But I'm feeling better now, and I really don't want to bug your mom."
Before Emily could say anything, Derek walked in. "You girls coming or what?"
Emily looked at her friend expectantly, trying to show Casey that she would follow whatever decision she makes. Casey raised her chin at Derek defiantly, her face free of any teary traces. "Of course we're coming Derek. You cant get rid of me that easily."
Derek glared at her. "If you only knew how much I try." He turned on his heel and walked out.
Casey and Emily shared a look before they grabbed their purses and followed him out of the house. Emily had a bad feeling about tonight.
* * *
Emily was uncomfortable to say the least. On one side was Derek, who was concentrating on the road intensely, his jaw clenched in anger, while Casey sat at the back, with a defeated look across her features. The drive was silent. The step-siblings made no move to try to reconcile whatever fight they just had, and Emily, aware of their history, followed their lead.
Once they arrived at Jason's house, and Derek had effectively slammed the car door shut and headed inside, she grabbed Casey's hand with a quick 'we need to talk', and dragged her towards the side of the house, which proved to be secluded enough.
"Okay." Emily took a deep breath and turned to face her friend. "I need to ask you something."
Casey looked at her confused. "About what?"
"There is this crazy thought that's been going around my mind for a while now," Emily said as she started pacing back and forth as if she was trying to organize her thoughts. "I mean, it's totally crazy! There is no way it's true." Her hands began flapping in nervousness. "It's a completely ridiculous idea, so I know that my mind is making it up.
There is no other excuse."
"Em..." Casey started, but Emily interrupted her by putting up her hand.
"Case..." Emily finally turned towards her hopefully. "Please tell me that the mystery guy is not Derek."
Casey's face must have frozen at the mention of her stepbrother, but the silence was enough for Emily. "Oh my God!" she whispered slowly, unable to believe that the two people she thought hated each other were having secret rendezvous. "How did this happen?"
Casey shook her head. "I don't know." She could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. "Are you mad at me?" she asked dreading the answer.
Emily looked at her best friend perplexed. "Why would I be mad at you?"
"Because…" Casey choked out, her tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "You always liked him and talked about him, and you think that he's so perfect."
"Casey... I am mad at you, but not for the reason you think. Why didn't you tell me? Was that the reason you guys had that fight?"
Casey looked at Emily with disbelief in her eyes. "You're not mad?"
"No… How could I possibly be mad at you? I guess getting to know the real Derek Venturi kinda put me off that whole hero worship thing." She smiled, earning a choked out chuckle from Casey.
"You're a great friend, Em," Casey said gratefully.
"I know." Emily smirked. "Now, how about you tell me everything that has happened? From the beginning."
* * *
"So then, this guy decides to go against the Coach and dekes the puck, gets the goalie to the right, then BHAM!" Andrew raised his glass in triumph. "And the rest is History. Yeah!" He clapped Derek on the back as the girls around the three hockey players squealed in appreciation. "Without Triple D here, we would not be State Champions."
Derek smiled half-heartedly, not feeling up to continuing the stories of their 'glory days', which marked by today was officially over.
"Come on, Andy." Trevor gestured to himself. "Don't forget us, we helped out too." He chuckled.
Andrew looked at his teammate, understanding his hidden meaning. "Oh yeah. I mean, without us, D will have no one. Am I right D?" He roughly shook his friend to try to illicit a response.
"Yeah." Derek mumbled before taking a sip of his drink. He wanted to be anywhere but here. And he was granted his wish when Emily suddenly grabbed his jacket and moved him away from the protesting crowd.
"What is your problem?" She crossed her arms over her chest as if prepared for battle.
"Huh?" Derek asked. He was seriously confused. What was she talking about?
"Why wont you talk to her? That's all that she wants."
Derek's face darkened as realisation hit. "I'm not the one who's avoiding the issue."
"She's just really confused now. What happened between you two was huge."
Derek looked at Emily surprised. "You know about that?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Now can you please go talk to her?" Her voice pleaded with him.
But he shook his head. "I'm not getting myself involved again."
"So what? Are you going to ignore her until she leaves?"
"Yeah. Something like that."
Emily bit her tongue to stop her scream of frustration. "Look! I know that you are not exactly a touchy-feely kind of person, but don't you think that you owe Casey at least a talk?"
"What exactly did she tell you?" Derek asked angrily. "Did she tell you how she was the one who couldn't make up her mind?
How she keeps pulling me back and forth, driving me crazy in the process?"
"I know it's difficult."
"Casey McDonald is difficult. I don't want to talk to her. I don't even want to look at her right now." He turned to leave, but Emily stepped in front of him.
"Why not? I'm sure you guys can work through this."
"I don't even know what this is. I'm sure we'll go our separate ways and forget everything that has happened."
"Do you want to forget it?" She asked softly, hoping to get through to his sensitive side.
Derek sighed. "I don't know. But one thing's for sure, she's not beating herself up over it, so neither will I."
"Derek, she is beating herself up over it. You have no idea how guilty she's feeling right now."
"Good. She should feel guilty."
Emily looked at him in disbelief. "So you're okay with this? Casey's out there crying over you, and you're okay with it?"
Derek's face fell at the mention of Casey crying, but his voice was stony. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to talk to her." Emily nearly shrieked in frustration.
"Well, I cant do that."
"Why not?
"If she wants to talk, she knows where to find me."
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" She asked aloud more to herself.
Derek shrugged but didn't say anything.
"Derek..." Emily began prepared to give him a long speech.
"And by the way, she's not exactly heartbroken." He interrupted bitterly, before walking away. Emily turned around to where Derek's eyes had previously been, and saw her best friend, drink in hand, laughing at a joke said by the goalie.
* * *
Casey turned back to the guy she was talking to. She had been intently watching the conversation between Emily and Derek under the pretense of talking to what’s-his-name.
"Shall I get you another drink?" He smiled at her.
"Thanks." Casey beamed at him, while holding out her plastic cup. He was pretty cute, she thought as she watched him walk towards the kitchen. She turned around to see Emily move towards her. "I told you he wont listen."
Emily sighed. "Yeah... Well... I tried." She suddenly nodded towards the kitchen door. "I see you met Jason."
Casey looked at her surprised. "Jason? As in, owner-of-this-house Jason?"
Emily nodded. "Yeah. He's the goalie. Each guy takes a turn to have a post-game party at their house, and this time it was Jason's."
"He seems nice." Casey said, as she spotted him calling out to several friends in greeting.
"He is nice. Last year for valentines, he organized for various people to give a dozen red roses to his girlfriend throughout the day."
Casey turned to Emily, a memory falling into place. "He was the one who went out with Serena?"
"Yup."
"Awww. That is so romantic." Casey said turning back to the goalie who was now walking towards her with a drink in each hand.
"Here you go." Jason handed over her drink.
"Oh Jason? I would like you to meet my best friend Emily. Emily, Jason."
"Emily? Great to meet you. Shall I get you a drink?" Jason gestured towards the keg in the kitchen.
"No it's alright." Emily practically giggled. "Actually, I have to seek out a certain someone so, if you'd excuse me.."
Giving Casey a slight squeeze of encouragement, she left.
"You seem to look at him a lot." Jason observed.
Casey's eyes which had wandered over to Derek unintentionally, snapped up. "Who?"
"Derek?" he asked amused. "You know, the step-brother?"
She looked down embarrassed. "I don't look at him. At all."
Jason chuckled. "Nah, it's cool. He looks at you a lot too."
"I doubt that."
"So you guys had a fight huh?"
Casey looked at him surprised. "Is it that obvious?"
He shrugged. "Sometimes. Venturi is a great guy, but he finds it hard to control his temper."
"What does his temper have to do with it?" Casey asked him curiously.
"I don't know. Best person to talk to about that would be Sam."
"Sam?"
Jason nodded. "They are best friends after all."
"Yeah." Casey muttered.
"You know, I always wondered why I never see you at these parties." He said with an air of trying to solve a puzzle.
"That's easy." Derek said as he came up behind her. "Space Case doesn't really like to move around with people." He smirked, earning a chuckle from Jason and a glare from Casey.
"As if you would know what I do and why." Casey challenged.
Derek looked at her with an air of seriousness. "You know I know everything about you."
Casey stared back at him, unable to bring herself to counteract him with a catty remark. Jason cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable in the midst of all the sudden tension. "Well, I better head off. After all, the job of a host is never done." He smirked before walking away.
The step-siblings hardly noticed his departure as they quietly watched each other as if daring the other to make the first move. Casey couldn't really take anymore of the silence. "Um.. About what happened today.."
"Don't worry about it." Derek shrugged.
Casey looked at him surprised. "Don't worry about it? Is that all you're going to say to me?"
"Er… Yeah… What did you expect me to say?"
"I don't know. Maybe something like, we should talk?"
"Talk? You want to talk? Sorry, Princess, but I'm not much of a talker."
"Derek!"
"Hey! Don't get mad at me just because you want to over analyze everything. So what? We made out a few times and now it's over." He said nonchalantly causing Casey to look at him in disbelief. "Now we can go back to bugging the hell out of each other."
"You don't believe that," she said refusing to believe that he was so unaffected.
"Not exactly. Look, Case. These things happen. What we can do is ignore it and go ahead with our lives." He leaned towards her. "Don't worry, I'll continue pranking you." He winked at her before turning around and walking away leaving a stunned Casey behind.
* * *
"Ugh! I want to kill him!" Casey practically screamed in frustration. It was a good thing that the music drowned her out to all who were around her.
"No you don't." Emily said, feeling the need to soothe her best friend.
"You didn't see him, Em. He didn't care. He just didn't care."
"He does care."
"No he doesn't. He's a Venturi. Apparently, that means that he can hook up with whoever he wants and not feel a thing."
Emily sighed, there's a certain limit that a friend could take of venting. "Look, there he is." She gestured towards him.
"Just go and talk to him. What's the worst that could happen?"
"He could totally humiliate me for starters." Casey muttered.
"Go! You need to do this."
Casey sighed. "You're right. I don't need regret." She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Wish me luck."
"Don't worry, Case, you'll be fine." Emily smiled at her encouragingly.
With a grateful smile, Casey headed towards Derek, who luckily was walking towards the kitchen, probably to get another drink. As she entered the room, she noticed that no one else was there but Derek, who was filling his cup with his back to her. She cleared her throat.
"What?" He asked annoyed. He didn't bother turning around. He knew that voice anywhere.
"Can we talk?"
"Let me think." He faced her with a thoughtful look. "Um... No." He took a sip from his drink without taking his eyes off her and leaned against the counter, as if expecting more.
"Well, too bad. Because I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen." She ignored him when he rolled his eyes at that remark. "You're right. We made out several times, and I think that it was unexpected, and weird and it should have never happened. But it did. And we should be mature adults and talk about it." She looked at him expectantly, but all he did was cock an eyebrow at her in question, so she continued. "I guess I'll go first then. And it would help if you didn't look so bored." She took a deep breath for courage. "First of all, why did you kiss me?"
"I didn't kiss you. You kissed me." He retaliated.
Casey shook her head. "Don't lie to me, Venturi. We both know that it was you who started it."
"Dream on McDonald. Just because you couldn't keep your hands off of me, does not mean that I suffer from the same thing."
Casey sighed feeling defeated. "Derek, can we please cut it? For some unknown reason, we both wanted to." She couldn't say the word. "Didn’t we?"
His jaw clenched. "What do you want me to say? You made it insanely clear that it was a mistake, and now you want me to... what? Grovel at your feet?" He laughed bitterly. "You really don't hide your ego, do you?"
"I just want to understand what exactly happened." She tried to explain.
Derek stood and started moving towards her. "What happened was.." But he was interrupted when four of his teammates walked in, jovially bickering about which girl was hitting on which guy. After they nodded in acknowledgement at Derek, he shared an uncomfortable look with Casey before grabbing her hand and leading her to the stairs.
"Where are we going?" She asked feeling panicked. The thought of being alone in a room with Derek, wasn't something that she wanted.
"Privacy." He muttered, as he pulled her up the stairs with him. He found the room he was looking for and gestured for her to follow him in. "Jason's room. He wont mind." He closed the door and leaned against it. "Alright. Where were we?" He asked with as much interest as discussing the weather.
"Do you not want to talk about this?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest.
"Have I been hiding my interest in this topic all this time?" Derek countered sarcastically.
"This is serious Derek. Why cant you act your age for once and have a normal conversation with me? One with no jokes and no sarcasm."
Derek scoffed. "I think we can safely say that that will happen, when pigs fly. I told you. We should forget this ever happened. I'm just trying to follow your wishes, and now, you're making it difficult."
"My wishes? I never said that we should forget what happened."
"You acted like it." He accused her.
Casey gasped in disbelief. "I can’t believe you are so petty. I don't stroke your ego like all the other bimbos who follow you around and you dismiss me, just like that. Is that why you're making this so difficult? Because I didn't let you kiss me?"
Derek's face hardened as he glared at her. "Would you like to explain to me why you made me look like a pathetic idiot? I wasn't delusional Case, you were flirting with me. And don't even try to deny it."
"You're right, I was. But then, I remembered who you were, and who I was. I knew that I was going to be just another girl for the great Derek Venturi. And I don't want to be just another girl"
He looked at her as if he was finally beginning to understand her. "You don't think I'm good enough for you, do you? Let me guess, to be your boyfriend, the number one requirement is potential husbandry materials. Tell me something, Case, did Sam and Max manage to satisfy all fifty seven thousand requirements that you came up with? Cause personally, I think your system's flawed."
"I never said that." Casey protested.
"Of course not." Derek replied, sarcasm in place. "All you said was that you couldn't be bothered being in the same league as any other girl. You must be on your own league."
"Is that so wrong?" She asked surprising him. "Is it so wrong that I want the guy that I go out with to concentrate on me and only me?"
"And you think, that I'm the sort of guy who couldn't possibly be faithful to any girl." Derek stated disgusted. "You know very well that I have never cheated on any of my girlfriends."
"How you even had any relationship without been able to talk about your feelings is beyond me." Casey said, changing tactics.
"Oh I have feelings alright." Derek started moving towards her. "I'm pretty sure that the feeling I'm 'feeling' right now is close to being pissed off."
"Well at least you're not the only one feeling it." She snapped.
The two of them glared at each other for some time, determined to hold their ground. Until finally, Derek spoke. "We done?"
Casey's eyes narrowed up at him. "Yeah. We're done." She spoke coldly, hoping to convey that it wasn't only the conversation that was over.
Derek moved aside to let her pass. She slammed the door behind her and stalked off angrily, unable to believe that she had thought of reconciliation between herself and that jerk. But she was determined not to let him get to her. This was the most popular senior party, and she was going to enjoy herself. And she was determined to forget all about Derek 'The Idiot' Venturi.
* * *
Everything was woozy, that's for sure, thought Casey as she laughed at whatever the guy in front of her said. She wasn't really listening, but how he said whatever he said was really funny. So she laughed.
"Case..." Emily suddenly appeared next to her. "What are you doing?"
"EMILY!" Casey shrieked before pulling her friend into a hug. She turned towards the guy in front of her. "This is my best friend. And, she's the greatest."
"Really?" He asked sounding curious. "Best friends huh? So you do everything together?"
Before Casey could answer, Emily stepped in. "Not everything." She said while grabbing Casey's arm and dragging her away from him. It would have been a smoother transition if Casey didn't trip over her feet and continuously giggle 'Hello's to random people. "We need to get you home." She mumbled.
"What? Home? But the party just started," Casey whined.
"How many drinks did you have?"
"Just a couple."
"It's not even midnight, and you're already wasted. That's great Case."
"I know. Isn't it?" Casey beamed.
Emily finally managed to get Casey to sit on one of the chairs, and made a move to grab her purse. "I'm going to go get Derek okay? So stay put."
Casey grabbed Emily in panic. "No! Don't get Derek. He hates me. I don't want him here."
Emily nodded. "Okay I won’t." She said without having any intention of following her promise.
"Okay." Casey giggled. "As long as you don't."
"You girls alright?" Emily looked up to be faced by one of the defence-men of their hockey team.
"Yeah." Emily said feeling slightly embarrassed. "She just had a little too much to drink."
"I haven't." Casey protested with a pout.
He laughed. "You're Venturi's sister right?"
"Step-sister." Casey mumbled, now feeling sleepy.
He turned to Emily. "Well, I'm about to go home now, if you want, I could drop her off."
"Um.. that's kind of you. But Derek's our ride. So you don't need to trouble yourself."
"It's no trouble. I pass that way."
"I bet you do." Derek sneered behind them.
"Venturi," he sneered back.
"Watson." Derek matched his contempt.
Emily watched the two silently stare daggers at each other before she cleared her throat. The action worked perfectly, since it caused both hockey players to be aware of the presence of others in the small living room.
"Aren't you supposed to be leaving?" Derek asked with a slight edge to his voice.
"Don't worry, I am. I was just offering your step-sister a lift." Matt said, matching Derek's hostility.
"Well I'm here, so feel free to leave." Derek's smile was almost sinister.
"It's her choice if she wants to come with me." Matt challenged.
Derek chuckled. "I really doubt she would go home with a perfect stranger when I'm there."
"But I'm no stranger."
"You are to her," Derek snapped.
Emily thought it was best to interrupt, before a showdown for the position of alpha-male occurred. But before she could say a word, the person they had all currently forgotten, spoke.
"Are we going yet?" Casey squinted up at Emily.
"In a sec." Emily replied before looking at Derek questioningly, but he was too busy staring at Matt, with a look that would make anyone think twice about crossing him.
"Let's go," Derek said turning towards Emily. He moved forward and lifted Casey alongside him.
Casey smiled up at him before she snuggled against him. "Mmm... Derek," she mumbled as she made herself comfortable.
Derek tried his best not to think about the shiver that traveled down his spine when she spoke against his skin. With a quick look towards Emily, and a less than civil look towards Matt Watson, he led Casey outside. Part of him was dreading the next morning.
Entry Number: 11
Author: mihnn
Fandom: Life with Derek
Rating: PG13
Genre: Romance, Humour, Angst
Spoiler Warnings: None.
Summary: They were yin and yang, push and pull, and no matter where they were, it was always a power-struggle.
Word Count: 8143
Casey looked up from her bed towards the doorway. "I'm not going." She shot her mother a determined look.
Nora sighed at her daughter's stubbornness. "This is the last game of the season and we are all going. It wont be right if you're not there."
"I think it will be, Mom. He doesn't want me there."
"I think he does." Nora ignored the disbelieving look Casey gave her. "You know Derek, he wont show it, but he wants us all there. He wants his cheering team."
"Mom! He has the whole school to cheer for him. He won’t miss me." Casey turned around so that her back was to her mother. "I'm tired anyway."
"Casey!" Nora said sternly as she moved to face her daughter. "Don't make me use my mom card."
Casey groaned. "Can you not use the mom card yet?"
"Like you said, I'm entitled to certain favors from my eldest daughter since she will be leaving soon." Nora hoped the feeling of guilt might work.
"And this falls under that?" Casey's voice held a sense of dread, which her mother ignored.
"I'm afraid so." She looked at her daughter sympathetically. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but this will mean so much to George and Derek."
"To George? Sure. To Derek? I highly doubt it."
"Please? I wont ask you for anything the next few weeks," her mother said desperately.
She smiled at her mother's attempt. "Mom! You and I both know that that's not true."
"I know." Nora gave her daughter a knowing smile. "I just thought I'd give it a try."
Casey smiled. "Alright. I guess I can see one last excuse for sport filled violence before I go."
"Thanks, Casey. You don't know how much this means to me." Her mother hugged her gratefully before she headed towards the door. "Better get ready. We will be leaving in a little while."
Casey watched her mother walk out of the room. She just had to make sure that he didn't notice her.
* * *
"You ready?" Sam asked, hoping that his best friend would somehow get his head in the game. Since Derek had refused to go home after school, they had arrived at the hockey stadium early.
"Yeah man. I'm fine," Derek answered half heartily as he leaned against the railings adorned by the outside hall.
Sam looked at Derek again, hoping for some indication as to why he was so distracted. "So… Your family coming?"
"Some of them." He sounded bitter.
"Some?" Sam asked curiously. But Derek just nodded, showing no interest in explaining himself. The two of them silently watched the stream of hockey fans and parents enter the building. Some of them wearing the colours of the two rival schools with the same intensity as wearing war paint. Sam had chosen a spot where they could easily see the crowd, but the crowd couldn't see them. After all, who needed added pressure from their fans when they had pre-game jitters?
Derek watched his classmates as they excitedly called out to each other in greeting. He wished he could enjoy the excitement before a game. But then again, he never did. His nervousness always kept him busy. This time however, it was a certain step-sister who kept his mind preoccupied from being nervous. His thoughts were interrupted as he saw Edwin, Lizzie, Nora and Marti in the arms of his father walk through the entrance. At least he could always count on his family to be there to support him.
"Casey's not coming?" Sam asked, as he too had seen the McDonald-Venturi clan.
"Guess not," Derek mumbled, trying to rid the disappointment he felt by her absence. He knew it was a long shot to expect her to come, but he had hoped that her caring nature might win over her pride and anger towards him. Derek was about to head towards the locker rooms when he spotted her. He unintentionally stilled and his heartbeat increased as he watched her, Edwin, Lizzie and Marti walk up to one of the stalls selling their team memorabilia. She came? His mind repeated the question over and over. She came?
"Dude! We better go." Sam nudged his arm gesturing towards the direction his other teammates were heading.
"You go ahead. I just need to go meet the 'rents. You know how emotional Nora gets." Before Sam could say a word, he started walking towards the stall where his siblings were having an argument as to which designs suited them better. It was Marti who saw him first.
"Smerek!" she yelled as she ran towards him.
"Hey, Smarti" He picked up his sister affectionately and turned towards Edwin and Lizzie who had met him half way. He noticed that Casey stayed near the stall nervously watching them. "You guys are early."
"Dad wanted us to get good seats," Marti piped up.
"Where are they?" Derek asked looking around, willing his eyes not to fall on his other step-sister.
"They got tired of us arguing over what t-shirt we should get them, so they went in to wait for us." Lizzie answered before giving him a searching look. "Aren't you supposed to get ready now?"
"Derek is always late. He can’t help it," Edwin said shrugging.
"Gee, thanks, Ed," Derek said disdainfully before roughing up his brother's hair. "Glad to know you hold me up to such high esteem."
Edwin ducked getting away from his brother's grasp, and grinned up at him. "You know it, bro."
Derek ignored the cheeky comment and leaned forward as if he was about to share a trade secret. " Anyways, you shouldn't buy anything from this place, it's too over priced. We get the merchandise for free." He finished giving off an air of importance.
"You mean free t-shirts?" Edwin asked.
Derek nodded. "Yup." He put down his little sister. "Now scoot and I'll even throw in some caps."
"Really?" Marti asked.
"Really," Derek said before gently grabbing their shoulders and pushing them towards the entrance. "Now go get your seats. I need to go." He watched them as they shouted out good luck and joined the crowd. As soon as he was sure that they were out of earshot, he turned towards Casey, who quickly turned away as if she was caught staring. He started walking towards her when he was side tracked by two girls.
"Hi, Derek!" They both giggled. He shot a quick look at Casey and noticed that she was studying a cap with intense concentration. "We're looking forward to the party tonight." The blond said while her friend nodded enthusiastically. "We're sure it's going to be a victory party." They giggled.
"Yeah. See you there," he said walking around them. Derek doubted if he had ever been that rude to girls before. But right now, he was worried about why Casey decided to come watch his game when he had been a complete ass to her.
"Hey," he said hoping he would be able to string words together without sounding like an idiot.
"Hey." He noticed how she avoided looking at him.
"So... You came." Why did he have to sound like he learned the English language just yesterday?
"Yeah," she said somewhat shyly.
This was awkward, so very awkward. "Um..," He automatically placed his hands inside his pants-pockets hoping to avoid an image of his current jumpy state. "I thought you wouldn't." Since when did he become so honest?
"Yeah." She repeated as if she was at a loss for words. Then she looked at him. "I wasn't going to..."
"But?" Derek asked curious.
"But…" Casey looked down. "I realised that this is your day, and I should come and support you." She shared a small smile with him that made his heart feel ten times lighter than how it was a few minutes back.
"Um… Thanks…" Why couldn't he say anything remotely intelligent? Thinking quick for the need for some normal conversation, he picked up the cap she had been studying earlier. "You buying this?" He smirked causing her to blush. Whoever was selling the merchandise, thought that it would be funny to have a few caps and t-shirts that read 'Venturi's girl!' Needless to say, he got fifty percent of the profits since those items are the biggest sellers. He didn't miss the irony in Casey looking at that cap, and not to mention he loved it when she squirmed under his gaze.
"Venturi!" They were both startled as he heard his coach's booming voice yell for him. "You plan on socializing or playing hockey?"
Derek turned around to face him. "Hockey, Coach." He practically stood to attention. No one messed with Coach Smithson the day of a game.
"Then get yourself to the locker room. Now!" he said dramatically before storming off.
Derek turned to face Casey, feeling embarrassed that she saw how he cowered when faced with his coach. And as he saw her face, he knew he had a right to worry.
"Well, well, well, this is interesting. The great Derek Venturi is actually afraid of someone. Hm… Who shall I tell?" She tapped a finger against her cheek as she looked thoughtful.
"Ha ha! Very funny, Spacey. But for your information, I was not afraid." It was time for some Derek-style damage control.
"Really?" She looked at him in mock horror. "So that quiver in your voice was just showing him what? Respect?"
Damn her for mocking him. "I did not have a quiver in my voice."
"I think you did." She smiled evilly at him. "And to think you make comments on how I am the one who's scared of teachers. Looks like Derek Venturi actually cares about what other people think." She smiled at him triumphantly.
"Not as much as you do." He smirked.
"Oh, I don't know about that. You wouldn't want to get Coach Smithson pissed off or else he just might drop you from the team."
"Don't worry, Princess. I've got him exactly where I want him."
"VENTURI!" Derek groaned, dreading a second meeting. Casey giggled as if Santa had come early that year and earned a glare from Derek. He turned to leave, hoping to avoid his coach's continued fuming, but stopped when she grabbed his arm lightly.
"Good luck Derek." She smiled at him once more then leaned forward and lightly touched her lips to his cheek. Derek could feel his heart stop beating for that millisecond, as his mind froze with the thought that this was the first time she had ever showed such affection towards him. He couldn't stop the stupid grin that plagued his face as she pulled away.
"I don't need it, Princess." He smirked cockily which caused her to roll her eyes at him.
"Whatever, Hockey Star. Now I think you better hurry before the coach forgets about you."
"Don't worry he wont." Derek made a move to leave, but stopped and turned towards her as if he just remembered something. "And that's Hockey God," he said earning another eye roll.
Avoiding his coach's murderous gaze, he jogged towards the locker rooms, feeling happier than he had been recently. Sam noticed his friend's change in behavior. "You okay?"
"Never better." Derek grinned, as he began putting on his hockey gear.
As they prepared to go onto the ice, Derek clapped Sam on the back for the simple reason that he appreciated his best friend. "Let's go kick some shark tail," he yelled referring to the rival team mascot, and earned an energetic roar from all around the locker room. He didn't notice some of his teammates look at each other quizzically before shrugging away their confusion. After all, a happy Derek is a happy team.
* * *
Casey stood at the entrance of the stadium with the rest of her family as they waited for Derek for a celebratory dinner. It was a tradition started by George ever since his eldest son started playing hockey. After every game, win or lose, they would go out for pizza. The rest of the family were relieving some of the exciting moments of the game, while she stood slightly to the side and watched the entrance to the locker room. She didn't know what to think. Derek had actually been civil towards her. And he had played so well. She would never admit it, but whenever she saw him play hockey, she felt a growing sense of pride at his accomplishment. It was not a shock to learn that the three time MVP, and Captain of the senior hockey team had won a hockey scholarship. Four time MVP she mentally corrected herself, remembering the result of today's game.
That's when she saw him. He pushed open the doors, clad in his leather jacket, with his duffel bag slung behind him on his shoulders, surrounded by doting fans as they all tried to hug him or 'high five' him. He was definitely their high school celebrity. He suddenly looked up and his eyes met hers. His face broke into a wide smirk, and he winked at her. Casey shook her head, while trying to hide the amused smile fighting to appear on her face. It was Derek who managed to hunt her down even when it was his moment to celebrate, she thought as she saw him give one last cheer with the crowd and started walking towards her.
He was about to say something to her when her family noticed their star's arrival. She stood back as she watched them hug and congratulate him again and again, their faces showing pride. George relieved his son of his bag and was too busy ushering the rest of the family to their vehicle to notice that the two older kids were awkwardly hanging back.
"So..." Derek said.
"So..."
"What did you think?"
"What did I think about what?" she asked, trying to look confused by his question.
Derek sighed. "About the game." She was so difficult sometimes.
"It was okay," she said nonchalantly.
He raised his eyebrows at her questioningly. "What? No 'Congratulations, Derek!', 'Well Done, Derek!', 'I wish I was you, Derek!'?"
Casey rolled her eyes at him. "I don't think you need anyone else stroking your ego. And why would I want to be you?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe ‘cause I'm perfect?"
"I think there's a debate going around about that."
"A debate that I would win."
"You never win."
"I always win."
"Awww. You have taken too many hockey pucks to the brain." She looked at him in mock sympathy.
"I bet you would love that idea." He smirked.
"I bet you're right." She smirked back.
"Smerek! Casey! Come on!" Marti yelled. "We're going to get late!" She crossed her arms and huffed. Casey couldn't help but laugh at Marti's theatrics.
"Coming, Smarti!" Derek yelled back before grabbing Casey's arm and leading her to the rest of the family. She couldn't help but think how nice it was to not fight with him.
* * *
"Okay. How about this and this?" Casey turned towards her best friend as she brandished a skirt and top in front of her face. Emily groaned and fell back on her bed in agitation.
"Casey! How could you not know what you were wearing tonight? I picked out my outfit the day I found out I was going."
"I know, Em. But I was a little busy. Remember?" She shot her a meaningful look. “Now help me find something that could pass for a Halloween costume. I heard that there’s a ritual to drop ice on the person who shows up to the party without one.”
Emily shook her head in disbelief and got off the bed. "I like the skirt, but I'm not too crazy about the top."
Casey looked at her offended. "What's wrong with the top? Don't you think it's chic?"
"Yeah it is. But, this is a keg party. You don't wear super chic tops just in case someone pukes on you."
"Ew!"
"I know." Emily sighed. "But, I do have a really cute top that you could wear. It'll go great with the skirt."
"Which one?" Casey asked as she started putting away the large heap of clothes they had painstakingly gone through.
"The one that I wore for my cousins birthday. The one we bought after your dance rehearsal? You could go as that girl from dirty dancing."
"That one?" Casey smiled in memory of that day. "It will go perfect with this skirt."
Emily nodded as she sat back down on the bed. "Too bad we couldn't find anything today."
Casey shrugged. "You know how it is. We never find anything when we want to."
"But how is it possible that practically the whole of London has no cute costume?"
"It's okay, Em. I still have a cute outfit." Casey said in an attempt to make her best friend feel a bit better.
"True." Emily leaned against the headboard and watched her best friend as she organized her closet. Giving into her inquisitive nature, she broached the subject they had been avoiding.
"So… What did Max want to talk to you about?"
Emily observed Casey as her movements seems to slow before she turned to face her. "It's nothing. He just wants to get back together," she said in an attempt to sound unaffected by it.
"And?"
"And…we cant."
"Maybe you can."
Casey shot Emily a disbelieving look. "I doubt that, Em. I can’t go out with him again without telling him the truth. And I don't think that I'm ready for that yet."
"What about the other guy?"
Casey stiffened. "What about him?"
"Casey! Are you never going to tell me who it is? I have been one of the most patient people here. You know I would never tell anyone right?"
"I know! It's just that-"
"What?"
"I don't think that I'm ready to accept that this happened yet. I feel like I'm in a movie or something. It just doesn't feel real."
Emily looked at Casey, determined not to be deterred. "Is it Sam?"
Casey's head snapped up. "No! Em! I would never cheat on Max with my ex- boyfriend."
"Noel?"
Casey shook her head. "You will never guess, so don't bother."
"Someone who I will never guess?" Emily asked thoughtfully, ignoring the look of dread on Casey's face. "Is it someone on the football team?" Casey stayed silent hoping that her friend would drop the questions. "The basket ball team?" She still stayed mute. "The chess club? Maybe the student council? How about the hockey team?" Emily stopped when she noticed Casey stiffen when hearing the name of the last student group she mentioned. Emily felt excitement at being able to narrow down the mystery guy. "He's on the hockey team?"
Casey looked flustered. "Don't be silly, Em. I don't know where you get your ideas from."
"If I'm wrong, why aren't you looking at me?"
"I'm just… It's just... "
"Who is it, Case? You know I know the whole hockey team."
Casey felt frustrated. "He's not there, okay?"
But Emily ignored her since she knew that Casey was lying. "Is it Andrew? Simon? The non-punk Trevor?"
"Em! I told you, he's not on the hockey team, alright?"
"Look! I just want to know who it is."
"But why? Why do you have to know? We will be graduating soon, and we wont even see each other ever again." Casey's voice dropped at that last thought. "And we can pretend that this never happened." She whispered, momentarily forgetting the presence of her best friend.
"You really care about him, don't you?" Emily asked gently. She was taken by surprise by Casey's sadness over the situation.
Casey looked up at her, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Don't be silly, Em! He doesn't care about me, and I don't care about him. This is for the best." She turned towards her closet and started pulling some of her clothes out. "Now, could you help me? This closet is a mess."
Emily looked at her friend's immaculately arranged closet. "Sure. What are best friends for?"
* * *
Derek groaned as his cellphone rang for what felt like the millionth time. "What?" He snapped, not caring who was on the other end.
"Dude! Where the hell are you?" Sam asked.
Derek sighed, not in the mood to explain why he was still not at Jason's. "Someone, who shall remain nameless, decided to go through seven hundred different costume changes before she finally decided to choose a get up remotely acceptable," he replied annoyed. "Three guesses who."
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit?" Casey yelled equally annoyed from the kitchen.
"Don't think so," he yelled back before turning his attention back to his friend with a frustrated sigh. "As soon as the Princess has her dinner, we'll be over there."
"Dinner?" Sam asked confusion evident in his voice.
"Yup," Derek answered, finding it hard to believe that these words were about to leave his mouth. "For some weird reason, Her Majesty doubts that there would be anything worth eating at the party."
"Health food?" Sam asked remembering Casey's food fetish.
"Health food." Derek agreed.
"Alright man! See you in a few then."
Derek hung up the phone and went in search of Casey to find her in the kitchen eating salad.
"Yuck! Do you have any taste whatsoever?" he asked disgusted.
"Salads are good for you, Derek. I don't know why you're such a carnivore."
"A carny-wha-?"
"A carnivore. Meat eaters? How can you not know that? Don't you pay attention in science at all?"
"Do you really have to ask that question?"
Casey scrunched up her face. "I guess not."
"Great! Now that we have established that I don't like science, where's the other one?" Derek looked around the room impatiently.
Casey rolled her eyes. "She's getting ready."
"She went an hour ago." He complained.
"Well, that just means that she's probably doing her hair now."
"Ugh! Women!" Derek walked to the refrigerator to grab something to drink. After mumbling about the lack of Dr. Peppers, he picked Casey's favorite Cola and began to gulp it down.
"De-rek!" She shrieked. "That's my last one!"
"Your point?"
"My point is that it's mine." She stood up and made a move to grab the can away from him, but he eluded her.
"I don't think so, Princess. I'm a growing boy who needs nourishment."
Casey scoffed. "The only thing that you need to grow is a brain."
Derek leaned towards her in challenge. "You trying to tell me something, McDonald?"
"Are you sure you could understand what I tell you, Venturi?" She raised her eyebrows at him.
"I'm sure I could give it a try." He moved closer.
"So it wont hurt your head to think?" She leaned forward.
"I think… " He leaned even closer.
"What?" she whispered suddenly aware that he was tilting his head forward. He was staring at her mouth, which parted in anticipation.
"Maybe we should skip Jason's tonight," he mumbled nonchalantly, although his focus didn't waver.
"Maybe..." She watched him, waiting for his move.
After what felt like an agonizingly long minute of looking at each other Derek leaned forward, but at the last second, Casey panicked and moved her head so that he kissed her cheek instead. She closed her eyes hating what she did, and dreading Derek's possible wrath towards her. But she was met with silence. She opened her eyes and saw him looking at her with regret in his eyes.
"My mistake." His voice sounded heavy. "Won’t happen again." He turned to leave.
"Derek…" Casey called out to him, not sure what she wanted to tell him.
"No!" He turned towards her, his face a mask of hidden emotions. "You don't get to reject me three times." He laughed bitterly. "Twice is more than enough."
"It's not like that. It's just-"
"What?" He interrupted her. He felt his patience take a beating. "I know you broke up with Max, it's all over the school. So really, there is no reason for us not to do this unless you have been jerking me around all his time."
Casey looked down feeling ashamed for using Max as a shield from Derek. "I didn't mean for this to happen" she said sounding defeated.
"Well neither did I."
"Guys?" They both turned as Emily walked into the kitchen. She looked at them curiously. "What's going on? Am I interrupting something?"
"Nope." Derek started walking towards the living room. "Now lets move it. We are way past fashionably late." He grabbed his jacket, yanked open the door and slammed it shut after him.
Emily looked at Casey. "Is something wrong?"
Casey smiled, hoping that she could keep the tears that threatened to burst out at bay. "No, we just had another fight. Again."
"Are you alright?" Emily moved towards her.
"Yeah... I just need a tissue or something." Casey looked frantically around the kitchen. She could feel the tears running down her face.
"Here." Emily handed her a dishtowel, the closest thing within her reach as she held onto her sobbing friend.
"How about we stay in tonight? We could watch a movie and think of ways to kill Derek."
Casey laughed through her tears, which sounded like a choked hiccup. "No, Em! It's fine! You were looking forward to this all year."
"Casey!" Emily spoke sternly. "Missing a party is not the end of the world. Besides, college parties are so much more fun," she said causing Casey to laugh.
"Thanks, Em! But the truth is, I want to go."
"Are you sure?" She looked at her with skepticism.
"Sure." Casey grinned, feeling her tears cease.
"Okay then. I'll call my mom, she can drop us."
"No. It's alright, we can go with Derek." Casey removed herself from Emily's embrace.
"Casey! He made you cry."
"He always makes me cry." She retaliated.
"I can get her you know, it's not a problem."
"I know." Casey nodded. "But I'm feeling better now, and I really don't want to bug your mom."
Before Emily could say anything, Derek walked in. "You girls coming or what?"
Emily looked at her friend expectantly, trying to show Casey that she would follow whatever decision she makes. Casey raised her chin at Derek defiantly, her face free of any teary traces. "Of course we're coming Derek. You cant get rid of me that easily."
Derek glared at her. "If you only knew how much I try." He turned on his heel and walked out.
Casey and Emily shared a look before they grabbed their purses and followed him out of the house. Emily had a bad feeling about tonight.
* * *
Emily was uncomfortable to say the least. On one side was Derek, who was concentrating on the road intensely, his jaw clenched in anger, while Casey sat at the back, with a defeated look across her features. The drive was silent. The step-siblings made no move to try to reconcile whatever fight they just had, and Emily, aware of their history, followed their lead.
Once they arrived at Jason's house, and Derek had effectively slammed the car door shut and headed inside, she grabbed Casey's hand with a quick 'we need to talk', and dragged her towards the side of the house, which proved to be secluded enough.
"Okay." Emily took a deep breath and turned to face her friend. "I need to ask you something."
Casey looked at her confused. "About what?"
"There is this crazy thought that's been going around my mind for a while now," Emily said as she started pacing back and forth as if she was trying to organize her thoughts. "I mean, it's totally crazy! There is no way it's true." Her hands began flapping in nervousness. "It's a completely ridiculous idea, so I know that my mind is making it up.
There is no other excuse."
"Em..." Casey started, but Emily interrupted her by putting up her hand.
"Case..." Emily finally turned towards her hopefully. "Please tell me that the mystery guy is not Derek."
Casey's face must have frozen at the mention of her stepbrother, but the silence was enough for Emily. "Oh my God!" she whispered slowly, unable to believe that the two people she thought hated each other were having secret rendezvous. "How did this happen?"
Casey shook her head. "I don't know." She could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. "Are you mad at me?" she asked dreading the answer.
Emily looked at her best friend perplexed. "Why would I be mad at you?"
"Because…" Casey choked out, her tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "You always liked him and talked about him, and you think that he's so perfect."
"Casey... I am mad at you, but not for the reason you think. Why didn't you tell me? Was that the reason you guys had that fight?"
Casey looked at Emily with disbelief in her eyes. "You're not mad?"
"No… How could I possibly be mad at you? I guess getting to know the real Derek Venturi kinda put me off that whole hero worship thing." She smiled, earning a choked out chuckle from Casey.
"You're a great friend, Em," Casey said gratefully.
"I know." Emily smirked. "Now, how about you tell me everything that has happened? From the beginning."
* * *
"So then, this guy decides to go against the Coach and dekes the puck, gets the goalie to the right, then BHAM!" Andrew raised his glass in triumph. "And the rest is History. Yeah!" He clapped Derek on the back as the girls around the three hockey players squealed in appreciation. "Without Triple D here, we would not be State Champions."
Derek smiled half-heartedly, not feeling up to continuing the stories of their 'glory days', which marked by today was officially over.
"Come on, Andy." Trevor gestured to himself. "Don't forget us, we helped out too." He chuckled.
Andrew looked at his teammate, understanding his hidden meaning. "Oh yeah. I mean, without us, D will have no one. Am I right D?" He roughly shook his friend to try to illicit a response.
"Yeah." Derek mumbled before taking a sip of his drink. He wanted to be anywhere but here. And he was granted his wish when Emily suddenly grabbed his jacket and moved him away from the protesting crowd.
"What is your problem?" She crossed her arms over her chest as if prepared for battle.
"Huh?" Derek asked. He was seriously confused. What was she talking about?
"Why wont you talk to her? That's all that she wants."
Derek's face darkened as realisation hit. "I'm not the one who's avoiding the issue."
"She's just really confused now. What happened between you two was huge."
Derek looked at Emily surprised. "You know about that?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Now can you please go talk to her?" Her voice pleaded with him.
But he shook his head. "I'm not getting myself involved again."
"So what? Are you going to ignore her until she leaves?"
"Yeah. Something like that."
Emily bit her tongue to stop her scream of frustration. "Look! I know that you are not exactly a touchy-feely kind of person, but don't you think that you owe Casey at least a talk?"
"What exactly did she tell you?" Derek asked angrily. "Did she tell you how she was the one who couldn't make up her mind?
How she keeps pulling me back and forth, driving me crazy in the process?"
"I know it's difficult."
"Casey McDonald is difficult. I don't want to talk to her. I don't even want to look at her right now." He turned to leave, but Emily stepped in front of him.
"Why not? I'm sure you guys can work through this."
"I don't even know what this is. I'm sure we'll go our separate ways and forget everything that has happened."
"Do you want to forget it?" She asked softly, hoping to get through to his sensitive side.
Derek sighed. "I don't know. But one thing's for sure, she's not beating herself up over it, so neither will I."
"Derek, she is beating herself up over it. You have no idea how guilty she's feeling right now."
"Good. She should feel guilty."
Emily looked at him in disbelief. "So you're okay with this? Casey's out there crying over you, and you're okay with it?"
Derek's face fell at the mention of Casey crying, but his voice was stony. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to talk to her." Emily nearly shrieked in frustration.
"Well, I cant do that."
"Why not?
"If she wants to talk, she knows where to find me."
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" She asked aloud more to herself.
Derek shrugged but didn't say anything.
"Derek..." Emily began prepared to give him a long speech.
"And by the way, she's not exactly heartbroken." He interrupted bitterly, before walking away. Emily turned around to where Derek's eyes had previously been, and saw her best friend, drink in hand, laughing at a joke said by the goalie.
* * *
Casey turned back to the guy she was talking to. She had been intently watching the conversation between Emily and Derek under the pretense of talking to what’s-his-name.
"Shall I get you another drink?" He smiled at her.
"Thanks." Casey beamed at him, while holding out her plastic cup. He was pretty cute, she thought as she watched him walk towards the kitchen. She turned around to see Emily move towards her. "I told you he wont listen."
Emily sighed. "Yeah... Well... I tried." She suddenly nodded towards the kitchen door. "I see you met Jason."
Casey looked at her surprised. "Jason? As in, owner-of-this-house Jason?"
Emily nodded. "Yeah. He's the goalie. Each guy takes a turn to have a post-game party at their house, and this time it was Jason's."
"He seems nice." Casey said, as she spotted him calling out to several friends in greeting.
"He is nice. Last year for valentines, he organized for various people to give a dozen red roses to his girlfriend throughout the day."
Casey turned to Emily, a memory falling into place. "He was the one who went out with Serena?"
"Yup."
"Awww. That is so romantic." Casey said turning back to the goalie who was now walking towards her with a drink in each hand.
"Here you go." Jason handed over her drink.
"Oh Jason? I would like you to meet my best friend Emily. Emily, Jason."
"Emily? Great to meet you. Shall I get you a drink?" Jason gestured towards the keg in the kitchen.
"No it's alright." Emily practically giggled. "Actually, I have to seek out a certain someone so, if you'd excuse me.."
Giving Casey a slight squeeze of encouragement, she left.
"You seem to look at him a lot." Jason observed.
Casey's eyes which had wandered over to Derek unintentionally, snapped up. "Who?"
"Derek?" he asked amused. "You know, the step-brother?"
She looked down embarrassed. "I don't look at him. At all."
Jason chuckled. "Nah, it's cool. He looks at you a lot too."
"I doubt that."
"So you guys had a fight huh?"
Casey looked at him surprised. "Is it that obvious?"
He shrugged. "Sometimes. Venturi is a great guy, but he finds it hard to control his temper."
"What does his temper have to do with it?" Casey asked him curiously.
"I don't know. Best person to talk to about that would be Sam."
"Sam?"
Jason nodded. "They are best friends after all."
"Yeah." Casey muttered.
"You know, I always wondered why I never see you at these parties." He said with an air of trying to solve a puzzle.
"That's easy." Derek said as he came up behind her. "Space Case doesn't really like to move around with people." He smirked, earning a chuckle from Jason and a glare from Casey.
"As if you would know what I do and why." Casey challenged.
Derek looked at her with an air of seriousness. "You know I know everything about you."
Casey stared back at him, unable to bring herself to counteract him with a catty remark. Jason cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable in the midst of all the sudden tension. "Well, I better head off. After all, the job of a host is never done." He smirked before walking away.
The step-siblings hardly noticed his departure as they quietly watched each other as if daring the other to make the first move. Casey couldn't really take anymore of the silence. "Um.. About what happened today.."
"Don't worry about it." Derek shrugged.
Casey looked at him surprised. "Don't worry about it? Is that all you're going to say to me?"
"Er… Yeah… What did you expect me to say?"
"I don't know. Maybe something like, we should talk?"
"Talk? You want to talk? Sorry, Princess, but I'm not much of a talker."
"Derek!"
"Hey! Don't get mad at me just because you want to over analyze everything. So what? We made out a few times and now it's over." He said nonchalantly causing Casey to look at him in disbelief. "Now we can go back to bugging the hell out of each other."
"You don't believe that," she said refusing to believe that he was so unaffected.
"Not exactly. Look, Case. These things happen. What we can do is ignore it and go ahead with our lives." He leaned towards her. "Don't worry, I'll continue pranking you." He winked at her before turning around and walking away leaving a stunned Casey behind.
* * *
"Ugh! I want to kill him!" Casey practically screamed in frustration. It was a good thing that the music drowned her out to all who were around her.
"No you don't." Emily said, feeling the need to soothe her best friend.
"You didn't see him, Em. He didn't care. He just didn't care."
"He does care."
"No he doesn't. He's a Venturi. Apparently, that means that he can hook up with whoever he wants and not feel a thing."
Emily sighed, there's a certain limit that a friend could take of venting. "Look, there he is." She gestured towards him.
"Just go and talk to him. What's the worst that could happen?"
"He could totally humiliate me for starters." Casey muttered.
"Go! You need to do this."
Casey sighed. "You're right. I don't need regret." She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Wish me luck."
"Don't worry, Case, you'll be fine." Emily smiled at her encouragingly.
With a grateful smile, Casey headed towards Derek, who luckily was walking towards the kitchen, probably to get another drink. As she entered the room, she noticed that no one else was there but Derek, who was filling his cup with his back to her. She cleared her throat.
"What?" He asked annoyed. He didn't bother turning around. He knew that voice anywhere.
"Can we talk?"
"Let me think." He faced her with a thoughtful look. "Um... No." He took a sip from his drink without taking his eyes off her and leaned against the counter, as if expecting more.
"Well, too bad. Because I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen." She ignored him when he rolled his eyes at that remark. "You're right. We made out several times, and I think that it was unexpected, and weird and it should have never happened. But it did. And we should be mature adults and talk about it." She looked at him expectantly, but all he did was cock an eyebrow at her in question, so she continued. "I guess I'll go first then. And it would help if you didn't look so bored." She took a deep breath for courage. "First of all, why did you kiss me?"
"I didn't kiss you. You kissed me." He retaliated.
Casey shook her head. "Don't lie to me, Venturi. We both know that it was you who started it."
"Dream on McDonald. Just because you couldn't keep your hands off of me, does not mean that I suffer from the same thing."
Casey sighed feeling defeated. "Derek, can we please cut it? For some unknown reason, we both wanted to." She couldn't say the word. "Didn’t we?"
His jaw clenched. "What do you want me to say? You made it insanely clear that it was a mistake, and now you want me to... what? Grovel at your feet?" He laughed bitterly. "You really don't hide your ego, do you?"
"I just want to understand what exactly happened." She tried to explain.
Derek stood and started moving towards her. "What happened was.." But he was interrupted when four of his teammates walked in, jovially bickering about which girl was hitting on which guy. After they nodded in acknowledgement at Derek, he shared an uncomfortable look with Casey before grabbing her hand and leading her to the stairs.
"Where are we going?" She asked feeling panicked. The thought of being alone in a room with Derek, wasn't something that she wanted.
"Privacy." He muttered, as he pulled her up the stairs with him. He found the room he was looking for and gestured for her to follow him in. "Jason's room. He wont mind." He closed the door and leaned against it. "Alright. Where were we?" He asked with as much interest as discussing the weather.
"Do you not want to talk about this?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest.
"Have I been hiding my interest in this topic all this time?" Derek countered sarcastically.
"This is serious Derek. Why cant you act your age for once and have a normal conversation with me? One with no jokes and no sarcasm."
Derek scoffed. "I think we can safely say that that will happen, when pigs fly. I told you. We should forget this ever happened. I'm just trying to follow your wishes, and now, you're making it difficult."
"My wishes? I never said that we should forget what happened."
"You acted like it." He accused her.
Casey gasped in disbelief. "I can’t believe you are so petty. I don't stroke your ego like all the other bimbos who follow you around and you dismiss me, just like that. Is that why you're making this so difficult? Because I didn't let you kiss me?"
Derek's face hardened as he glared at her. "Would you like to explain to me why you made me look like a pathetic idiot? I wasn't delusional Case, you were flirting with me. And don't even try to deny it."
"You're right, I was. But then, I remembered who you were, and who I was. I knew that I was going to be just another girl for the great Derek Venturi. And I don't want to be just another girl"
He looked at her as if he was finally beginning to understand her. "You don't think I'm good enough for you, do you? Let me guess, to be your boyfriend, the number one requirement is potential husbandry materials. Tell me something, Case, did Sam and Max manage to satisfy all fifty seven thousand requirements that you came up with? Cause personally, I think your system's flawed."
"I never said that." Casey protested.
"Of course not." Derek replied, sarcasm in place. "All you said was that you couldn't be bothered being in the same league as any other girl. You must be on your own league."
"Is that so wrong?" She asked surprising him. "Is it so wrong that I want the guy that I go out with to concentrate on me and only me?"
"And you think, that I'm the sort of guy who couldn't possibly be faithful to any girl." Derek stated disgusted. "You know very well that I have never cheated on any of my girlfriends."
"How you even had any relationship without been able to talk about your feelings is beyond me." Casey said, changing tactics.
"Oh I have feelings alright." Derek started moving towards her. "I'm pretty sure that the feeling I'm 'feeling' right now is close to being pissed off."
"Well at least you're not the only one feeling it." She snapped.
The two of them glared at each other for some time, determined to hold their ground. Until finally, Derek spoke. "We done?"
Casey's eyes narrowed up at him. "Yeah. We're done." She spoke coldly, hoping to convey that it wasn't only the conversation that was over.
Derek moved aside to let her pass. She slammed the door behind her and stalked off angrily, unable to believe that she had thought of reconciliation between herself and that jerk. But she was determined not to let him get to her. This was the most popular senior party, and she was going to enjoy herself. And she was determined to forget all about Derek 'The Idiot' Venturi.
* * *
Everything was woozy, that's for sure, thought Casey as she laughed at whatever the guy in front of her said. She wasn't really listening, but how he said whatever he said was really funny. So she laughed.
"Case..." Emily suddenly appeared next to her. "What are you doing?"
"EMILY!" Casey shrieked before pulling her friend into a hug. She turned towards the guy in front of her. "This is my best friend. And, she's the greatest."
"Really?" He asked sounding curious. "Best friends huh? So you do everything together?"
Before Casey could answer, Emily stepped in. "Not everything." She said while grabbing Casey's arm and dragging her away from him. It would have been a smoother transition if Casey didn't trip over her feet and continuously giggle 'Hello's to random people. "We need to get you home." She mumbled.
"What? Home? But the party just started," Casey whined.
"How many drinks did you have?"
"Just a couple."
"It's not even midnight, and you're already wasted. That's great Case."
"I know. Isn't it?" Casey beamed.
Emily finally managed to get Casey to sit on one of the chairs, and made a move to grab her purse. "I'm going to go get Derek okay? So stay put."
Casey grabbed Emily in panic. "No! Don't get Derek. He hates me. I don't want him here."
Emily nodded. "Okay I won’t." She said without having any intention of following her promise.
"Okay." Casey giggled. "As long as you don't."
"You girls alright?" Emily looked up to be faced by one of the defence-men of their hockey team.
"Yeah." Emily said feeling slightly embarrassed. "She just had a little too much to drink."
"I haven't." Casey protested with a pout.
He laughed. "You're Venturi's sister right?"
"Step-sister." Casey mumbled, now feeling sleepy.
He turned to Emily. "Well, I'm about to go home now, if you want, I could drop her off."
"Um.. that's kind of you. But Derek's our ride. So you don't need to trouble yourself."
"It's no trouble. I pass that way."
"I bet you do." Derek sneered behind them.
"Venturi," he sneered back.
"Watson." Derek matched his contempt.
Emily watched the two silently stare daggers at each other before she cleared her throat. The action worked perfectly, since it caused both hockey players to be aware of the presence of others in the small living room.
"Aren't you supposed to be leaving?" Derek asked with a slight edge to his voice.
"Don't worry, I am. I was just offering your step-sister a lift." Matt said, matching Derek's hostility.
"Well I'm here, so feel free to leave." Derek's smile was almost sinister.
"It's her choice if she wants to come with me." Matt challenged.
Derek chuckled. "I really doubt she would go home with a perfect stranger when I'm there."
"But I'm no stranger."
"You are to her," Derek snapped.
Emily thought it was best to interrupt, before a showdown for the position of alpha-male occurred. But before she could say a word, the person they had all currently forgotten, spoke.
"Are we going yet?" Casey squinted up at Emily.
"In a sec." Emily replied before looking at Derek questioningly, but he was too busy staring at Matt, with a look that would make anyone think twice about crossing him.
"Let's go," Derek said turning towards Emily. He moved forward and lifted Casey alongside him.
Casey smiled up at him before she snuggled against him. "Mmm... Derek," she mumbled as she made herself comfortable.
Derek tried his best not to think about the shiver that traveled down his spine when she spoke against his skin. With a quick look towards Emily, and a less than civil look towards Matt Watson, he led Casey outside. Part of him was dreading the next morning.