Author's Note: My second story in my 'write a one-shot for a different paring every night for four night's straight' challenge. It's good to be back to Dasey, I love this pairing. It took me awhile to get into it, so I took breaks in between writing it. Why does it seem that all my dasey's include meals? Well if you haven't guessed this one does too. Well, the challenge is going well so far so I will just be going with it. Please R&R!
Disclaimer: All character to Disney/ family channel. Original plotline and dialogue belong to moi!
Dinner for two
Derek ran towards the front door, reaching for the doorknob aggressively when Casey burst through the door as if she had been running away from something.
"What the-" Derek began.
"Hell?" Casey questioned before the two collided, hitting the floor with a violent thud.
Casey looked up to see Derek's green eyes, shining with confusion and a hint of hidden amusement. Derek smirked upon his stepsister's flustered look, laughing lightly to himself. Over his shoulder she saw Nora looking at the two with a confused and almost disturbed look on her face. Casey took action; pushing Derek forcefully off of her and yelling in frustration. He reacted angrily, jumping to his feet and not pausing to help his sister before he continued through the door, which of course hit her because of her position of being sprawled upon the floor. She heard evil laughter from the other side and pounded her fist against the door to make a final 'statement'.
"Ugh. That hurt." Casey complained, as she pulled herself to her feet, with the support of the counter beside her.
She looked up, making eye contact with her mother and smiling.
"Hi mom. How was your day?" She asked, sweetly.
"Oh. It was fine. Just a regular day. Well, I have to get back to work. But I will see you for dinner? It's Derek and your night to make it." Nora reminded her daughter.
"Oh. Right." Casey noted, mostly to herself.
--
"So what's her name?" Sam asked, one eyebrow raised.
"What do you mean man?" Derek responded defensively, turning away from his friend to lace up his skates.
"Common dude. I'm your best friend. And I have been long enough to know that look in your eyes. You like a girl. Now tell me her name. Don't you want your main man's opinion?" Sam explained, sitting on the bench next to Derek so there was nowhere for him to escape.
Derek sighed and turned towards his friend, a look of guilt in his eyes.
"Alright. I admit, I like this girl. But I can't tell you her name. Not yet at least." Derek admitted.
"Ah common man. Give me something I can work with!" Sam complained, punching his friend playfully in the shoulder.
"Well, I'm making dinner for her tonight." Derek said.
"Cool man. Let me know how it goes." Sam added, before he left the change room.
Derek groaned before standing up to join his friend for their hockey practice.
--
"Now, two teaspoons of salt and one cup of the taco mix. I should have chosen something less … messy." Casey concluded to herself as she stirred the mix in with the ground beef.
She yawned as she made her away across the kitchen, making her way towards the fridge. She opened the door, reaching for the lettuce she pulled down 3 other things upon her.
"Yuck." She muttered as she wiped the contents of spoiled salsa from her blouse.
"Great. Now I have to go get so more of this too? I know how much Derek will complain if he doesn't have his 'sacred' bean and corn salsa." She decided.
Casey turned off the stove, grabbed the car keys and left through the back door.
--
Derek hurried into the house, barging through the front door, hands full of groceries he needed to prepare the meal.
"Derek?" A voice asked from the top of the stairs.
Derek stopped in his tracks, ashamed of being caught red handed doing something actually helpful for the household. He looked up to see his younger brother giving him a bewildered look from the highest step of the wooden staircase.
"What do you want, Edwin?" Derek asked, putting on a harsh tone, hoping to scare away the 13 year old.
Edwin obviously dismissed the words as he continued curiously down the stairs, taking each step slowly so if needed he could make an escape to his room.
"What are you doing with those?" The youngest boy of the household demanded, pointing at the two brown bags Derek held closely to his chest.
"Er. Nothing." Derek defended, letting down his guard momentarily in panic. He could think of nothing to excuse himself from the current conversation.
Edwin thought to himself, knowing that his older brother was frozen in place. Finally he came to a realization:
"You are actually going to make dinner tonight!" He accused.
Derek had no way of protecting himself from the surprise and shock that was splashed across his face in reaction to Edwin's accusation. The two stood in awkward silence for seconds only, as Derek finally crumbled.
"Ok fine. Yah. I'm making dinner." He admitted, his head hung low.
"But you can't tell anyone. It's a surprise." He added.
Edwin continued down the stairs, reaching the bottom with a satisfied smile on his face.
"I knew it. You are really human." He noted, clapping his hands together in amusement.
"Lizzy owes me five bucks." He muttered afterwards.
Derek sighed in relief as Edwin held open his arms to hold one of the grocery bags.
"Look little man, you really pull through sometimes you know that right?" Derek said appreciatively, ruffling Edwin's hair as he passed one of the bags to him.
His brother ducked away in embarrassment, too 'cool' to receive the compliment on the surface.
"Yah whatever, Derek." Edwin responded, walking towards the kitchen, weaving through Marty's mess of toys.
"Watch out for the purple elephant, Ed." Derek warned, as his brother nearly slipped upon the toy.
They both laughed as they entered the kitchen, setting the two bags side by side on the counter.
"So what are you making?" Edwin asked, surveying the contents of one of the bags.
"Flank steak, mashed potatoes.." Derek began.
"Oh yum." Edwin responded, licking his lips in anticipation.
"And one big green salad." Derek continued, proud of his choices.
"The kind that Casey really likes?" Edwin asked.
"I guess.." Derek answered, his voice wavering.
--
"Now was it beans and red pepper? Or no I'm sure it was beans and beans and corn." Casey debated with herself.
Frustrated, she began to chew on one of her nails. She re-read through all of the different types of salsa that lined the wall. Casey was never the type who just took a random guess nor was she the type to simply give up and ask someone for help. Angrily, she began to fill her basket with random salsas that were nothing like what she was looking for.
"If I can't find the right one, I just have to eliminate the wrong kind." She assured herself of her bizarre take on the situation.
She continued down he aisle, collecting as many incorrect salsas as she could until she felt the weight increase to an unbearable amount. Uncomfortably, she lugged the basket back and forth, pacing enough to make her dizzy. Many spectators avoided the aisle completely, coming to a conclusion that it was better to continue on then stare at the estranged and clearly confused teenage girl.
"Ugh! Why can't I get this right?" She yelled angrily, stopping one store clerk in his footsteps.
"Casey? Is that you?" He asked from the edge of the aisle.
Casey turned towards the voice, turning red with embarrassment.
"Sam? Uh. Yeah. It's me. Casey McDonald." She responded as the tall blonde made his way towards her.
She set down the basket brimming with her collection of salsas, Sam following it with his eyes.
"What's wrong, case?" Sam wondered, confused.
She breathed in, collecting herself from her previous moments of insanity.
"Well, you see I'm making tacos for dinner tonight and I needed Derek's favorite salsa because the one at home had gone bad. And now I'm here-" Casey began.
Sam gave her an even more confused look.
"But Derek's making dinner tonight for some girl. Or so he said." Sam stated.
"Ha-ha. Yah. No. We're not having anyone over tonight. Even if we were he still wouldn't make the guest food he would just pin it on me…." Casey said, coming to a realization of her stepbrother's scheming.
"He seemed really set on making dinner himself." Sam defended his friend.
"He probably wanted you to say that. Didn't he?" Casey accused of Sam, raising her eyebrow suspiciously.
"Oh well! Mark my words, Derek Venturi will not take advantage of me for yet another time." She stated to no one in particular as she stalked down the aisle, looking even more insane then she had been before.
Sam sighed, lifting the basket and started to replace the numerous amount of assorted salsas to their original positions.
--
"And finally to add the signature Venturi Italian sauce to the salad.." Derek announced the end of the preparation of the meal, triumphantly.
"Common Derek. Tell me the secret ingredient for the dressing. Please!" Edwin begged of his older brother.
"Now Edwin, this secret cannot be taken lightly. You have to realize if you utter it to anyone but a Venturi you will have to be put to the ultimate punishment." Derek warned, as seriously as he could.
"I get it. Now just tell me!" Edwin whined anxiously.
"Fine. It's.." Derek started.
"DEREK! YOU'RE GONNA GET IT THIS TIME!" Casey yelled from the living room at the top of her lungs.
"Are you kidding me?" Edwin exclaimed, frustrated at the interruption of the passing of the secret.
"Be right back, Ed." Derek promised, running through the doorway.
--
"Hey. Case. What's up?" Derek asked as innocently as he could manage.
"You know what's up." Casey snapped, a look of hate strewn across her face.
"Whoa, sista. What are you talking about?" Derek responded, beginning to take offense in Casey's rude tone.
"You expect me to make a meal for you and your slutty girlfriend? Are you kidding me? That's enough Derek. It's the last straw. I can't believe that you can't respect me enough to at least ask me before!" Casey accused.
Derek was taken aback by Casey's accusation, growing angry of her judgmental view.
"You think that's what I'm doing? Disrespecting you? How about your prejudgment against who I like to date? You're just as disrespectful Case. You just usually keep it more to yourself." Derek spat back.
"Idiot." Casey called from across the room.
"Hypocrite." He responded.
"I was making YOU dinner!" They both yelled angrily in unison.
The two became silent, the statement swallowing all sense of outside awareness.
"What?" Casey asked, confused.
"Huh?" Derek added.
They both looked at the ground in awkward agreement.
Casey smiled to herself, looking up to meet Derek's intense gaze from across the room.
"You were?" She asked, gently.
"Yeah. I was." He admitted, shyly wandering closer.
"I was too." Casey stated.
"Why?" He wondered aloud.
"Well, I just wanted to get you the right salsa. So I went to the store. But I had forgot the correct kind. And for some reason I couldn't leave the store without the right one. I know that's weird but.." She explained.
"No. I get it." He assured her, pulling her into a soft kiss.
The two stood in silence for seconds, until Casey began to laugh and Derek soon followed suit.
"This is ridiculous." He said, smirking down at her.
She couldn't help but smile back.
"So I was the girl that you were making dinner for?" Casey asked, assuming the answer.
"Don't flatter yourself to much, Case, or your head might just explode." Derek joked.
"But yeah. Pretty much." He continued.
"You're so sweet, Der." Casey said, wrapping her arms around him.
"Der, eh? That's a new one!" He noted.
"Well, if you're allowed to call me 'case'. I'm allowed to call you 'der'." She stated.
"Fair enough." Derek concluded.
"Now let's go eat our dinner." He suggested.
"…s…" Casey joked, dragging him towards the kitchen, smiling.
--
"Oh! Salad! My favorite!" She exclaimed excitedly, which made Derek smile.
"Dang it! I guess Lizzy owes me nothing…" Edwin complained at the sight of Casey and Derek hand in hand.
"Told you so!" Lizzy's voice called from upstairs.
Derek laughed as Casey gave him a confused look.
Fin
End story.
Well, as always I hope you guy's enjoyed this story. It was harder to write then the previous one but still enjoyable. Once again, I must state that I love this ship and will most likely continue with it in the future. I love the part with Casey going crazy over the salsa the best. It was so much fun to write! Also, exploring the brotherly bond between Derek and Edwin was neat. Well… Two down, two to go – for the challenge. The next two are Moliver and Peterx Wendy, both ships I have started stories but never finished them or posted them. So we'll see how those go. Please R&R! I LOVE FEEDBACK!