It was way too cold when Casey woke up, Sunday morning.
Mom and George must have had the air conditioner fixed, she thought, pulling the covers up a bit.
She could feel the cool breeze and hear the neighborhood kids laughing. She smiled and began to roll over, but paused.
Kids laughing…
"Why are there children playing in my bedro-" Casey cut off mid sentence when she noticed a blue sky instead of her white ceiling.
She sat up and looked around. Her mattress had been placed at the end of the driveway with the garbage.. while she was sleeping.
Quickly, she picked up her honey bunny stuffed rabbit and booted it back inside.
Once in the door, she took three deep breaths before storming up the stairs "Der-ek!"
She burst through the door to see her stepbrother bobbing his head to whatever was blasting out of his headphones, completely absorbed in his video game.
She stood there for a minute or two tapping her foot before she impatiently ripped them off his head.
"Hey!" He shouted, throwing his video game to the side.
"What did you think you were doing with that little stunt?"
"What stu- Oh! You misunderstand. I was jus doing what dad asked me. 'take out the trash'"
"Gahh. You- you-" She threw his headphones back at his head, "I am calling mom and George."
She picked up the phone
hotly and began to dial.
"We've been over this Spacey. They
don't have service in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."
"Then I'll leave a message- Hi, mom? Yeah, it's Casey. You will not believe what Derek just did-" Casey walked out of the room as she continued to explain her horrendous morning to the machine.
Derek sighed and replaced the headphones back on to his head. Man, that girl can throw a fit, he though to himself.
He pictured her running up the driveway in those skimpy shorts and that baggy top, all wiled up and laughed to himself.
She'd deserved it, after all, he reasoned. Having Nick over the night before, hogging the tv, making out on his couch. Just the thought of it made him a bit queasy, let alone the actual image.
Derek had come to the conclusion that Casey was in a dating slump. Before Nick there had been Chris, Marc and Brian. All idiots. At least Sam and Max had been decent.
His train of though was broken when Casey dropped the cordless at his feet.
"Well, you're certainly going to get an earful when they come home… Why are you smiling?" Casey asked, hands on her hips.
"Just thinking," Derek replied with a grin.
"Ew," Casey said and walked out. Derek just continued to laugh.
***
Derek was in a dating slump, Casey decided. He hadn't been out on a date since Maria, and Derek hadn't even been all that in to Maria in the first place.
Not that she was worried about Derek and his love life, but the facts were, the more time he spent at home, the more time he had to torture her.
Derek needed something to keep his attention and although Casey normally didn't condone the thought of women being used as distractions, she felt that desperate times called for desperate measures. Nick had mentioned having a single cousin around their age who would be perfect. She'd ask Nick what he thought about it first chance she got, but before that, there was breakfast to worry about.
Her mother, Nora, and her stepfather, George, had left for a three-week cruise on Friday. One week on the ship, one at the destination in Australia and one last one on the boat.
Casey sighed in envy as she pulled out the necessary ingredients. She had decided on chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and banana slices with a health shake.
She enjoyed spoiling her younger siblings, but as the mother figure for the next 2 and some weeks, she'd have to make sure to keep them healthy too.
She made a quick mental note to put extra salt in Derek's portions, and began.
