100 Things Or More To Be Happy About

Count Down NASA Style

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6..." Derek shouted as he neared Casey in the living room. Just as he was about to hit one, Marti slammed into the back of the couch panting and out of breath. Ignoring her annoying step-brother, Casey continued reading the book in her hands, turning the pages monotonously.

Minutes passed before it started up again. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..." Derek counted until he hit zero and the book in Casey's hands was ripped away.

"Hey!" She shouted, unable to resist his torment, "Seriously Derek?"

Without a single word out of his mouth, Derek just smiled, shrugged and walked away. Getting off the couch, Casey soon followed behind clearly still pissed over the whole situation. When she reached the kitchen where he had gone, she asked him what he was doing, but all Casey got back was a confusing and non discernible babble as Derek tried to speak with a sandwich shoved in his mouth. Huffing and steaming out, Casey retreated to her bedroom to study.

Later that night when called for dinner, Derek was already downstairs. So as Casey rounded the stairs on the second floor, Derek's persistent count down started again, this time only reaching three before Casey took her seat.

"Hey mom." Casey said looking up at Nora as she passed Casey the salad. "We both know that Derek is over enthused about his newly learned ability to count, but can you ask him to stop with it while we are at home?"

Derek looked towards the two for a second before grimacing and turning back to the stairs to count down for Marti even louder than before.

This behavior continued for days. Casey put up with it for the time being, but even hearing two consecutive numbers now made her cringe.

"What time did you want to meet at the mall on Saturday?" Casey asked over the phone to Emily on Friday.

"3:40 sound goo-" Emily said being cut off by Casey as she made a loud scoffing noise.

"Okay..." Emily continued. "I guess we could go earlier? Later?"

"Sorry Em." Casey apologized, "Derek's just been doing this annoying count down thing for days and it's really getting on my nerves. Yesterday he counted down in the middle of English and when he hit zero he whispered to the girl next to him that she had just missed her opportunity to ask him out. I mean, how does he know that she would ever want to! Not everyone-"

"Look Casey. I'm gonna have to cut you off this time. Just let him be childish, it isn't like he is pranking you right?"

"I guess not. I still don't like it though." Casey answered back.

"Just forget him." Emily reassured Casey, "It's not worth the stress.

Casey nodded into the phone before realizing Emily couldn't see her. "Alright Em, see you tomorrow." Casey finished hanging up.

Walking downstairs to put up the phone, she almost turned back around as she saw Derek lounging on his recliner in front of the TV. When she reached the phone cradle beside the couch, Derek's arm shot sideways like a horror film and grabbed Casey's wrist.

"God, Derek, let go!" Casey whined not in the mood.

Shutting off the TV and walking around to where Casey stood, Derek stared into Casey eyes before counting down again. Trying to get free of Derek's firm hold, Casey didn't even bother worrying about what Derek was doing till he hit zero and did absolutely nothing.

Curious and dumbfounded, Casey turned back to Derek and asked, "What was that count down for?"

"The window." He replied as if everything made total sense.

"What window?" Casey asked with a screwed up expression plastered over her face.

"Your window to kiss me princess."