A/N: Here's another LWD one-shot. Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac
Disclaimer: I don't own LWD.
Jealousy and the Missing Door
Casey was furious—downright, steaming mad. The worst part was, she couldn't completely explain why she was so angry. Sure, the trigger had been the scantily clad blonde bimbo wrapped around Derek on her couch in her living room. The anger steamed from Derek's in considerate flaunting of his romantic entanglements—which was a blatant violation of the house rules they had set for their apartment. So his behavior was incredibly infuriating, but it wasn't enough to put her in such a fit of rage. She didn't know why it had caused such an uncontrollable fire to erupt in her. She had to be nearly steaming at the ears.
She had walked into the apartment after finishing up early at a group meeting, to work on a project for one of her classes, to find Derek and Blondie going at it on her couch. A scowl set in on her features in record time and she had slammed the door closed behind her, loudly interrupting their activities. Derek's head shot up and his eyes widened as he saw her. Casey crossed her arms over her chest, and topped her foot impatiently.
Derek chuckled nervously, grinning too widely. When he spoke, he drew out her name and his voice cracked slightly, "Casey, you're back early…"
Casey pursed her lips, "I don't believe I've met your friend."
"Who is that?" Blondie questioned warily.
"My sister," Derek answered quickly.
Blondie's face softened, "Aw, you live with your sister? That is so sweet."
"You're going to take that back in a minute," Derek responded. Then he jumped to his feet and walked over to Casey, "Casey, I can explain."
"Yes Derek, please explain the blonde tramp on my couch," Casey snapped.
"Hey!" Blondie exclaimed.
Derek turned back slightly, "Told you."
"Der-ek!" Casey drew his attention back, "What is she doing here?"
"I thought it was pretty obvious what she was doing here," Derek smirked.
Casey let out a frustrated growl, and then leaned over to address Blondie, "Hi there. I don't know you. I don't know your name. Frankly, I don't care. But I think it would be in your best interest if you get out of my apartment right now."
"Humph," Blondie pouted, but she picked up her purse and started toward the door.
"Laura, wait!" Derek called, making her pause by the door. Then he turned to Casey, "Stop being rude to my guest."
"Don't lecture me on being rude," Casey narrowed her eyes. She glanced back at Blondie—Laura—and snapped, "Why are you still here?"
Laura scoffed, "Just leaving."
"Laura, please," Derek replied.
"Do us both a favor and don't call me anymore Derek," Laura responded as she flew out the door and slammed it behind her.
Derek scowled and rounded on Casey, "What the hell was that about?"
"I come home wanting to relax after a long day at school and what do I get? A great view of you eating that girl's face—an image that will be burned upon my retinas for the rest of eternity," Casey said angrily as she shuddered dramatically, "I'm gonna have nightmares."
"Do you know how long it took me to get that girl to agree to go out with me?" Derek questioned.
"I don't care," Casey threw her hands up, "Probably longer than it took for her to agree to let you shove your tongue down her throat."
"Just because you can't hold down a guy, it doesn't mean you have the right to sabotage my relationships," Derek replied.
"Relationships? I don't know the dictionary definition off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure casual sex with random girls doesn't count," Casey exclaimed, "And I certainly have every right to be angry when your 'relationships' are being played out on my couch where I can walk in on it!"
"I didn't think you were going to be home for another hour," Derek responded.
"And that makes it okay?" Casey snapped.
"No…I…" Derek stuttered.
"Do you not see how what you did was wrong? Do you not understand how disturbed I am by this? God, you don't," Casey shook her head violently, "You're impossible!"
The anger had taken control of every fiber of her being. She literally saw red as she looked at him. She had reached the point where she didn't want to listen to him anymore. So she didn't. She stormed down the hall and threw open the door to her bedroom. She slammed it shut once she was inside, clicking the lock into place. Derek had followed her and began to bang loudly on her door. Casey rushed across her room to her stereo. She pressed play on the CD she had inside and it began to filter through her speakers. She spun the knob for the volume until it would rise no more. She needed to drown him out. She knew that they would probably get a noise complaint from at least one of their neighbors, but she didn't care.
Casey collapsed on her bed, face down. She buried her face into her pillow. She wasn't sure if Derek was still outside her door or not—she couldn't hear a thing over the pounding pulse of her speakers running at full capacity. She was more than content to stay right there on her bed until she could get her unruly anger under control. She was aware of nearly ten minutes going by as the CD changed tracks three times.
The CD changed a fourth time and the next thing she knew there was a loud thud. Casey sat up and whipped around in time to see her door coming off its hinges. Derek moved it aside and rested it against the wall in the hallway.
"Der-ek!" Casey exclaimed as Derek tossed the screws from her door, and the tool he used to remove them, down on her desk. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I tried to tell you I was gonna do it, but," Derek yelled over her music. He reached over to her stereo and clicked it off. Then he finished at normal volume, "you probably couldn't hear me."
"What is your problem Derek?" Casey questioned and jumped to her feet.
"No, the question is Casey, what is your problem?" Derek corrected.
"I'm not the one taking doors out of their frames!" Casey snapped.
Derek shook his head, "You're usually a sweet girl Spacey, so why were you such a bitch to Laura. Could that be jealousy rearing its ugly head?"
"Uck, jealous of you?" Casey responded, "Not a chance."
"Not jealous of me," Derek replied, "Jealous of her."
Casey frowned. She didn't know how to respond to the implication Derek had just made, so she didn't at all. She instead continued to berate his disregard for the rules, "We have rules, Derek! Remember when we first decided to move into this place together? We decided on the rule together. We said we wouldn't bring anyone back to this apartment."
"Well, it's a stupid rule," Derek said simply.
"It was your idea!" Casey exclaimed. "You didn't want me bringing any guys back here anymore than I wanted you to bring girls."
"So this is simply about me breaking a rule? Is it really?" Derek asked, "If it is, then why are you so angry? Because I've broken the other rules before and you never went into such a rage over it."
"It isn't like you forgot to take out the trash this time, Derek," Casey shook her head, "And if you were going to break this particular rule, you could have had the decency to do so in your room instead of on our couch where I had to watch."
"When have you ever known me to be decent?" Derek laughed lightly.
"Do you think cracking a stupid joke is going to distract me from how angry I am at you?" Casey glared at him.
"Couldn't hurt to try," Derek shrugged, "Did it work?"
"No," Casey shook her head.
"Damn," Derek said, snapping his fingers. "Guess I'll have to try something else."
Casey looked up to meet his eyes and found him only a foot or so away from her as opposed to the other side of the room, as he had been for the majority of their argument. She frowned, sending him a questioning look. He only smirked in response. She was about to open her mouth to verbalize her question but then he closed the distance between them. His lips met hers before she could even process what was happening. She emitted a small squeak as he arms wrapped around her and pulled her closer to him.
Something clicked in her brain, and she could no longer stop herself from kissing him back. She brought her arms around his neck and drew herself up against him. He deepened the kiss—letting his tongue slip between her slightly parted lips. The kiss remained slow and rhythmic. Their lips and tongues moved in time with each other.
Suddenly, Derek pulled back to ask, "Are you still angry with me?"
"Huh?" Casey frowned, looking up at him with half-lidded eyes and kiss swollen lips.
Derek grinned, "I knew you were jealous of Lisa."
"Laura," Casey corrected, "And I wasn't jealous."
"Right, Laura," Derek laughed, "And you so were."
Casey scowled and gently shoved Derek away from her, "And now I'm angry again."
Derek smirked, "I can fix that."
Derek started toward her, but Casey put a hand up to stop him before he reached her lips.
"Put my door back and then we'll talk."