Disclaimer: I don't own Life With Derek
Noel's POV
I can't believe it. I'm finally going on a date with Casey. It's a real date, not a prove Derek wrong date; it's not just two friends hanging out. It's a date. I've been hoping for this since we first met and now it's here. We're going to dinner tonight.
I received a letter from Emily asking me to meet at her house before my date with Casey. I think she's going to give me some rules on how to deal with Casey. I don't really need it, but I do appreciate Em's concern.
"Hi Noel, come on in", says Emily. "We've been expecting you".
"We?" I ask.
"Yes we", she says as we walk into the kitchen. "You already now Sam and Max, but I'd like you to meet Scott".
"Nice to meet you", I say.
"Same here", he says.
"Why are you all here?" I ask.
"Well Noel, do you know what they all have in common?" asks Emily.
"I don't know. Your all friends with Emily?" I say with a lot of uncertainty.
"Not exactly. Ok, how about this. What do Sam and Max have in common?" she asks.
"Oh they both dated Casey. I'm guessing you all dated Casey", I say.
"Correct", says Emily. "Well my work here is done. I'll be upstairs if you boys need me".
"So what is this about?" I ask.
"We're here to warn you", says Max.
"Warn me? Are you guys going to beat me up for dating your ex or something?" I ask.
"No. We're not here to warn you about us", says Sam.
"Yeah you see man, all of our relationships with Casey had one huge similarity. That similarity played a role in all our breakups. It was direct for Scott over here and more indirect for Sam and myself", said Max.
"What?' I ask.
"Think man. I'll give you a hint, the similarity is next door to us", says Scott.
"Her family likes me with the exception of possibly Derek. Wait, are you talking about Derek?" I ask.
"Yeah" they all say.
I wonder how Derek played a role in all of their breakups. I don't know much about her past with Scott or Sam, but I know she broke up with Max because she was going through some identity issues.
"What does Derek have to do with this?" I ask.
"Sam, you were the first so would you like to tell your story first?" Max asks.
"Sure thing", says Sam.
"You see, I've been D's best friend since grade one. At the time, he was the laughing stock of the school for failing grade one the previous year. I was one of his only friends at the time with Ralph being the other. Anyway, we've been like brothers since then hanging out at school, hockey practice, after practice.
Anyway almost two years ago, Casey and the other McDonalds moved in. Of course Derek just mentioned that he had two new stepsisters and that was it. I remember when I first saw Casey; I was crushing on her from the start. I found it strange that Derek didn't hit on her and even stranger that he didn't mention she was his stepsister.
When he figured out that we liked each other, he made up some male code rule that stated: friends don't date friend's sisters and stepsisters count. We ended up wrestling over it, literally. Finally after Casey yelled at both of us for being idiots, Derek reluctantly let me date her.
At first it was great. But then things went sour. For weeks we were stuck in this vicious cycle of arguing, breaking up, and getting back together. She just felt that we didn't connect well enough so we broke up for good".
"What did that have to with Derek after the whole male code thing. You never mentioned him after that", I said, a little confuse.
"Right, well you see, the reason why we got into so many arguments was because we didn't communicate well with each other. The only thing that she made clear was that she was more obsessed with Derek than anything else. Sure, she mostly complained about him, but she complained about him nearly 24/7. That's not normal, even if he was really her worst enemy. I'm not mad at either Casey or D though. I'm cool with Casey and Derek is still my best friend", said Sam.
"Ok?" I say.
"I'll go next", said Scott. "Well after Sam, Casey went out with me for a little bit. I was her little sister's soccer coach and I had this scheme in which I dated all my player's older sisters. Casey was obviously one of them. I had heard about Derek's previous dating history, so I made the mistake of telling him. Because he was a lot like me, I thought he would keep it to himself. Instead, he invited all of the older sister's I was dating to his house right before one of my dates with Casey and exposed my scheme. I could see anyone else in London doing it, but not Derek unless there was something else going on", said Scott.
"Ok?" I say once again. I look at my watch and I see it's almost time for my date. I try to get up, but Sam sits me back down and insists that I have to hear this.
"Alright I guess I'm last", says Max. "Well you see, I met Casey at a party thrown by Kendra who was trying to set up Casey with a guy. It didn't go well at all and she spent most of the night in her room. I accidently barged in her room thinking it was the bathroom.
We spent the next couple weeks talking and flirting. After a while, it became clear that Derek was keeping an eye on me, but I really didn't care. One day I invited Casey to a football game and a date afterwards. Casey surprisingly went to Derek for football advice beforehand and he tried to ruin things for us right there. He told here the game starts with a groin-kick, you try to get rid of the ball, score fling-flongs, and that the game only lasted 2 quarters, which caused her to run into the locker room at halftime.
That really didn't change anything though. I was flattered that she tried to learn football. After we started going out, Derek and the hockey team initiated a prank war with the football team, with me being the main target. After a few pranks, Derek got into trouble with Ryan and almost got sent to the hospital. However, Casey saved him by making a complete fool of herself. She even sat down on the dirty floor for him. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I really should have. Anyway things between me and Derek were pretty good after that or at least on the surface we were.
Let's see. Oh right there was prom. Obviously, Casey was my date and this was a night that Casey had been dreaming about since she could remember. Well before the dance Derek 'accidently' ripped her dress so she spent the first part of the night crying in her room. But then Derek comes in and saves the day by bringing her a new dress. Coincidence? I thought so at the time.
Fast forward to our last day together. Casey was having some identity issues and she went to Derek, not me, for advice. He then told her that it would be a good idea to change back to her old self. I don't think he said to break up with me, but I'm sure he realized that would be a consequence of her taking the advice would be a breakup with me.
Interestingly enough, weeks later, she asked me to if I wanted to get back together with her. I seriously thought about it, but then my friend on the football team pointed out that she talked to me right after Derek got together with Sally. Coincidence? I finally realized that it wasn't. I then told her I didn't want to get back together. I realized that I would always be second to Derek".
"Well thanks I guess. Oh great, now I'm late for my date", I say.
"Hey just wanted you to get a heads-up of what you're getting yourself into. By the way, does Casey have your cell phone number?" asks Sam.
"Yeah so?" I ask.
"It would seem to me that she would call you wondering why you're late. Funny she didn't", says Sam.
"What are you trying to say?" I ask.
"Nothing. Just making an observation. It's just funny how she doesn't call to find out where you are on your first date. You know, Derek is the only one home besides Casey", says Sam.
"Ok I've heard enough. I'm heading over", I say. To be honest, I'm sick of hearing this. I'm sure that Derek isn't that big of a factor in her life. Those guys are just exaggerating.
Time to go…
Nobody's POV
"So how do you think it's going to go?" asks Sam.
"I give him a week. Two tops", says Max.
"I got to go. I have a date with this hot girl. Best part: no stepbrother", says Scott.
Hope that was good. The characters were a little off but I think it works. I think I like this as a one-shot but let me know what you think. Please review!