I'm back with a story I had been working on a little while ago and finally got around to editing. From the looks of my outline this is going to be quite a few chapters, if I ever have enough time to finish it, so leave a review and let me know what you think! Enjoy :)
Disclaimer, I don't own Life with Derek.
Chapter 1
Derek and Casey are in the kitchen, which is inconveniently directly above Nora's bedroom. She can hear the loud rumbling voices and harsh thuds on her ceiling. It's like living beneath a martial arts studio. She tries to roll over and ignore them. After continuous morning sickness she'd been placed on bed rest just to be on the safe side considering her age. She's supposed to be relaxing. Ha, the doctor clearly did not understand that she already has five children, two of which provide more stress than any client at work ever could. At work people at least pretend to be civilized. Her house was like lord of the flies. She places a pillow over her head and it seems like that might be just enough to drown them out until, "Der-ek!"
Nora stomps up the stairs to find Casey is standing there in a wet, white, now see-through, t-shirt and Derek is red-handed with the spray handle of the sink still in his grasp. Casey has a vicious glare on her face and her arms are crossed along her chest pushing her breasts up and together, which becomes noticeable due to the whole wet t-shirt contest of 1. A sly smirk is on Derek's face, it's mostly due to winning the fight, a little bit because of how red her face has gotten, and barely at all because of the almost nakedness of his step sister. Her states of undress don't affect him at all, like when she wore that babe raider outfit for example (boys were, for some crazy reason, following her around the school like lost horny puppies, but not Derek. Unless it was to chase them off. But that's different.)
"That's it. Both of you need to leave, now." Nora shouts. Reasoning with them has failed to work, so she's taking up a new approach.
"What?" they say in unison. Even though they can never seem to get along or agree on anything they are peculiarly in sync.
"We aren't even a week into summer vacation and I can't take your fighting anymore. If I have to listen to this for the next 3 months I'll go crazy, so until I come up with a more permanent solution, both of you need to leave." Nora concludes.
Derek was about to say something, but before a wise remark could slip from his mouth Nora tossed out an irrefutable offer, "No curfew."
"I'm out. See ya Nora, enjoy your peace and quiet." And the door slammed behind the blur of Derek. She's been a little wishy-washy lately, pregnancy hormones and all, so he wants to go before she changes her mind.
"I'm sorry mom. I know this is rough on you. I'll just be five minutes to get changed. I mean, I can't leave the house like this." Casey motions to herself before rolling her eyes and walking up the stairs.
She wonders if they'll ever stop acting like four year olds, pouting and whining and splashing each other and throwing hissy fits, and more pressingly, she wonders if there's anything she can do to fix it.
Derek comes home late that night, but it doesn't stop him from arguing with Casey bright and early the next morning. He'd gone to a party, because the great thing about summer is that even on a Thursday night people still want to get drunk and make out with random strangers. And the great thing about having failed grade one is that he is already 19 and doesn't have to go through the effort of finding someone to go on a liquor run for him anymore. He'd drank more rum than he should have (arguably, at least that's what the naggy little (familiar) voice in his head was saying when he did that fifth shot) and he'd found a pretty blonde to distract himself with but when it came time to get to the really fun stuff Derek insisted that he couldn't sneak her into his room (which is probably true. Casey would/might/could have caught him) and she was in town visiting some relatives, so they parted ways and he walked home alone.
Casey, of course, had been home before their curfew because it seemed unfair to take advantage of her mother's desperate allowance. She had only gone over to Emily's house anyway. She hadn't been on a date since she'd finally ended things with Truman and she was okay with that. She didn't need to rush into something right now. She would be leaving in a few months and in September there'd be a whole new group of possible suitors, intelligent young men studying to be lawyers or guys who appreciated theatre and were majoring in creative writing. Now was the time to focus on herself, and with that in mind she woke up at 7am for a jog followed by a short workout in her room. Per usual Casey put on a bouncy pop playlist to encourage herself, but only got to the second song and her third set of squats before Derek burst through her door.
"Casey! No. No more." He moaned desperately as he unplugged the music.
"Der-ek!" she growled and he cover his ears. He could not handle that today. Or her girly music, which frustrated him at the best of times. Only whispering would be permitted until his head stopped pounding.
"Shhh." He whined and she gazed at him critically. Derek was one of the loudest people she knew (voice, music, making midnight snacks when she was sleeping) so this sudden request for quiet was suspicious. He looked disheveled and tired and she didn't hear him get in last night, so she knows it must have been pretty late.
"Are you hung over?" she accuses in a low incredulous tone. It's not nice, but at least she's keeping the volume to a minimum. Of course it's not for his benefit, or at least not his moody alcohol induced state, but to keep any parents or, more likely, spying siblings from overhearing them.
He rolls his eyes at her and she takes it as a yes. "It's not a crime to have a little fun Casey."
"Well just because you can't take care of your body does not mean that I shouldn't take care of mine!" she snaps, and both suddenly become very aware that Casey's body is covered by only a tiny pair of her black shorts and a neon pink sports bra. Derek is trying not to look and she helps his cause by quickly spinning away from him, even though she turns the music back on, and louder.
"Casey!" he yells, and the argument is about to continue until they hear, "Derek, Casey!" being yelled from the kitchen.
Nora can hear the low rumble of the teenagers arguing and pop music unceremoniously starting and stopping from all the way upstairs, presumably in Casey's bedroom, because that certainly isn't Derek's loud music.
As Derek barrels down the stairs he tosses his coat on. "Let me just get out of your way. Don't wait up." he says casually.
"No, no, no. Both of you in here." She replies quickly before Derek can get out the door again.
Casey's grabbed the back of his collar to prevent a feigned accidental escape and she hears Derek let out a surprised yelp.
"It's been three years and you still can't manage to act like part of a family, so if you two can't work it out yourself, like we have been leniently allowing you to do, or not do, all this time, we're going to have to take a different approach." Nora scolds the two almost adults in front of her.
"What does that mean?" Casey asked with hesitation. She doubted that there was any method which could cause their tension to disappear and she worried her mother might be so overtired that she'd suggest something crazy like locking them up in a room together until they became friends.
"You're going to therapy. Together." Nora announces. After a day of teenager free brainstorming she'd reached this tentative solution. She thought it might be a little extreme, so she hadn't actually mentioned it to George last night, but hearing them fighting again, less than 12 hours since their last fight and within the first hour they were both awake and under the same roof she realized that drastic measures needed to be taken.
"No, no. I unlike spacey over here do not need therapy" Derek responds instantly.
"Mom Derek is right, therapy would be a waste of time for him. You need to actually have thoughts and feelings in order to solve your problems" Casey contributes to their mutual cause so Derek doesn't even argue or volley back an insult in return.
"No! It's final. Next Wednesday at 4pm, and because I don't trust you both to actually attend I'm going to drive you there and pick you up when you're done" Nora states. It isn't a conversation, it's a sentence.
"Like children." Casey scoffs.
"Well if you're going to act like it," her mother countered.
"Junior high date style." Derek comments with a sarcastic nod of approval before Casey slaps him on the shoulder.
"So touchy. Gotta wait until afterwards to have your way with me. I'm a lady like that." He joked, getting in her personal space just a little bit.
"Der-ek!" she exclaimed as a red flush covered her face. Nora noted that their childish behaviour came in a slightly more adult themes lately, but they were eighteen and she supposed it was to be expected. She'd even heard Lizzie make a sex joke the other day… of course not directed toward a sibling. And why was Casey always half naked? The summer hadn't been that nice. She didn't want to think about her kids as adults who were doing adult things, so she repeated "4pm Wednesday" before walking back downstairs.