It was a Friday night, and as she usually did this last year, Casey had somewhere to be. It was her weekly ritual, and if she didn't go, she'd probably burst from holding everything inside.
"I'm going out, mom," Casey said as she passed her mom on her way out. "Don't wait up for me." Since it was chilly, her mother didn't question the long coat Casey was wearing and simply nodded. She wasn't so lucky with Derek however.
"Out?" he asked from his place in his chair.
Casey jumped at the sound of his voice.
"What are you doing here?" she asked before she could stop herself. "I thought you had a date with some blonde chick."
He chuckled.
"Spacey, Spacey, Spacey… Of course, I could be out if I wanted to, but we have the final round of the playoffs tomorrow. I figured I'd best get my beauty sleep," he replied in that ridiculously cocky voice.
Ridiculously cocky, sexy voice.
No, Casey, Casey chided herself. Do NOT go there with your STEPBROTHER, WHILE HE'S IN THE ROOM!
"Well," she said in her best condescending-princess voice, "I doubt any amount of beauty sleep will be able to help your," she paused and waved her hand at him, "situation."
He simply smirked.
"I'm sure you've been trying to improve… that for years, Case. But just because you can't get a date doesn't mean you can insult the more gifted."
Half of her wished she could wipe that smirk off his face, but the other half…
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Der," she said sweetly, turning to leave. She didn't let herself look back at him, so within moments, she was outside, in her car, and backing out of the driveway.
She spent the whole ride as she always did: calming the intense beating of her heart. She didn't even bother to look out the window. No one ever followed her.
Finally, she pulled up to the too-familiar building. It exerted a sort of creepy, everything-that-happens-in-here-is-illegal kind of vibe, but to Casey, it was strangely comforting.
Without hesitating, she stepped out of her car, careful to leave the long trench coat inside, locked the doors, and strolled inside the building. As she entered, she was greeted by several other regulars, so it took her a moment to reach the counter of the non-alcoholic bar.
"Whatcha singin' tonight, Sandy?" Jerry asked as Casey sat on the counter next to him. She smiled down at him. Jerry wasn't his real name—no one here went by their real names, and that's exactly how she liked it—but it was the only name she'd ever known them by. Everyone's names meant something to them personally, but it was a mystery to everyone else. The anonymity that she found here was the main appeal to the place. It was a way to keep from going insane.
"Something new," Casey replied, smiling slyly at her companion.
"Ah," he replied. "Danny giving you lots of new material?"
At this, Casey's smile slipped a little bit.
"Always," she managed to choke out.
"Ah, I'm sorry," Jerry said awkwardly when he realized he'd upset her. There was a long pause. "Well, I'm really excited to hear you sing! That's always the highlight of the night!"
"Well, tonight is TRUTH night," Casey said, twirling her hair unconsciously. "I have to go get set up."
Just as she was about to go, Jerry whispered one final thought.
"No one here will judge you, no matter how bad it is."
Casey just nodded and kept walking thinking, I wish I could believe that.
She didn't look around and chat with anyone else like she usually would. Instead, she went straight up to the stage. She only had ten minutes before she went on.
Each of the regulars eventually had to go through a TRUTH night: Tell the Real Unaltered Truth Here—a night when they told everyone what it was that they were hiding from. For Casey, the thought was more than a little scary. It was terrifying.
A few minutes later, she was on stage, and the whole room was silent, waiting for her to speak.
She took a deep breath.
"So," she began with a shaky voice. She paused a moment to regain control, and she reminded herself that she was among friends.
"So," she began again, in a stronger voice. "I'm sure you all know me as Sandy, and I know you've all heard of my Danny." She got a few chuckles from that comment. Some of the stories—okay all of her stories—were ridiculously hilarious.
"But, as you also know," she continued, "'Sandy' and 'Danny' are so not our real names. I mean, what are we? Grease?" She paused here because the crowd chuckled at this, but then she willed herself on. "My real name is Casey. Casey MacDonald. And my Danny, his real name is Derek Venturi. He's my—my stepbrother."
She paused here, waiting for the screams of horror and the people to start throwing things at her.
It never happened. Feeling hope bubble up in her heart, Casey continued.
"My mom married his dad when we were fifteen. At first, I really did hate him. He's an arrogant, chauvinistic, skirt-chasing cad, but he's also really sweet. There are times when he'll do something for me—sure he always has another reason for it later, but in those moments, I began to realize that he's not such a bad guy." She paused here, knowing that this next part was the most important part of her confession. "And I fell in love with him."
Where she'd expected gasps and shouts of wrong-doing, she received quiet sighs and 'ahhhh's.
"So I guess there's nothing left to say," she said with a relieved smile. "I wrote this song about everything I feel for him. I hope you like it."
She nodded behind her and the music started up.
Baby you're a wrecking ball
Crashing into me
Nothing I can do but fall
Piece by piece
You broke down every part of me
That ever thought I'd never need you, baby
It's twisted, messed up
And the more I think about it
It's crazy, but so what
I may never understand it
I'm caught up and I'm hanging on
I'm gonna love you even if it's wrong
Everybody would tell me
I'm over my head
But they don't see the you I see
They'd all say that I've gone crazy
Maybe, but it's too late now to save me
I'm too tangled
It's twisted, messed up
And the more I think about it
It's crazy, but so what
I may never understand it
I'm caught up and I'm hanging on
I'm gonna love you even if it's wrong
Even if it's twisted
Maybe it's not right
But that's all right
Yeah, it's all right tonight
It's twisted, messed up
And the more I think about it
It's crazy, but so what
I may never understand it
It's twisted, messed up
And the more I think about it
It's crazy, but so what
I may never understand it
I'm caught up and I'm hanging on
I'm gonna love you even if it's wrong
Even if it's twisted
Even if it's just a little bit, just a little bit, just a little twisted
Yeah
It's twisted
Yeah
She finished to a huge round of applause, and she couldn't shake the smile from her face. It felt so good to let her feelings out for real.
She stepped off the stage, feeling like she was walking on air, until an arm reached out and pulled her into a dark corner, and an all too familiar voice hissed in her ear.
"What the hell is going on?"
Casey gulped. She'd know that voice anywhere.
"Derek?"