A/N
Casey sat down at the lunch table next to Emily. She was annoyed to see Kristen there, but it was inevitable seeing as how she seemed to win over everyone she met. Everyone except Casey that is. It was bad enough that she had to be in half her classes with her, now it seemed like she was everywhere. She acted so nice and sweet but there were really only two words to describe her: ice queen. Sure enough as soon as she noticed Casey's arrival she dug her claws in.
"Casey, how lovely of you to join us! I was just telling Emily how great I think it is for her to reach out to new students like you. If it weren't for her charity you may have been a total social reject," she said sweetly.
Casey flinched at the obvious slight. Emily however didn't seem to notice anything so Casey decided she better just play it off. But she couldn't resist adding a little bite to her voice, the kind she usually reserved for Derek.
"Yes, Emily is my best friend and has been since I moved here last year. I don't really think that makes me a new student," she replied through clenched teeth.
"Has it been that long? Hmm…funny how it doesn't really seem like it, maybe it is because you never really meshed with the rest of the school. Anyway see you later Case, Emily and I are going to head to class. Coming Em?" she said, ushering to Casey's best friend.
"Umm, yeah, catch you later Case!" Emily said without a second thought.
Casey stormed into the house with a huff, slamming the door behind her. Her mother came from the kitchen to greet her and saw her in her angry state.
"Oh no, what did Derek do now?" Nora said with a tired look.
"Nothing, actually. It's Kristen. She is just so…UHH!!" Casey said, exasperated.
Hearing the frustrated noises Derek walked into the room.
"Man, what did I do now? I must be good if I can annoy you without knowing it," he said snidely.
"Der-ek, you are so vain, for your information this has nothing to do with you. It is that horrible Kristen."
"Yeah, don't care. So Nora what is for dinner?" he asked.
"Ugh, you are impossible!" with that Casey stormed up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.
"So, Nora, dinner?" Derek asked again.
"You know Derek, it wouldn't kill you to be a little nicer to you sister," she said tiredly.
"Step-sister. And yes, I think it would," he grinned and sauntered up the stairs to his own room.
The next day was Saturday and Casey was in slightly better spirits. She was getting ready to go shopping with Emily and wouldn't have to see Kristen for the entire weekend. As she was getting ready her other frequent annoyance walked in to her room.
"Sorry to break it to you Case, but even with all that makeup it is still you underneath," he said.
Casey turned around to see her obnoxious step-brother leaning casually just inside her door. She let her eyes travel down his crossed arms to his toned body, but then shook her head in disgust at herself.
"Whatever Derek," she said, but after a pause turned back to him with a worried look, "do you really think I am wearing too much make-up?"
Derek rolled his eyes and uncrossed his strong arms, crossing the room to stand next to her.
"Geez, Case, you have issues. Why do you even care what I think?" she just looked at him expectantly and he sighed. "No, you look…somewhere near human I guess."
She looked at him affronted, but turned back to her mirror feeling relieved. Wait, why did she care? Casey tried not to think down that path.
Derek was looking down at her expectantly; apparently he had just asked her a question while she was lost in thought.
"Sorry, what?" she asked.
"Space Case much? I asked you if you had seen my brown shirt, I couldn't figure out your lame little laundry organization. In fact, neither could Nora. You really outdid yourself with that one," his tone was beyond mocking.
"Oh please, it is so simple! The clothes are divided by fabric, then color, then season, then owner. Your brown shirt should be in the blue basket closest to the detergent bottle, near the bottom if I remember," Casey said.
"Umm…yeah, you have serious problems. How about you stay out of my clothes from now on?" he said.
They both paused as they realized what that sounded like.
"I mean…stay away from my laundry…" he trailed off and left her room to retrieve his shirt.
"Em, come on, you promised we would hang out!" Casey whined into the phone.
"I know, but Casey, this is like a once in a lifetime thing! I mean, if you really wanted to hang out then I could tell Kristen no, but I did already tell her I would go to the concert, front row seats, Casey!"
"No, no, Em it is fine, you really should go. Yeah, uh huh, talk to you later. Bye." Casey hung up the phone dejectedly and sighed.
This was the third time that week Emily had canceled plans to hang out with Kristen. Casey was annoyed that her annoyance-free weekend plans were already ruined. She walked out of her room and down the stairs where Lizzie was sitting on the couch watching television. With a huge sigh Casey settled herself into the couch next to her younger sister.
When Lizzie didn't seem to take notice of her, she let out another huge sigh and her sister rolled her eyes.
"What's wrong Casey?" she asked reluctantly.
"Oh, nothing really," Casey replied. Lizzie looked at her disbelievingly and she continued rapidly. "It is that girl Kristen, she is super popular and she started hanging out with me and Em lately but I don't really think she likes me but everyone else thinks she is so sweet but she is always really mean to me and now Emily is canceling plans with me to hang out with her!" she finished in a huff.
"What does she do to you?" Lizzie asked.
"Well…nothing I guess, she just says things…she is really passive aggressive," Casey said unsurely.
"Well sis, is it possible that you are overreacting just a little bit? I mean, Emily is your best friend but it is ok if she wants to occasionally hang out with someone else," Lizzie said.
"Yeah, maybe you are right. I guess I could be a little nicer to Kristen," she said thoughtfully.
"If you are talking about the same Kristen, I think Derek is being nice enough for the both of you," Edwin said coming down the stairs into the room.
"What are you talking about, Ed?" Lizzie asked.
"He is on the phone with some girl named Kristen right now talking about their date tomorrow," he replied.
Casey felt her heart sink. Derek dating Kristen? That would be horrible, why would he want to date her? What Derek could even see in such a…
She cut off her own thoughts. She didn't care who Derek went out with. If he wanted to date that annoying ice queen that was fine with her, they deserved each other. Trying to ignore the nagging feeling in her stomach Casey went upstairs to return to her room. But as she walked down the hall she noticed that Derek's door was open a crack and she couldn't resist going in.
He was off the phone now and she was startled to see that she had caught him when he was dressing; so that when she walked in he had his shirt pulled up over his head obstructing his vision but giving her a perfect view of his torso. She let her eyes linger on his hockey sculpted body for a moment even after he had finished pulling on his shirt and was looking at her strangely.
"Like what you see, Case?" he said with his trademark smirk.
Casey scoffed and rolled her eyes but a flush crept into her cheeks just the same.
"Please, don't flatter yourself," she said.
"So, besides checking out my amazing body what did you want?" he asked, ignoring her protests.
"I was just wondering…is it true you have a date with Kristen tomorrow?
"Ok, not really your business who I date but yeah, I am. I mean have you seen her? Talk about hot!"
"Oh please, is that all you think about, how a girl looks? You are so horribly shallow, don't you even think about personality?"
"Not that I care, but if she has such a terrible personality then why are you friends with her?" he asked snidely.
"I am so not friends with her, she hates me and I find her absolutely insufferable!" she said.
Derek smiled with an evil glint in his eye. "Well, it sounds like we have a lot in common then," he said.
"UGH! You are impossible; I don't even know why I try to speak to you like a human being!" Casey said and stormed out of the room.
"So, I'll tell Kristen you said hi then!" Derek called after her sarcastically.
Casey just stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Back in her bedroom Casey sighed and threw herself down onto her bed, burying her head in her pillow. She was so angry but also confused. She really didn't know why it bothered her so much to have Derek date Kristen. It wasn't like any of his girlfriends lasted long anyway. Still she couldn't shake the nagging feeling in her stomach, something that seemed oddly similar to jealousy…but that couldn't be it. The image of Derek with his shirt half off popped unbidden into her mind and she groaned to herself in protest. Tomorrow was not going to be a good day.
Today was going to be a good day, Derek thought to himself and smiled. He had a date with an incredibly hot girl which had the added bonus of making Casey absolutely crazy. That was almost the best part of this whole thing actually. Of course he knew that she hated Kristen, she was always so obvious.
Derek wondered just how much that fact had played into his decision to ask her out. He did enjoy making Casey angry, but to date someone for the sole purpose of doing so seemed a bit…obsessive. He continued to get ready as he tried to shake such strange thoughts from his mind. Instead he decided to think of the girl he was about to meet. Her smoking body, her big blue eyes, her wavy brown hair…
Derek stopped himself. If his memory served him, Kristen had blond hair. Hmm…who had he just been thinking of? Before he could figure it out, the doorbell rang and he started out of his room to answer it. Sadly, Casey got there first.
He stopped halfway down the stairs to witness the battle that was taking place between his blond date and his stepsister who he noticed had wavy brown hair. He snapped out of his thoughts to hear what the girls were saying to each other.
"Oh, hi Casey, I forgot you lived here…funny how forgettable you can be at times," Kristen said.
"Um, yeah…so how was the concert?" she replied, trying to be nice.
"It was absolutely fantastic! Em and I had the best time, she is such a great best friend," Kristen said with a smirk.
"Yeah, she is a great best friend, but I don't see what that has to do with you," Casey spit back.
"Oh, well, I really wish you could have come with us but they are a really hip band and the concert was pretty crazy... I just didn't think someone like you would be in to that sort of thing. You probably got some important knitting or extra-credit homework done, right?"
Casey just stared for a moment, but it didn't matter because Kristen had spotted Derek.
"Hey Derry, ready to go? I am super excited for our date tonight," she said sweetly.
Both Derek and Casey flinched at the word Derry but Derek brushed it off and came the rest of the way down the stairs to meet his date. He followed her out the door, turning back to Casey at the last second and giving her a suggestive wink to which she rolled her eyes. Oh yes, a good day for Derek Venturi was most certainly a bad day for Casey McDonald.
Casey felt like she was going to explode. It had been a week since Derek and Kristen's first date, and it had been the worst week of her life. Now not only did she have to see Kristen at school she also had to see her when she got home as apparently her and Derek had to spend every day after school hanging around the house insulting her. Thank goodness Derek hated PDA or she really would have died, although Kristen did try a few times and hadn't ceased her use of the annoying nickname she had given him.
The only good thing that had come out of it was that Emily seemed much less favorable towards Kristen now that she had started dating Derek. But jealously or not she still frequently blew off plans with Casey to hang out with her new "best friend". For the second week in a row Casey came home in a huff. Only this time she had no delusions about a nice weekend since tonight Kristen was coming over for dinner.
What Casey didn't yet know was that Derek had come home in a bit of a huff too, and for some of the same reasons. Kristen was really starting to get on his nerves. She was extremely clingy and would not stop calling him Derry. The only reason why he had stayed with her all week was to bug Casey but even that had stopped being fun. Some of the things Kristen said to Casey were downright mean and Derek was tired of the strange almost compassionate feeling in his stomach every time she put his stepsister down.
And tonight she was coming to have dinner with his family. He really didn't know how it happened. She was saying something about meeting the whole family (he tended to tune her out when she talked) and then all of a sudden she was saying that she would see him Friday night for dinner…at his house.
It wasn't even true that she hadn't met the whole family (she was always at the house); just that she hadn't met them altogether. And he really didn't care for her to have a nice little sit down with his relatives when he didn't plan on taking the relationship much further. He was seeped with dread as he heard the doorbell ring and Nora calling for him to come downstairs to meet his guest.
Casey heard the doorbell ring as she was sitting on the couch. Hoping to spare herself from the torture for as long as she could she quickly got up and jogged up the stairs. Her mother just gave her a strange look as she came in from the kitchen to open the door but didn't say anything.
Casey was still hurrying as she tried to make it to her room before her mother got the door open, which is why she didn't notice Derek coming out of his room right into her path. Needless to say both were very annoyed when they found themselves sprawled intertwined on the hallway floor after crashing into each other rather hard and painfully.
"Ouch, Der-ek, why don't you watch where you are going?!" Casey yelled, trying to untangle herself and stand up again.
"Whatever, Spacey, you were the one running up the stairs on the warpath. I innocently stepped out of my room and was run over by your ineptness at walking," he said, trying to push him up as well but only succeeding to lie on top of Casey even more.
Casey cleared her throat awkwardly as she looked up at Derek, feeling very uncomfortable in her position pressed under his body. They looked at each other for a moment too long until Casey said:
"Shouldn't you go down to greet your girlfriend?"
She was slightly surprised to see the look of dread on his face as she said this and he almost reluctantly pushed himself off of Casey and stood up. Without offering to help her up he went down the stairs, looking like a man heading to his execution.
It was halfway through dinner and already the most of the family was completely miserable. Kristen only stopped talking long enough to taste the food Nora had painstakingly prepared and then inform her that it was not quite up to her standards (in not so many words). She had offended almost every person at the table but had mainly spent the whole time throwing thinly veiled insults at Casey. After awhile she stopped trying to respond and Derek flinched every time his "girlfriend" would say something that would cause Casey to grit her teeth or turn pink in defeat.
Finally he found himself actually getting angry on Casey's behalf. He had no idea why she was being treated this way but he knew that he didn't like to see her hurting the way she was. She tried to play it off as nothing but Derek saw each strike hit by the pain in her deep brown eyes. As mean as he was he had never had the heart to actually say things that would hurt her feelings like that. Then it came to a moment when he couldn't take it anymore. Casey had made some sort of comment about Kristen's dating history and Kristen had taken it upon herself to respond thusly.
"Well Casey, I don't see how you would know much about dating. But don't worry, I am sure there has to be a guy somewhere who can look past everything and find something about you to like. Stranger things have happened after all," she said.
Something in Derek snapped. He stood up at the table, pushing Kristen's hand off his arm where she had obnoxiously rested it all night.
"Ok, ok, that is IT! I have had enough!" he yelled, turning to Kristen. "Casey is smart, and kind and absolutely gorgeous and any guy would be lucky to have any chance with her! You, on the other hand, are a cruel little ice queen who at best could be called mildly attractive." He finished, looking a little shocked at what was coming out of his own mouth.
Kristen looked as if she had been slapped, or like she was going to slap Derek. Instead she stood from the table and in a screechy tone declared their relationship over. Then she tried to stalk haughtily out of the house, only to trip on the carpet and go sprawling to the floor. Kristen stood up and brushed herself off, ignoring the laughter behind her, and slammed out of the house.
An awkward silence descended after her departure. Everyone was staring at Derek, who realized that he was still standing. He still looked stunned at his own outburst but no one could look more stunned than Casey. Finally she spoke.
"Aw, Derek, that was the sweetest thing you have ever said! Thank you so much for standing up for me!" she said.
"Yeah, well, she was really out of line…and besides, she was making you miserable which everyone knows is my job," he replied embarrassedly.
Casey got up and walked around the table towards where Derek was standing with her arms outstretched. A look of fear spread across his face.
"You don't want a hug, do you?" he asked.
Casey studied him thoughtfully and dropped her arms. "No, I think I will let you slide this time for being so nice to me."
Derek looked slightly relieved if not somewhat disappointed.
Later that night Derek was in his room when he heard a knock at his door.
"Come in!" he called. Casey strode into his room and sat down on the edge of his bed next to him.
"Hey Der, I wanted to thank you again for what you did tonight," she said and he sat up so that he was sitting next to her on the bed.
She seemed to be thinking for a moment before she continued. "Do you…I mean, did you really mean what you said about me?" she asked, blushing.
Derek shifted uncomfortably under her intense gaze but met her eyes as he answered.
"Well, you know how smart you are, come on, you have had straight A's since kindergarten and you have that super nice thing pretty much down and…" he trailed off.
"And?" she asked impatiently.
"And, yeah, you are…I mean, have you looked at yourself? Any guy would, I mean I certainly…" he trailed off again realizing how close he was to Casey.
Derek looked at her closely. They were only inches away now. She didn't seem to notice the proximity yet or she would have certainly moved back. He suddenly felt an overwhelming rush of desire, something that had always been there under the surface but he had been denying. Without really thinking Derek closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to hers, feeling her surprise.
Casey was suddenly aware of Derek's lips on hers. She was startled at first; she couldn't be kissing Derek, her step-brother Derek. But somewhere deep inside her she knew that she had wanted this all along, had wanted more than anything to have his argumentative mouth on hers. She let that part of her take over and she was kissing him back fiercely.
Derek felt Casey start to kiss him back. She leaned into him, deepening the kiss and reached up to tangle her hand in his hair. He grabbed her waist, pulling her closer to him.
She felt his tongue asking for entrance and she complied, parting her lips to find out with much delight that he had been telling the truth: he was an excellent kisser. She clung to him for longer than she could hold her breath and finally had to pull away, gasping.
They both sat there for a moment, panting for air. After their hearts had slowed down a bit an awkward silence descended and Casey untangled her fingers from his soft hair and he removed his hands from her waist. They sat apart for a moment longer trying to gather their thoughts.
"Ummm…" Casey attempted to break the silence but couldn't quite remember how to form proper words. Luckily Derek recovered a little quicker.
"So…I have wanted to do that for like…forever," he said simply.
"Yeah, me too," Casey consented. "People would absolutely freak, you know."
"Yeah, I know. But I don't really care. At all," he replied.
"Me neither. I was always so jealous you know. Every time you would bring home another one of those bimbos I would freak," she admitted
He laughed. "Really? I always kinda hoped that you were." He turned serious for a moment. "I meant it you know, everything I said. You are the most amazing girl I have ever met."
"You are not so bad yourself, Derek Venturi," she adopted a mock scared look, "You don't want a hug, do you?" she joked with teasing horror.
Derek just smiled his sly grin that she loved, a devilish glint in his eye.
"Oh, no," he said, grabbing her again and pulling her up against him forcibly, "I want much more than a hug!" and he kissed her again.
THE END