She looked amazing.
Chestnut hair - freshly highlighted - curled and just barely brushing her ribs; blue eyes sparkling in the impressive lighting and her sweet, smooth voice carrying through the microphone attached to the headpiece that wrapped around her ear. Her layered shirts accentuated her curves and her denim mini-skirt covering just enough to be modest yet short enough to reveal the smooth curve of her nicely toned legs and adding to her refreshingly modest yet deliciously sexy look. The black kitten heels with the rounded curve and the strap across the top are simple and almost doll-like in appearance but somehow they only seem to make her legs look miles long.
And then, Truman French had come along with his stupid ratings and Casey's confidence had plummeted.
Not even a week and he already hated the idiot who had dared give Casey a 6 1/2. Believe him when he said that Truman French's untimely demise was not the furthest thing from his mind. That one particular thought had lingered at the forefront of his mind ever since Casey had come home nearly in tears from the rating. If he hadn't of been dealing with Casey's freakout, he might have gone out and murdered Truman right then but Casey was freaking out and there was no way he could leave her.
"Our models know that every girl has a unique style and a different kind of beauty. And thank you to everyone. You are all," She drew her arm around in a semi-circle so that she pointed to every member of the audience and stopped at Truman, pinning him with an angry and pointed stare. "Tens."
The music started up again, and with an excited call, Casey and her new friends were prancing girlishly down the runway. Hands met hips, fingers splayed in a flamenco like fashion in the air and the soft curves of all the woman moved to the beat. The only one he could focus on was Casey. Aside from when she was dancing; this had to be the happiest she had ever been - knowing that she had helped every girl on stage and in the entire school feel better about themselves after Truman French's arrival.
"Whoo!" He cheered over the crowd. "Go, Casey!"
Her lithe body moved to the beat and when she caught his eyes, a breathtaking smile lit up her face. He could see it in her eyes and in the happy, care-free way she danced. The fashion show had brought back the confidence that Truman had tried to strip from her. As the song drew to a close, he leaned back against the wall and watched her make her way down the runway, picking up the scattered flowers. She jumped off the runway and dipped her head to smell the flowers.
"Hi."
His eyes darkened as he watched Casey turn to Truman but the next words out of her mouth made him smile; "Bummed you didn't get pick models for Kendra's fashion show?"
He listened to the conversation with disgust; unable to believe that Truman would sink as low as to send Casey's confidence plummeting just to get her attention. Before the conversation could go further, he pushed himself off of the wall and sauntered over to them. There was no way in hell he was letting Casey be charmed by this jerk.
"Hey Case," He slipped up beside and wrapped a protective - possessive - arm around her as he shot Truman the friendliest smile he could come up with. "Truman, right?"
"Right. You must be - "
"Derek." Casey clenched her teeth as she turned, not-so-coincidentally pressing herself into Derek's side. "What are you doing?"
Derek looked up at Truman again, tightening his hold on Casey. "I'm simply introducing myself to the new guy."
"Really? 'Cause it seems like you're trying to deprive me of oxygen!" Casey hissed in his ear, not moving even as his grip loosened.
"Who are you, exactly?" Truman asked him, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.
"Derek Venturi," Derek told him casually. "Captain of the hockey team and the person whose bad side you do not want to find yourself on."
"And that means what to me?" Truman laughed dryly.
"It means that if you mess with her again, I'll show you how else us, hockey players, like to use our sticks." Derek growled, swinging his arm out so that Casey was behind him. "You don't touch her, talk to her. You don't even look at her and I, damn well better not catch you rating her again because if I do and I let you live long enough, you will regret it."
"Doesn't she get a say in this?"
"No." Derek shook his head. "She's mine and if I catch you rating her again, I'll make you regret it. She's off the charts and off of your radar. For good."
Casey just smirked at him triumphantly as she melted into Derek as he turned and wrapped his arm around her to lead her away. She was off-limits and Derek would go to the ends of the damned earth to make sure another guy never so much as looked at her wrong. Including Truman French. When she was sure that Truman was watching them, she leaned up and pressed a sweet kiss to Derek's cheek and murmured a soft, "I love you" in his ear.
"Did he hear that?" Derek looked down at her with a smirk.
"Hell yeah, D."
"Good. Let's go home, Princess." Derek pulled her closer and kissed her head.
It was only the next day, after a conversation with Casey's best friend Emily was Truman informed of why Derek and Casey seemed closer than close. They were step-siblings, yes, but Emily had not-so-subtly informed him that Derek and Casey were more important to each other than to each of their respective friends and exes. Fight though they may - and fight they did - they still meant a lot to each other and protecting each other was part of the package. Anyone who had ever dated Derek or Casey had learned the hard way that with Casey came her protectiveness of Derek and vice versa. With Derek, came his protectiveness of Casey. Eventually everyone they dated got sick of it and the joke that they should just date each other to avoid getting hurt became very real.
No, Truman French would not be rating Casey McDonald again. But he had a feeling, he'd be seeing her around and he suspected he wouldn't be seeing her without Derek. Derek obviously felt that Casey was worth more than a stupid rating of six and a half.
To Derek, Casey was obviously off the charts.
A little scene that played out in my head after watching the episode that introduced the epitome of all assholes, Truman French. I hated him from this episode on...so you can imagine how I felt when he cheated on Casey. Yes, Casey was annoying sometimes but so was Derek. It was quite obvious though that despite their bickering and arguing, their was some sort of friendship and by season four...well, it became quite obvious that Derek was more interested in Casey than anyone else. Leave me some love, Dolls.