Life Goes On
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN LIFE WITH DEREK AND CLAIM NO RIGHTS/PRIVLEDGES THAT GOES WITH SAID OWNERSHIP.
When he woke up she was sitting next to the window, staring out of it. He walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned back into his embrace, still looking outside. "Why does it have to end like this?" she asked on a sigh.
"Don't think about it," he told her. "Tonight it's just you and me, nothing else matters."
"But how can you say that," she asked, turning around to face him, tears in her eyes.
"Because I know that no matter what happens, we still have each other. Nothing we will or might do can change that. Just believe in us, Case. I know I do." He pulled her closer to him, breathing deeply to inhale as much of her scent as he could, knowing that even that much would soon be gone, following her off to college. She held onto him like she was a drowning woman and he was her lifeline. He felt just about the same. "C'mon, lets go for a walk. We'll go to the park and look at the stars for the rest of the night. No lights, no humanity, no past or tomorrow. Just you, me, and right now."
He pulled her up, noting with pleasure that she had slipped on his shirt. He didn't ask her to take it off and she didn't offer to give it back. They put on the rest of their clothes, Derek reaching into his closet for another shirt, and then they opened the window and climbed down onto the sidewalk.
Their fingers were laced, with a pair of matching rings adorning their middle fingers. They were simple rings so no one would guess the meaning of them. But they had made a promise on the day they got the rings, and in four years they would act on that promise. They would stay true or not at all. It was how they both wanted it. The words "I love you" weren't necessary to them, although they were used.
They walked slowly, trying to lengthen the time they had together. The park came upon them soon, and they sat in the old and worn swing set. The swings made squeaking sounds as they moved slowly back and forth, but the sounds served only to deepen the silence between them.
He watched the sky while she stared at their intwined hands, thinking. After she made up her mind she moved her hand away from his, getting his attention. His eyes asked the question that de didn't dare say. Was that the end? She shook her head but removed the ring and put it on her ring finger.
He copied the movement, and then took her face in his hands and kissed her lighly on the lips. One of his hands fell down her arm to twine their fingers once more while the other stayed on her face for a long moment. She sighed deeply and closed her burning eyes. When she opened them again she gazed at the stars and stopped thinking.
"Casey, are you ready yet?"
"Yeah, Mom, I'm ready." Casey walked down the stairs with her last suitcase in hand. She kissed her mother on the cheek and hugged her siblings, with words of wisdom for each one. She had already said her goodbyes to Derek, who was watching from the window, pretending not to care in front of the rest of her family.
She gave the suitcase to George, who apologized again for his son's lack of manners, while Casey told him not to worry, again. They both knew it was part of who he was, and both loved him for it, in different ways, of course. She glanced up at his window and shared one last look with Derek before hugging George and her mother and getting into her car and leaving for her new life. Life without Derek.
Well, it was short, hopefully sweet, too. I don't think it was all that bad for my first LWD fic…
Please review and tell me what you think. It would mean a bunch to me. It really would.