Title: Extra Fat Free Vanilla Ice Cream
Author: jcfl16
Summary: "I'll tell them I swear." Casey and Derek's problems always rooted from those words.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own LWD. This fic is meant for entertainment not profit. Do you know how tired I get of typing that?
Author's Note: I am making this a multi-chapter fic, though each chapter can be read as a one shot as well. That way you get no cliff hangers. Basically this is just how they told everyone about the two of them, including how they told each other. And I'm a slow updater (that's another reason this will be a collection of one shots, but still have flow like a story), just a word of caution. I update faster the more reviews I get, though. When I'm done with collection obviously I'll put it to complete, but don't get antsy if it takes me a while (I will update I swear, just not lick-edy split).
Extra Fat Free Vanilla Ice Cream
"I'll tell them I swear." I hate these words, I've heard them and spoken them so often that I mumble them in my sleep. And it's not just these but all there little variations to, like: "Just give me some time…It's hard… I don't want to hurt… We just have to wait a little longer…Please just be patient…"
I don't know who it was worse to tell. But none of them were easy. In fact I couldn't even tell him in a painless process.
Telling Each Other (Casey's Side)
When it came to him I had no idea how to approach the subject. Because everything that had to do with him was a million times harder than anything else. He liked it that way. He liked making her life miserable. He had to it was his step-brotherly duty.
Even being on his side wasn't easy. She had no idea why she bothered. No, scratch that, she knew why. It was because she was in love with him. She told herself that one day she'd tell him, but she wasn't sure when. She needed time it was hard telling people how you felt. And think of all the people she would hurt, her mom and George, her siblings and step-siblings, her friends, herself (if he didn't say it back, and let's be honest he would never say it back, and more honesty she probably wouldn't tell him anyway). How ridiculous.
She hated herself for that. Because since she loved him she always ended up in these predicaments. Sometimes she wished her head could petition her heart for custody of her feelings, and then she wouldn't have these problems.
"Stop!" did guys ever listen when she spoke. It sure didn't feel like it. "Guy's quit it. Before someone gets hurt!" She yelled from the behind the rink wall. Today was one of Derek's hockey games. She had started attending as part of a pact she made with him. He wouldn't bug her on nights she had to study for a test as long as she attended the games. She had shown up late because of a mid-term and was completely shell shocked at what she saw before her.
Currently she was watching Derek and Roger battle it out. They were two grown men, but they were acting like children.
Roger was an attractive boy… from a rival school… who was good with girls… and on the hockey team… with a long standing vendetta against the school… and Derek. All she knew about Roger was what others had told her, and what she had seen with her own two eyes. She had only talked to him once and it had been a five minute conversation at Pauley's party last year (that she had only went to because she was convinced Derek had spread a rumor about her being a necrophiliac, which he had, and she had to disprove that). At the party Derek had walked up interrupted her conversation and got into a battle of wits with Roger, which surprisingly Derek lost (and we all know how he takes losing). So the next day Derek and his team clobbered the other team, winning with an embarrassing score of Queens 26 Away 4 (A/N: I have no idea about hockey I'm hoping that this is an actual possible score difference and that it would in fact be horrible, and that this team could actually be the name of a college team). This would not end well.
She had no idea why they were fighting seeing as it had taken her several minutes to fight thru the crowd of people standing by the hockey ring. Both of the coaches and the referees were trying to stop them, but they weren't having it. The teammates and the crowd around seemed to be enjoying it, though.
She looked down and saw blood she's not exactly sure whose blood she was currently staring at on the ice, but either way it made her skin crawl. She hated blood, it made her nauseous.
The punches kept going, and she wondered ideally when they had lost their helmets and gloves, and how it was possible that this hadn't turned into an all out brawl between the two teams. She saw them weaving in and out and just wished it would end already. Where was security? And was it really so hard to separate two young men, especially when there were 4 fully grown men (coaches and refs) trying to break it up? This was ridiculous.
"MacDonald," bellowed Derek's coach, she was pretty sure his name was Peterson "get your brother!"
"Step-brother. And hello, why don't you?" but her comment went unheard as the coach turned back to the fight.
Casey growled slightly under her breath and moved closer. She managed to effectively jump the short wall separating her from the ice (a small miracle that was sure to never happen again).
Everyone was hesitant so Casey did the only thing that came to mind.
As Derek pushed Roger a good five feet away Casey yelled "DE-REK MICHAEL VENTURI! YOU STOP THAT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" and thru herself in the middle of the two of them. "I don't know what macho mentality thing you got going on right now but if you don't calm down, I swear you'll regret it!" she hissed at him.
"Yeah, right. What you goanna do bore me to death." He said as he tried to maneuver around her.
She saw Roger stand and brace himself, out of the corner of her eye and tried again.
"No I'll just tell everyone that you" she held up her hand to tick off things one by one on her fingers "play dress up with your little sister, that you slept with a teddy bear named Winifred till you were 8, and that you failed the fir... mphgm." He slammed his hand over her mouth, not hard enough to hurt, but fast enough that she knew she almost had him. She dropped her hand and smiled beneath his touch challenging him. He was glaring at her but still sending evil glances to Roger, her next move had to be the final blow to get him hooked.
"Shut it Case." He hissed as his eyes darted between the two people he want to fight with. "Now."
She seen three of his hockey buddies get closer, after the coach said something to them, one headed towards her the other two towards him. Though she ignored the feeling of his hand on her mouth, she didn't ignore the spark in his eyes. The familiar twinge in her stomach started and her mind was churning, she could do this, heck, this was all she did some days.
She pulled his hand off her mouth when he glanced sideways again and said very loudly and clearly "Or you'll what?" she taunted. "Throw up on me like you do before every game? Or maybe just whine like a girl like you do every time you lose?"
And just like that she had his undivided attention. The yelling match that ensued between the two was of epic proportions, but it had successfully stopped the fist fight. She wasn't sure exactly how she managed it but with the help of three of his teammates she got them off the ice and into the men's locker room (which when reminded of later would leave her cherry red). She didn't see Roger again but had been told that he had been nursing a pretty serious bloody nose and would be out for the rest of the season.
Yeah, she was totally going to petition her heart.
Once the yelling stopped she was able to take him home. Her throat was a little hoarse but she was more concerned about his wounds. He huffed the whole way to their apartment (which was a torture in itself) and she had to hold back a smirk every time he made a comment about the fight. He cringed when he got out of the car and Casey wanted so bad to run over to him and check on him. But this was not part of their dance, no, the most she could do was mumble something about 'It was his own fault', and she hated that.
She barley had the door open when he barreled through.
"Well excuse you." She said. He didn't even turn around. Rolling her eyes she followed him to the kitchen. "What are you doing?" No answer. "The first aid kit isn't in here." She stated watching him search.
He froze, and turning his head ever so slightly he muttered "Where is it?"
"In the bathroom." She replied staring at her nails, and playing her part perfectly.
He turned and marched to the bathroom, and she of course followed.
She arrived to see him tearing angrily threw the bathroom. After a couple of minutes of watching him wreck the pristine bathroom she motioned for him to stop. With a menacing scowl on her face she bent down opened the bottom cabinet and pulled out the first aid kit.
"Hand it over." He growled at her.
She ignored him and hoped on the bathroom counter on the right of the sink. Setting the first aid kit on her left she opened it, then grabbed his hand and pulled him in front of her.
"What are you doing?" Derek said voice full of anger.
"Getting ready to visit the Pope. What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cleaning you up. You look bad enough without this added mess." She paused then said with a contemplating look "Actually this might be an improvement."
He glared "You're so kind." He spit the words at her.
"Shut up and let me do this." She pulled his hand up to her face with more force than was necessary. At his cringe she muttered 'I'm sorry'. His hand looked wretched. She began cleaning his hand up, while he rested his other hand beside her on the counter. "So what where you fighting about?"
"None of your business." He mumbled, she pressed the cuts harder. When he hissed in pain she mumbled another apology.
After a few minutes she moved to a nasty bite mark he had further up his arm. She felt a little light headed and fought to keep her breathing level.
"Just something about hockey." He finally said.
"Oh." She said. She didn't know why she had thought it could be about her. "What about hockey. Did he dis your slap shot or something?"
"Where did you learn that?"
"Learn what?" she paused to look him in the eye.
"That term, you know 'Slap Shot'."
"Umm… probably at one of your games or something. I have been known to pay attention every once in a while."
"Even about hockey?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Even hockey." She said with an eye roll and a smirk. She paused to continue her work then asked again "But what about hockey, were you fighting about?"
"Why are you so interested?" he dogged her question again.
"Why are you so reluctant to talk about it? Usually you are trying to brag about every second and every punch."
"Only cause it bothers you. Now you want to know so not telling you is what's bothering you." He let his signature smirk appear on his face.
She clenched her jaw and finished putting the large Band-Aid on the bite mark. "I hope you need a tetanus shot."
"What a nice thing to say about your boyfriend. I'll make sure he knows how highly you think of him."
"He's not my boyfriend, and why would he care anyway?" she pushed his arm away and grabbed him by the chin. He lowered his hand to rest on the other side of her and waited for her to continue. "Now hold still or your pretty little face is going to need stitches."
"Aww, shucks you really think I'm pretty?" he batted his eyelashes at her and she smacked his less injured arm. "Ow." Or at least she thought it was less injured.
With a smile she said "Sorry."
His glare returned and so did their silence. His face was covered in blood, but since he had only two small cuts she was pretty sure it wasn't his. She didn't think about it too much otherwise she would pass out.
She had left his face till last because she had been worried about being this close to him. She was right to worry. Not because of the blood, but because now she had no choice but to pay attention to his perfectly pointed nose, gorgeous eyes, perfect jaw line, and absolutely kissable lips. She forced herself to pay attention to the cuts, currently the one at the top of his nose.
"I think," she said "that most of this is his blood. You don't think he had any kind of disease do you?" She licked her lips and tried to focus.
Derek let out a hard laugh and rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious. What if he has some kind of blood transmitted disease? You could get really sick." She bit her bottom lip, worrying it.
"Are you sure he's not your boyfriend? That sounds like something a potential girlfriend should worry about."
With a glare at him she let the worry drop from her eyes. Slowly she moved to the cut above his eye.
"You're using alcohol to clean it I think I'll be fine." He said very nonchalant, watching how hard she was concentrating. "You know if this is making you queasy you don't have to do it."
"I know." She mumbled.
"But your still doing it?" he raised a questioning eyebrow.
"I know." And she bit her lip again.
"Will you stop that?" he said forcefully, when she gave him a puzzled look he amended "Never mind." Short pause "He said that after the hockey game he was going to come, over here, and spend all night locked in your room, teaching you how he puts 'the puck in the net'." He used quotations on the last part.
Casey froze and her mouth fell open with an audible pop. "He. Did. Not." She spoke every word individually, as a blush crept up her face.
With a dark chuckle Derek replied "Yes he did. Personally I thought that comment was a little rude, and socked him one good time, and thus the fight started. But hey what are brothers for."
"Step-brother." Casey corrected automatically still shell shocked over Roger's rudeness.
"Same difference, right, just like you said."
"Sure, sure." She began to put the last few Band-Aids on his brow, not wanting to think about when she said that. She had still been in denial and was trying to convince herself she didn't care. "Thanks for sticking up for me."
"Hmph. Whatever."
"No really. It was sweet."
"Derek Venturi is not sweet." He said with a jerk.
"What you did was to sweet, in a barbaric sort of way."
"Whatever." He mumbled uncomfortable.
"All done here."
He leaned over and looked in the mirror "Well will you look at that, it's as good as new. Thanks, Space Case." He leaned up and placed a kiss on her forehead like he would have done with Marty and exited the bathroom.
"You're welcome." she sighed to dead air, already missing the warmth of having him near. "And by the way I'm wretchedly in love with you, if you wanted to know."
But he was long gone and wouldn't hear her. She really hated her heart, did she mention that already.
About 4 hours later he walks in the front door. Casey looks up from the couch, and her unfortunately large tub of ice cream, to see Derek… alone. Usually when he goes out he comes back with a girl, so this was very unusual. Not to say she wasn't grateful cause she was, but still it was weird.
Derek walked over to where she was and threw himself on the couch. He took advantage of Casey's shock to steal her ice cream and spoon.
"Hey!" Casey screeched. Derek just smiled and took a bite. The smile turned down as he tasted it. The tub read 'extra fat free vanilla', does that even exist?
"How can you eat this?" he said even as he took another bite "It has no taste."
She rolled her eyes. "It tastes like vanilla, and you're eating it just fine."
"Causthse I'm starvedd." He said thru a full mouth.
"Always." She didn't bother to reach for the tub because she was full, and because the fight that would ensue would have her cleaning ice cream out of her hair and the carpet for at least a week.
"So whast's up withf you?" He asked mouth still very full.
Casey cringed away from his grossness and flying food particles. She waited for him to swallow before she answered.
"Nothing, why? Do I look like there is something wrong with me?" she still had look of disgust on her face as he shoved the spoon filled with entirely too much ice cream into his mouth.
"YethaSmointOuotmeth." It came out garbled to say the least.
"Okay, again in English please." She sighed "and with no food in your mouth, that's just gross."
He swallowed. "I said, yes Sam pointed it out to me."
"Sam, Sam, or new guy on the team Sam?" Casey questioned trying to avoid answering.
"Sam, Sam, of course. Ever since Emily got into that 5 month study abroad program in Portugal he's been paying close attention to you, well to me and then you when I proved uninteresting. And he thinks something wrong with you." Sam and Emily started dating 2 months after Emily and Derek broke up (the Demily relationship only lasted 2 weeks) and had been together for the last 3 years of college. Casey and Derek are happy for them, but… well it gets annoying having two friends so totally in love when you're so totally alone.
"So?" she questioned tentatively.
"So, I told him I'd ask what's up. Just so he'd get off my case."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."He swallowed another bite "Well?"
"I'm fine tell Sam to stop worrying." With that Casey stood up and walked to the kitchen. Derek looked after her and with one more bite of ice cream, he put the tub on the coffee table, and followed after Casey.
She was getting a glass of water and turned to see him leaning on the door frame.
"You know you're a crappy liar right?"
She sighed, that wasn't true. If it were he would know how she felt. Sure with direct questions and things like that she couldn't lie to save her life, but she was awesome at avoiding and just not talking about it.
"How's Sam anyway? Emily gets back in 3 weeks he must be excited." She said with false enthusiasm.
"And you're even worse at diversions."
"Am not."
"Not gonna work this time." She frowned noticeably when he didn't take the (admittedly lame) bait she offered him.
"Why do you care anyway?" she asked defeated.
"Pssh. I don't. But Sam does and he won't stop harassing me until I give him something. Besides he says it's his responsibility while Emily is away to make sure you don't have a nervous breakdown."
A small and short hysterical laugh came out of Casey's mouth before she could contain it. Derek raised his eyebrow at the noise.
"If I tell you will you leave me alone?"
"Sure, sure."
Obviously she couldn't lie, because he'd know, but she couldn't tell the truth either, because that would be worse than anything else.
"Well…" she spoke hesitantly "there's this guy…" she started.
"Is that all?" Derek scoffed.
"Excuse me?" Casey asked confused.
"Here Sam is legitimately worried about you and the only thing wrong is a damn guy." He snickered "That's pathetic Case, even for you."
"It is not pathetic! I really like this guy!" Casey yelled.
"And I'm sure he's a fine artsy fartsy type, right. Who let's words of poetry tumble from his lips, and the only problem is you can't be bothered to make the first move." Derek rolled his eyes. "News flash Spacey, it's the 21st century and the girls can ask the guys. You'd think with all your feminist crap you'd see that. Pfft. I bet even Mr. Arts-n-Crafts would like that!" he threw his arms up in exasperation.
"He isn't an artsy guy! And he definitely doesn't like poetry!" Casey continued to yell "I know what century it is Derek and I don't care!" She stormed over to him and jabbed her finger into his chest. "I like him, and he doesn't even know I exist! You wanna know what's wrong Derek?!? What's wrong isn't that I like a guy it's that I like him and I shouldn't! The problem is I like him and he hates me, he freakin hates me! The problem is that if anyone found out they'd be pissed, no worse, they'd be repulsed! Repulsed Derek! Because me liking this guy is the end of the universe!"
"You are such a drama queen! Things are not that complicated! You like him, then do something about it!" Derek yelled back at her and swatted her hand away.
"What should I do Derek?!? Huh, what?!?" She screamed right into his face.
"I don't know. Who do I look like Dr. Phil, or something? Figure it out Spacey you're supposed to be the smart one." He glared at her, she always made things complicated.
"I don't know what to do!" her screech pierced a whole octave. "Give me a hint here!"
"Fuckin tell him!" Derek yelled, absolutely tired of this conversation, he could have been with Marie right now, dammit.
"Just that simple! It's always so simple for you cause nothings ever on the line with you!"
"It is simple you walk up to him and say 'hey artsy fartsy dude I think you're swell wanna go out' then ya plant one on him. If he likes it you're gold if not move on! See simple!"
"So I tell him kiss him and then let him possibly break my heart into a million pieces!" Casey huffed completely red in the face.
"You are to dramatic! But yeah that about sums it up! And hey don't forget the 'Artsy Fartsy' line, cause that's pure gold." His glare intensified (if that were possible) at his words.
"Fine then I'll do it!" she yelled.
"Good!" he yelled with just as much conviction.
She took the final step between them and still yelling said:
"I like you! Every time I see you I wanna jump your bones! Living in this apartment with you is torture! Sometimes I purposely walk around in little to no clothing to see if you stare! Out of everything I've ever done in my life the only thing I regret is calling you my brother! And every time we argue I imagine what it'd be like to kiss you! But I'm done wondering!" with that she reached up behind his and pulled his lips down to hers, giving him the most passionate kiss she could muster.
"And he isn't artsy." When she was finished she stormed off to her room and slammed and locked the door. Leaving a very stunned and winded Derek behind.
In her room her back hit the door and she slid to the floor. Taking a deep breath she thought 'I can not believe I just did that.'