Those Things Called Moments

by Miss-Adair

Derek has started to see his and Casey's life together as a series of movie-like moments. You know, the ones from those chick flicks Derek has obviously never seen before.

Those Things Called "Moments"

By: Adair

Ok, so Derek has watched a chick-flick or two in his life, but give him a break. He had girlfriends. They liked chick-flicks. He had to suffer through them in order to be rewarded later, usually right after the lovey-dovey reunion of the two main characters when his flavor-of-the-month was feeling the lovey-doveyness too.

In those pointless movies, Derek couldn't turn off his director-ambitious mind. He noticed what the movie was trying to do, showing moments between the two characters that signaled significance, showed their growth with and for one another so by the credits the audience was rooting for them. The close-up shots, the long pauses, the gazes in the distance as the two protagonists think of one another. All that junk.

For some unfathomable reason, this is how Derek Venturi got to thinking about his and Casey's relationship. Moments or whatever. There's the stuff that blends into the background—the majority of their bickering, the easily-forgettable people they dated in high school he can't even remember the names of, the small things they would do for each other and not acknowledge. Sure, it's important and it created the foundation, but it's in college when the BIG things happened. The Moments.

Casey would probably find it adorable he thinks about it this way, but he's not going to tell her. She already smushes his ego enough with other "adorable" things he does. He doesn't need another added to the list.

o0o0o0o0o

At first, it's the lack of Moments. The exposition, if you will.

Derek was all gung-ho excited about the fact that he would be free of his step-sister for four years (outside of breaks, obviously). They had talked before actually leaving for Queens and come to an agreement that they will avoid each other for all things except what's necessary—family issues, death, the apocalypse. The surprising thing is that Casey actually stuck to it. It was incredible! A break from Casey. It was like breathing fresh air. Starting new. No suffocating, keener step-sister.

Because of the break, it was like Derek's brain had reverted back to what it was in high school before his keener step-sister butted into his life. He was the cool guy, leather jacket, irresistible smirk, hockey-god extraordinaire.

All grand in planning. Not so much in execution.

Here's the thing, college isn't high school. Different atmosphere. Different mindset. The majority of people who are there want to be there to actually graduate. They focus on their studies for some unfathomable reason. Don't get Derek wrong, he wants to graduate too, but sacrificing this much of his social life? Unfathomable.

Yes, the beginning of the year parties are great. So great that even his grade-grubbing step-sister who no doubt was already making outlines for her papers due at the end of the semester is spotted at one of them. He catches a glimpse of her in a group of girls as he headed for the keg. He doesn't think twice about it or her.

Spotting her at that first party isn't one of the Moments, no.

But the beginning of the year parties settled after the first two weeks and the majority of "parties" consisted of a few meathead jocks buying a few cases of bear and having other meathead jocks over and hitting on anything with legs. Derek attended a couple of these and found they wreaked of desperation. People trying to be cool who weren't (high school déjà vu right there). Not exactly the "cool" crowd Derek had been going for. Unfortunately, a few of his new hockey teammates fell into this category. The ditzy girls were right up his alley, but in this setting there just isn't any fun in it. Too easy and a little freaky with how freaky they are too. He wants the chase.

At this thought a portion of his mind offered the word Casey. Real work for a real prize? Casey. Simple.

Derek squashed the thought but not before conceding that the ridiculous portion of his brain has a point.

Because of this, in an uncharacteristic choice, Derek avoids the desperation parties and the majority of the ditzy girls too. Not that he didn't want the girls. His time was just too filled. Hockey practice had started even before the semester did which proved more grueling than high school level. After pulling himself from the desperate meatheads, Derek had to work to establish himself in a different social circle. Thankfully, his saner hockey buddies were a good starting point. And it turns out college is actually difficult to maintain a C average, meaning a good chunk of his time is spent studying.

Casey would be so proud—if she ever saw him.

It wasn't like he didn't know where he could probably find her. Library, much? He also knows her room number. She had refused to divulge the information. Such knowledge was dangerous in his hands. He managed to convince Nora for safety reasons to give it to him. Yet because of his invigorating Casey-break, he hasn't gone near the building. Nor the library. Nor those study cubbies placed randomly in certain buildings.

The only surefire place he sees her every other school day without fail is after his Intro to Filmography class. Immediately following is his General Economics class, one of three different required classes freshmen must choose from, which is on the third floor of the classroom building on the other end. Derek has to use his impressive hockey stride in order to make it from one end of the building to the other. He notices her on the first trip. Casey walking in the opposite direction with two other girls and a guy as they chat.

At this point, Derek hadn't seen her in a while. He had been at school a week earlier than she (shocking, yes) because hockey started early. The party glimpse happens after this. So when Derek sees her, his brain sort of goes, "Oh. There she is."

The thought immediately following this one is, "She looks good." But not in the way his hormonal high school self would have immediately jumped to (no, that's the fourth thought). It's just...she looks like she fits in. Among the other students. That small group that seem as amiable as she.

High school wasn't her setting. That was all Derek's. College, however, is definitely hers. Derek's out of his domain, trying to find his footing in a new kingdom. That's the third thought.

(The fourth is that her ass looks great in those pants.)

But this isn't one of the Moments either.

She must be walking to class. Derek comes to this conclusion because he encounters her at the same time every other day in the same way. The third time is when she finally notices him too. She gives him a small smile and a nod all the while still chatting with her friends, and Derek does not attribute this occurrence as to why his General Economics class was slightly more bearable that day.

It's an odd thing. You notice a person once and suddenly you are hyperaware of their presence in any situation. You know if they are or are not present and feel it. Derek starts this, noticing her here and there, if she's in the cafeteria building, if she's the girl in the study cubby he passes by, if she's in a crowd. His eyes fall into the old habit of looking for her whenever he enters a room. It's not his fault. High school habit. He always had to know where his step-sister was so that's where he won't be. He still avoids her which means it's no big deal.

It goes on like this for about a month. What changes the pattern is the suddenness of his first game.

Derek knew it was coming. He expected it. Anticipated how he would feel, but there was no staving off the nerves that inevitably gripped his stomach. They twisted and swirled in his gut. Each day they grew. First, practically nothing. Now, a week before Derek's first university hockey game, it's a nasty grouping of doubtful thoughts and anxiety.

Derek doesn't do anxiety. Only exception: pre-game nerves.

It's a particularly bad day, officially a week before the game, when Derek walks into the library against his will. He needs a book for the economics class that's kicking his ass. It's the only thing which can make him willingly go into a Casey Danger Zone. Which is why as per usual his eyes scan the room and immediately pick out Casey.

Surprise, surprise.

It's the second time since college that it enters his mind how at-home she looks.

She's settled into a beanbag chair, book in her lap, highlighter in her hand, notepad near her elbow. Her hair is down, swept over one shoulder. A look of concentration on her face as her eyes scan the book.

Derek's feet are moving before his brain acknowledges it. Once it does catch up, what comes to mind is not, "Why are we going towards Casey? The agreement!" but rather, "Angle slightly left so she won't see you out of the corner of her eye and beware the tile near the history section. That will alert her to someone's presence. Don't crouch, too suspicious. That's it. Three more steps. Kneel down, right next to her ear, and—"

"Keener."

Casey jerks forward. A noise between a shriek and a howl flies from her mouth startling all others nearby. Her highlighter transports to its new home underneath some guy's chair halfway across the room. The room's occupants turn to her. Most look at her in concern. Some glare.

"De-rek! You complete and total jerk."

Derek fights viciously against the urge to roll on the ground and laugh. He presses his index finger to his lips. "Shh. Honestly, Casey. A studious freak like yourself knows better than to disturb your fellow nerds with such obnoxious noise."

The daggers from her eyes do no damage against the armor he's spent years building up.

"You're the disturbing one, and in far more ways than what someone classified as a human should be," she snaps.

"Pot says to the kettle."

Casey flicks her hair back in a huff. Derek knows she meant for it to hit him in the face. (She didn't meant for the unexpected stab of familiarity to twist in Derek's gut to come with the scent of her shampoo.)

Retaliation is necessary.

"Keener."

"Stop that!" Casey leans away from him. "You're breaking our agreement."

Derek rocks on the balls of his feet which currently hold all of his weight. "Incorrect. I'm declaring an armistice—"

"That's for if we were fighting. We are at peace."

"I'd say more of a Cold War."

"What. Do. You. Want." Casey grinds out.

"Relax, Case. I'm just telling you, you are not allowed under any circumstances to attend my first game."

Casey blinks and some of the bite leaves the edge of her eyes. "That's it?"

"'That's it?' she says. Listen, I know you and you'll feel some weird obligation'—" (note: no use of word family), "—to go, and I wanted to inform you it is completely unnecessary and unwanted."

"Fine by me," Casey says, rolling her eyes. "You could have texted me this, you know."

"And miss your freak out?"

With a huff, Casey turns back around, and plants her book back in her lap. "Consider me out."

"That's all I wanted to hear."

Derek can't resist. He flicks her ear and finally allows himself to laugh when she turns to swat at him. He's too fast, already halfway across the room. He swipes the highlighter from earlier and wiggles it. "I'm keeping this," he says knowing full well with its loss he is probably upsetting her careful color-coded study system. Turning, he exits before he can receive her rebuttal or acknowledge the odd looks from the others.

It takes half an hour for him to realize his nerves disappeared. They're back now, but for that brief time they were nowhere to be found.

Huh.

Oh yeah. And he forgot to get his economics book.

o0o0o0o0o

Here's the thing. Derek does want her to go to his hockey game. Besides the first year of her and her family intruding in his life, he's always wanted her to go to his games. He painstakingly worked to find ways to get her to go to his high school games without actually saying he wants her there. It's not like she's a lucky charm or anything, it's that Derek plays harder when she's there. Casey makes him fight harder.

(And hey, it never hurts to have a hot chick cheering you on.)

Like stated before, he won't admit it out loud, but somehow his college brain is telling him it's alright to admit him to himself. See, in high school, it's always been deny deny deny. And it still is—out loud. Internally, however, after the encounter in the lounge, Derek realizes his key to escaping nerves is to snatch up the familiarity.

Derek knows Casey didn't get the hint back in the lounge. He uses the week remaining to tell her she should attend—

—by telling her every single time he sees her under no circumstances is she allowed to enter the rink on Friday. Better not. Nope. Not even within a hundred feet of the building. He tells her in the cafeteria, during her study-cubby time, when they're walking in opposite directions and he trips her while loudly telling her that her bad luck better not be near him.

Derek worries she won't get the hint.

It isn't until Thursday, when he and Casey are exchanging loud and spirited pleasantries in the quad that Derek grabs both her shoulders, looks her in the eye, and says, "Casey! Do not go to the game tomorrow," that her eyes widen slightly and her mouth forms this little "o" he finally knows without a doubt she's finally received the hint.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Classes are a nightmare on game day. The entire Friday has Derek' stomach trying to twist itself until it's the size of a bouncy ball. This never shows on the outside because, please, it's Derek. The only person who might be catching on is his business major roommate Aaron who eyes him a little nervously as Derek stomps around the dorm room, caring very little about the things in his path or where he tosses whatever happens to be in his hands at the time. It's when he's chucking his gear in the general direction of his duffle bag that Aaron makes himself scarce.

It's also when Derek's stomach empties its contents. And it's also when his cell phone rings. He frowns when he sees the caller ID and agrees with his rationale saying he shouldn't answer it.

Derek answers the call anyway. "And here I thought you were a rule-follower." Is his voice a little wobbly? No—no that's just how his voice sounds when it bounces off the bathroom tile.

"Oh, please. You've been hassling me all week. You broke the rules first."

"And you're following my bad habit. I'm so proud."

"The only place I'll follow you is to the hospital after the latest girl you hit on turns out to have a boyfriend and finds your face perfect for target practice."

"A loss to all femalekind, my dashing good looks. The world will mourn!"

"I'll be on the boys' side celebrating the miraculous event."

"Don't lie to yourself. You'd cry on the inside, internalizing your pain in order to be strong for the fam."

"I always think it's impossible for you to become any more conceited and then you do."

"I blow minds with my awesomeness, Case. I should come with a neon sign."

"Or a warning label."

"That too."

As they chat, Derek gets up from the bathroom floor and goes to pack the rest of his stuff. The majority of his mind is on the conversation. His muscles go into autopilot. By the time he's done declaring Casey a nut-case after she tries to explain the benefits of the color-coded system he tried to ruin he's ready to walk out the door.

It's when he's putting on his jacket he realizes why exactly she called because in the whole conversation he never asked and she never explained. But it's fairly clear as she snarks her goodbyes.

The nerves have disappeared.

Before she hangs up, Derek juts in with, "Remember avoid the rink at seven." Derek pauses. "Especially the north side of the rink, row three."

"It's not penciled in my planner and highlighted in pink."

"Pink? Seriously?"

"I said it's not highlighted in pink. Don't you have any listening skills?"

"My hokey skills absorbed them. You, of course, will not be witness to said skills tonight. What a loss."

He ends the call and notices the screen telling him they talked for twenty minutes.

o0o0o0o0o0o

It's as nerve-wracking as he expected. It's also an adrenaline rush he will never be sick of. Sure, he barely plays a few minutes of the game (a freshman who isn't a starter—yeah, not much play time), but it's a thrill being in the rink, part of the team, and celebrating as they snatch a victory of 3-2.

The locker room is loud and his teammates are riding the same high he is. It isn't until one of the guys comments that he can't wait for his "reward" from his girlfriend that Casey pops into Derek's head.

Well there's an unexpected complication. Post-game. Derek knows the drill. It's like high school. You've got your family members and friends and significant others waiting for you to shower off your stench. Since the family couldn't make it because the little siblings decided to suddenly have lives and be busy with their own stuff, there's no relative party waiting for him.

Who are waiting are the single girls for the handsome hockey players.

Derek's brain wonders which category Casey would fall into. With a mental slap, the thought is gone and he saunters out of the locker room with a few of his teammates, acting like he won the game single-handedly.

Thanks to his expert Casey-tracking skills, his eyes find her instantly. She's there with a Queen's sweatshirt and matching gloves. Her hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail to show off her flushed cheeks.

She hasn't noticed him yet. He doesn't want her to. For all the fuss he made, he seriously doesn't want the inevitable explanations that come with his teammates seeing the two of them chatting. If he chats with her then he will be battered with questions of, "Who were you chatting with, Derek?" "She yours?" "She single?" "She's family? Lucky son of a bitch."

He should have squashed his irrational drive to have her come when it first sparked.

She sees him. But she only sees him because one of the guys he's walking out with—Harold—goes over to one of the girls Casey is talking to and greets her with a kiss. Then her eyes immediately pull to the group she is with. No acknowledgement whatsoever.

Derek steers clear and instead allows himself to be introduced to his teammates' friends and family members. A couple girls even manage to bat their eyes in his direction. They all stick around a while chatting before the players start leaving for the pizza joint a few streets down to finish celebrating their win with hard-earned calories.

Derek catches a carpool with a few of the players. He tries not to think about how he saw Harold's girlfriend pulling Casey along to ride with them. No doubt it will all come out over supper. How dare she ruin pizza for him! He doesn't deserve to be given mockery over his victory meal.

Which is why he purposefully waits for her to be seated before he snags a seat two down and on the opposite side. Even more of a plus, one of the girls who flirted with him earlier is seated across from him, and she doesn't waste time in batting her green eyes his way again.

Actually, it goes pretty well. There's a lot of laughter, a lot of stories exchanged, and a lot of boasting. Everyone's getting along and nobody wants to leave. Derek definitely needs another caffeine shot to keep up this level of energy. He goes over to the machines and fills his glass back up.

"Great game, Derek!"

Derek peers to his left to find the girl Harold kissed earlier. (Truth be told, he's a little bummed it's not Green Eyed Girl.)

"Why thank you." Derek gives her his winning grin despite knowing she's taken. What can he say? It comes naturally. Can't fight it. "Obviously you know my name from the roster, but yours isn't as easily accessed."

"Oh, I'm Tammy. Harold's girlfriend." Tammy fills up her glass with pink lemonade. "I'm also Casey's roommate. You know Casey."

Derek's winning grin freezes in a way that if the lights dimmed, he would immediately be labeled with a serial killer vibe. "Yeah. Yeah, I know Casey."

"Funny thing is—" Tammy pauses to take a sip of her drink. The two of them have stepped away from the drinks to avoid the constantly moving crowd, "—she's never mentioned you. I didn't know you two went to high school together until she mentioned it before we came here."

The grin unfreezes only a teensy-weensy bit. "Come again?"

"High school. She said you two went to high school together but that you ran in totally different circles. You hardly talked to each other. She only mentioned it when we were trying to figure out carpools for coming here and she said she would prefer to ride with us than in your guys' car. Anyway, Harold said you—"

Derek forces his brain to grasp what this girls has said. He nods and uh-huh's at the right time, but his brain is trying to fathom why Casey hasn't mentioned that they're related-but-not-really. She loves to play the step-sibling card. Now she's hiding that she even knows him. What's up with that?

The rest of the night is kind of weird. Derek, of course, is still his amazing self, just...less so. Instead of being preoccupied with Green Eyed Girl, his eyes sort of—shift. To Casey. She doesn't look at him much the rest of the night. Only once does she catch his eye to raise an eyebrow in his direction at his staring.

When the party eventually winds down, and instead of escorting Green Eyed Girl, Derek expertly evades small talk, glides up behind Casey, grabs her arm, and pulls her away from Harold, Tammy, and Victor, another one of Derek's teammates.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Casey snips. Derek lets her go and waits for her first jab. She doesn't disappoint when she follows her question with, "This is kidnapping, and there are several witnesses. Pathetic choice of kidnapping time, Derek."

"Relax, princess. We just need to clarify a few things." Derek looks over Casey's shoulder and notices Tammy noticing the two of them before heading for the car.

The magic words. Casey shifts her weight to her other foot and picks at a string on her gloves. "I tried not to come. I know you didn't want me to come, but Tammy invited me and she's my roommate, Derek. You can't tell me I can't hang out with my roommate. And I stayed far away from you! You can't accuse me of breaking our agreement if I didn't ev—"

"I'm not mad."

"You...You're not?" Casey is far from convinced.

"You respected the boundaries. I can respect you for respecting them. What I'm a little curious about is why you haven't mentioned our familial situation."

"Oh. That."

"Yes. That."

Casey hides her fidgety hands in her front sweatshirt pocket and tilts her chin up to look Derek defiantly in the eye. "As far as our agreement is concerned, we aren't related. We haven't associated with one another ever. Not back in high school and not now in college. And if our agreement continues to be honored, we do not have to explain our situation to anyone. I don't have to explain how my mother forced me to be related to a disgusting male such as yourself, and you won't have to explain how you had to put up with your keener step-sister throughout high school. We're practically strangers. That was our agreement and unlike some people, I'm going to honor it."

Derek blinks.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. They're nobody to each other. They never will be. He can see it all now. They will make separate friends, graduate with separate majors, live separate lives, never have to deal with their family aspect unless their actual family comes into play. They're free. And Casey is the one opening the gate for him. No more, "Derek, you are the most annoying brother," or "De-rek, could you be a worse brother?"

He's free!

Casey's mouth spreads into a smile that matches the he didn't realize he was sporting. "You're welcome. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to my dorm. Have a nice life, Derek."

"Same to you, Case."

It's all Derek can do not to skip towards his awaiting ride. His face has a dopey grin and his heart feels light. This night surely will be the turning point of college for him. He'll be back to being Derek the cool guy without the blemish of a nit-picky step-sister butting in.

Again—he's free!

"Derek!"

(So close.)

Derek turns to find Casey jogging up to him. She stops a few steps away. Her cheeks are pink again, this time from being in the slight October chill too long. A few whisps of hair that have escaped her meticulous ponytail are highlighted in the yellow light outside the front entrance.

"Great game, by the way. You did great." Casey gives him the dorkiest Good Job Thumbs Up ever then heads back for her car.

THERE.

The first Moment.

The grade-school thumbs up with a proud smile in the unflattering light. It's so completely a Casey thing that it glues itself to Derek's brain and for a moment it's the only thing he can think of until the car horn startles him into moving.

On the ride home, he's not silent, but he's quieter than before. Because for some reason all he can think of is the fact random, generic praise from Casey makes him feel better than the gushy compliments Green Eyed Girl rained on him.

Derek isn't an idiot. He isn't oblivious. And he isn't senseless (despite popular opinion in his family). He knows why it's more important. He's attracted to Casey. He also knows he's fought the attraction with everything he is in order to keep his sanity. It's not only her large blue eyes and silky hair that drew him in in high school. Her stubbornness matching his own, how she rivals him in cunning ploys, and the sincerity she hides much like himself. They're similar like that. Derek likes his bravado and she likes her innocent mask. They're similar and just different enough to keep it oh so addicting.

Like all those chick-flicks preach. It's the two characters made for one another. Meant to be together from the very beginning. The ones the audience is cheering for and shouting angrily at the same time in order to get the oblivious duo to listen to sense and get together already. They only need to go through life's trials, overcome their own egos, and realize the other person is the one for them.

But, as much as Derek wouldn't mind his life being movie-easy, it's different. Real life is different. Because Casey is different from every other girl he's encountered ever. Different in the way that if the two of them get past their denial and actually try, it will become something solid and tangible and worth any trouble they'll have to go through. It will be worth the movie trials to hear the metaphorical audience cheer for their much-anticipated finale. They'll be real.

STEP-SIBLINGS. The words flash bright in Derek's mind.

It's times like these when Derek's knowledge of just how screwed up his life is that he wants to hit his head against a brick wall. Preferably over and over again until he forgets.

This whole situations sucks and he brought it upon himself. He can blame others all he wants, but internally he knows he screwed up their deal. Because he wants her to be at the next game. He wants to talk to her. He wants to monopolize her praise and pathetic compliments. But she won't because she gave them both an out. They're not friends or family or even distant acquaintances. They're nothing right now.

There's this little thing that settles in the pit of his stomach. A tiny rock that whispers to the recesses of his mind that make him wonder why he wanted her out of his life in the first place. The arguing was fun. The pranking was an adrenaline rush. The confusion was—oh yeah. The confusion. He wanted her out because he couldn't deal with how much he wants her but can't have her. So he wants nothing to do with her.

But here...

They're away from family, from people who know them from home, from anyone who could judge.

(What if...?)

Derek is exhausted from the thrill of victory and the following war of thought which means he sleeps almost as soon as his head hits the pillow. No matter how brilliant he is, his brain still hurts after such a marathon of said brilliance.

Because with the occurrence of the first moment the rising action of the movie has finally begun which is cause for plenty of speculation on where this romantic comedy will go from here.

---

A/N: Listen, when you have a plot bunny, you feed the plot bunny until it becomes a fearsome plot jackrabbit. This is the result of feeding said plot bunny. I have plenty of more ideas and a fickle desire to write. Updates will come...eventually. Until then, enjoy!

((Also, I know there are a million and a half Derek-and-Casey-go-to-college fics, but I really wanted to contribute!))

EDIT: Did I mention I thrive off of reviews? I've had tons of people follow in such a short time which I am TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY ELATED FOR, I'd just love to hear why you want to see more. :D