Disclaimer: I don't own the show Life With Derek, but I wish I did!
A/N: So yeahhh, sorry this took so long. I'm kind of a jerk, to put it lightly. I've just been swamped and I've had this sitting on my computer for weeks, just waiting to be edited and whatnot, and it's still not perfect, but the story's there, haha.
Oh, and I noticed only after I posted this that I spelled Vicky's name wrong. In the credits it's spelled "Vicki". But whateverrr, I'm leaving it.
So enough about nothing, on with the story!
Drunk Girl: Part Two—The Car, the Lawn and the Front Door
"Noel! Put me down. I don't want to leave yet!" Casey complained as they stumbled to Noel's car.
"Well, that's too bad, Case because we are leaving," Noel said as he reached his car and struggled to open the passenger side door with her still in his arms.
"But I didn't even get to see Vicky!"
"She's staying the weekend with you, don't worry, you'll see her again."
"But she was expecting me here!"
"I'm sure she won't mind."
He finally got the door to open and tried to bend forward to drop her in.
"Put me down, I can get into the car myself," she said tartly, and so he put her on her feet.
She glared at him as she got into the car and he just smiled tightly at her. He shut the door and jogged to the driver's side.
"Put your seatbelt on, please," he said sternly.
"I am, I am," she said as she tried to put her seatbelt on. It took a few tries to actually buckle herself in but she got it on the fourth try. "Gosh, you're bossy tonight," she muttered scathingly and crossed her arms at her chest.
"I'm only doing what's best for you, Casey."
"And how do you know what's best for me?" she asked him seriously, a little toned down than seconds before.
"I just…do."
He turned his engine on, started to drive and as he pulled away from the curb, Casey reached over and turned on his radio, really loud. He winced and pushed her hand away to turn the loud, annoying pop song down.
"Noel! I'm listening to that!"
"It's too loud. I can't concentrate."
She turned it back up.
"Well then learn to," she said defiantly.
He turned it down again.
"Casey," he said through gritted teeth, "this is my car, my volume."
Casey huffed loudly and crossed her arms across her chest again.
"Fine."
She blew some bangs out of her face and tried to focus on the road in front of her but it was blurry.
"You're going too fast," she told him moments later.
"Not I'm not. I'm going the speed limit."
"No, you're going too fast," she insisted. "Everything's blurry."
"Casey, that's because you've had too much to drink."
"Maybe it's because I have a major headache," she said as she rested her right hand on her forehead, seemingly choosing to ignore his words. Noel rolled his eyes.
"Or that," he said agreeably, the sarcastic hint in his voice not caught by Casey.
"I think it must be that," she stated.
They didn't talk for the rest of the ride. Casey leaned her head against the window with her eyes closed and every once in a while Noel could swear he heard her mumble something, but he couldn't be completely sure. If she was saying something, she was whispering it really quietly so all he heard were incoherent statements that didn't seem to make sense to him. He thought he might have heard her say Derek's name, but really had no idea. He tried to focus on the road in front of them.
When they arrived at her empty house, he parked on the side of the road and then shut off the car, but didn't make a move to leave right away.
"Casey?" he asked her quietly, turning his body towards her. She still had her eyes closed but opened them slowly when he said her name. She smiled at him and then leaned towards him.
"Yeah?" she said and her voice was slightly husky. He gulped before speaking.
"Are you ready to go inside?"
She shook her head at him.
"Not really, no."
"Oh."
They sat in silence for a minute.
"Can we just hang out in here for a bit?" she asked him. "My head really does hurt."
"Yeah, of course."
She smiled at him again and patted his shoulder twice before leaning her head back on the head rest and closing her eyes.
"Um, Case?" he asked after a short while.
She didn't open her eyes.
"Noel?"
"Are you, I mean, is everything okay?" He figured he might as well ask her.
"Yeah, yeah, every thing's great," she mumbled.
"Are you sure? Because…I kind of find that hard to believe."
That's when she opened her eyes and leaned towards him again. His breath caught in his throat when she put her left hand on his arm.
"Noel, I totally understand why you're asking me this, and seriously, I'm okay. I just went a bit crazy tonight, and I know it. Trust me, I'm aware of it. I also know that it won't happen again. I was just having some fun!" She held out the "n" in her "fun" and he could tell that she wasn't even close to sobering up just yet even if she had sounded resolute enough at the beginning of her speech.
"But I just don't understand. Casey, you never drink. It's just not like you at all."
"I know, I know, but I just wanted to try it, okay? Can you understand that?" she pleaded with him. He scratched the back of his head.
"I guess…"
She grinned widely at him and took off her seatbelt. Then, suddenly, she was leaning completely over the middle of his car and she was hugging him.
"Oh, Noel. You're such a good guy." She squeezed him tightly and he caught a deep whiff of her hair. It smelled like strawberries.
"Um, thanks?" He patted her back awkwardly, not really knowing what else to do. She didn't let go.
"You're just always here for me when I need you and I just want you to know that I really appreciate it a lot."
He really wished that she would stop hugging him already. She was making him want to kiss her. The need and want to kiss her was so strong in fact that he knew that if she didn't pull away soon he would just have to.
When she finally did move a moment later, he stared at her and she continued to grin at him. She looked so lovely to him. She was just sitting there in his car in her green dress, a color she never wore, her hair was down and she was looking at him like, like he didn't really know what.
He really couldn't help what happened next. He started to lean towards her, holding out his hand as he did so.
He grazed his right hand on her cheek slowly before gently letting it rest on the side of her face. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest and he was sure that she could hear it, but she didn't say anything and she wasn't pulling away from him. Quite the opposite.
Suddenly, she closed the gap between them and her lips were crushed on his. She grabbed him almost roughly and ran her fingers through his hair, but he didn't really mind. He enjoyed the way her hands were playing around with his hair. No girl he had ever kissed had done what she was doing.
That's when it hit him. He was kissing Casey. He was kissing the girl he had been crushing on for months, the girl he believed himself in love with. And she was kissing him back, had been the one to actually start the kiss. He was amazed. He was kissing Casey.
Their first kiss lasted a while and when it abruptly ended, Noel was left feeling dizzy, how he assumed he would be feeling if he was drunk as well. At that moment, he had another epiphany and this one was less pleasant than the first: Casey was drunk. She was drunk and he knew deep down that she probably had no idea what she was doing, who she was kissing.
So, he decided to be the gentleman and just get out of the car and walk her to her door, like he had originally been planning.
"Wait, Noel, wait. I don't want to go in yet," Casey said quietly as his hand reached for his door handle.
"Casey, I think it's a good idea for you to go to bed right about now."
"I will if you come with me," she said boldly. He blinked.
"Um—"
"You're right, that would be wrong," she cut him off even though he hadn't actually been able to say anything. She even had the decency to blush.
All Noel could do was nod his head. Then, she grabbed his left hand in both of hers unexpectedly.
"I forgot how good a kisser you are," she stated bluntly and leaned herself towards him once more, quickly getting over her embarrassment.
She pulled him into another hungry kiss and he couldn't resist her. He kissed her for what seemed like a long time and then finally found his head. He knew what he was doing was wrong.
"Casey, this is wrong. You don't know what you're doing," he whispered against her mouth. She sighed lightly and he pulled his face away from hers.
"Yes I do," she said. "Kiss me!" She grabbed him again, but not as roughly as the first time. Just as soon as their lips touched he pulled away.
"Seriously, you need to stop doing that."
"Why?" she asked, seriously confused.
"Because you have no idea how hard it is for me to push you away when you keep throwing yourself at me."
"Well why do you keep pushing me away? I obviously don't want you to."
"Actually, that part isn't that obvious. If it was obvious that you wanted to be with me so badly, I bet tonight wouldn't be our first kiss."
"Tonight isn't our first kiss," she insisted.
"Technically it is."
She rubbed her head.
"You're giving me a headache."
He opened his door.
"I thought you already had one."
"Well, you're making it worse."
"You're going to have to get used to that feeling because you're going to still be feeling it tomorrow morning, no doubt," he stated grimly as he got out of the car and jogged to her side. He opened the door for her and she stepped out of the car on shaky feet.
"Why did I wear such high heels?" she asked him as he held her hand and guided her towards the front of the house.
"Because they went with your dress?" he answered dumbly.
"I guess. And I wanted to look hot."
"Oh," was all he could respond with.
"Did it work?"
"Did what work?"
"Did I look hot tonight?"
Noel gulped before answering.
"Um…"
"Jeez. Thanks." She sounded pissed off.
Noel realized that maybe that moment wasn't the right time for him to stay silent. A drunken Casey was a Casey that he really couldn't figure out so easily. She was fine one moment, mauling him the other, and then upset when he wasn't immediately praising her.
"Case, I already told you earlier that you look gorgeous."
"No, you said I looked nice." She said the word "nice" like it was a disease.
"Well, I lied. You look gorgeous."
"Aww, Noel that's so—" and then she tripped.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Noel, surprised. Casey had tripped over a body.
"I think that's my cousin Vicky," Casey said, standing up straight again and talking as if nothing weird had just happened.
She bent slightly to examine the girl's face. Indeed it was. Vicky was passed out on the Venturi/MacDonald lawn.
They waited for her to move. She didn't. They could tell that she was breathing, but she didn't seem to even know that she had just been tripped over.
Casey kicked her softly with one of her heeled feet.
"Vicky?" Noel called out. Nothing.
"Wow, she's even more far gone than I am," Casey said, and she was giggling.
"Should we bring her up to the house, too?"
"Nah, just leave her there," Casey said unconcernedly and started walking away and towards the steps of her house that led to the front door, still giggling lightly. Noel's eyebrows lifted high as he watched her saunter away, apparently with no cares about her passed out and clearly inebriated cousin.
"But—" he protested, slowly making his way behind her, glancing unsurely back at Vicky on the grass.
"Are you going to walk me to the door or not?" she cut him off, stopping and turning to look at him. He quickened his pace and joined Casey once more.
"I guess she must have gotten dropped off when we in the car," he said.
"Yeah, while we were making out."
Noel blushed at her frank description of their hookup but she just kept walking and didn't notice. They reached her door in seconds.
"Well this was fun," Casey said, grinning up at him. She seemed to momentarily forget how annoyed she was with him. Noel forced a smile.
"Yeah. Sort of."
"Okay well…" she started, but then she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck before he realized what was going on. She pressed her face close to his, her lips half on his mouth, the other half kissing his chin. She had clearly missed her intention and knew it. She giggled some more and tried to kiss him fully on the lips, but he pushed her away from him.
"Come on, Casey. Let's not start this again."
"It's just a kiss, jeez."
"Yeah, but I know you don't mean it."
"When a girl kisses you, you should let her."
"I did. But I'm done doing that now."
"Why is this such a big deal to you?"
"Because you don't mean it!" he partially yelled, frustrated. "When you kiss me, I feel like you want to be kissing someone else. Someone that's not me."
"So what if I do?" she shouted back. His eyes widened.
"What?"
"Oh never mind," she snapped and then mumbled something he wasn't quite sure he heard correctly. "I never get what I want."
Now he was really confused.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked her, the curious tone in his voice not hidden.
"What I mean is that sometimes, I want things to go my way, sometimes, I want to get what I want, when I want and I don't want to have to suffer in the mean time while I wait."
"And what exactly is it that you want so badly?" He knew what he wanted, and he knew what he wanted her to say, but he also knew that she didn't want the same things as him.
"It, it doesn't matter what I want anymore!" she cried. "It's impossible," she said and she was shaking. "So impossible…" she trailed off and he went to her, putting his arm on her shoulders and then slowly pulling her into a tight hug.
"Um, okay," was all he could think of to say. She laughed into his chest.
"I'm sorry that I'm such a mess."
"I really don't mind," was his reply.
"But it's really not okay. I really am falling apart and it's his entire fault." She whispered the last part.
He wanted to ignore it, ignore what she said, but he couldn't. He needed to know, once and for all.
"Who are you talking about?" he asked her softly, rubbing small circles into her back as he did so.
"It doesn't matter. As I said before, it's all impossible. Everything."
"Well, that really sucks," he said and he could have kicked himself. For some reason he couldn't seem to articulate any intelligent sentences in front of her.
She stepped out of his embrace.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore." She searched around herself. "I can't remember where my keys are," she said, completely changing the subject.
"Casey, are you sure you don't want to talk some more?" he asked her in a pleading tone. He hated seeing her like this.
She ignored him and continued to search for her missing keys. Her purse was small and it didn't seem to be hiding in there so she started to search the porch for the spare key. When she finally found it she cried aloud and held it up to Noel's face in victory.
"Viola!"
"Yay," Noel said, monotonously. Then he watched as she tried to put the key in the keyhole. After a few tries she kicked the door with her heel and he heard her mumble something.
"Stupid Derek."
And then everything made sense to him. It was all so obvious. Derek.
The one Casey wanted was him, Derek. The one she couldn't have was him. The reason everything was so impossible was because she wanted him and she couldn't have him for some reason.
He realized then that Casey was in love with Derek. He also understood that she had been throwing herself at him because Derek had hurt her and it probably seemed like a good idea to her while she was drunk, to hook up with him, or anyone for that matter.
For some reason, his revelation didn't really seem that strange. He felt oddly calm about it. He quickly came to the conclusion that if he hadn't been so in love with her himself, he probably would have been able to recognize her crush. As for right then, it was completely obvious. She loved him. How blind he had been not to notice before.
"Wow," he said. While he was processing all of his thoughts, Casey had finally gotten the front door unlocked but she was still standing outside with him.
Now that he knew what was going on, he was even more pissed at Derek. He hated that he was hurting Casey and he hated that he was most likely not even aware of the fact that he was hurting her.
"Do you want to come in?" she asked him quietly, breaking through his thoughts.
"Not really," he said and he immediately regretted how harsh his voice sounded. She heard it, though, the iciness in his tone and he watched, painfully, as her eyes welled up with more tears and then, she was crying.
"Oh g-gosh," she stuttered. "I'm so-sorry. I bet you want to go home now and forget this night ever happened, right?"
"Oh no, Casey. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I was just thinking about something. Come here," he commanded and once again she was in his arms and he was comforting her while she cried.
While Casey cried and Noel comforted, a car pulled up to the drive-way and parked. They didn't notice right away; Noel just continued to whisper sweetly into her ear. It was the green Prince.
Derek got out of his car and instantly noticed Vicky passed out on the lawn in front of him. He rolled his eyes but walked over to her nonetheless. He picked her up swiftly without much thought and started to walk up to the house, eventually noticing the two people embracing on the porch in front of the entrance to his home. At the same time that Derek noticed them, Casey and Noel looked over and saw him.
Noel stiffened when he saw Derek and Casey immediately stopped crying, but not from embarrassment. Seeing Derek made her angry.
Derek stopped walking when he got to the bottom of the porch stairs and glared up at Noel.
"What the hell did you do to her?" he asked, and his voice wasn't friendly at all.
Noel's back stiffened at Derek's words and Casey immediately stopped crying.
How dare he? they both thought.
Derek looked back and forth from Casey's tear stained face and red rimmed eyes to Noel's angry face. He didn't understand why Noel was looking at him with hatred in his eyes. He had never really had anything against Noel, he didn't really know him. But for some reason, just seeing him right then gave him to urge to punch him. He had caused Casey pain and he was in for it.
He gently placed Vicky on the rocking bench on the porch and then turned back to the couple. Then, Derek's own expression turned livid.
"I said, what the hell did you do to her?"
Casey spoke up before Noel.
"Oh shut up, Derek, he didn't do anything."
"Then why are you crying?"
"How stupid are you man? I'm comforting her, not pissing her off," said Noel, finally stepping in. "No, that's your job."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Suddenly the boys were face to face, Noel a few inches taller but both equally fuming.
"I'm saying that you're a freaking idiot and that you're the one that's making Casey cry!" Noel yelled.
"Noel!" Casey yelled in response, embarrassed by Noel's outburst, his honesty.
"Not me," Noel continued, ignoring her cries. "Never me."
Derek blinked. Casey started to cry again and backed away from both of them. Noel shook his head in disgust.
"Man, I'm done with this place," said Noel. He turned away from Derek to look at Casey. "Is he really worth it?" he asked her, and his voice was soft, it almost sounded like he was pleading with her to say anything but a confirmation.
Casey just turned her face away from both of them and continued to cry. Derek was still standing in the same place, a confused and dazed expression on his face.
"Whatever," said Noel and he started to leave.
Derek's arm came out and prevented him from leaving. Without actually looking at him, his gaze was fixed on Casey even though her face was hidden behind her hair and hands, he handed Noel his keys and barked out a command.
"Take Vicky to Casey's room."
"Excuse me?" said Noel, not immediately registering that he was being told to do something.
"Now," was all Derek said.
Noel stared at him in disbelief. He was about to say, "Hell no," but then he looked at Casey, standing there, a complete mess and all because she was in love with some idiot. He knew he should leave them be, give them a chance to figure things out, but he didn't want them to figure things out. He still wanted Casey.
Still, he nodded, even though Derek was still looking at Casey and wouldn't be able to see.
"Fine," he said. He walked over to where Vicky was stilled passed out on the swing and picked her up grudgingly, then after unlocking the door; he was gone, leaving Derek and Casey alone on the front porch, to deal with their many problems.
Once they were completely alone, Derek took a quick step towards Casey and looked at her questioningly. She was still covering her face with her hands and he gently placed his over
hers, trying to get her to look at him. She resisted at first, but then her hands came loose in his and they were looking at one another, both silent, minus the sniffles on her part.
His hands kept hers clasped in his and his mind was racing. He kept hearing the gist of Noel's words in his head: "You're a freaking idiot. You're the one hurting her."
"Is it true?" he finally asked her. She didn't answer but he knew she understood what his question was.
He decided to try something out. If she felt the same way as he did, then it would be okay for him to do this.
He let go of her hands, and right when he did Casey felt like she had lost something, but then he held out his arms in a way that showed he was offering himself to her, if she wanted him. He was offering to her the hug she had always wanted from him, and embrace he had always been too scared to give, for fear that he might hold on to her too tight, that it may last too long, that she would notice and that she may never want to touch him again. Tonight, though, he was willing and he hoped she would accept.
He waited in agony for a full thirty seconds, his arms empty and outstretched in front of him, waiting for her to take the next step, to take just one step forwards, one small step and she would be in his arms. After those thirty seconds, he heard her hiccup and then she moved; one step. Her crying completely stopped when her head touched his chest she and she actually sighed in content. Derek just held her close and smiled into her hair.
Then, he pulled away slightly and looked down into her face. There were still tears on her cheeks and under her eyes so he wiped them away tenderly with his thumbs. His lips placed a kiss on her head moments later and this action finally caused Casey to speak up. She pulled her head away from him and looked up at his face.
"What are you doing?" she asked breathily and then…waited. She gazed into his beautiful brown eyes and then said, "Never mind, don't answer that."
Then she smacked him.
Derek blinked and cocked his head to the side, extremely baffled.
Casey stepped away from him and crossed her arms at her chest.
"I don't understand you!"
"What don't you understand?"
"Anything!"
"Well what do you want to know?"
"Everything!"
"Everything?!" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, everything!" she responded.
"Why are you yelling?"
"When do I not yell around you?"
She had him there.
"Casey, what do you want me to say? What do you want me to do? Just tell me, say the words and I'll say it, do it."
"Oh, no you don't. You are not putting this on me. I am not going to be tricked into saying something stupid. Nope, no thank you."
"Case, I'm not joking around."
"Yeah, well, maybe I don't believe you. And, maybe I've had enough of this for tonight. Maybe I've had enough of this, whatever this is, for forever. Clearly I've lost my head. I have no idea why I'm even still out here talking to you. I honestly don't know what I was thinking, what I was expecting to happen."
And then she turned away. She shuffled to the front door and reached for the doorknob.
"Casey!"
The sound of Derek's voice practically echoed in the night as he basically growled her name. He reached for her wrist as he did so and prevented her from opening the door once again.
"Let go of me! Why do people keep thinking they can just push me aro—" She didn't get to finish the word. Derek was finally using his own brain, finally making a gesture, finally taking control, and in a way that Casey could honestly not complain about. He was kissing her.
That first kiss lasted about ten seconds and then he pulled away and looked at her face. He eyes were so wide and such a deep dark blue that he almost forgot that she hadn't pulled away from him and had even kissed him back. Then he remembered and quickly ducked towards her again and started to kiss her once more, placing three short kisses on her lips and then moving his hands to her hair and pulling her closer to him to deepen the kiss. When he did this she immediately put her hands around his neck and clung onto him tightly, pressing her body as close to his as she could manage.
Inside the house, Noel was just then walking down the stairs. He noticed that Derek and Casey hadn't come inside yet so instead of walking straight to the door, he walked over to the window on the right side of it and inconspicuously took a look outside.
What he saw broke his heart into even more pieces than it already was. He expected it, sure, but it was still hard to see. The girl he was in love with was wrapped up in the tightest most heated embrace he had ever had the displeasure of seeing in real life, with another guy.
He knew now that she had always wanted Derek and that he in turn had always wanted Casey. And now they were together. Finally.
He cringed at the thought, but knew it was true.
Not wanting to disturb their little tryst but also not wanting to see any more of it, he made himself turn around and walk to the back of the house, through the kitchen and out the back entrance.
He felt utterly defeated. His shoulders were slumped downwards as he dragged himself to his car. He had to force himself not to look at them as he walked quietly past them on the driveway.
He knew that the kisses she had given him earlier meant absolutely nothing to her, but as he strolled on by, just knowing that they were there kissing passionately made him think of how he had moments before been kissing her passionately himself. He felt yet another stab to his heart with these thoughts.
When he got to his car, he accidently looked up at the house and he could just barely tell that they were still out there. He looked away a second later and his thoughts began to wander again.
He was certain of one thing. Casey and Derek would be inseparable from now on. He understood that it had taken them years to "find" each other and now that everything was out in the open, at least to themselves, they would fight to stay together.
He knew had to get over her. That was it. He just had to get over her. There was nothing else to consider. It hurt, but that was life.
The third thing he thought of before he started his car was that Casey and Derek were meant for each other, that much was obvious. It pained him to think it and he didn't necessarily choose to think it, but the thought was there, just swimming around at the top of his head. Casey and Derek were a perfect fit.
He pulled away cursing at himself for being such an idiot for not noticing sooner and preventing himself from getting so entangled in his feelings for her. But he couldn't help it. There was nothing he could do about it now. He just had to go on with his life.
FIN
A/N: Hey peeps. Please let me know what you really think about this. Was it too angsty towards the end? I feel like maybe the Casey and Derek get-together scene wasn't as climactic as it could have been, but then again, this was originally supposed to ALL just be from Noel's perspective…and as you can tell, that didn't really happen, ha. So…review please! I'm done babbling now!
