Derek throws his duffel bag in what will be his new room for the next year and heaves a sigh. It feels like unpacking the Prince is taking a lifetime when all he actually wants to do is grab some pizza with Casey…and his dad and Nora. With no one in close enough proximity to complain to, Derek begrudgingly starts to head back down the stairs. As he nears the parking lot, his phone starts to buzz.
"Hey mom."
"Derek, we need to talk." Derek stalls; this wasn't exactly how he imagined his mom's obligatory 'congrats you got into uni' phone call starting out.
"Yeah, um, ok. What about?"
Derek wishes that he hadn't asked. Within the short five minutes it takes for him to get back to the Prince, his mom has managed to tell him that: 1. He's lucky he even got into college 2. His immaturity better not lead to him losing his hockey scholarship because she will not front the additional money to keep him in school and 3. He better not bring Casey down if he starts falling behind. She adds to this, saying that Casey is too nice and has too bright of a future to be caught up in Derek's juvenile actions. As if Derek doesn't know that already.
By the time Derek gets back to the Prince he is positively fuming. He knows he's no good for keener Casey but…fuck it. Still red with rage, Derek leans over to Casey as he grabs his last bag and whispers venomously in her ear that he wants nothing to do with her while at uni and would rather drop dead than have someone find out they share a family.
As if someone dropped a cube of ice down her shirt, Casey stands tall, and without giving him a second glance, slams the Prince's door closed and tells his dad and Nora goodbye before walking towards her dorm. Derek feels a stab of guilt rib through his gut and swallows hard; she'll come around eventually. He knows Casey. Whatever it is that they have between them can definitely withstand a few harsh words…right?
Nora watches Casey's retreating form with misty eyes and turns to Derek, "You'll look after her, right Derek?" she asks. "I know you two fight, but you've always had each other's backs," at this Nora places her hand on Derek's shoulder and his guilt intensifies, "and I know you care about her." Derek whips his head sharply up at this…this…accusation but Nora surges forward, unaware of how her well-intended words sound to Derek's ears. "I'm just so proud of you two for working through all of your differences senior year and…I'm just so proud of you for getting into Queens!" Nora's waterworks start up again and Derek gently removes her arm from his shoulder, mumbling a thank you. Luckily his dad steps in to save him from one of Nora's infamous hugs, clapping him loudly on the back.
"I'm proud of you son. You did well. We'll try to make some of your home games once the season picks up ok?" Derek nods mutely. His dad looks around conspiratorially before leaning down and whispering, "can't wait to see you kick ass on that rink." Derek barks out a laugh and the guilt temporarily eases up.
The first two weeks of college are a blur. Derek gets lucky and has a fellow hockey teammate, Mark, for a roommate. They go to a few parties. Ok, they go to a lot of parties. Derek rolls into his classes just before they start and barely registers the syllabus being handed to him as the class goes over it together. He Skypes with Edwin (though he will never admit it, he misses the brat) and lets Marti talk excitingly about her day until Derek hears Nora gently take the phone away as Marti weakly protests that she's not actually tired…her yawns are just fake. Mark grins at Derek when he hears Marti yell "I love you Smerek!" and Derek silently flips him the bird.
Then suddenly it's the third week of school and Derek realizes he has homework due on Thursday and Friday. And then he realizes he has none of the books he needs for his classes. And then he realizes that the color coordinated planner Casey had gleefully made for him is still sitting on his desk collecting dust. And then the guilt comes tumbling back in.
When he sees her for the first time since starting Queens, it's purely on accident. How was Derek to know it was keener night at the bar? He wouldn't have even noticed her unless the blonde she was sitting next to hadn't literally squealed. He meets Casey's eyes as they both look up and, almost like second nature in reaction to anything Casey-related, he smirks. Casey immediately looks back down at the bar, lips pursed in irritation. Derek sighs and wonders why she has to make everything so difficult. His smirk settles back on his face however, when he resolves to bait her into talking to him again. Just like high school. Because when Derek and Casey start a prank war, what could possibly go wrong?
Derek saunters over to the blonde and flashes her the classic Venturi grin. As predicted, the blonde swoons. But Derek doesn't care about that. What Derek cares about is his purposeful placement between the blonde and Casey as he "accidentally" elbows Casey's drink directly onto her lap. He doesn't even get a cry of outrage, let alone the sound of his name broken in two. Instead, he gets a cold breeze of air as Casey slides past silently and a fiery glare from a redheaded girl that was sitting beside her. The blonde, whose name he learns is Amy, is oblivious to it all. Casey doesn't come back and Derek grins, just because he lost the battle doesn't mean he'll lose the war…it just means he has to up the stakes.
Derek does everything in his power to get a rise out of Casey. He starts picking up Amy from dance class, then quickly stops when Casey starts leaving faster than he can get to the studio (and let's be honest, Amy is a bit of an airhead…even for Derek). When their paths cross at parties, Derek makes sure he has Casey's full attention before openly flirting with her other teammates. By the time he hits on the fourth (fifth?) girl Malia (Marie? Mary?) Derek stops seeing Casey at parties altogether. Derek gives up after a while and only goes to parties occasionally, seeing as he actually has to work on keeping his grade point average up if he wants to retain his scholarship. So, Derek resorts to the lowest of low, he wakes up early. At seven, to be exact. It's not like he knows Casey still most likely does her 5am three mile run every day and likes to eat her breakfast exactly at 7:30am. No, it's really just a lucky coincidence that he keeps running into her at the mess hall at 7:30am every weekday. Derek smirks at Casey's disheveled appearance and Casey openly frowns at him. They keep this up for a week before Casey stops showing up. This agitates Derek. He plans on giving her a piece of his mind the next time he sees her, but when the opportunity presents itself, the smirk slips off his face at the sight of how exhausted Casey looks.
