Thank you for the reviews. :)
Chapter One: Escape by Enrique Iglesias
You can run, you can hide
But you can't escape my love
You can run, you can hide
But you can't escape my love
At four A.M., a few weeks later, six teenagers gathered in the living room of the MacDonald/Venturi home. The day had finally come, the day they'd have their pre senior year hurray, the last one before college. Casey smiled brightly at the small gathering before comparing their gear to her checklist. It didn't sit well with her that they'd be seven hours from London. What if they forgot something? Something vital and important like food or the first aid kit? That would be unforgivable, especially with four teenage boys coming along for the weeklong trip.
Casey smiled happily as all the gear checked out. She could hardly wait to get away from real life. The cabin Emily and Sheldon had agreed upon (from a long list her and Emily had made together that is) seemed like a perfect place to escape. It was remote, hard to reach and the best part? Faraway. The cabin had been vague on specifics, but when Sheldon called they assured him there was running water, a fireplace, enough room for six people, electricity, hot tub, Jacuzzi bath and even a porch swing ; however, it couldn't be afforded by just three people. Hence, the larger gathering than originally planned when it had only been Emily and hers brain child, the reserves had been called in.
"Morning, D," Sam yawned, blinking wildly.
Between Sam, Sheldon, Emily, Ralph, Derek and herself, they had managed to get the money to rent the cabin for a week and cover expenses like gas and food. The only down side to this plan was Derek. Okay, Derek and the semi cheap cabin. Casey really didn't want to be the one to tell the guys they'd need to chop firewood unless they wanted to freeze at night – she'd already broken the news about no cable TV or even a TV at all. Ralph still hadn't forgiven her or stopped giving her the stink eye.
"Hey," Derek sort of grunted before dropping his guitar with the others' bags.
Holding her tongue (only because Derek didn't even look conscious), Casey started sorting out the mess. Blankets, pillows and sheets would be the last thing put in the car, heavy stuff on bottom…. Before the hour hit five, Casey gave the okay to the guys to start packing Sam's dad's van in the order she specified. With hardly any complaining from the half awake boys, Casey turned to her mom (George had to get up early for work, so he still slumbered like the dead).
"Now, Casey be careful. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Always keep your judgment around you and please, think about everything you do before doing it." Mom pleaded. "I don't want to be the mom on the news saying I let a bunch of children be mauled by a bear."
"We'll be okay, mom!" Casey hugged her mom before letting Derek hug her as well (he still seemed like a zombie which was the only reason Casey could think of as to why he hugged her mom).
With the parental goodbye speech over with, the group of six filed out the front door. They piled into the car with all the care of sleepy teenagers, except for the unlucky driver who happened to be a very caffeinated Emily.
"Road trip!" Emily yelled before shifting the van into gear.
Groans answered her besides Casey who let out a weak, "Yay…"
"They look almost cute, don't they?" Emily whispered to the new driver.
Sam looked into the review mirror before snickering softly. Derek's head was in Casey's lap; Casey was using Ralph as a pillow while Sheldon was sleeping on Ralph's other shoulder. Ralph himself seemed to find Casey's head as nice pillow.
A flash went off, unnoticed by the sleeping teenagers.
"What? They were being cute; I had to!" Emily giggled, waving her purple camera.
The gas station reminded Derek of one of those closets that just happened to have food ten years past the expiration date, not that he was complaining. In charge of buying "food" for everyone, Derek grabbed six sodas, two boxes of powdered donuts, candy bars, a few energy drinks, Twinkies, chips and water. He yawned so hard his jaw cracked as the clerk rung him up, looking just as tired as Derek felt.
"Where's your bathroom?" Derek asked.
"Behind the store. Here's the key," the man grumbled, sliding a crude blue key towards Derek.
"Right," Derek mumbled back.
He dropped the bag of goodies off at the van before going to finish business. When he was done, he passed the key to Ralph and Sam who were practically jumping up and down. When he saw Casey heading toward the bathrooms, Derek was horrified to learn he was too tired to even comment on her already wrinkling nose.
The van called and asked why his ass wasn't in the backseat already, he grinned sleepily.
"Derek, your turn to drive," Casey said while pulling over.
"Finally, I thought you were going to drive us into that fence awhile back." Derek smirked while they changed places.
"Oh shut up. You're probably going to kill us because of your energy drink high," Casey snapped as Derek and her buckled up.
"The idea has merit," he winked at her.
Casey maturely stuck her tongue out at him.
After an emergency stop (Casey kept hitting Derek, almost swerving them in front of an oncoming car), the group rearranged themselves. Ralph was now sitting next to Derek in the front while Sam sat next to Casey in the very back with Emily and Sheldon in the seat ahead of them, drooling.
"Everyone happy? No one going to try killing anyone else?" Sam asked, checking the van. "Now, let's go."
Ralph grinned at his burger and bit in with much gusto. The pickles truly tasted amazing even if they were a tad sour. He felt ketchup drip on his chin when he took another bite.
"You have a little something there," Emily giggled, wiping off the sauce with a napkin.
"You are a terrible human being!"
"Why thank you pretty lady," he said, in his cheesiest pick up voice.
"You aren't such a walk in the park either!"
"Ralph, you're supposed to play it smooth. Like this, why don't you be the mustard to my ketchup?" Sam winked, earning him laughs from everyone but the bickering duo.
"At least I have common courtesy! Der-ek!"
"Because I'm sure that line has worked before," Sheldon laughed along with Ralph.
"Would you shut up for once in your entire life!"
"Got a laugh, right? And girls love a funny man." Sam grinned before wincing at the shriek of rage.
"What did he do to her again?" Ralph asked, munching on Emily's fries.
"Ordered before her because she wouldn't make up her mind?" Emily reminded him, obviously watching the show with great amusement and exasperation.
"Can't we give them cold medicine?" Sheldon suggested hopefully.
"Don't tempt me," Sam said under his breath.
"UST is the problem and it can't be solved by knocking them out." Emily disagreed.
"UST?"
"Unresolved sexual tension," Emily piped before breaking into laughter with the three boys.
"I hate this van," Sheldon said darkly.
"At least those two went to sleep." Sam nodded to Derek and Casey. "Along with Emily apparently."
"So, you and Emily still together?" Ralph asked Sheldon with a grin.
"Can we just turn on the radio?" Sam begged, killing the attempt at conversation.
Giggling quietly, Emily looked at Casey before writing quickly on a piece of notebook paper. Casey watched from her spot in curiosity, trying not to move her head too much. Derek had deemed her pillow worthy once more, and she did not want to wake him unless she was otherwise forced to. He was a good boy when he was quiet. With that in mind, Casey engaged with Emily in a paper conversation.
He looks kind of cute like that!!!
He is pretty cute when he isn't awake. Maybe I should drug him one day?
I think you just might one day! Anyways, Derek drama is not what I wanted to tell you about! I think this is it!
It for what?
I was thinking while we were here, I could, you know… With Sheldon.
What!?!
It is the year before senior year and we do love each other… Besides, I'm tired of being a virgin. It's so stressful.
But…
Come on, live once in a while! Break those rules! It's why we're on this trip, right?
Right! It's time for me to live more dangerously…
Good girl! Now, how do you think I could end up alone with Sheldon long enough to have sex with three other teenage boys sniffing around?
Oh God…
"Yes! We're finally here!" Ralph danced a little.
"Finally! I have to go to the bathroom!" Emily squeaked, pushing past Casey and Derek and running for the cabin.
"I guess that leaves us valiant heroes to unpack the van," Sheldon said dryly as Casey chased after Emily to unlock the door.
"I just love doing that!" Ralph smiled to the collective weirdness of Sam and Derek.
"Yeah, you do that." Derek said strangely before following the girls.
"D's right, we can just do that later when the girls will actually help, besides I think Casey has a plan on how to unload…" Same trailed off as the other two already started walking away.
"We don't need much convincing to get out of work apparently," Ralph grinned.
"Casey?" Derek shouted, panic coloring his voice.
"What?" she snapped back, her darting eyes the only thing giving her away.
"There's only one bedroom," he told her stiffly.
"Really? I didn't know that." Casey giggled nervously.
Derek looked at her disbelieving and spoke slower, "There is only bed."
"The couch is a fold out?" She offered trying to smile. "And a Jacuzzi and hot tub?"
Derek turned to look at her disbelievingly. She looked nervous about the fact he was upset at least, but she was also hiding more bad news. He could tell. She kept rubbing her left wrist.
"Casey," he started menacingly.
"It was the best we could afford! Sheldon booked it! It was all him!" Casey squealed.
Derek glared at Casey before hunting down Sheldon. He was going to get it.
"Six people can live here," Sheldon said.
Casey looked around. There were three doors all around in the living room opened up to the kitchen through a wide arc. One door lead to the upstairs bedroom, another to a closet and the last to a bathroom while limited, was spacious and nice. She would swear up and down that the bathroom was bigger than the one she shared at home, and the bedroom was extremely nice as well as the living room with a pull out bed and a loveseat opposite of the fireplace.
"Anything else we should know?" Sam asked pointedly.
"We have no central heating," Sheldon broke the news.
"So? What's that supposed to mean?" Ralph asked, his brow furrowed.
"We need to chop wood," Sheldon said inching behind Emily.
"We came to get away from work," Sam said dryly. "Not more of it."
"Do we really need to?" Ralph asked.
"I don't see why we should. Seems plenty warm to me." Derek growled, following Sheldon with his eyes.
"At night the temperature drops almost in half," Casey started babbling. "And the offices we're renting from were very clear that we'll freeze if we don't use the fireplace."
"How much is the wood? Like I'm sure there's some you can buy from the office, right?" Sam said, suspicions dawning on him.
"Seventy something for a chunk?" Emily asked Casey when it seemed like Casey wouldn't answer.
"Great, it's probably just a scam. I think tonight, we skip this wood thing and if it's too cold for you girls, then we'll chop some tomorrow morning." Derek said smugly.
"What? How did you even reach that conclusion?" Casey asked, clearly confused and slightly affronted.
"They're charging a lot for a little on a 'necessity', usually that screams scam." Derek told her a bit rudely.
Sam sighed as Casey's face turned red, "Like how there's more buns than there is burgers or hotdogs."
"Dudes, I think we're missing the point." Ralph said. "Who's going to get the bedroom?"
"Thank you so much Casey!" Emily hugged.
"You owe me," Casey hissed.
The six of them had decided to pick who got the bedroom the fairest way: straws. Whoever got the shortest straw would be able to choose whomever they wanted to share the bedroom with, no questions asked. Sadly, Emily had won, and she picked Sheldon after asking Casey, which left Casey downstairs with Sam, Ralph and Der-ek.
"Come on, Case, bed is hours away! Let's go check out the hot tub, deal?" Emily winked, already undressing.
"Sure," Casey grinned. She was trying to turn over a new leaf after all and revenge could always happen under the cover of darkness. Just let Emily try having sex with Sheldon now, it'll never happen.
The sounds of Derek's guitar lazed around the cabin area while Casey and Emily both relaxed in the steamy hot water. Ralph and Sam could be heard playing some game in the woods while Sheldon was checking out the area (Emily had giggled in Casey's ear that Sheldon had been a boy scout). This was pure heaven so far.
"Feeling better about being here? Even though it looked like Derek was going to have a stroke for a second there?" Emily snickered.
"Much better, this is so perfect. Derek's quiet, for once, and everything else just seems so surreal." Casey murmured. "And Derek did look kind of funny; I thought he was going to beat the crap out of Sheldon!"
Emily laughed, "And the sad part is, I'm not sure who would have won. Sure, Derek has muscle, but Sheldon has more weight on his side. If he wanted to, there would be a Derek pancake."
"Think there's time to change his mind?" Casey asked dryly, looking at her best friend.
Conversation ceased. Casey smiled and tilted her head back, eyes closing. The sounds of the guitar were familiar and new; Derek was obviously working on a new song and so far it sounded beautiful. Sam and Ralph's laughter felt nice to hear too. The past few weeks had been a strain. Casey's smile turned into a slight frown.
Since her break up with Max, she had tried avoid dating which in all honest turned out to be easier than she expected. Finals started to coming up as well as college prep tests and soon, she found she didn't even have enough free time for dance class. That had really hurt, that she had to give that up. Dancing had been her welcomed stress reliever like how Derek and Lizzie had their sports. Since quitting, she felt as if she was moments from a mental break down and losing her sanity.
That's why this trip had been so vital to her and no matter how it happened, she was going to enjoy herself.
"I really love this song," Emily sighed as the strings restarted.
"What's for dinner?" Ralph asked while the other three boys in the house instantly perked up.
Emily stared up at Ralph in surprise before turning to Casey for guidance, but Casey just shrugged. Emily felt surprise at her best friend's action and was honestly perplexed. Casey did not shrug.
"Um, I'm not sure? Casey?" Emily asked hopefully.
"I can't cook, I suck at cooking." Casey answered, grabbing an apple from only God knew where.
Emily stared blankly at Casey before turning back to Ralph, "I'll see what I can make?"
"She's almost as bad as you!" Derek laughed.
Casey hid a giggle (purely out of friendship) while the others (excluding Sheldon who was also trying to smother laughter) laughed along with Derek. Emily had decided to make pasta on the stove and forgot to watch it. The pasta had boiled over and white foam and hot water was everywhere. Luckily, Emily had been upstairs with Sheldon at the time, or she could have been hurt.
"I'm starving!" Ralph moaned. Just not lucky for everyone else who wanted to be fed.
"I'll make something, you oaf," Sam chuckled.
"If you can cook why didn't you make it to begin with?" Emily snapped, embarrassed.
"We," Sam gestured to the other guys, "brought in all the bags. We figured the least you could do is cook. I mean Casey has been cleaning since it got too dark to mess around outside…"
Everyone looked pointedly at Emily.
"I'm better at making breakfast," she finally relented.
Resisting the moan that wanted to erupt from her mouth, Casey submersed herself fully in the hot water. The bath was deliciously hot; her mint bath salts already spreading around the room, clearing her head. Dinner had been amazing, not the sandwiches even those had been good, but the fact she didn't have to do anything had been amazing. All she had to do was show up and eat the sandwich, and then she got this just as amazing bath as an award.
Smiling ruefully, however, Casey began to wash her hair and body all the while thinking about the sleeping arrangements. Four people would never be able to fit on the foldout bed, Casey knew this but her gut was telling her that the three guys she'd be sleeping with downstairs didn't understand this. So, instead of flipping out like the old Casey would have, she decided to just bathe, so Derek (or anyone else for that matter) couldn't insult her for how she smelled.
"Casey! Hurry up!" Derek shouted.
"Der-ek! Ten minutes is all I'm asking for!" She shouted back.
"Yes but I need to use the bathroom, right now." Derek yelled back.
"Fine! I'm getting out!" Casey screeched before realizing something terrible.
"Um, Derek?" her voice considerable lowered.
"Yes, Casey," Derek asked with a put upon tone, just as low.
"Did I leave my towel and clothes out there?"
Like a mist icy, the cold blanketed her until she couldn't stand it.
"Derek," Casey whispered in the dark.
They had all finally decided to go to sleep and only hours later did Casey feel the bite of frost. She squinted to see which boy on the bed was Derek (they all just sort of claimed spots with pillows between Casey and all the boys). It was dark for sure, but she had a feeling the one perilously close to the edge was Derek.
Trying not to move too much, Casey shuffled to reach him. Her heart nearly stopped when Ralph groaned and rolled over, almost on her sleeping spot. She glared at him for a moment before the chill forced her to move again. Stupid Ralph, stealing her spot.
"Derek," she whispered again, tapping him on the shoulder. He grunted and seemed to scoot even closer to the edge of the bed.
Now Casey was stuck. She had niggling feeling if she called his name again, he'd roll right off, and even though waking everyone with his shouting would solve her dilemma, it wasn't nice. She could either take her chance, or she could try waking him in a way that wouldn't cause a loud argument.
Deciding, Casey reached his shoulder and yanked him on his back before quickly putting her hand over his mouth. His eyes sprang open, and he glared at her in confusion and anger. He yanked her hand off his mouth and opened his mouth to no doubt yell at her until Sam's loud snort brought his attention back to the others.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"I'm really, really cold." Casey whispered.
"So?" Derek asked, angrily. "Not my problem."
"Der-ek! You have the good blanket from home!" Casey insisted.
"I really hate you," he hissed quietly.
"I hate you too, but I'm cold more." Casey scowled.
"Fine," Derek growled lowly before turning back onto his side, facing away from her.
Casey happily scooted into the blanket right next to him and sighed in the warmth. She was glad Derek slept in long sleeves as she snuggled closer to his back or else this could have been very awkward. Before falling back to sleep, she thought Emily better be thanking her, or Casey was going to try kicking her ass. Keyword being try, of course.
Tada?! :)