After two weeks Derek was beginning to get impatient. Well, he'd been impatient before but he'd managed to resist the urge to go sit in the restaurant every day (and really seeming like a creeper) and wait to see if she came in. He was in the middle of contemplating if maybe the kid had forgotten or decided not to bother when the phone range showing an unfamiliar number.
"Hello?" His heart was pounding now.
"Hey, man, I never got your name, but your girl just ordered… at Corner Bakery." And now his heavily pounding heart had stilled. "She's due to pick it up in fifteen minutes.
"Thank you," Derek breathed before ending the call. Another breath and then suddenly he was rushing into the studio bathroom and emptying out his stomach. When he'd exited, one of the other co-hosts on the show was standing there with a smirk.
"This is unusual, puking after the show."
Derek just rolled his eyes and headed for the stairs, "Not now, Jason." For whatever reason, Jason took this as an invitation to follow him down the stairs.
"You look like crap, you okay?"
Derek heaved a sigh, "It's… complicated. I'll let you know. But I have to go." Jason raised his eyebrows and he just shook his head in return. "Time sensitive, got to run." He added on increasing his pace down the stairs.
When he came out of the building he saw her walking into the restaurant and he heaved a sigh and crossed the street ignoring the sounds of angry car horns.
He stepped into the restaurant and she was standing in line, looking at her phone again. The kid at the register looked up at the sound of the bell and gave Derek a head nod, which Derek returned before quickly turning his eyes back to the dark haired woman. He stepped up in line behind her and was overwhelmed by the familiar scent of strawberry shampoo. Being closer to her, he could now see brown roots starting to peek out at the top of her hair.
She was possibly here, right in front of him and he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth. He stepped up as it was her turn at the counter, "Brian," her voice greeted. Derek must have looked like a frightened love-sick kid then because Brian was giving him a sympathetic smile over the woman's shoulder—he couldn't bring himself to think of her as Casey, not yet. "One order to go." She reminded the teenager who quickly rang her up.
"Here you are, Casey." He smiled as he handed the bag over to the woman with her back to Derek. She said her thanks and headed for the door. Derek didn't move and then once again she was out the door before he managed to move.
"Thanks!" he mumbled to Brian and ran for the door. This time, she was still in sight and he began to follow her. Still he couldn't bring himself to call her name, just to see.
There were so many things right about her… he wasn't ready to face disappointment. He realized, though, as they headed into a parking garage—the same parking garage he'd been parking in for a few months now—and she picked up her pace, that she might have realized he was following her.
Suddenly he was angry, because if it was Casey then she was alive. He had thought she was dead. Her entire family thought she was dead and here she was ordering food at a Corner Bakery and smiling at the employees. He hadn't realized he'd picked up his pace as well. He was so busy fuming that he didn't realize she'd slowed down until they were just a foot apart and suddenly she turned spraying him in the face.
His eyes were suddenly on fire and he was doubling over, holding his hands to them until he felt a heavy kick to the family jewels and then he was covering those instead. "What the fuck," he managed in a gasp, coughing up the rest of the pepper spray that was in the air.
The foot headed toward him stopped and planted itself firmly on the ground and then, sounding confused and frustrated, she said his name, "Derek?" Then she hissed at him and shoved his arm, "What are you doing here and why were you following me?" Her hand was delicate now as she took his shoulder and helped him into the car that she'd stopped in front of.