Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek.

Chapter 7: Body Check

We ended up spending the rest of the night working together on homework. We have different courses, obviously, so we were doing different work, but at the same time, we were able to help each other out. I had to study for my history quiz, so Derek would read the question, get the answer wrong, and I'd explain the right one to him. In between, I'd help him make sense of science. It was actually a lot of fun. I don't know why he's able to clear my head like he does. I guess I get some sort of satisfaction out of explaining things to him. Maybe I just like to feel superior! But it's more than that. I have to acknowledge that he really is smart, even if he needs twenty minutes of discussion in order to figure out how to get from prophase to telophase.

We do have a good system. A few years ago, I never would have thought that we would work so well together. And here we are, working together like the "couple" we supposedly are. Go figure.

On Friday morning, I hung my new dress on the back of my closet door and picked out my shoes and accessories. I couldn't help it: I was looking forward to Derek's reaction. The dress was extremely tight-fitting and low-cut, but in a classy way. I had a feeling he wouldn't approve. I wasn't sure what this had to do with our sick game, but…it did. Maybe I'd wear blue eyeshadow just to spite him.

I have to admit, I was getting nervous about seeing our parents. I really didn't anticipate any problems. But still, I was a little apprehensive. I know I'm a worrywart, but can you blame me? I doubt Derek has given it any thought. I wish I had his easygoing attitude.

They were arriving this afternoon. Since our apartment is so small, they reserved a hotel room for the night, and they'll come to the game with us tomorrow.

()()()()()

"I missed you so much!" Mom hugged me as tight as she could and didn't let go until we were both straining for air.

"I missed you, too," I agreed, and before I knew it Mom had switched to Derek, and George swept me into another tight hug.

"This place looks wonderful," George commented as he took in our apartment. "I'm so proud of both of you."

"We knew you'd be fine off on your own. My little girl is…" Nora started sniffling. I didn't get a chance to find out exactly what I was, because she was too busy blowing her nose.

"Hormones," George stage-whispered to us, and Derek and I exchanged a smile.

"How've you been feeling, Nora?" Derek asked, to take her mind off her tears.

"I'm fine. This little guy's growing so fast." She patted her stomach, which was noticeably bigger than the last time I'd seen her. I felt a tug in my chest: it felt weird to not even know what my own mother looked like day-to-day. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed her until now.

"You think it's a boy, huh?" I asked.

"It has to be a boy," Derek cut in.

George ruffled Derek's hair, which he quickly patted down in frustration. "We'll be happy whether it's a boy or a girl, right?" He looked pointedly at both of us.

"Of course!" I spoke up, and Derek grunted his agreement. He just wants another little brother to boss around now that Ed's getting older. I don't care what the baby is, as long as he or she is healthy. But of course insensitive Derek wouldn't be thinking that way.

"The kids wish they could be here. They all say hello," George told us. Mom nodded, her trickle of tears finally subsiding.

"We understand. I know Lizzie and Edwin are busy with high school stuff," I replied.

"Yeah, who would have thought Ed would be on the football team," Derek said with a grin.

That was news to me. "He didn't tell me that! Our Edwin is playing football?"

Derek laughed. "Not quite."

"He's the mascot," Mom explained.

"Aw, good for him!" I was excited for Edwin. He deserved to have some fun.

"And you know how well Lizzie's doing with soccer," Mom went on. We all nodded.

"And Marti is getting top marks so far this year," George said proudly. "I think she wants to show her Smerek that she can get into university, too." He smiled at Derek.

Derek sighed. "I wish I could be there to tease her about her new keener status."

It wasn't until then that I realized how much Derek must miss her. In fact, he probably thinks about our siblings and misses them just as much as I do, even though he hasn't admitted it. It made me want to hug him.

"I'll make sure she keeps it up, and you can do your worst at winter break," George was telling him.

"George!" Mom scolded. "Our children are too mature for that kind of behavior."

Oh, if she only knew what has been going on here for the last few weeks. If she only knew.

()()()()()

We talked for a little while longer. George was working on an important case. Mom was trying to fit in as many clients as possible before she had to take some time off for the baby.

It'll be so strange to have a new baby at our house, when we're not even living there anymore. But I know we'll be able to see him (or her!) often enough. I have to remember that my siblings' lives are allowed to go on without me. That's been a tough reality to accept. I guess seeing Mom and George for the first time in so long brought on a wave of homesickness.

Maybe I'm just wishing for a simpler time. You know, a time when I wasn't 'dating' Derek. Sigh.

Mom and George went back to their hotel room to change for the dinner, and Derek and I did the same. I actually had butterflies in my stomach as I came out of my bedroom. Mostly because I couldn't get the back of the dress to zip up all the way, and I had to ask Derek for help. Talk about embarrassing.

"Hey Der?" I stepped into view of the couch and his mouth hung open for a second before he wisely closed it. I wasn't sure if that was a good reaction or a bad one, and he wasn't letting on either way. "Would you…?" I couldn't get the rest of the words out, so I motioned towards my zipper.

He swallowed loudly, and came over to stand behind me. I took in his appearance. He had on a dinner jacket and collared shirt, and he looked good. (What? It's just a fact. I'm not the first one to call him handsome, and I won't be the last.)

"You want me to zip you up?" he confirmed, though it came out kind of squeaky and definitely not Derek-like. I knew this was a mistake. The awkwardness was going to ruin our current level of comfort with each other. But what could I do?

I'm glad I couldn't see his face. He grabbed the zipper as I held my hair out of the way, and slowly zipped up the back of my dress. He tucked the tag under when he was finished, and the brush of his fingers on my skin made me shiver for no real reason. I hope he didn't feel that.

I turned around and thanked him, but he kept his head down and returned to the couch. As he walked by, our shoulders brushed, and that time I felt him shiver.

There was that weird vibe between us again. Why can't I just take it as my stepbrother helping me out? I hate that I have to read into things all the time. Derek was just being nice, that's all. It's not as rare as I used to think it was. So it's possible the vibe was caused by me, overreacting to the elephant in the room again.

I felt like throwing something. Preferably at Derek's head.

Sadly enough, I had actually been looking forward to whatever witty insult Derek would have come up with for what he thought of my dress. But none came.

Luckily, our parents showed up a second later.

()()()()()

The dinner was held at Ban Righ, the dining hall only a few blocks from our apartment. When we entered the hall, it was nothing like I'd expected. A dance floor was set up in front of a stage, where a band was playing. I recognized a guy from my psychology class, so I guess it must have been a school band. The food was set up at the opposite end from the stage, buffet-style. It was pretty crowded at the tables in the middle; every hockey player must have brought his parents.

We spotted Sarah and Joel quickly. "I'm going to introduce us to Joel's parents," I said, tugging on Derek's arm pointedly. I couldn't risk them being the ones to do the introductions. I could hear it now: 'This is Derek and his girlfriend, Casey.' We could not have that. I tried to communicate this to Derek with my eyes, and I think he got it, because he motioned for our parents to follow.

"Hey, I'm Derek, this is Casey, and these are my parents, Nora and George. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Harris," Derek spoke up quickly as soon as we reached Joel and Sarah.

"Nice to meet everyone," Mr. Harris said, and he and his wife shook all of our hands. He and George started in on how the hockey team was doing this season, so I pulled Sarah aside and discreetly motioned for Derek to do the same with Joel. The less time they spent with our parents, the better.

"You look perfect," I told her.

"Me? You look perfect. What did Derek say when he saw you in that dress?" Sarah's eyes were sparkling. I'll bet she thought he loved it. Ha.

"He was speechless," I told her honestly, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Wow, that's good, right? I knew he'd love it!"

I nodded, trying to keep up my cheerful demeanor. "Thanks again for taking me shopping."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Of course."

Brooke joined us then. We exclaimed over each other's dresses, Brooke giggled over how hot Derek looked, and we went looking for a table.

Lauren and Gina waved us over to a table near the dance floor. Ricky and Carter were already seated next to them. I saved a seat for Derek, though I had no idea what his plans were. After a few minutes, he appeared at our table and casually took the seat next to me. I raised my eyebrows questioningly, and he bent to whisper, "They're sitting on the other side with Joel's parents," in my ear. Well, that's a relief!

I didn't cross paths with either of our parents again until we got into the buffet line. Derek stood close to me and whispered, "They're a few people behind us. I think we're okay. Dad is talking hockey, mostly, and your mom always finds things to say."

"Yeah," I whispered back. "Why do I feel like we're spies on a secret mission or something?"

He cracked a smile at that, and I grinned back. I realized that this was yet another time we were talking about the prank, without actually talking about the prank. So frustrating!

I caught Sarah's eye, and she winked at me as Derek and I moved away from each other. She probably thought we were whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears. Gross.

Sam came up to us in line, then, startling both of us. "Hey, how's it going?" He glanced back at our parents.

I gave him a hug. "It's fine." I pulled back and crossed my fingers. He fist-bumped Derek.

"Your parents here?" Derek asked.

"They actually did come, can you believe it? And," he paused, grinning, "I brought a date."

That made me happy. Good for Sam. He hasn't exactly had the best luck with girls. "Where is she?"

"She's putting her stuff down at the table. I put us next to you, Case, hope that's okay."

"Of course!"

She came over a moment later. "Hi, Casey!" she beamed.

"Oh my gosh, Anna!" Sam's date was none other than the girl who let me look at her notes before the math exam. "What a coincidence!"

She hadn't met Derek yet, so they introduced themselves. Derek looked her up and down approvingly. I felt the slightest twinge of triumph. Yet another girl Derek couldn't think about, but she was off-limits for a different reason.

Sam and Anna squeezed in front of us in line, and we all got our plates and sat down. Sam's parents came over to say hello, and luckily they didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary between Derek and me.

Dinner was nice. We kept a lookout for our parents out of the corner of our eyes, but everything seemed to be normal so far. (As normal as life has been for us lately!) I couldn't finish my chicken, so Derek ate the rest of it off of my plate. Nothing unusual there. Typical Derek. A few couples got up to dance, Sam and Anna included, but Derek and I didn't seem out of place for staying at the table. I just leaned towards him and we spoke in whispers. Even if our parents had looked over at us, there wouldn't have been anything wrong with that picture. We could have been talking about the weather. Instead, Derek and I began brainstorming how to handle the game the next day.

"You should wear your sweatshirt," he insisted. "The HGs will think something's wrong if you don't, and they might ask questions."

"That's true. But won't Mom and George wonder why I'm wearing it?"

"Just don't tell them what the HGs are." I couldn't help but think that we were getting dangerously close to actually talking about the prank. But I just went with it: what else was I supposed to do? It's not like we could get into a fight about it here. Even Derek has some self-control.

"I'm sure they'll be so interested in the game that they won't have time to do much talking, anyway," I reasoned.

"Definitely."

"And you'll just have to play extra hard. If you score a lot of goals they'll be cheering too much to talk." I poked him in the shoulder.

"Oh, I see, that way it can be all my fault if they hear something they shouldn't," Derek teased, tugging on a strand of my hair. I noticed that he carefully avoided touching the skin on my bare shoulders.

"That's my evil plan," I agreed with a smirk.

"Your what now? You're telling me that you're contemplating sabotage? Case, I am shocked!" He pretended to look indignant. "You're my lucky charm! You can't do that!"

I beamed without even really meaning to. "Der, we agreed that I'm not lucky. You're just a great player."

"Oh. Well, I can get on board with that logic. After all, you are pretty smart." He adjusted his collar and sat up a little straighter.

Where was this coming from? Oh my god, we're complimenting each other with actual compliments. So weird!

Sam and Anna returned to the table, and Sam caught sight of our smiles. "Well, you two look like you're having fun," he said mischievously.

Derek immediately dropped his playful manner and moved his chair away from me. I glared at Sam. He mouthed "sorry" to me and took a seat. That's great. He scared Derek away just as we were getting along better than ever.

We sat in awkward silence for a few minutes as Sam and Anna chatted away. I was grateful for the distraction when Brooke came towards us from the dance floor. "Hey." She pulled up a chair next to me. "Not dancing tonight?"

I shrugged. "Derek has two left feet. I try not to dance with him too often to protect my toes."

Brooke giggled, and Derek glared.

"I'll take that chance," she offered. "That is, if you don't mind."

"Oh, well…" I wasn't sure if I minded or not. She is awfully flirty, but she has Mark. What could possibly happen? And why should I care? Just because a slow song had come on didn't mean anything.

To my utter astonishment, Derek stood abruptly and held out a hand to me. "Sorry, Brooke, I'm only going to be stepping on Casey's toes tonight."

She blinked several times, but all she said was, "Okay. I'm gonna go find Mark."

I watched her go, still trying to make sense of what had just happened. It took me a moment to realize Derek was still standing over me with an outstretched hand.

"Let's dance."

I stared at his proffered hand. "Huh?" was all I could get out.

"Let's dance." I met his eyes, and he shrugged, keeping his expression frustratingly unreadable.

I glanced at Mom and George's table. They both seemed to be deep in conversation. What could it hurt? I don't know if he was just keeping up the 'relationship' act, or if he wanted an excuse to stop talking to me, but if he wanted to dance, I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity. He may not have the best rhythm on the dance floor, but he can slow dance.

"Okay, let's do it," I said evenly, taking his hand and letting him lead me out onto the floor.