A/N: Sorry about the wait, but if you read the Twilight series you understand that I was busy for a few days lol. Here is some of the Dasey I have been promising and more is definitely coming up! So enjoy, and please REVIEW!! Sally's POV at the very start, then mostly Derek's. Again, I love reviews!! I do not own Life with Derek, Moulin Rouge, or anything else that you think sounds familiar.
Chapter 7: Temptations
As Sally drove home that night she made up her mind. She was not usually an overly emotional person and preferred to just get things over with so she could move on. Dwelling on problems didn't make them go away. But with this one something was holding her back, stopping her from doing what she knew she was stupid not to.
But she had realized tonight what Derek had yet to realize for himself and she knew she would be a fool to continue in the relationship. But she couldn't help but wonder if maybe there was still a chance it would work out. Thinking back to Casey's list she thought that even if she eliminated herself from the equation they were still step-siblings. And after all, she hadn't really given Derek a chance to explain himself.
So Sally, as pragmatic as always, had a plan formulated by the time she pulled into her driveway. As she always said, there was no reason to drag these things out so she decided to talk to Derek the next day. Then either way, things would be decided and she would be able to get on with her life, with or without Derek.
Derek had no idea what Sally wanted to talk to him about. As far as he could tell he had done nothing wrong for once, but she had been acting weird for weeks. After her abrupt departure Friday night he felt the argument coming even if he couldn't pinpoint the cause. He hadn't even planned on answering the phone when she called but Casey refused to cover for him and practically forced the receiver into his hand.
He mentally growled at the thought of his keener stepsister. She really was unbearable, especially when she brought her ever more unbearable dates home. He smiled, remembering that at least one good thing had happened last night: Casey had finally cut artsy boy loose. He was seriously the worst one yet, he thought.
Although it had been annoying when she was all over his best friend. And don't even get him started on Max, despite what he may have said that guy was a hockey bashing jerk. Ok, he admitted to himself, so he always hated when she dated. It was just so…annoying was not quite the word, to have her flouncing around with some guy. He reasoned that this was because everything she did annoyed him.
But that was hardly true anymore. As disgusted as he was to admit it there were things about Casey that he had come to like. And her incessant morality and keener behaviors were more bearable and had even started to rub off on him (though he would never admit it.) The arguments they had became less harsh and more playful as time wore on.
Still, though, she was Casey and he was Derek, enough said. They would never see eye to eye, no matter how much progress they made. Not to mention the fact that while he now thought of Lizzie as his little sister (if not as much as Smarti) if anything Casey felt less like family as time wore on. He didn't think he was alone in his attitude as she was almost as quick as he was to correct anyone who referred to them as siblings. He mused that even though he could now stand Casey and even felt slightly protective of her at times he knew that he would never think of her as his sister.
He thought all of this as he walked up the stairs to his room, and as he stopped for a minute outside Casey's door as he thought about her. Then as if coming to his senses he shook his head to clear it and walked into his own room. Shutting the door with a slam he realized that, like always, he was hungry. Sighing he wished that he hadn't been too lost in thought to notice this before he walked up the stairs.
"EDWIN! Food, now!" he yelled through the wall and received no response which was rather unusual. "ED-WIN!" he yelled again but stopped when he realized he sounded strangely similar to Casey when she yelled at him.
And speak of the clumsy devil; she was the one who answered his call with a scowl that he would have returned had he been less surprised.
"Jeez, Derek, stop yelling through the house. Besides, Edwin isn't even here; he and Liz had a birthday parties today," she said, rolling her eyes. "I heard him tell you that before you left today. Where have you been all day by the way, with Sally? Mom and George tried to wait for you to get back but finally they had to leave. Said to tell you goodbye," she said.
Derek was utterly puzzled. "What I do is my own business…and no, I am not going out with Sally until tomorrow. By the way, where did my dad and Nora go?"
Casey rolled her eyes again. "Are you so self obsessed that you don't even listen when other people talk?"
He stared blankly back, not answering and she sighed.
"I'll take that as a yes. Mom and George had to go out of town for the weekend to visit my great aunt and mercifully left us home," she said slowly as if talking to a child.
A vague recollection stirred in his mind. "Oh yeah, that's right. They told us that at dinner last night. I hope you know that I refuse to babysit no matter how much I like Smarti." He said defensively and Casey looked exasperated.
"Ok, now you seriously can't be so dense as to not remember that Marti is visiting your mom this weekend. I mean, you were here when your mom picked her up this morning!"
Derek really had to wrack his brain this time. This morning… He remembered waking up late as usual, his forced conversation with Sally, fighting with Casey. He did remember the doorbell at some point but that memory was overshadowed by the one of him wrestling with Casey over the last of the cereal. He remembered thinking how it was weird that she hadn't even showered but still smelled like fruit. Or flowers. Or something sweet and girly that was not at all unpleasant.
Finally he remembered watching Casey hug Marti; he guessed that was when she was leaving. And then…oh yeah, he did recall hugging Marti goodbye himself because he could clearly picture the way Casey's eyes had softened as she watched him actually be nice to someone.
"Huh, as much I hate to say it, you're right. I don't know why I spaced so much today." Then he sent her a mock frightened look. "Oh my gosh Spacey, you're not contagious are you?"
He began dancing around her in teasing horror shouting 'unclean' and making a cross with his fingers.
"Derek, stop it!" she said, but she sounded more amused than annoyed. "Seriously though, what is up with you lately? Half the time I would almost think that you were lost in thought, if I didn't know that your mind was empty."
He stopped mocking her and glared playfully. "Oh, you would be surprised what goes on in my mind," he said with a smirk.
Her eyes snapped up with a strange look in them and he thought about how suggestively he had said it and almost blushed. But instead he decided to make her blush, since she was so easy to embarrass. He took a step closer to her and she reflexively leaned away but didn't move her feet. He looked at her carnivorously for a moment until he could imagine her cheeks actually catching fire for how much she was blushing.
"Like now, for instance," he said huskily, "you really don't know what I am thinking right. At. This. Very. Moment." He said the last word as a mere whisper and she unconsciously leaned forward to hear him.
He was about to say something snarky that would embarrass her even more and probably send her running from the room when he realized that he was getting a little uncomfortable. She was biting her lip a little and he found it utterly distracting and unnerving. He knew that the moment was lasting too long, that at some point the teasing had stopped and now he was just standing awkwardly close to his stepsister in his bedroom, both of them leaning in to each other.
And yet he was still standing there. Still looking at her with that strange look that neither of them could identify. Derek took a shaky breath to try and steady himself and realized that he, Derek Venturi, should never be unsteady in the first place. This thought was obscured only a little by the flowery scent that had filled his lungs when he breathed in. Still it was enough to pull him from his reverie.
He abruptly turned around and strode to the other side of the room too quickly to look natural. He walked over to his desk and started fiddling around with whatever was sitting on it, trying to look busy. Finally he turned back around when he could feel that Casey hadn't left yet.
"What?" he said tensely. "Do you want something?"
Her eyes grew a little wide and she took a moment to answer. "Um…I am going to…pick something up for dinner. What do you want?"
It was his turn to pause. What did he want? He knew she was talking about food and yet the question seemed appropriate in other ways.
"Pizza?" he questioned softly, not really feeling hungry anymore.
She just nodded and all but flew from the room and didn't stop running until she was out the front door.
Derek was left alone in the whole house, which suited him just fine at the moment. He really needed to be alone with his thoughts…which he had to admit was a bit of a first for him. Not counting earlier that day. After talking to Sally and all that arguing with Casey he had felt a bit…off, so he went out to get some air and ended up wandering around for hours thinking. It surprised even him that he should be walking around lost in thought like some…Casey.
Still, he was trying to figure out exactly why he had been so distractible for awhile now. Lying back on his bed as he was after Casey left he had no more answers for himself than he had earlier that day. Something was gnawing at the back of his mind but no matter how much he tried to see what is was it just wouldn't come forward.
Feeling utterly fed up with himself he leapt off of his bed and stalked down the stairs. He was Derek Venturi, he reminded himself again, and Derek Venturi was not the type of man to sit around and think. Swaggering down the stairs he jumped over the back of the couch and turned on some loud sporting event, successfully drowning out his own obscure worries or whatever that feeling of unease was.
By the time he heard the sound of Casey returning home Derek felt just like his old self, all but forgetting the earlier moment of…strangeness he would call it. All he felt now was extreme hunger which is why he pounced on the pizza before Casey could even get in the door. He was on the couch eating his first piece before she had even hung up her coat.
"Der-ek, you could have waited like a second for me to get in the door," she said, apparently also back to her old self.
"Brph-mrap-shtlos," his reply was utterly unintelligibly due to the fact that he had just shoved more than half a piece of pizza in his mouth.
"Ugh, you are so disgusting," she said, wrinkling her nose.
"You are just jealous of my refinement," he said after swallowing.
"Ha!" she said and walked from the room.
"What are you doing? Pizza is this way," he said and she walked back in the room holding a plate and a fork.
"Unlike some people around here I prefer to act like a civilized person," she said scowling as she came and sat next to him.
He tried to ignore the way her arm brushed against his as she reached for a slice of pizza but ended up having to shift away from her. He had to clear his throat before he could speak again.
"I am going to create a society where eating pizza with a fork is illegal and then I can throw you in jail for the atrocities you are committing at this moment," he said.
She looked at him strangely. "Where did Derek learn all those big words? Would you like some ice for your brain, I know that must have taken a lot out of you."
"For your information I am a complete and total genius," he said smirking.
"Oh yeah, that explains your stellar marks on our last test. You know, I wasn't aware that F- was a possible grade," she said mockingly.
"Hey, I got a better grade than you on that math test," he reminded her and she rolled her eyes.
"Oh please that was one test and that was only after you got caught cheating twice and were forced to actually study for once," she said.
He ignored her and turned his attention back to the roaring hockey game on the television just in time to see it flicker away and turn into some sitcom. He jerked his head around to look at Casey who was holding the remote in an authoritative way. He reached for it and soon they were wrestling on the couch, both holding tightly to the remote.
"Derek, just let me watch one show," Casey said, struggling.
"I was watching the game," he said, pulling harder on the remote but it didn't budge from her firm grasp.
"You are always watching the game! Just give. It. To. Me!" She said, almost pulling the control from his hand and he jerked back way too hard, the momentum causing him to fall off the couch onto the floor pulling her with him.
It took just a split second for Casey to realize that she had landed in a very compromising position on top of Derek and she jumped up and tried to back away from the room. But being Casey she managed to knock into the coffee table and go flying through the air, landing on her back with a thud. Derek leapt to his feet and rushed over to her.
"Oh my gosh Casey, are you okay?" he said as she tried to sit up, wincing.
"Yeah, I think I am fine. Ow." She added, rubbing the back of her head.
"Jeez, Casey, you don't have to kill yourself, you can watch your stupid show," he said trying to lighten the mood. He was shaken by her fall; he thought he may have actually been worried about her.
"Nah, it's ok, you can watch your game. I'm sorry for trying to change it," she said, getting to her feet and wobbling a bit.
Derek caught hold of her elbow to steady her. "What is wrong with you, even when you get your way you have to be such a goody goody?"
She shrugged slightly and smiled ruefully. "It's just the way I am," she said.
He led her over to the couch, still holding her steady even though she didn't really need him too. "How about we compromise and watch a movie?" he said.
She looked at him doubtfully. "You think we can agree on a movie any more than a TV show?"
He glanced around the house conspiringly as if to make sure they were alone. "Ok, you cannot tell anyone, but you know that movie that you completely love and watch like once a week?"
"Moulin Rouge? I love that movie, it is so romantic! But you despise musicals; you refuse to even watch one." She said.
"Right, well, I may have been a little bored a while back and it was the only movie down here…do you want to watch it or not?" he said uncomfortably.
"Wait one second," she said, turning to look him straight in the eyes, "Are you saying that you actually like Moulin Rouge?"
"Well, the songs are actually kind of cool, and come on, Nicole Kidman is pretty hot in it," he said defensively and she just smirked.
"Ok, whatever you say, I won't tell anyone that the great and manly Derek likes musicals," she said the word like a curse and he winced but got up and put in the DVD anyway.
The two watched the movie in enraptured silence. A couple of times Casey started to sing along and Derek glared at her, but when they got to the show-stopping number at the end she caught him humming the tune and she smiled. As they reached the end of the movie Derek was annoyed to feel the prickling sensation in his eyes just like the last time he had watched it. Casey looked over at him and laughed out loud.
"Oh my gosh, are you tearing up?" she asked.
"No! Never. Now shush you are talking through the end, these are Satine's final moments of life and you are being disrespectful," he said seriously, turning his attention back to the screen. Casey tried to stifle the laughter that bubbled up after seeing how much he was into the movie.
After the movie was over Derek was a little embarrassed to admit to himself that it was probably his favorite movie too. It was getting pretty late so they both went to get ready for bed. They brushed their teeth together and then went off to their separate rooms to get their pajama's on.
Derek was startled when Casey came in midway through his dressing. He was wearing nothing but his boxers and for once he felt a blush creep onto his cheeks.
"Night Derek!" she said, smiling and seeming unaffected by both his state of half-dress and embarrassment. Of course Derek couldn't hear her heart pounding as she quickly left for her own room. Derek pulled on a t-shirt and lay on his bed, again entirely unsure of what was going on in his own mind.
A/N: I know, I keep pushing back the confrontation with Sally but this chapter took on a mind of its own and just kept getting longer. But I think all the Dasey certainly made up for what I didn't put in this chapter! I promise to update soon, thanks for everyone who is sticking with this story, I am thinking the end is coming up. Thanks for reading, please REVIEW!!
