Chapter 7 – The Operation Begins
Derek had time to cool off or so he thought was enough time. He had tried to avoid Emily at all costs for about a week now and so far, so good.
He knew he was being childish by completely ignoring her, but in his defense, he was honoring her word by not being friends at all. Why were girls so damn frustrating?
Derek was fumbling through his hockey gear as the doorbell reverberated throughout the entire house. Next thing he knew, he heard girl voices animatedly chatting away near the door and immediately thought it would be Casey and Emily. Great, he couldn't leave the house now with her blocking the only clear exit.
After a quick self powwow, Derek decided to take a quick peek down the stairwell to see if it was indeed the girl herself. To his dismay or relief, he wasn't quite sure, was actually Mia and Casey who seemed to be scheming together.
Derek cleared his throat unnecessarily loud as he got the attention of the two females who were still talking excitedly.
"Geeze, am I interrupting something?"
"Hey honey, of course not, me and Casey were planning a little something, you know girl stuff." Mia said as she gave Derek a quick peck on the cheek.
"Really Casey, no need to brainwash my girlfriend, I'm sure you have other little friends you can order around."
"Ha, ha Derek so funny that I almost didn't laugh." Casey said with sarcasm dripping through till the last syllable.
"Don't worry Derek, don't you have a hockey game you were going to anyways? I can catch up with you later, but for now, we are in full planning mode." Mia said sweetly.
"Now, may I ask what exactly you two are in full planning mode for?" Derek questioned.
"For your information, it is none of your business. Seriously Derek, go to your hockey game." Casey insisted quite forcefully.
Being pushed away only ignited his curiosity as to what they were talking about. Could it be another surprise birthday party? Nopes, it wasn't anywhere near his birthday so that ruled out.
"Well, if you must know, we're planning a mini speed-dating party for Emily. We think it's high time that she get herself back out there and more involved. Plus, she should be happier. We don't want to bombard her with date after date so we'll make it seem like it's just some regular weekend party." Mia beamed as though it was the brightest idea since the light bulb.
"Oh right, for Emily. Yeah, that sounds cool. Well I guess I'll be off. Don't get yourself too worked up." Derek said as he kissed Mia on the cheek and left abruptly.
As Derek drove to his hockey practice he couldn't help but feel a slight tinge of jealousy coursing through his veins. He was the ex-boyfriend so it's not like he could act as nonchalantly as he wished he could. There was bound to be some conflict soon enough and now there it was, in the form of a speed-dating party set up by none other than Miss-Little-Perfect Casey and his current girlfriend Mia.
Could there be anything more awkward?
Derek arrived at the hockey rink minutes later. He suited up and set out on the ice and greeted the rest of the hockey team.
"Ey yo D, party at your house Saturday?" His teammate Ed called out as they skated into formation.
"Yeah how'd you hear about that?" Derek asked questioningly.
"Right before I got here, I got a call from Casey saying there was a big party so of course I said, hell yeah." Ed replied enthusiastically.
Derek smile back apprehensively but skated in circles as he thought, 'Emily can't date Ed, he's a total jerk.' Derek could think all the things he wanted, but he knew his word wouldn't matter. He was the ex-boyfriend and ex-boyfriends never got a word in edgewise when the topic on hand is their ex-girlfriend's romantic future.
Derek played harder than usual today as his pent up frustration reared its ugly head out on the ice. He wished there was some way to get the Emily conflict off his mind but he didn't want to see her pushed into the arms of someone else, someone he might know, right before his eyes. Granted, he couldn't say much because he had moved on.
Emily was twirling her pencil in her hand as she tried to finish up her math homework. She couldn't wrap her head around integrals and derivatives for much longer so she headed down to grab a snack. Just as she began going down the stairs, Casey busted through her front door in a clearly happy mood.
"Em! Guess what, guess what?!" Casey said as she appeared to be jumping up and down.
"What Case?" Emily questioned unsure of what Casey was going to say.
"I got my parents to say yes to throw a party at my house this Saturday. And this time, they won't be there!" Casey exclaimed.
"Wow Casey, I didn't think you to be the party type. Usually at all the parties Derek has tried to throw at your house, you throw a little fit about how irresponsible it is." Emily explained.
"I know, I know, but let bygones be bygones and let's party!" Emily was confused because it's like Casey decided to do a total 180 of her personality and for what reason? Something seemed fishy and knowing Casey, she was behind it.
"Right, so this party, is just a party? Just a good old fashioned, parents aren't home, let's dance the night away, cute guys everywhere party?"
"Exactly. We could all use a little fun in our lives, especially you Em. Think about the party as your welcome back party if anything." Casey beamed.
"Right, welcome back party. How about you just keep it as the good old fashioned teenage party that has no particular theme involved?" Emily said while trying to read Casey's expressions to see if there was an ulterior motive to the party, which frankly she saw nothing but pure excitement.
"Okay well I just wanted to let you know. I have to get back home and finish organizing the party. You wouldn't believe how much work has to be put into it." Casey said as she shook her head while leaving Emily's house. "I'll call you more about it later Em." Casey shouted out behind her as she hurried back to her house.
Derek had just scored another goal when he heard the familiar cheer from out in the seats. At some point Mia had came in to watch, but Derek had failed to notice. From the moment that he heard Mia was going to help Casey plan a speed dating party for Emily he had felt torn. Part of him wanted to stop the party before they finished planning it yet he felt that it was no longer his place to do that.
The coach finally blew the whistle that signaled the end of practice. Derek skated off the ice and was immediately greeted by Mia.
"Hi honey, sorry I was shooing you out early. This is going to be so much fun though. Emily won't know what hit her." Mia beamed as she spoke.
"Yeah, sounds like a blast." Derek did his best to hide his discomfort.
"I know this is kind of weird, considering you and Emily's situation before, but I think it's for the best that she moves on too. Now that you two are friends, it's what you want for her too right?"
"Of course, she should be happy too." Derek replied.
"Come on, let's go back to your place. I promised Casey I would finish helping her put everything together."
They arrived back at Derek's house shortly after and found Casey organizing papers like crazy while balancing not one, but two phones to her ears.
"So you're both single right? Alright then, well just submit your resume via this fax number and I'll give it a read through, thank you both for calling." Casey said as she hung up both phones. Derek looked at her like she was crazy. Was this really the right way to find guys to come to this thing?
"Wow Casey, you can't even ask guys out the right way. Was that really necessary to have them FAX over a resume? I knew it from the beginning, you are delusional." Derek said as he looked over his organized-ridden step-sister.
"I'm just being safe. I mean, I don't want to set Em up with some crazy nut job."
"You are the crazy nut job." Derek mumbled under his breath.
"Anyways, hey Mia thanks for coming back. So I've found at least 20 guys that were worthy enough to come to the party. It should be a total blast." Casey exclaimed as she shoved a stack of papers towards Mia's way.
"I am getting so excited! I've never gotten to plan a party before, Emily is going to freak!" Mia said as she smiled over at Derek.
"Alright, well Mom and Dad are leaving for the weekend and taking Marti with them. Edwin and Lizzie are gonna sleep over their friends house so we are good on all that." Casey beamed.
"I still can't believe they let YOU throw a party and even leave you home alone for it to happen." Derek complained.
"Well Derek, there are a few things that separate me from you. First of all, I am completely responsible, unlike you, and I have always shown respect, also unlike you, and finally I've proven myself to be very mature, which is very unlike you. So there, three reasons why I can be trusted to have a party and you can't. HA!" Casey exclaimed in Derek's face.
"Alright, alright Miss Perfect I get it. So what do you expect? To have all these guys here and just shove them over to Emily one by one?" Derek questioned.
"Of course not Derek, we wouldn't want to corner Emily like that. There will be a lot of people present and it'll seem like a normal party but we will tell all the potential candidates that they have 5 minutes to chat up Emily and then they subtly switch out and a new guy comes in. It'll be as if its any other random guy just going up to Emily except there will be at least 15 random guys instead of the one." Mia said as she looked to Casey for approval.
Derek still didn't like the feeling he had in the pit of his stomach. He knew it would only get worse if he didn't find a way to get rid of this stupid feeling. Derek Venturi never got this way over a girl especially one who clearly expressed her feelings on the matter. He needed to stop being such a little sissy and he had to do it soon.
Derek had enough of all the party talk and excused himself out of the room. "I'm feeling a little tired, so I'm just gonna take a nap or something. Hey Casey, do you mind bringing Mia home?" Derek asked.
"Yeah yeah sure, now go and get out of here so we can finalize all the details." Casey snapped back.
"Well I'll call you later alright? Hope you have a good nap." Mia said as she got up and kissed Derek.
"Alright, I'll talk to you later." Derek replied before making his way up to the bedroom.
As Derek lay in bed, he tried to think about how he felt when he kissed Mia just now. There was still that spark between them. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like if he tried to break up with her and plus she didn't deserve that. Not after how great she had treated him and how much he could see how she cared about him.
Suddenly Derek's mind inadvertently wandered over to someone else's kiss and what that felt like. There was more than a spark, it was an entire jolt that usually left him wanting more on the spot. His eyes closed and he saw those chocolate brown eyes that haunted him while she was gone and how he thought he would never see them again.
Derek jerked his eyes open and stared at the ceiling trying to forget, move on, or just something different from what he was doing now. When he closed his eyes there were those same brown eyes staring him down before he finally drifted off to sleep.
Alright, alright I know. I took long enough to update but things are busy, busy, busy. I'll do my best to get the next chapter out sooner...really. Anywho keep reading and reviewing and enjoying!