Derek turned around, "That's exactly what you told me in the letter you left."
Casey stared at him, puzzled, "I didn't apologize in the letter, Derek..."
"No, you didn't, but you said the exact words 'I think we should call this off'. That's what you wrote, Casey. The very first line of your letter said those exact words. You then went on about how you thought you were rushing, how frightened you were." Derek sounded disgusted with the letter but what sounded like disgust was really hurt.
"You remember that?" Casey gasped; she had figured Derek would just throw it away.
"Remember it?" Derek spat once more, "I read that letter every single night for two years after you left me, Case. Two years I wasted over contemplating what went wrong and how I could try to win you back. After I realized that you were never going to come back to a sad excuse for a man like me, I got angry. Actually, I got so pissed off that I figured that the only way I could get back at you was by having sex with every girl in Toronto. My life has consisted of leaving girls broken-hearted after one night for the past three years. So, yeah, you could say that I remember it."
7. Sense
Derek Venturi and Casey McDonald, even their names screamed "opposites". Their actions, personalities and arguments with one another merely proved it. Somehow, someway, their opposite natures proved how perfect they were for each other to everyone, except themselves.
"What do you think is taking them so long?" Questioned Nora worriedly after ten minutes of waiting for the last two people to show up at the dinner table. She had been tapping her fingers impatiently for the past seven minutes, trying to figure it out.
"Make-up s-" Before Edwin could completely answer, George whacked him over the head. "Ouch!"
Lizzie rolled her eyes, "They are most likely discussing something, honey. I know my sister and she definitely looked like she needed to talk to him about something."
Edwin disagreed, "Well, honey, I know my brother. He definitely had something else in mind, especially since they just got back to-"
He was cut off once again by George kicking his shin.
"Ow!" Edwin howled once again, "Is this Injure-The-Groom Night?"
"Wait," mused Lizzie, "were you about to say that Derek and Casey are back together?"
A frustrated George let out a groan, "We were supposed to act like we knew nothing, Edwin! They're supposed to tell everyone together."
"Did Derek tell you?" Guessed Marti, "Casey told us..."
"See, they already knew!" Edwin defended himself, only to get whacked over the head again. "Mom!"
Abby shrugged, "Don't talk to your father that way." This was followed by group laughter and Edwin rubbing his injured head.
Silence echoed Derek's harsh confession. Casey had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. She didn't want to respond to that. It hurt her. She didn't want to admit to that but it truly hurt her. "Don't worry, I've been tested for STDs." Derek muttered, bitterly. Clearly, he had taken her silence the wrong way, which dissettled Casey further.
Instead of trying ro assure him that she wasn't thinking that, Casey walked out the door. A moment later, she walked back in. "I told my mom we wouldn't join them for dinner."
"Why?" He didn't even mention that he needed food.
Casey grabbed his hand and pulled him to their bed to sit down. "We have to talk."
"I have nothing else to say to you, Princess."
Casey winced at the harsh, cold tone of his words. She wasn't sure if she could say anything to him at all anymore. She didn't know how to respond. Once again, she was speechless. She felt the courage to say what she needed to say, though. "Then listen to what I have to say... Maybe you'll have something to say then."
Derek merely snorted, folding his arms over his chest like a five-year-old who didn't get his way.
Casey sighed, "There's really no excuse for what I did. Even the truth doesn't make sense, Der. Quite honestly, I'm surprised you've talked to me at all this trip. I hurt you. I'm certainly not proud of that, although most girls would probably be ready to bask in that 'glory'." Casey spat that word. She didn't know how anybody could enjoy hurting someone, especially someone they cared about. She didn't see any glory in it at all.
"I'm going to tell you the truth, Derek, because you deserve at least that much. For the longest time, I thought I'd made the right decision. That is, until this week when I saw you again and everyonce convinced me, without saying it, how much of a mistake I made.
"The truth is, I was afraid that you didn't want me." Noticing Derek's astonished expression, Casey giggled. "Yeah, I know; it seems like my insecurities ruin my life. It wasn't something I necessarily considered the night of our engagement. I was so caught up in finally having the 'perfect' wedding I had always dreamed about when I was a kid. It seemed even more perfect to me because I was marrying you instead of Malibu Ken."
Derek let out a small chuckle at that but returned to glowering soon after. "If it was so perfect, then why did you walk?"
"Why does anybody leave?" Casey pondered, mostly to herself. "I didn't think you loved me."
Derek gave Casey a "Wow, really?" glance. That really pissed him off. How could she think that? He wondered, Why would she even consider something so unbelievably inconceivable?
Casey shook her head, "Yeah, I know. With all the fabulous gifts you drowned me in, how could I not think that you loved me? There was a reason I left those behind, Derek. I didn't want the fabulous gifts from you. I didn't want anything from you except for yourself. It seemed like that was the one thing I wasn't getting from you."
"Casey, I proposed to you!" Derek argued, "If that's not 'giving' myself to you, then I don't know what is! Marriage is a life-long commitment and by proposing to you, I was showing that I was ready for that, ready to have you for the rest of my life."
Casey sighed once more, "I told you that the truth didn't even sound good."
Derek rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I know."
"Do you know how many times you said 'I love you' to me?" Casey questioned, catching Derek off-guard.
"No."
"Exactly." Casey muttered, "That was exactly my point. I told you every day, even after we had fought, that I loved you. Your response was either a 'mhm' or absolutely nothing. I was lucky to hear it from you even once a year. Sure, in the first year of our relationship, I heard it all the time... It eventually subsided though. I don't even know why I didn't think about it when I had said yes. I should have said no. Of course, when I'm making a huge life decision, I didn't consider what was most important to me. I didn-"
Derek pulled her onto his lap, "None of that makes sense, Case. Trust me, if I had known it was important to you, I would have said that. Considering that you didn't say no the night we got engaged tells me that you really wanted to be married to me. I didn't realize that until now, of course, but you wanted to be married to me, even if I didn't say 'I love you' as much as I should have. Something tells me that you wouldn't be trying to apologize to me and trying to straighten this whole ordeal out if it weren't for the fact that you're still in love me, even if it's just a little bit."
Casey didn't respond and avoided all eye-contact with her former-fiancé.
Derek took her chin in his hand and lightly forced it up, so she would look at him. When he was sure she was looking directly in his eyes, he said, "Casey, I'm in love with you. I've always been in love with you and I always will be, no matter what happens to us."
Casey's piercing blue eyes connected to his chocolate brown eyes. She didn't even have time to second-guess her decision.
Their lips crashed together.
Author's Note: ... :)
