Chapter Six
The next week went good. Casey felt like she and Derek were actually really connecting the next couple of days. She let Dylan spend a lot of time with Sharpay and Gabriella, simply because he loved to, and she would be able to go to work without feeling guilty. Derek sometimes tagged along with them, but most times Gabriella forced him to go job-hunting since Casey told her to keep an eye one him. Sure, she actually kind of liked having Derek around now, but she didn't want to have him around without money from him. He would have to face his responsibilities sometime.
She couldn't concentrate at work a lot. She hated being there. She wanted to go out for an afternoon cup of coffee with Gabriella and Sharpay for once. She wanted them to meet Emily. She had spent time with them since Gabriella came, but she hadn't really talked that much with her old best friend. She really wanted to catch up more and just… be with her. Before she knew it the happy couple would be back in New Mexico, and what did she have to show of it? Nothing, she had been at work and let them spend time with Dylan. She had to change that. She just wasn't sure exactly how to do it.
She could always let Dylan be with Lizzie or Edwin. Or maybe even Marti and the CC dude. It wouldn't hurt. If he was with them, then she could arrange coffee with the girls. Casey bit her lip and pushed the court work she was reading through aside and grabbed her office phone. She hoped no one would call her while she did her own thing, but if they did call, she'd be able to hear them knocking.
After a pause to think, she quickly dialed Lizzie's number. If she had to choose one of her siblings to watch Dylan, Lizzie would be the best. Marti and CC would be too caught up in their own stuff, and Edwin… Well, while he was very sweet and responsible, she had a feeling that Dylan would just be too much of a wild child for him. Edwin had never been like that, and he probably wouldn't know how to handle it. Nah, Lizzie was the best choice, Casey was sure of that.
She smiled happily, when her younger sister picked up her phone. Casey just hoped she wasn't busy today.
"Hi, this is Lizzie."
"Hey Liz, it's me." Casey said as she picked up a pen. She awkwardly started drawing small hearts on a blank post-it. She really didn't want to pressure Lizzie into anything she didn't really want to, as she had done so many times in the past. But they had both grown up; she herself wasn't as pushy and demanding, and Lizzie knew when to say stop.
Lizzie seemed really happy to hear from her. But after all, they hadn't spoken since that fateful night where they went to dinner at their old house, "Casey!" Lizzie cheered, "Hi! What's up?"
Casey clicked her pen and decided to get right through it, "Are you doing anything right now? Well, for the rest of the day?"
Lizzie was quiet for a few seconds, "Weeeell…" she begun, and Casey feared she was going to say no, "I was going to laze in front of the TV all afternoon, I've been reading through some work, but ah… I'm sure that whatever you want me to do will be much more funny?"
Her voice was questionable and Casey couldn't help but chuckle, "Nothing goes by you, huh Liz?" she said, and took a breather, before she told her what was up, "Well, I just wanted to ask you if you could watch Dylan?"
"Sure." Lizzie quickly said, and Casey swore she heard relief in her voice. Maybe her sister had thought it would be much worse, whatever she wanted her to do, "I'd love to! It's much more fun anyway. We'll just take a walk around, I'll get my exercise then."
"Thank you, thank you so much Liz!" Casey said, and smiled widely. She knew Lizzie would be the woman for the job – she was the best sister anyone could ever ask for, "I really owe you. You're the best."
Lizzie laughed, "I'll be sure to remember that." She said, but then asked, "What are you doing anyway? Aren't you at work now?"
Casey sighed, a real big sigh, and turned around in her chair, so she could look out of the window at the busy street, "Yeah, I am." She said, and let her eyes follow a young couple as they walked hand in hand down the street; she wished that was her, "I ah…" she snapped out of it, "I have a half day, and I'm… I'm gonna go in a couple of hours." She would only do that if she could meet the girls, of course, "I'm gonna meet Gabriella and the girls. If you can watch Dylan of course."
"Oooh, the girls?" Lizzie curiously questioned. Her voice was giddy.
"Yeah, you remember Gabriella, right?" Casey asked her, and decided to make a long story short, "Well, she's here in town and she brought her girlfriend." She took a small breather and hoped Lizzie wouldn't question that part further, but luckily enough she didn't say a thing, "And Emily wants to meet them, so I figured we'd go out for coffee."
Lizzie was silent for a few seconds, and Casey figured she let the news sink in, "Oooo-kay." She got out, and Casey believed that she came to terms with it, "Fine, oh yes. Ehm… Do I pick Dylan up where?"
Casey loved her baby sister for not asking awkward questions, for only asking the right ones, "I'll give Gabriella your number. She and Sharpay actually have Dylan and they're somewhere. You can meet them before I'll meet them. Does that sound good?"
"Really?" Lizzie questioned, "Thank you Casey! It'll be nice to see Gabriella again. I better go take a shower or something, just so I'll be ready." She chuckled lightly, "I'll talk to you later, big sis."
Casey chuckled too, "Bye Liz." She mumbled, before she hung up the phone. She turned back around in her chair, and quickly glanced at the clock on the wall. It was one fifteen now. Maybe they could meet at two thirty. Casey checked her stack of papers, and decided that it would be alright for her to leave early.
Smiling satisfyingly to herself, she grabbed the phone again, and quickly dialed Gabriella's number. They were in for a girl's afternoon.
--
"So, Derek, what are your current status? Will you be able to do night shifts or do you have a family you need to spend time with?"
Derek studied David Gilmore's face for a few seconds, while he contemplated what to say. Sure, he didn't have a family, he didn't even have a dog he needed to spend time with, but for some reason he wanted to say that he did. He wanted to tell David all about Casey and Dylan and how they lived together and that he had to see Dylan at nights before the kid went to bed. But he also knew it would be a lie, and he didn't want to start his new job out on a lie; those things can get very ugly, he had experienced that before.
Derek shook his head, "No." he said, like it was nothing, "I don't. I live with my stepsister right now, so yeah… Whenever I can start, I'm sure she'll be happy to get rid of me."
Derek wasn't sure about that at all. He actually thought (or liked to think; he couldn't exactly tell the difference) that Casey didn't want him out of her apartment. He hoped that she liked having him there, because he felt as if their relationship had gotten so much closer and they were getting along better now. It was a weird feeling, and he didn't know why, but it felt closer and closer to that family he had always wanted. It was not the way he had expected it to come, but he hoped that they could build something up that might work. Not that he liked Casey like that, because… why would he?
David smiled warmly at Derek, "You seem just like the kind of guy we need. Most of our employees are such young kids, and they're not allowed on night shifts if something happens." He folded his hands in front of himself on the table, "Do you know a lot about films and film history?"
"I love films." Derek quickly said, and this really wasn't a lie. He did love movies. He loved making them, he loved watching them, he loved analyzing them. They had done all that when he studied it. And he knew a lot about film history; about Film Noir, Scratch-and-sniff and all the different periods of film history. He liked Alfred Hitchcock the best, though. There was just something about his movies. "I've studied it, and as you can see, I've worked for a small movie-making firm. I think I might be the man."
David nodded knowingly, "I think you might be too." He agreed, and then stood up from his seat, along with Derek, "We'll get back to you as soon as possible." He said, as they shook hands, "But… this looks very promising and I only have a few more interviews. I hope to see you soon, Derek."
"Same, same." Derek said and gave the man a small wave, as he left the office. He had a really good feeling about this interview. He actually believed that this was his best one to date. Sure, it wasn't exactly directing like he had always wanted, but renting movies and helping people in their search for one particular movie might not be all bad. He could eat candy and drink coffee all evening, while working. If people asked him about anything, he could impress them with his huge knowledge of the different directors, and they'd definitely rent everything he suggested.
When he walked out on the busy, sunny street he stuck his hands in his pockets and went down the sidewalk. This was a good day so far, and he hoped it would only get better. Of course he didn't have much to do, since Casey was at work, and Dylan was out with Sharpay and Gabriella again. He had been out with them pretty much every day this week. He seemed to like the two of them, and Derek couldn't blame the boy. Seriously, he had never met anyone like those two girls. He had thought Sharpay was weird enough, when it had only been her, but after Gabriella came, it was just banters after banters and weird conversations between the two of them. Derek found it amusing, and he could tell that Casey did too.
Derek sighed. Casey. Yeah, she was some of something. He wasn't quite sure how it really happened, but for some reason the two of them got along now. They actually made things work around the apartment. He was sure that his father and Nora would laugh if they ever found out. They had gone through some horrible years when him and Casey still lived home, only to realize now that they could actually make things work out just fine. Derek felt stupid too. He knew now why he had always fought with Casey – he hadn't bothered to get to know her and love her because she was her, and he got a feeling that there was another reason he had teased her too… he had actually liked her.
He felt so stupid for going through her diary and for reading that she liked him. He had actually taken pity on her, though it was so darn cute and that he'd have something against her to use whenever he liked. But for some reason he had never used it against her. He hadn't understood why, but he did now. And he was ready to kill himself when he knew he had to read her diary again. He saw where she had put it last Saturday when she had been reading her 'book'. But now he didn't want to read it to have something against her, but to know if perhaps she still felt for him as she did back then. If she did then… Then he wasn't quite sure what he would do, but at least he'd know if she liked him or not.
Derek didn't know what to do, so he just went back to the apartment. He could watch some TV; he had done his deed this day; he had gone to a successful job interview and there was nothing else to really do then. But it would be nice to be alone at the apartment too. He could hook up his Playstation to the TV and play for a bit. Yup, it was awhile since he had played, not since he lived on his own, so it would be great to do it again.
Derek hummed happily to himself as she went into the apartment building; he couldn't wait until Casey got home.
--
Casey had a feeling that Emily was somewhat regretting ever meeting Sharpay and Gabriella. Casey regretted introducing her friend to them. At times they could be really great and no trouble at all, but today they had been acting absolutely crazy. Casey got a slight feeling that this was an often behaviour for the two of them and for a minute she hated herself for letting Dylan spend so much time with them. But then again… what harm was it? They were fun – just what a boy his age wanted too.
Emily still looked a little scared, but Casey figured she would get over it. Sharpay had eaten three different cookies and a muffin, and Casey wondered how she stayed so skinny. Gabriella had warned her about that though; Sharpay was a human vacuum, she had said. Casey hadn't really believed her, because Sharpay hadn't eaten that much when she had been alone with her. But now Casey took that back.
"Sharpay!" Gabriella hissed, and pushed her girlfriend in the side, much to the amusement of Casey and Emily, "Please stop inhaling your food. You can't absorb it via osmosis; that's only on the inside."
Sharpay gave Gabriella an odd look and let her half eaten cookie drop to the small plate she had, "Fine." She said, and leaned back in her chair, "But if I'm hungry before dinner I'm blaming you."
Gabriella shook her head in disbelief, "I'll take the chance." She informed them, before she turned to look at Emily, whose eyes were wide. She sort of looked like a deer caught in the headlights, "Emily… Casey tells me you're getting married?"
"Yeah." Emily said, and glanced quickly at Sharpay, whose hand was sneaking across the table to get to her cookie again, before she glanced back at Gabriella, "To Casey's ex-boyfriend, actually. Sam. He's Derek's best friend."
"You dated Derek's best friend?" Gabriella questioned and turned to Casey, who had hoped to stay out of this conversation; she had too much fun watching Sharpay as she was almost by her cookie now, "And no, Sharpay!" Gabriella added, slamming her hand on top of the blonde's, "Don't think I can't see you, Blondie."
"But Bri!" Sharpay whined and ripped her hand back to herself, "I want the cookie."
Gabriella turned to look at her, with wide eyes, ignoring the question she just asked Casey. Casey was glad about that, she didn't want to get into this whole ordeal, since Gabriella knew much more about her and Derek than Sharpay and Emily did, so it was better to have that conversation another time. Now, she just breathlessly watched the weird couple across the table, she could tell Emily was doing the same.
"Shar…" Gabriella said, and Casey couldn't tell if she was annoyed or amused, because when she was like this, it could be either one, "I swear one day…" and then she cracked. A smile came upon her features and both Emily and Casey breathed a sigh of relief.
So did Sharpay as she snatched her cookie and stuffed it into her mouth. "One day what, sweetie?" she asked, with an innocent look across her face.
Gabriella shook her head, "I dunno," she said, and reached a hand out to grab Sharpay's, "you drive me crazy, Shar! Which bra are you wearing? The red one? Because it always makes you more hungry than the white ones do."
Casey didn't want to ask how a bra had anything to do with that, she figured it was some crazy Sharpay/Gabriella logic, and that was not to be questioned. She didn't really want to know it either… She was frightened.
"I am wearing the red one, thank you very much." Sharpay informed them all, like it was no big deal. Casey had honestly never shared such things with her female friends, and definitely not during a cup of coffee, "And you…" Sharpay continued, with a sneaky smile, "you're wearing the black one."
Gabriella looked genially surprised, "How do you do that?" she asked, her eyes still locked with Sharpay's, "Seriously?"
Sharpay smirked happily, "It's a gift." She replied, much to Emily's amusement, because she let out a low snort. Gabriella gave Sharpay a stern look, and the blonde shrugged, ready to admit the truth, "Well, no, actually I've just been watching your cleavage all afternoon and every time you leaned over I got a peek."
Gabriella removed her hand from the blonde's with an offended look across her face, "You're seriously too much, Sharpay!" she said, and Casey just had to agree with her. She felt a bit scared. The blonde had probably sneaked a peek at her cleavage too. Seriously… that was just too weird.
"I am?" Sharpay questioned and slowly sipped her hot chocolate. By the look they all gave her, she placed her cup on the table again and sighed, "Casey's wearing a strapless one and Emily's wearing pink." She revealed.
Emily quickly lifted out the neck of her shirt to check if it was right, and lifted her head again, an impressed look across her face, "Amazing," she said, "you're right."
Sharpay beamed, probably happy that someone appreciated her skill, but Casey crumpled in her seat. She knew she was wearing a strapless one, but she wasn't going to come out and say it like Emily just did.
Gabriella placed a hand on Sharpay's forehead and pushed her backwards, and then she turned to look at Emily again, "Excuse her, she's just momentarily crazy." When she really listened to what she was saying, she had to add, "That happens a lot."
Emily laughed happily, and Casey had to admit that maybe her meeting the happy couple hadn't been such a bad idea, "It's okay." she said, "I think it's great."
"Thank you!" Sharpay said and pointed her hand in Emily's direction. Gabriella gave Sharpay a look though, and the blonde went back to her coffee with a finger in that direction. Casey chuckled, greatly amused.
Emily blinked, "Anyway, so, how are you girls enjoying Canada? How's the hotel?"
"Expensive." Sharpay mumbled.
"Hey, hey!" Gabriella said, and now hit her across the arm, "She doesn't meant that. Everything is paid for us. It's great. Not like we wouldn't be able to afford it anyway."
"It's still expensive!" Sharpay whined, and placed her cup back onto the table, "I'm just sayin'." She added, by the look Gabriella shot her, and Casey had to admit, that Gabriella shot Sharpay looks a lot.
"It would be nice to get out of town sometime." Casey sighed then, and sipped her black coffee, "I mean really out of town, y'know? If I were rich, I'd visit you guys."
"You should!" Gabriella said, and smiled at her old best friend, "And you should bring Derek and Dylan. And Emily, you should come too." Her eyes were warm and full of love and devotion, "You could even bring Lizzie, it was nice chatting to her earlier."
"Why don't I just bring my entire family?" Casey sarcastically suggested, with a sideways grin across her face, as she glanced at Emily, who couldn't help but crack a smile too. Casey seriously didn't mean it; she'd never bring her entire family to visit them. They would never have enough money to do such thing, but Sharpay seemed to have another opinion.
"Yes!" she said, a giddy look written across her face, "It would be so much fun. We could invite Troy, Gabriella's ex-boyfriend; him and Derek would get along great. No doubt!"
Gabriella almost rolled her eyes, "Shar babe, they'd fight constantly about hockey and basketball. And if all Case's siblings were there, it'd be disaster. No doubt!" she added, just to mock her girlfriend.
Sharpay hit her girlfriend across the arm and Casey feared for a second that they would really start fighting when Gabriella hit back, but it was only gentle and thirty seconds later, they were wrapped up in a kiss instead. She turned to Emily, glad that some real drama didn't unfold, and Emily seemed to appreciate that too.
"How do they make a relationship work?" Emily wondered aloud to Casey, with a half eye on the kissing girls.
Casey shrugged lamely and snatched one of Sharpay's not eaten cookies, "I have no idea. But I think they really love each other. They've been together since high school."
Emily chuckled lowly, "That doesn't even make sense. Not when you watch them interact."
Casey sighed deeply, "Maybe love doesn't really have to make sense." She said, and stuffed the chocolate chip cookie into her mouth.
--
I know that that comment was not very nice to my best friend… I think I left Emily hanging for the entire afternoon. But she would never think that I was hinting Derek and I when I said that; never. And that was alright. Because Gabriella knowing is bad enough. When she and Sharpay bothered enough to breathe, our afternoon continued like before. I thought it was great. But of course Emily had to arrange another 'cup of coffee' with them. So we're going there on Tuesday… -sigh- Help me someone… help me, please.
--
"Oh yeah, baby!" Derek cheered when he finished the level of Babe Raider he had been working on all day. It had been so tough to get there, and he had been rusty since he hadn't played for some time, but now he had finally done it! It felt great; now he really did have something to show from his day, "Oh yeah!" he sang and stood up from the chair, to do a little victory dance, "And who's the man? Oh yeah, Derek Venturi! De-rek! De-rek, oh yeah!"
"I could ask you what you're doing," a voice said from the door, and Derek turned around to find Lizzie standing there, with Dylan's left hand in her right one, "but then you'd have to tell me and…" she paused, "Why would I want that?"
Derek quickly reached for the remote and shut off the game, feeling just a tad embarrassed. It wasn't much though. Lizzie had caught him doing much, much worse things. He'd survive, "Hey Liz, hey Dyl!" he said instead and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he crossed the living room. "What's he doing with you?" he nodded towards Dylan, whose small hand was clutching a paper bag.
"Casey called." Lizzie said, as she let go of Dylan's hand so he could get his jacket off, "She was having this thingy with her friends. Gabriella and Sharpay met me, and then we went out for ice cream." She explained to him, before looking down at Dylan, "Can you untie your shoes yourself, kiddo?" she asked him.
He sadly shook his head, "No." he told her, and Lizzie was about to kneel down and help him, when Derek beat her to it.
He pulled at one end of the shoelace, a questionable look across his face, "You haven't learned yet, Dylan? But you're such a big boy!"
Lizzie snorted above him, but he chose to ignore it, as Dylan's excited eyes met his, "I know, but you promised to teach me." He said.
"I know," Derek said, even if hadn't exactly remembered, "but it's not the same. I promised to teach you how to tie your shoes." He shot Dylan a saying look, "This is untying them. There's a huuuuge difference, Dyl."
Dylan sighed heavily, and Derek couldn't keep the smile off of his face, because he reminded him so much of Casey right that second, "Well, I can't do it." He said, "Can you teach me to someday also? Can ya'?"
Derek chuckled as he pulled both shoes off of Dylan's feet, "Of course, Dyl. We'll do it soon, I promise."
Dylan smiled widely and got off of the floor, "Thank you, Derek!" he said, and then turned to Lizzie, "And aunt Lizzie, thank you for today. It was fun."
Lizzie smiled warmly and ruffled his hair, "You're welcome. Say hi to your mom for me, will you?"
Dylan nodded and Derek stuffed his hands into his pockets again, as the kid flew into his room, the paper bag still in hand, "Don't worry, Lizzie, I can take care of him from now. Casey will probably be home soon."
Lizzie chuckled and opened the door to the hallway behind her, "Of course." She paused and raised an eyebrow in Derek's direction, "Hey… Casey did a good job, didn't she?"
Derek didn't follow her. He wanted to nod, because yeah, mostly Casey did do a good job. She did a good job with everything she did. There was no doubt that the answer to Lizzie's question was yes. But Derek was way too curious to pretend to know – he had to know, "What do you mean?"
Lizzie grinned, "With Dylan. She did a good job. He's so polite." She clutched the door handle tight, "And people say that single parents don't do as good job as married parents." She locked eyes with him again, "Dylan's an amazing kid. She did good."
"Sure." Derek mumbled, not really sure why they were talking about this now. Maybe it was something Lizzie had been thinking a lot about this day, otherwise he wouldn't know what brought it on. But it was also right. Dylan was an amazing kid.
"Anyway," Lizzie suddenly said, and zonked out of her trance-like-state, "I gotta run. Bye Derek." She went out of the apartment and shut the door behind her.
Derek couldn't feel weirder at this moment, but he shook it off. Lizzie was allowed to have her moments. It was evitable – especially with that sister. She had to be affected by Casey's weird ways. He kicked Dylan's one shoe slightly so it was closer to the wall and went into his bedroom, to see what the boy was up to. He stopped and leaned himself against the doorframe, to see him finish something up.
"What are you doing?" he softly asked.
"Derek!" Dylan exclaimed and blew air on some sort of paper, "I've got something for you." He told him and quickly grabbed what he had worked on, before he crossed his small room and stopped in front of Derek, "Lizzie helped me make it."
Now Derek's curiosity was peeked. Had Dylan made him something? That was honestly a surprise for him. He had no idea the boy liked him enough to actually make something for him, "What is it?" he asked him, now actually anticipating whatever the boy had done. It really warmed his heart.
Dylan smiled proudly at him as he held out a picture frame. Derek slowly picked it up and turned it over, only to find a picture of Dylan and Casey in it. It was only their faces, but they were hugging tightly. Casey was wearing a Santa's hat, so it was probably during Christmas. They both looked extremely happy. For a brief moment Derek wondered who had taken the picture and why he wasn't on it, but then Dylan spoke up.
"You like it?" he wanted to know.
The frame was decorated, and that was probably what Dylan had really done. There was a lot of glitter and drawings on the wooden frame, along with some sort of beading. Derek chuckled lowly; this really felt good, "I love it." He said, and nodded to Dylan, who now smiled even brighter, before he rushed out of the room.
Derek couldn't move out of the place. He felt weird. He didn't know what it was, but seeing that picture was just… It made him feel all sort of things. But mostly he couldn't help but love that Dylan thought about him, and cared enough to make something and to hear his opinion. Was this what being a parent was like? If it was, then Derek knew for sure that he had to have children. He wanted a kid like Dylan. He was amazing, like Lizzie had said.
"Derek!?" Dylan yelled from the living room, "You coming!? Hannah Montana's on!"
Derek laughed to himself and turned around to go join the boy. The frame was tugged in his hand. He would never let it go, he loved it so much already, he really did.
He hadn't lied.
Soo, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if there wasn't anything Dasey-related. But I did bring some Gabpay in this, so I hope that was okay. I'm really sorry I'm not quicker with updates, but I just… I'm just slow. Haha ;b
And the different film periods, I could have gone on forever. I'm a nerd like that too, and I just got top grade for my exam in it, so yeah. I just thought I'd add a bit of my knowledge; it always feels good to share, y'know?
I appreciate your reviews so much; they really make my day. So thank you!
Disclaimer; I do not own Life With Derek or HSM.
