Hey everybody! Happy Valentine's Day! I recently returned to Toronto for reading week so I'm not with my boyfriend –sniff-, but he's coming up here for his birthday on Wednesday so yay! This story only has a few chapters left, and then I'm pretty much in limbo figuring out what I'll write next. :0
P.S. Yes... Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. Casey stars as Wendy in this one. I wonder who Derek will be? :]
On with the show!
Tinkerbell
"Dude, you are so whipped."
"Quit saying that!" Derek growled, skating down the ice toward Brandon after a tough practice. He didn't even want to think about the princess that was probably on his couch at that moment with that boy.
"What did you say his name was?" Brandon asked teasingly, padding Derek on the back with an oversized hockey glove. Derek's eye twitched and he didn't respond.
"C'mon, aren't you going to give me the juicy details Capt. D? Or should I say, Capt. Hook?" Brandon sniggered and skated in the direction of the locker rooms behind the stands. Derek sighed heavily.
"Then you obviously remember his name you dipshit." Derek snarled, skating past him and getting off the ice, walking with his skates toward the locker rooms to shower.
It was a few weeks ago when Casey decided to try out her new tactic, dating another guy. He expected that when she tried out this particular shtick, that she would go out with some cookie cutter or some beefy scumbag, but no, the girl had gone and lost her mind. He knew what she was trying to do, she was trying to make him jealous or get on his nerves. He'd drunkenly admitted one night (precisely three days before she picked up her new toy) that he hated all her past boyfriends because he thought she deserved better.
He wasn't drunk enough however, to say that he himself was the 'better' that she deserved, but even he didn't want to dwell on that though. He only just started liking her, right? ...Right? He was going to hell.
"Why are you taking so long in the shower D? Trying to figure out how to wash yourself without stabbing yourself with your hook?" Brandon spoke up from the next stall. Derek faltered in his stance, shaken out of his thoughts.
"Do you realize how lame that was? Try your hand at sitting on the bench next game." Derek sneered, shutting off the shower.
"Jeeze. You really are evil. Where's your ship?" Brandon inquired.
"Ugh, shut up! Why did I even make you co-captain? I must have been high on something." Derek growled, drying himself off.
"High on pot or a so-called neurotic drama queen?" Brandon chuckled and ran off to his locker.
-
"You know, I should've given you a chance in high school. You're really sweet." Casey uttered quietly to the boy sitting next to her. They were currently having a Renee Zellweger marathon and they both seemed to enjoy it eagerly.
"It's okay Casey, even if I've had to wait since the day I first saw you, I'm so grateful that I can be with you now." Tinker replied, reaching out for Casey's hand and she took his somewhat reluctantly. She'd rather be sitting here with Derek; of course he'd sooner make breakfast every day, drink liquids out of glasses instead of the box or even keep his room sparkling clean than watch Bridget Jones.
Casey wasn't stupid. She knew Tinker had an unhealthy obsession with her, and that bringing him back into her life was a bad idea. She had been covertly avoiding him for the first year and a half at Queen's, but it wasn't easy to do so when your step-brother was a notorious player and surprisingly talked about you like a good friend. She had approached the red haired mop of a guy and asked him out on the spot. Derek wouldn't be expecting it, and she had a feeling this would be sufficient.
Tinker really was a nice guy and was compatible in many ways, and soon Derek would realize this and feel threatened. Then she would have the upper hand in their little game. Casey didn't realize however, that Derek was a simple guy, and simple guys didn't wait for things like compatibility to be established. Just simple proximity on a couch with touching limbs would be enough to have him seething. And true to simple guys everywhere, Derek was standing in the doorway unbeknownst to the happy couple in the room, seething in anger and jealousy.
Derek didn't do jealousy, ever. Okay, maybe he felt a smidgen when Sally went out with Patrick that one time, but they had gone out for like 6 years prior to his relationship with her. Any normal guy would feel a bit threatened. Why did he feel this way now? He didn't actually want Casey for himself... he didn't feel exactly like this every time she went out with a different guy in high school. At least that's what he tried to tell himself in that moment. Being jealous of Tinker of all people was sure to drive him over the deep end, but Casey had that kind of effect on him.
He sauntered across the room, throwing a wave to the couple without trying to show his face that was sure to be twisted in anger.
"Hey Tinkerbell, Wendy." He said blithely, and Casey stiffened at his tone.
"It's Tinker, Derek!" Tinker called out, somewhat offended. Derek replied with a grunt and shut his door to his room. A devious smirk spread across Casey's lips and she excused herself from the couch.
"Come back soon, my love?" Tinker said, his far away tone itching at her nerves.
"Um, yeah. Just a sec Tink." She smiled nervously, and scampered off to the dark hallway to their rooms. She opened his door without knocking as she always did, and saw him playing absently at his guitar, strumming random notes.
"What do you want?" he groused, sparing her a glance before going back to his guitar.
"Is there something the matter, D?" Casey asked, her tone haughty and victorious. He rolled his eyes and kept playing.
"Not especially. Why don't you think happy thoughts and fly out of my room?" Derek sneered.
"I'm pleased that you know my favourite childhood book so well—" Casey started.
"Uh, movie." Derek cut in. He didn't want to admit that he went to the library for the second time in his life to read Peter Pan after Casey told Marti that was her favourite book. The first time he went was because he was young, naive and believed Sam when he told him they had Playboy there.
"Whatever, but um... you aren't jealous are you?" Casey sat down on the bed then, and Derek didn't bother to ignore how good she smelled this time or how pretty she looked with her hair down like that. His chest did that strange flutter flippy thing and he sighed. It was supposed to be a random crush that went away quickly, but he'd been feeling like this for certain since Christmas a month ago. He knew though that subconsciously the feelings developed before that.
"Me? Jealous over what? If I had a girl as obsessed with me as Tinker is with you, well then, maybe. But you and I both know that every girl at Queen's is obsessed with me already." Derek said, the double entendre not missed on his cunning step-sister.
"Except for me." She said casually.
"Only you." Derek looked at her then, his gaze deep and intense and Casey immediately flushed, sucking in a breath. He had been looking at her a lot like that lately, and it made her feel things in certain regions that she didn't want to think about when Tinker was in the next room. She unconsciously rubbed her legs together, and Derek watched the action with rapt attention.
He looked at her and her reaction, and he suddenly felt a relief flooding through him. She had been guarding herself for the last couple of weeks while she strung Tinker along to get on his nerves. This time he finally got to her, and he relished in it. He also felt a strange happy feeling floating around his senses.
"You know Casey, we're going to have to talk about this at some point." He said, and she laughed.
"That's a blatant lie if I ever heard one. Since when do you want to talk about feelings?" she asked, pointing her finger at him.
He smirked. "Hm, I never said I wanted to talk about feelings, but it's interesting you said that." Casey recoiled slightly, she got caught.
"Well, um—"
"Well, um what? Tinkerbell is probably getting his wings in a twist waiting for you." He said, going back to his guitar. Casey's face was a deep red and he looked at her curiously. She got up suddenly, and walked out his door but not before tripping on a slight welt in the carpet and falling flat on her face. She laughed nervously and scampered off.
Interesting. She was always a klutz around guys she liked, but strangely she was always a klutz around him throughout the years as well.
Derek caught sight of himself in his mirror as his eyes widened. He sucked in a breath and looked at his wall, in the direction of the living room where she would surely be subjecting herself to Tinker's sonnets of undying love.
What game were they playing exactly, and why were they playing it? If she had liked him all this time, then why did she set him up on all of those dates? Why in seven hells was she going out with Tinker? This was the toughest exam he had in Casey psychology, and perhaps he should cheat. Alumnus Emily Davis would be of help, but he wasn't too keen on dealing with the gossip queen from hell or some other equally terrible place. Like a world without alcohol and chocolate, or a world... without Casey.
He got up off his bed then and laid his guitar on his bed gently, before walking over to the window. The brisk January air flowed past him as he shoved the window open, and looked around at the lights of the city skyline. If she had liked him all this time, that changes everything.
-
In the next room, Casey was hyperventilating. Derek wasn't an idiot, soon he would put two and two together and find out about everything. She wasn't sure if she was ready for that, and she needed a plan. She wasn't sure if she could take setting him up with other girls, either. It was entertaining sure, but she was beginning to see that seeing him happy with someone else would hurt her and she wouldn't be able to stand it.
"Are you ill, my sweet? Please, lay your head upon my chest so you may draw upon my warmth and feel at ease." Tinker proclaimed, noticing Casey slumped over in the couch, her hands on her face.
"Paper bag, paper bag right now!" she screeched and he ran around their apartment searching for one.
Derek watched her antics from behind his door and he smiled genuinely. He wasn't going to be playing games anymore.
tbc.
