"Hey beautiful!" said Derek as I opened the door to let him in. He kissed me quickly on the lips before taking off his jacket and asking me where he should put it. I pointed to the coat hanger and he smiled.
"George, Mom, Lizzie, Ed, Marti!" I called. "Derek's here!" Mom and George came out of the kitchen, Mom first, with George lagging behind her. Edwin, Lizzie, and Marti came rushing down the stairs.
"So nice to meet you!" said Mom, offering her hand to Derek. He took it in his and shook vigorously.
"The pleasure is all mine!" he said. Mom smiled. I rolled my eyes. After he was done sucking up to Mom, he offered his hand to George. George took it timidly. I could only imagine how weird this was for him, shaking the hand of a son he hadn't seen in 16 years, his son completely unaware.
After the greetings were done, we sat down at the dinner table. Mom got out the dish and placed it on the table. It was… meatloaf. I felt sick to my stomach suddenly and glanced at the ficus, still sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I wondered if the meatloaf from our fight was still in there. Nobody had bothered to pick it up after Mom had thrown it back in there during March break. If it was still there, it was probably decomposed by now… Oh wait, in this new world we never had that fight.
"Casey, would you like some mashed potatoes?" Mom asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"Yeah, sure." I said, faking a smile. I went to take the spoon full of potatoes from her hand, but she didn't let go and I must have pressed down to hard and let go too soon, because the spoon acted like a catapult, flinging mashed potatoes right on top of Derek's head.
I began to giggle and then I burst out laughing, unable to keep it in. Mom looked on in shock while the rest of the family stifled their own chuckles. Maybe it was the meatloaf, or the ficus, but for some strange reason I was in the mood for a food fight. So I took a scoop of potatoes from Derek's head and I flicked them at Marti. She squealed in delight and grabbed a handful of her own, dumping it in George's lap. George looked angered at first and then took the potatoes from his lap and chucked them at Edwin, making sure to take the rest and wipe it on Marti's nose. Edwin then, of course, felt it was a necessity to dump potatoes down Lizzie's shirt. And then the rest was history. All chaos broke loose and even Mom joined in the food fight. Everyone was having a great time. Everyone, except Derek.
He got up from the table, backing away as I went to throw some more at him. I looked at him, upset that he wasn't participating like Old Derek would have. I wanted him to suddenly smirk and pull out a secret stash of mashed potatoes from within his pocket and throw them at me as hard as he could. I wanted to yell "De-reck!" and chase him up the stairs, him laughing and me secretly smiling on the inside. But that would never happen, not ever again.
Everyone stopped messing around and turned to face Derek. "Oh my goodness!" said Mom. "I'm so sorry! We just got out of hand!"
"No offence, but if this is what you guys do often, then I'm not sure I want to be a part of it." said Derek. "I'm really sorry. See you at school Casey."
He turned to the door and went to get his coat. I sank to the floor and began to sob. Not because I had just lost New Derek, but because I had lost Old Derek. What had I done? I wished I could take it all back. I wished that I had never told Derek I hated him.
"I miss Old Derek!" I screamed. Everyone turned to face me, looking at me as though I was insane. Maybe I was going insane. I didn't care anymore. I would do anything to get Old Derek back, including screaming to no one in particular. "I miss everything about him, even how he went out of his way to make my life miserable!"
New Derek stared at me in shock. "Are you okay? What are you-"
"Because the truth is, my life is miserable without him!" I interrupted him. "I miss him so much." I took in a great shuddering breath and then shouted as loud as I could. "I wish Derek Venturi was my stepbrother again!"