Dancing With Derek

Chapter 8

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"The trouble with resisting temptation is that you may never get another chance." she said. "I feel really weird saying this but, I want to take that chance with you, Derek. I can't control these…feelings anymore and I don't want to try."

"Derek, we are going to do this the right way. You are going to take me to dinner tomorrow night, someplace romantic and make me the happiest girl in Canada. No one knows you here so you don't have to be embarrassed for taking me out in public. I need a well deserved night out and you are going to join me." she said smirking. She had Derek wrapped around her pretty little finger. But, tomorrow the tables might turn. Derek watched her with a smirk as she walked back to her room.

XOXO

Casey couldn't believe that right at that very moment she was getting ready to go out with Derek. She didn't know what came over her that she asked him out. Casey never thought that she would have the courage or the mindset to do something that extreme. But, here she was; deciding on wearing a skirt or a dress, heels or flats. Something that Derek would find attractive.

She decided on the red summer dress she had bought for her graduation party. After she applied her makeup and fixed her hair, she went to put on her favorite necklace-

Then she stopped. What if he wasn't taking the whole thing seriously? Then Casey would be humiliated and Derek would be laughing at her humiliation and desperation. There was a knock on her door and she went and opened it, cowardly. Derek was standing out there wearing a pair of dark jeans with a black button down shirt with a gray dress jacket over it.

"You ready?" he asked slightly awkward. Casey smiled surprised but pleased. He looked amazing and studly and she just wanted to stare at him standing there in her doorway, all night. Even his hair had extra flirtiness to it and she wondered how he managed to look good in every way. She snapped out of her trance when Derek snapped his fingers in front of her, trying to get her attention.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm ready." she said grabbing her purse.

XO

"So, where we going?" she asked unsure as they drove in the Prince to Derek's destination.

"Why do you keep asking?" he asked.

"Because I want to know. You could be taking me to Mexico for all I know." she said.

"Mexico?" he asked smirking as he drove. "Mexico." he nodded and his devilish plan look on his face.

"Derek, please." she said looking at him. He glanced at her, still smirking.

"You said I could pick anywhere." he said as he pulled into parking lot.

Casey saw the McDonalds on the corner.

"You didn't!" she said looking at him outraged.

"Oh, I did." he said as he parked.

"I'm not going in there!" she said crossing her arms as he got out of the car and walked around to her side.

"Yes, you are." he said opening her door.

"No, way." she said shaking her head.

He grabbed her arm and started pulling her out.

"I'm not going!" she said trying to stay in the car.

"Yes, you are." he said. Casey decided it would be better for her to just get out of the car before Derek let her hit cement. He slammed the door for her as he pulled her along. She of course let her heels slide across the parking lot as he forced her to walk.

Then he got around behind her and covered her eyes as they continued to walk.

"You're going to like it." he said as he led her to the restaurant.

When he finally let go, her eyes darted open and she realized that they weren't in McDonalds at all but an actual French restaurant. She scanned the whole place and smiled when she looked up at him.

"Bonjour. 2?" the hostess asked in her French accent.

"Yeah." Derek said. She grabbed the menus and led them to a private booth in the back. The music that was playing caught a lot of attention and there were a few couples dancing sweetly on the dance floor. When Casey and Derek sat down and the hostess disappeared she smiled at him.

"This place is beautiful." she said admiring the mural covered walls. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Cause I'm Derek Venturi. I am the King of Sneak."

"Yeah, in your head." she said as she looked at the menu trying not to laugh. "I never thought you would actually take me somewhere like this, let alone where people are dancing." she hid her smile.

A few seconds went by and Derek finally decided to ask what he had been wondering about all night.

"Just for the record, is this like uh…like uh, real…date?" Derek asked pretending to read the menu as he stumbled with his words.

Casey was still hidden in her menu and loved the feeling she got with how unsure Derek sounded when he asked her that question.

"It's only a date if you ask me to dance." she said.

"I don't dance." Derek said putting his menu on the table.

"Yes, you do. And, your even a slightly good dancer, so don't lie to me." she put her menu down too.

"I said I don't dance not that I can't dance."

Casey rolled her eyes.

"Not to mention." he started. "We're having dinner together in a fancy restaurant.. Don't you think dancing would be pushing the limit?"

"What limit?" she asked.

"This can't go anywhere and we both know that, so why do we have to get all…intimate. I mean if you want, we can get intimate, intimate." he raised his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"Are you even sure you can get the sleigh off the ground, Derek?" she asked rudely recalling the story Derek told her about him and Emily.

"I don't know, are you even capable of making the sleigh want to get off the ground, Casey?"

"Oh, and what's that suppose to mean?"

"I think you know what it means. Apparently, Truman's sleigh was permanently tied to the ground by your invisible rope."

She inhaled a breath, offended.

"And for your information, my sleigh has no problem getting off the ground."

"Okay, ew." she said. "You make me crazy. This whole thing was a stupid idea!" she said standing up.

"Where you going?" he asked.

"I'm going home. I can't believe for a second, I thought that this was a good idea." she said as she slowly headed for the front of the restaurant from the back booth.

"Casey." Derek said getting up to follow her. She tried to make her way through the couples dancing when Derek caught up to her and pulled her back by her arm.

"Derek let's go." she said as he pulled her around and caught her in his arms charmingly. When Derek had her in his grasp, he started swaying their bodies back and forth. "I feel like an idiot, let's just go, please." she said.

"I thought you wanted to dance." he said pulling her closer.

"I thought you didn't dance." she said. He pulled her closer after she said that and she finally shut up. Neither of them said anything else as they swayed to the music that was setting the mood. Casey felt awkward because she didn't know if she should pull away and head for the door or if she should just follow the beat of the music and her heart.

"This is weird." Derek said but he didn't pull away.

"Yeah." Casey said as she slowly put her head on his shoulder. "Very, very weird."

"Especially, since you're Casey." he said. She pulled her head away and looked at him. "I didn't mean it that way." he said. "But honestly, when have we ever danced together? Never, so it's weird." he said.

Derek pushed her head back down onto his shoulder with his hand. It was the most romantic gesture he had ever done with her. Casey enjoyed the feeling of Derek's arms around her and she didn't want to think about how awkward this would be if the family was there watching them.

Casey couldn't actually let her mind wander away from the fact that perhaps Derek could be misunderstanding his feelings for her because he hadn't had true romantic chemistry with someone since Emily and she ended up leaving him standing in the rain.

"I like dancing with you." He whispered alluringly into her ear so only she could hear. He slid his hands from her waist, to the small of her back and pulled her even closer.

Casey knew his secret. She knew that he felt something for her. He after all was the person who told her straight forward. Songs usually took Derek a few weeks to a few months to write. The song he wrote for Casey was finished in one night.

"I like…" she said pulling her head up slowly. Derek's soft but deep brown eyes poured into her own blue eyes as he waited for her to say what she was going to say. But, she lost her train of thought. The only thing she could even concentrate on was those chocolate eyes penetrating her own. Eyes are the window to the soul and at that moment, Derek's soul looked so innocent to Casey.

"I…" she tried to say again but it was no use. She couldn't speak. He was so intoxicating. His cologne was so inviting, his hands were placed securely on her lower back, his face only inches from hers. Casey hated feeling so helpless but at that moment she didn't really care because she felt content at the same time.

Derek himself, couldn't control his actions anymore. The first time he met Casey, one word stuck to her like glue; Prude. But, as time went on, her joining battle of the bands, sneaking out of the house, saving his butt time after time, he realized that she wasn't totally helpless. But, the night before graduation, he was evaluating lots of things in his life.

Night Before Graduation

He was blasting his music, rereading his University acceptance over and over again when Casey came storming in. He didn't even realize she had walked in until his music suddenly shut off.

"Do you mind? I am trying to finish my speech." she said angrily to him.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to finish my thought." he retaliated.

"Oh." she said understanding. "Planning your pathetic prank?" she accused.

"For the last time, I'm not pranking. In fact, I've decided not to go to graduation." he said.

"Really?" she asked excited. "That is the best Grad present ever!" she stated before heading out of his room into her own before making a sudden turn around and walking back into his room again, requesting an explanation.

"How can you not go to your own high school Graduation?" she asked

"Because I'm done with high school." he said with a superior ring to it. "My future starts now." he put his hands behind his head and got into relax mode.

"Oh, your future, goofing off to Europe?"

"Actually, I have options." he said matter of factly.

"Oh, of course you do. Whether to goof off in Spain or Portugal." she said weighing the options in her hands.

"No." he said. "I just found out, I got into University."

"You're going to University?" she asked surprised and disbelieving.

"I'm deferring because I want to see the world. You on the other hand don't have the guts to make a decision." he said standing up.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked. "You want a decision? I'll make a decision. I'm turning down the scholarship and going to Western here in London because my family needs me and I need them." she said emotionally.

"You're not staying home for the family. You're staying home because you're scared. You have futuristis."

"I do not have futuritis and that's not even a word!" she said walking away. "So?"

Right before Derek closed the door, Casey came running back in.

"I do have futuritis!" she said freaking out. "And that's why my speech reeks! Because I don't believe a word I'm saying." she said right before she ripped her note cards in a half which had the entire speech written on them.

"I can't believe you did that the night before the ceremony." he said shocked pointing to the cards on the floor.

"Pretty gutsy, huh?" she asked proudly before walking out of his room and heading to her own. Right after she closed her door, she screamed.

"That sounds about right." Derek said before closing his own door.

He walked over to his bed and picked up the admittance letter again. He had so much to do. He knew that he wanted to travel the world but that isn't cheap. He walked over to his guitar, his handy stress reliever. He walked back over to his bed and started strumming until he picked up a tune, that he actually liked. Then the words just started flowing though his head.

Now it's found usLike I have found youI don't want to runJust overwhelm me

After he wrote down all the lyrics, he reread them and the only person that he thought of at the same time, was Casey. He knew at that moment, that no matter how hard he tried to justify it, he couldn't. He thought about her all summer, he glanced her way secretly every time she was near him, he tried to be in separate rooms from her to try and make the feelings go away but they wouldn't. Emily kept his mind on other things but time after time, he thought about how unsatisfying it was with Emily. He was disgusted with himself to the point where he couldn't do anything but give in and that's what he did.

Present Day

Derek took her inability to talk in his favor when he leaned in slowly but dominantly and kissed her. Casey felt as though she was in a dream or a trance. She didn't know what it was but Derek's lips seemed to have better technique tonight than at any other time that she had experienced them.

It was like she was watching the two dancing from above or watching them kiss romantically in a circle, like in movies. Then Derek pulled away from the kiss but only so he could whisper in her ear.

"Change of plans." he whispered. She was confused when he pulled away from her and she watched him take his jacket off before rolling his sleeves up to his elbow. "Let's go." he said grabbing her right hand with his free left hand. He was in a hurry as he dragged her to the front of the restaurant.

"What about dinner?" she asked trying to keep up with him. He didn't answer her as he pulled her through the restaurant entrance.

"I have a better idea." he said turning his head around and smirking as he continued to pull her along.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he pulled her through the entrance of "Orchid Park" which was conveniently and coincidently right near the restaurant.

He turned his head around and smirked.

"You'll see." he said.

A/N-Hey people, it's been awhile! I was wondering where you all went for the last chapter. Hardly, no reviews. What happened? Anyway, I am back from my vacation and I finally completed this chapter. Review time!