LWD
I do not own Life With Derek.
A/N - Even more Dasey fluff, since I kinda feel guilty for not having enough for you Dasey fans. Thanks for all the kind reviews and warnings, I'll keep them in mind :)
Also, sorry I'm late with this chapter, things have been hectic.
Chapter 12--
"So, what's up with you and Max?" Emily asked curiously as she leaned against her locker.
Casey stopped pulling out the books from her own locker to look at her friend, confused. "What do you mean? We're just friends."
"And Derek doesn't mind that?"
"Why would he mind?"
Emily shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because Max is your ex, and you're going to be hanging out with him."
"He trusts me, Em."
"Seriously though, don't you think that it's a bit weird that he still wants you to sing? And I don't care what you say Case, he's up to something. I bet he still wants you to go out with him."
Casey shut her locker and faced her best friend. "I know. And I also know that this is a ploy to get me back."
"Okay." Emily was confused. "Then why are you going?"
Casey sighed. She didn't feel like explaining her reasons. "I still feel guilty, Em. I need to do something to make it up to him, even if he doesn't know it. I need to free my conscience."
"But isn't this like a trap or something?"
"Maybe." She nodded. "But I'm ready for it. And please don't tell Derek okay? I don't want him to worry. I can handle this."
Emily suddenly shook her head in disbelief which caused Casey to look at her curiously. "What?"
"It's nothing. It's just.. You're going out with Derek! It's hard to even imagine. Have you guys fought at all?"
"Um.. not really. Things are more relaxed now." An evil glint appeared in her eye. "And I finally have some power over him. Can you believe that I actually managed to get him to help out around the house?"
"Wow! That is huge!"
"I know!" Casey giggled. "And he has been so sweet to me. In his own arrogant self-righteous way. I'm finally starting to see why girls like him so much."
Emily looked at her in disbelief. "I've been trying to tell you that for three years. And you get it only now?"
Casey shrugged. "What can I say? Sometimes I'm a slow learner."
Emily grinned at her. "I guess."
Just at that moment, Casey felt hot breath on the back of her neck, and indication of someone standing very closely behind her. Before she could turn around, that person spoke. "Hello ladies."
Casey smiled as she recognized his voice. "Hello Derek." She vaguely heard a 'hi' from Emily as Derek moved to stand beside both of them.
"And what are you two doing commuting in the halls?"
Casey raised her chin up at him. "Nothing. What are you doing commuting in the halls?"
Derek smirked at her. "Nothing."
Emily watched the exchange before she let out a laugh. "Oh my God! Are you two flirting? This is way too weird, even for me. I'll talk to you two later." And as fast as her legs could carry her, she left towards their next class. She was going to have nightmares, that's for sure.
Casey glared at Derek. "Did you have to scare away my friend?"
He rolled his eyes. "She wasn't freaked out only by me, Princess."
Casey squared her shoulders as she realized that he was right. She started walking towards class as Derek walked beside her. "You told Sam?"
He nodded. "He took it pretty well. The guy started giving me tips on how to handle you." He ignored the glare she threw at him. "I think we worked our way up to tip number three hundred and fifty seven until he finally had to leave."
"That's way too exaggerated even for you." She said confidently.
"Don't be too sure." He smirked at her.
Casey opened her mouth to retaliate when Derek suddenly grabbed her arm while simultaneously opening a door to his right, and swiftly, he moved the two of them inside the empty classroom before locking the door shut. "Derek!" Before she could protest further, he grabbed her and pushed his lips against hers. Casey responded as she moved closer towards him. He pushed her against the door as his hands fervently studied her curves. Her hand was running through his hair as her other hand relished in the feeling of his strong back under her fingers.
Derek slowly pulled back to study her flushed face. "Ditch school with me."
Casey was suddenly pulled out of her reverie. "What? I don't ditch school and neither should you."
Derek rolled his eyes. "Seriously, that's how you're countering me? Come one. It'll be fun." He said as if tempting her with chocolate.
Casey shook her head. "No. We better move, or else we will be late for class."
He sighed. "Ca-sey! Can you for once, loosen up?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Are you mocking me?"
Derek couldn't hide his grin. "Of course not. Now, shall we leave?"
"Yes, we should leave, and head to class."
Derek dropped his arms from around her and took a few steps back, a look of regret evident on his face. "See, I didn't want to resort to this. But you leave me with no choice." He pulled out several slips of paper from inside his pocket. "Casey McDonald, these are your choices. Either you ditch school with me, and finally do something remotely fun in your life, or.." He paused for dramatic effect. "I'll tell Nora that you got detention for smoking on school property." He smiled evilly.
Casey scoffed. "Like she would believe you."
"She would, if I showed her proof." He threatened.
She was speechless. He wouldn't, would he? "You're bluffing."
Derek smirked, happy that he had received her attention. "In this hand, I hold detention slips. And look at this one." He dramatically pulled out one and began reading out from it. "Looks like you had received detention for smoking on school premises. This one.." He looked at another. "Is detention for drinking alcohol in school premises. And this one.." Another piece of paper. "Ohhh, this is a bad one." He winced. "For 'inappropriate' activities within the school premises." He smirked at her. "Take your pic. Their all legit. All pre-signed by my favourite secretary, Rose, from the office."
Casey, who had felt her jaw drop during his so-called presentation stared at him in disbelief. "You're blackmailing me?"
Derek shrugged. "I wouldn't call it blackmailing. More like.. Giving you slight encouragement."
Casey thought this over. He had to be kidding. He wouldn't be so evil. Besides, he hadn't thought of one little factor which could throw his evil scheme. She stood up straight as her confidence returned. "Wont happen Venturi. You had forgotten one little thing."
His smirk didn't falter. "And what's that?"
"If I ditch school with you, I will end up in detention anyway. So your threat is null and void." She gave him her own smirk.
However, what she didn't expect was for Derek to look even more confident. "Good catch, McDonald. But you're forgetting that I'm always prepared. And in the spirit of that preparation.." He pulled out even more slips of paper. "I introduce to you, dental appointments, family vacations, and family deaths. All signed by my Dad." He grinned at how she looked at him. Because frankly, he found it comical.
"Family deaths?" She managed to croak out.
He shrugged. "Non-existent aunts and uncles."
Casey shook her head in disbelief. "I cant believe that you're doing this."
"Case, how could I not? You and I both know that you're a tough negotiator. This is the only way I can get you to do anything."
"And blackmailing me into skipping school is somehow a good idea?"
He shrugged again. "Seems like it." His face broke into a wide grin. "Why? Is it working?"
"De-rek! I'm not giving into this."
"Fine! Then I'll be handing over your detention slip to Nora." He said nonchalantly.
Casey crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. Do that. But I wont let you get five feet near me." She threatened.
As expected, Derek's grin faltered to be replaced by a look of horror. "You wouldn't."
She smirked. "Try me."
Angrily, Derek stuffed the slips of paper back into his pockets. "Fine. But I'm not happy about it."
Casey gave him a small smile before she quickly pecked him on the lips to try to lighten his mood. "Thank you." She said sincerely. At least he listened to her in a total offhanded way. "Now shall we go? We're late as it is."
Derek grabbed her arm just as she was about to open the door. "One more thing Princess, I kinda already gave a 'family emergency' excuse to the office."
"De-rek!"
He looked at her innocently. "What? Come on Case, let down your hair a little."
"It is down." She grabbed her loose hair. "See? Completely loose."
"Case! Play hooky for once in your life, and I promise that I will drop it."
Casey looked at him thoughtfully. "You swear?"
He rolled his eyes. "I pinky swear."
She bit her lip as she weighed the pros and cons of this situation. But since, she was left with no choice, she sighed. "Okay. This one time, I will skip school. But never again."
Derek's grin broadened. "You wont regret it."
--
Casey shook her head in disbelief as she entered the house with Derek behind her. "How could you not see him?" She asked, placing her jacket on the coat rack.
Derek shrugged out of his own jacket and placed it next to hers. "The guy was asking for it."
She turned to him, perplexed. "He wasn't. You were reckless."
"Excuse me? I'm a great driver."
Casey rolled her eyes. "Sure, exactly why I got my license before you."
Derek's eyes narrowed. "Are you mocking me?" He took a few steps towards her.
Casey started backing away as she automatically put her arms up as if using them as a protective shield. "I wasn't."
Derek kept advancing towards her. "You know, McDonald. Sometimes, you are way to cocky for your own good."
"Derek!" Casey protested. She tried to make a run for it, but within seconds, Derek had grabbed her and thrown her over his shoulder. "De-rek! Let me down!" She screeched as she punched his back. "You are such a caveman."
"It's a quality I'm sure you love." He teased.
"Er.. what are you guys doing?" Both their heads quickly snapped up to be met by Lizzie's questioning look.
Derek shrugged. "Nothing. Just teaching the kid who's boss."
"As if my mentality is the one that is of a five year olds." Casey scoffed. "Now, could you please put me down?"
"Sure thing, Princess." He winked at Lizzie before dropping Casey unceremoniously onto the couch.
"De-rek!" Casey rubbed her back. "That hurt."
Derek rolled his eyes. "If you weren't such a Princess, it wouldn't have. Now, if you two would excuse me, I have some work to do." And with that parting statement, he dashed up the stairs, smirking as he could picture Casey glaring at the back of his head.
Lizzie quietly sat on the couch next to her sister as she saw her unconsciously watch Derek until he was out of sight. Casey turned to Lizzie, who had a disturbed look graced on her face. "Is something wrong?"
Her little sister shook her head. "Not really. I just wanted to ask you something."
"About what?"
Lizzie ignored the question. "Do you promise to tell the truth?"
Casey felt a doubt rise within her. Surely her sister hasn't found out. "Sure, Liz. What's up?"
Lizzie took a deep breath in an effort to get some courage. "Edwin and I sort of saw you and Derek.." She trailed off at a loss for words.
Casey began to feel her heart race in panic. "I'm sure that whatever you saw, wasn't what you think it was, Liz. We were just hugging or something."
Lizzie looked at her suspiciously. "But you and Derek never hug."
"Well, um.. Thing's change." Casey stood up. "It was hugging, nothing else okay?" She said anxiously. She waited until Lizzie nodded in understanding before dashing up the stairs herself.
Just as Casey was out of sight, Edwin entered from the kitchen. "I think you're right."
Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Of course I am."
Edwin sat down on the couch beside his step-sister as he stared ahead in disbelief. "Derek and Casey." He shivered. "That's weird."
"I know. Now all we need is proof."
"I thought she practically admitted it."
"Not really." Lizzie said thoughtfully. "She just acted really uncomfortable. So we know for sure that they are upto something. But we don't know exactly what."
"What do you mean by 'exactly'?"
"I mean, we don't know if they're really together. So, we need proof."
"You got an idea?"
"Maybe." Lizzie smiled mischievously.
Edwin smirked. "Then let's get to it."
--
Casey looked around the kitchen. Everything seemed to be in place. Dinner was a success, she couldn't believe how well that recipe turned out. Smiling to herself, she walked towards the living room to be met by the image of Derek lying across the couch, his arms behind his head and his eyes closed. She shook her head in amusement. She just asked him to put away the dishes. How could he act so tired after that? "You up?" She nudged his leg lightly with her knee.
Derek opened one eye at her before resuming his previous pose. "Not really. That work was brutal."
"What work?" She asked him incredulously. "I did most of it."
"That may be." He replied smoothly. "But you have forgotten one factor. I, the man of this house is not used to such trivial activities unlike you. So, naturally, any work is taxing."
Casey decided to grab a pillow and smack him on the head as a 'response' to his woes. But just as she got ready to strike him, Derek's eyes flew open as he grabbed her wrist, and in one swift movement, brought her down on top of him.
"Nice of you to join me, Ms.McDonald." Derek said as he grabbed the cushion and tossed it over the back of the couch. His arms circled around her as he held her to him.
Casey giggled. "It wasn't my choice."
He looked at her with mock-hurt. "Now that is disappointing."
"Is it now?"
"I was under the impression that playing hooky would broaden your horizons."
"Oh, consider my horizons broadened." She smirked.
"Good. And admit it, you had fun today."
"You're right. But it's never going to happen again."
Derek groaned. "You always have to ruin my fun."
Casey giggled as she kissed him gently. Derek kissed her back as his arms tightened around her. Just as he deepened the kiss, she pulled back. "We shouldn't do this here. The fam' might walk in."
"Relax Case, they wont be back for another.." He squinted at him watch. "Half an hour, we have plenty of time." He kissed her, but she pulled away again.
"To bad we had to miss Marti's dance recital."
"I know." He nodded. "But what could we do? Both our practices finished only an hour ago."
"Hm.." Casey nodded just as Derek pulled her in for another kiss. This time, she allowed him to deepen the kiss, as she straddled him to allow herself to be more comfortable. His hands gently kneading her to him, as he played with her skin and expertly unbuttoned her shirt. Their kisses was used as a means to explore the other. Her hands creeped under his shirt to lovingly caress his toned stomach. Casey let out a moan as their kisses became heated and they both felt the familiar need rise within them. His actions caused an unbearable pleasure that she knew had to be satisfied. She grinded herself against him causing him to groan in response. The woman sure knew how to drive him to the brink of insanity, he thought as he kissed her back ardently. Derek smirked against her neck. "How about we go upstairs?" His voice was deep and husky in anticipation of the act to come.
Casey felt herself involuntarily stiffen as his meaning became clear. He noticed. "No, I don't think that's a good idea." She smiled softly to reassure him as she tried to pry herself away.
But Derek's arms wouldn't let her go. "Come on, it'll be..'fun'." He knew she couldn't miss his hidden meaning.
"I know.." Derek gently nipped her neck as his fingers tangled in her hair. "But our parents could walk in at any minute and.." Her spine was tingling. "And.." Casey tried to concentrate on what she tried to say. "And.. It's not the time." Her eyes closed as she gave in to the sensations of her body. "And, someone could walk in." She felt his hand slowly move up her thigh, coming dangerously close. "Derek!" She protested, her mind failing to come up with a proper sentence. His hand met their destination causing her to arch against him. "We shouldn't." Her objection was barely a whisper.
"Come on, Case. You know you want to." His tone teased her as he swiftly unbuttoned her jeans.
"DEREK!" "CASEY!"
Their heads snapped up to see the bewildered expressions of their parents staring at them from the recently opened doorway. George had simply frozen on the spot as Nora's eyes bugged out almost comically. Finding your daughter in a state of undress straddling her step-brother is not something she could have foreseen as a possibility. With impressive speed, both teenagers leaped off the couch and stood before their parents. Casey, feeling herself blush uncontrollably, began buttoning her shirt as Derek cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"What that was.. what we were doing.. It's not what you think. We can explain." He started laughing nervously. "It's a pretty funny story really." He turned to his step-sister. "Case, you wanna tell them what happened?" His mind was blank. And his parents just standing there wasn't helping.
But Casey just stared back at him, and he knew that no matter what spin they tried to put on what happened, they had been caught red handed. George seemed to be gradually getting some colour back in his face. After all, he had walked in on Derek several times with girls. That wasn't new. What was new was the fact that this time, his step-daughter was the person on top of his son. A smart girl who, in his eyes, is his daughter. "Derek..I.. you .." He sputtered. "What were you THINKING?" He yelled the first question that appeared in his frozen mind.
Derek visibly winced. He knew that his father yelled only if his anger was beyond breaking point. "Dad.."
"Uh huh." George interrupted him. "How are you going to get yourself out of this one? Whatever excuse you're thinking up, I can tell you now that it better be a damn good one."
Derek quickly glanced at Casey to see how she was holding up. This was really bad. His father never swore. Casey was hugging herself in a protective gesture, and looking at the floor with embarrassment. Nora on the other hand had fallen limply on the closest chair as she felt her knees give way. She vacantly stared at the teenagers in disbelief. Derek cleared his throat again in an effort to try to reduce the tension.
"I know this looks bad.."
"Bad?" George interrupted him again. "This is no where near bad. This is unacceptable."
"What's unacceptable?" The four of them turned towards the door to see the rest of the family enter and casually take in the scene. The three younger siblings could easily see that Derek had done something wrong, and in their opinion, that was normal. But their curiosity was piqued when they saw that Casey seemed to be in the same situation. "Well? What's unacceptable?" Edwin repeated. He wondered why they all looked like they didn't know what to say.
"What's going on?" Lizzie asked curiously.
George took a breath to calm his nerves. "Edwin, you and Lizzie put Marti to bed and stay in your rooms, alright? We need to have a little talk with these two." He spoke through clenched teeth which caused Edwin and Lizzie to give each other a quizzical look.
Marti looked at her father curiously. "Why do I need to go to sleep now? It's early!"
"Not now Marti." George mumbled, sounding tired. "Edwin." He gave his son a meaningful look which he successfully interpreted.
"Come on, Liz." And grabbing a confused Lizzie and a protesting Marti they headed up the stairs, with the full intention of doing half of what George wanted them to do.
"Okay." George said in an effort to sound rational. "Maybe you two could tell me, for starters, that you weren't going to do, what I think you were about to do on our couch." He stared both of them down, and the guilty faces that faced him, did nothing to improve his mood. "What were you thinking? What were you both thinking?" He turned to his step-daughter. "Casey, I thought you were smarter than this. And Derek.." He shook his head. "How can you be so STUPID?"
"Dad.."
"Are you trying to get us mad? Is this a new ploy that you came up with to somehow get back at us for holding up the Prince when you got suspended? How could you take advantage of her like that?" He knew his son was a dog, which until now, he thought it was a trait that could be ignored.
"It's not like that." A small voice interrupted him.
He turned to Casey. "What?"
"It's not like that." She repeated, sounding braver than how she felt. "He wasn't taking advantage of me."
"Yeah well, I think that's hardly the point now, isn't it?" George snapped, agitated.
"George." Nora said as she stood up slowly. "Can I talk to Casey privately?"
He looked between his wife, his son and his step-daughter and sighed in hopelessness. "Okay." He threw Nora an understanding look. Turning to Derek, he glared. "And you. Upstairs. Your room. Now!" Without waiting for an answer he stomped up the stairs, determined to hold on to his anger for as long as possible.
Derek and Casey shared a worried look before he squared his shoulders in an effort to look confident, and followed his father up the stairs. Even though, his first impulse was to dash out of the house and suffer the consequences later. After they left, mother and daughter watched each other for some time. Neither knew what to say or how to tackle the situation. It was Nora who couldn't stand the silence any longer.
"I think we need some camomile tea, don't you?" She hurried into the kitchen, and wasn't disappointed when her daughter cautiously followed her.
Nora moved around the kitchen nervously. She concentrated on everything but her daughter. Mumbling to herself on how kids hardly ever do their chores, she forgot her current assignment, and started scrubbing the kitchen instead. Casey slowly sat down at the island and watched her mother as she hastily went about the kitchen to get the tea ready. She waited patiently, not keen to bring up the topic that they had to ultimately discuss. The silence stretched to an unbearable extent until finally, Casey spoke. "Mom!"
Nora jumped as if she had temporarily forgotten that her daughter was in the room with her. Keeping her back to her, she took a deep breath and decided to hell with it. She tossed the sponge, and turned to face her.
"I don't know what to say. I literally, don't know what to say." Nora saw her daughter look down in shame.
"I know, Mom. I didn't want you to find out that way."
Nora felt her heart drop at that sentence. "You mean.. you and Derek? This is not just a one time thing?" She asked incredulously.
Casey shook her head slowly.
"Oh my God!" Nora breathed out as she sat at the counter opposite her daughter. "Casey, how could you not tell me? I know I'm your mother, but I thought we were also friends."
"I know. It's just that, I didn't know how to tell you."
"You know you could tell me anything."
Casey smiled gratefully. "I know, Mom."
"Good. Then you wont mind telling me for how long you have been.." Nora motioned with her hands, unable to think that her daughter was having those sorts of 'relations' just yet. She hoped that she would start after she was dead and buried.
"What?" Casey asked confused.
"You know.." Nora twitched. This was really uncomfortable. She hadn't had the 'talk' with her yet, either.
"Mom.. I don't.." Casey said, still confused as she watched her mother gesture. Suddenly something clicked in her mind, and her eyes widened. "No! Mom! We're not.. I'm not.." She exclaimed feeling her cheeks become red from embarrassment.
Nora didn't bother to conceal her relief as she silently sent out a little prayer. "Well, don't ever do that, okay? EVER!"
"Mom, that's a bit unreasonable don't you think?"
"No Case, what's unreasonable is walking in on you and Derek like that. I hope you realize that it could have been a lot worse. It could have been Lizzie and Edwin who walked in and not us. How would you explain it to them? Or even Marti?"
"I didn't think of that." Casey mumbled.
"Casey.." Nora shook her head. "I just cant believe that I'm having this talk with you. You and Derek have always fought, I never pictured the two of you doing anything but fighting for the rest of your lives. I could see myself ten years from now trying to stop you from killing him because of some stupid prank that he would have done. The two of you are not, well.. compatible." Casey was about to say something, but Nora beat her to it. "You're not on the rebound from Max are you?"
"Max? How did you know about Max?"
"Edwin and Lizzie. You cant really hide much from them." Nora looked at her daughter. "Is this serious?"
Casey felt offended. "Of course, Mom. You know that I would never have a fling."
"I know honey. But Derek's different." She said thoughtfully.
"Why aren't you yelling at me?" Casey asked meekly. She didn't want to remind her mother that she had a right to yell, but at the same time, she wanted to understand what was going through her mind.
"Believe me Casey, I want to yell. But I'm not going to. At least not until you tell me how this all happened. I'm just happy that you didn't do something that you would regret."
Casey nodded. "I would never do anything unless I wanted to."
Nora shared a small smile. "I know. That's one of your good qualities." She sighed. "Now could you please help me to understand how this whole thing with Derek happened?"
--
Derek silently sat on his bed as he watched his father pace back and forth in his room. He didn't dare make a noise for fear of getting yelled at. Part of his mind wondered how everything with Casey and Nora was going downstairs. They probably yelled at each other, then cried their apologies and hugged for good measure. At times like this, he wished he was like that.
George finally stopped pacing and turned towards his son. "When?"
Derek understood. "Few days back."
George nodded. "Bet?" He asked hopefully.
Derek shook his head. "Nope."
He nodded again. "Blackmail?"
"Nope." Derek repeated.
George continued to nod as if he understood the situation. "Okay then, why?"
Derek shrugged. "Why did you and Nora get together?"
George stared at his son incredulously. "You're comparing us? This is not the same thing."
"Isn't it?" Derek asked, appearing unfazed by his father's lack of patience. "We have fun."
"Fun? FUN? This is NOT FUN! This is Nora's daughter, my step-daughter, YOUR step-sister."
"I know, Dad."
"Then, how is this FUN? You know Derek, I have let you slide on a lot of things. I know about the serial dating, and I know about the late night visits with girls." George smiled acidly at his son's bewildered look. "You thought I didn't know? Of course I know. You are not ready for a serious relationship. And if you get involved with Casey, it better be. I don't want this family broken up because of some 'fun'."
"It could be serious." Derek countered.
"I highly doubt that." George breathed out tiredly.
"Dad." Derek started slowly. "Calm down. I think you're over-reacting."
George glared at his son. "Don't tell me to calm down. I'll calm down when I want to calm down."
"Dad! Listen to yourself. Of course Case and I are not that serious, we just started dating a few days ago. Shouldn't we be given the chance to see if it goes somewhere?"
"It's not that simple. Your break-up could ruin this family." He sighed. "I'm not ready for another divorce."
Derek's jaw tightened. "How do you know that we will break-up."
His father laughed bitterly. "What are you two? Seventeen? It's one in a hundred couples who end up together."
"Yeah well, we could be that one in a hundred."
"I thought it wasn't serious."
"It's not."
"Then why are you fighting me on it? For once, just do what I ask, Derek. My marriage could be on the line here." His father pleaded.
Derek looked down. He didn't know why he was fighting. Maybe he was stubborn. Maybe he wanted to uphold his right to date whoever he wanted. Maybe it was because he could picture her downstairs fighting for their right to see each other, and he didn't want to disappoint her. He didn't want to admit it, but when he really thought about it, he doubted whether she would be the one he ended up with. She wasn't like him. They hardly had anything in common.They sometimes fought over nothing. He could never picture himself with her, and to this day, he still couldn't. But whatever the reason, he didn't want to stop.
"Dad! I care about her, alright? And I'm assuming that when she doesn't feel the need to kill me, that she cares about me too. And we're going off to college soon. We'll be out of your and Nora's hair, and the two of you can pretend like it never happened."
"You're planning on continuing this in college?" George asked doubtfully.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Of course we are. We're only twenty minutes away."
"But, what about other girls?"
Derek shrugged. "We're exclusive, so I guess, that's not in the equation."
"You're exclusive? But I thought you started dating a few days ago."
"Yeah.." Derek tried to sound nonchalant since he was suffering from embarrassment. "We're exclusive."
"Casey's idea?" George asked knowingly.
He could lie, and save his rep in his father's eyes, or he could tell the truth and show how serious he was taking their relationship. "Mine." He mumbled. Derek felt his embarrassment increase ten fold at his father's expression. It looked like he had managed to make his father speechless twice in one day.He was on a roll.
"Well, okay then." George looked at the door regretfully. "I better go check on Nora. She's probably a wreck. We will finish our discussion later." He threatened as he opened the door. Before he left, he turned to his son. "And Derek, I'm not saying that I approve of this, but don't mess this up." With that, he left.
Derek stared after his father for a while, not completely sure if he could do what was asked. "Sure." He mumbled to himself before falling down on his bed. He had a bad feeling that he will mess it up.
