A/N: your reviews were so sweet that you convinced me to add a couple more chapters to this fic :)
Derek had somehow twisted them around so that her back was pressed against the door instead. One hand was entangled in her hair, the other resting on her hip, holding her tightly against him. As he deepened the kiss, her leg moved of its own volition, wrapping itself around his waist. She slid one hand down his chest, her fingers coming to rest on his belt buckle. She tugged at it slightly and Derek made a sound deep in his throat, "Case..."
It was perhaps lucky that she chose this moment to pull back and look at him questioningly, because in the sudden silence they both heard it—the clanging of footsteps coming up the stairs. "Oh my god," Casey hissed, throwing a panicked look over to where her dress fluttered innocently in the wind, several feet away. "Someone's coming!"
Derek was already grabbing his jacket and shirt off the ground and he hastily began throwing them on. He looked at her in exasperation, "Well, don't just stand there!"
Casey's fingers trembled as she hurriedly pulled on her dress, her face already flushing with embarrassment. How the hell were they going to explain this? She felt something brush her back and jumped, but it was only Derek. He gave her a quizzical look as he zipped up the back of her dress, making shushing noises. "Chillz, Case, it's gonna be okay."
She turned to look at him the same time he looked her over. "Your hair," they said at the same time. Before she could do anything about it, however, the roof door swung open and Derek stepped in front of her, running his hand through his hair as he did.
And the absolute last person she ever wanted to see walked onto the roof, accompanied by a brunette she didn't recognize.
"Truman," Derek said flatly, not bothering to keep the disdain out of his voice. "You really thought showing up to a high school reunion where you were probably the most hated student to ever walk across the stage was a good idea?"
Truman, for his part, looked extremely surprised to see them. Whether or not it was an act, she wasn't sure. His gaze jumped between them, clearly unsure what to make of their presence on the roof. "Casey," he greeted finally, "It's been too long." He paused, turning to Derek. "As for you...can't say it's been long enough."
Derek stiffened, his eyes narrowing. "Likewise."
Casey looked between them with a frown, but they were too busy scowling at each other to notice.
"Um, hi, I'm Sierra," the brunette said brightly, "And you are?"
"Leaving," Derek answered curtly, breaking the staring contest he was having with Truman. "Let's go, Case."
"Hey, wait," Truman stepped sideways so he was blocking the exit. "I actually was hoping I'd run into you tonight, Casey. Of course I didn't think you'd be on the roof…" He shot a speculative glance at Derek, "What were you guys doing up here anyway?"
Casey opened her mouth to explain, without having any idea of what she was going to say. But then Derek forced out a sarcastic laugh, rolling his eyes. "Let's just say my dear step sister didn't share my...viewpoints...on the scavenger hunt."
Truman smirked knowingly, "Came up here to let you have it, huh? Some things never change."
Casey crossed her arms. "Yeah, I'd say," she said mulishly, "Where's Vicky? You know, your fiancé?"
Derek choked, then began coughing. "His what now?"
"I'm a friend of Vicky's, actually," Sierra said, smiling at all of them as if she didn't recognize the open hostility in the air. "She had to work tonight. How do you know her?"
"I'm her cousin," Casey replied, at the same time that Derek said disbelievingly, "Just a friend?"
Sierra looked between them uncertainly, her smile faltering for the first time.
Truman shot a glare in Derek's direction. "I see you still haven't learned how to mind your own business."
Derek fell uncharacteristically silent.
Truman stared him down for one more moment before turning to Casey. "I ran into Sam downstairs. He's the one who told me you were around." At Casey's look of annoyance, he immediately held up both hands defensively. "Don't worry, he told me you already had a boyfriend and that I shouldn't get any ideas." He chuckled, "Of course he didn't know I was already engaged, but—"
Casey had stopped listening, however. She felt an odd prickling sensation at the back of her neck and then felt a sudden wave of heat, followed by cold. She didn't dare look at Derek.
But in the periphery of her vision, she still saw the way he tensed at Truman's words and turned to look at her sharply.
"Wh-why were you looking for me?" Casey asked loudly, her heart thudding dully in her chest. "I don't have anything to say to you, not after what you did."
"I wanted to apologize," Truman said, "In person." He moved forward, his hand stretched out to touch her shoulder. Derek cleared his throat pointedly and Truman's hand fell back to his side. "You didn't deserve what I did, Casey. And I'm sorry for being a jerk."
Casey stared back at him impassively. "And which bit, exactly, are you apologizing for?"
Truman scratched the back of his neck, at least having the decency to look ashamed. "The text," he muttered.
"Oh," she tapped her chin thoughtfully, "You mean the break up text you sent me exactly one month after I moved to New York? That text?"
Sierra gasped, "That's awful, Truman! Does Vicky know about this?"
He ignored her. "I was a jerk, Case." She involuntarily flinched at his use of her nickname, but he didn't appear to notice. "I was stupid and selfish. I know you gave me more chances than I deserved, and I should've treated you better."
"Yes," she agreed blandly, "You should have. Is that all?"
Truman looked rather taken aback. "I suppose so." He frowned, "Am I forgiven, then?"
Casey raised an eyebrow. "Truman, rest assured that I will not be attending your wedding so whether I forgive you or not—which I don't—doesn't really matter, does it?"
"Oh come on, Casey," he cajoled, his voice taking on a distinctly whiny quality. "We're going to be family—"
Casey held up a hand, disgust marring her features. "Let's get one thing straight, Truman. You might be marrying my cousin, but you and I? We'll never be family. We're not friends and I regret the fact that I even have to call you an ex. The day that I decided to give you a second chance is probably one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in my—"
"Alright," Truman interrupted loudly, looking annoyed. "I get it, alright?" He sighed, "Casey, can't we work something out? Vicky will kill me if I don't fix things before the wedding."
Casey paused, several things clicking into place. "You mean Vicky put you up to this?"
"Obviously," he snorted, "As if I would willingly seek you out, especially after what Derek—" He stopped abruptly. "I mean after, uh…"
Casey turned to look at Derek, but he was too busy glaring at Truman to notice. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," he answered, his voice laced with warning.
Truman made a noise of disbelief. "You mean she doesn't know what you did?"
"Truman, this would be a good time for you to shut the hell up."
He squinted at Derek a little. "I never took you for the modest type. Or is that only when you're being protective of Casey?"
Derek started forward, rage etched across his expression. Casey glanced down at his white knuckles and instinctively stepped in front of him, her palms against his chest. He barely spared her a glance, "Out of my way, Casey."
"No," she stood her ground, shoving against his chest. He stumbled back a step but otherwise didn't move.
"Your…step brother decided to pay me a little visit after we broke up," Truman offered, leaning back against the wall, his arms folded. "Gave me a nice shiny black eye."
Casey froze, her head swiveling around to look back at Derek. The anger hadn't faded from his expression.
"You must've forgotten the conditions under which I didn't give you two black eyes," he growled. "Oh right, I think one of them was you shall never speak of this again. Wasn't that it?"
Truman replied, but Casey wasn't listening. "How did you know?" she asked Derek in confusion, reaching out to grasp his wrist in case he decided to attack Truman again. "I never told you."
His gaze snapped to hers. "Of course you didn't tell me. You didn't tell me anything remember?"
"How did you find out, then?"
"Afraid I can't divulge that information. Promises and all that."
"My mom?"
Derek snorted under his breath.
"Then who?"
He only shook his head, looking away from her.
Casey was seized by a sudden terrible idea. "Lizzie?"
It was only because she was still holding his wrist that she felt his response to her question. His pulse raced under her thumb.
Derek looked at her quickly, rolling his eyes when he saw her expression. "Great."
She tugged him sharply towards her, having by now forgotten all about Truman behind her. "Lizzie asked you to go beat Truman up?" she demanded, "Are you kidding me?"
Derek pulled his wrist out of her grasp. "She didn't ask me to do anything."
Casey stared at him, her chest constricting rather painfully. He'd been furious with her for leaving…and yet he'd still gone out of his way to go to bat for her. She shook her head once, still reeling. "I can't believe you did that for me."
"God, you two are dense, you know that?" Truman snapped.
Derek tore his gaze away from her to glare at Truman. "I'm sorry, are you still here? Haven't you done enough damage?"
Truman considered him, looking thoughtful. "Not yet, I think." He looked at Casey, "Do you want to know what I told Derek that day?"
This time, Derek nearly shoved Casey aside. "I'm warning you—"
Casey grabbed his arm at the last second, and stumbled forward when he didn't stop. "Derek, let's go," she dug her nails into his arm when he didn't appear to be listening to her. She bit her lip, using the ace up her sleeve. "Derek, please."
At that, he heaved a groan and turned towards her. "Fine," he muttered unwillingly, allowing her to steer him towards the exit. "Truman, give Vicky my condolences," he called over his shoulder. "And don't bother sending either of us a wedding invitation."
Casey glanced back at Truman as they opened the door. "Don't take this the wrong way," she said pleasantly, "But I hope I never see you again." Then she pulled the door firmly shut behind her. "Think they have the key?" she whispered to Derek.
He smirked, "Somehow I doubt it."
"Good," she said decidedly, following him down the stairs. When they made it down one flight, she grumbled to herself as she bent down to take off her heels. Derek was walking ahead of her but he stopped when he realized she had fallen behind. "One sec," she called. "Oh shit—"
One of the heels slipped out of her hand and went tumbling through the rails. It thudded dismally as it fell down 5 flights of stairs, landing somewhere in the darkness far below.
Casey gasped, peering over the railing in horror.
Derek hadn't moved, but he rubbed a hand over his face in exasperation. "I feel like this calls for a Cinderella joke," he said as she reluctantly made her way to him. "But the ugly stepsister bit seems a little too on the nose, don't you think?"
"Hilarious," she said dryly, crossing her arms. "Not a word."
He made a show of zipping his lips shut, but she could tell he was trying not to laugh.
"Well," she shifted, "Are you coming with me?"
Derek immediately straightened, "Where?"
"To…" she waved a hand vaguely down the stairs, "The basement? To get my shoe?"
He looked at her in disbelief. "You can't be serious."
"They were expensive!"
Derek pushed himself off the wall, and she let out a little gasp as his face appeared inches before her. "Let's just get out of here," he whispered enticingly in her ear, his fingers running down her arm. "And finish our…previous activities."
Casey shivered.
She felt Derek grin against her neck. "Should I take that as a yes?" When she didn't say anything, he began placing small kisses along her jawline until he reached her lips. Then, against all odds, he stopped.
Her eyes opened in annoyance. "Why'd you stop?" she demanded, reaching out to grab the lapels of his suit. But he stepped back, running a hand through his hair. "Derek?"
"Uh, just…" She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but he looked distinctly flushed. "Do you…" he swallowed, "Truman said you have a boyfriend?"
"Oh that," Casey felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. "Yeah, it's not true. It's just Kendra asked, and Sam said he had a girlfriend, and I don't know, it just popped out."
To her surprise, Derek didn't look entirely relieved by her answer. Instead, he gave her a distracted smile, his gaze jumping around the stairwell.
She stared at him for a long moment, her eyes narrowing. "What's wrong?"
He didn't reply.
"Why won't you look at me?"
Derek was staring at his feet, which he suddenly seemed to find very interesting. "See, the thing is, Case…"
"Oh my god," she breathed, her stomach suddenly twisting with dread. "You have a girlfriend."
"No," he quickly glanced up at her but then almost immediately looked away again, wincing. "Not exactly. "
And then she remembered, a recent memory flitting past her. I'm not married. They were his words from earlier that night. But then that meant...
"You're engaged," she realized slowly. And even though she knew it must be true, she still looked at him desperately, hoping he would disagree with her.
But he was shaking his head, the guilt written clearly across his face. "Case, look—"
"Don't," she bit out, her voice thick. "Just go."
Derek's eyes had widened, his expression pleading. "No, I'm not leaving."
"Fine, then I'll leave." She made to walk by him, but he grabbed her arm. "Don't," her voice was cold, "Touch me."
He dropped his hand as though he'd been burned. His chest was heaving and in the back of her mind she felt a flash of annoyance that he had the audacity to act like she was hurting him.
She walked down a few more stairs before turning around to look at him. "You have a lot of nerve," she said, blinking rapidly. "To act like you came here to make things right with me. To act like you've been…missing me…all these years."
"Casey—"
"And then to tell me you were in love with me."
He stopped, looking as though she'd slapped him. Which, honestly, didn't sound like a bad idea right now.
"It didn't take a genius to figure out why I was attracted to Truman," she said suddenly, not knowing why she was telling him this but figuring she might as well, since she wasn't planning on speaking to him ever again. "The whole school spent months comparing the two of you," she kept her gaze focused on the stair beneath his feet. "The charm, the charisma, the too cool for school schtick."
Derek made a sudden movement as though he was going to come towards her, but she looked up at him sharply and he froze.
"But he was the poor man's version of you," she went on, her voice a little quieter than before. "Everyone knew that, too. Derek Venturi would never rate girls, or kiss someone else when he had a girlfriend…"
"Casey—"
"I can't believe I was so wrong about you," she muttered, almost to herself. "You're more like him than I thought." She pursed her lips, "And there's clearly something wrong with me that I'm attracted to jerks like you and him!"
He suddenly leapt down the few stairs separating them and grabbed her arms, pulling her towards him. "Case, I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice desperate. "It's not what you're thinking, I swear. Me and her, we're not in love. It's a contract…PR stunt…just a mutually beneficial relationship. For our movie." He was talking fast now, his words tumbling over each other. "I'll end it with her. None of it was real, she doesn't mean anything to me."
Casey jerked out of his arms to look at him, not sure what to make of what he was saying. Then she blinked, not sure what to make of his expression either. He looked almost...scared.
"Case," his forehead rested against hers now, and she was left to wonder how she'd let him get so close. And she also wondered why her feet refused to step away from him. "I can't lose you again. Please."
She sighed a little, her heart already beginning to thaw at his words. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "No secrets, Venturi. It's a contract engagement, that's it?"
He nodded quickly, "We have a movie coming out, she's one of the actresses in it."
Casey chewed her lower lip, "But if it's a contract then you can't end it, can you?"
Derek looked frustrated, "I mean I can, I'll just have to…deal with the consequences." He tugged her closer, "But I don't care, if it'll let me be with you."
She sighed again, moodily wondering why she was being so understanding. "When does the contract end?"
He eyed her, looking confused by her direction of questioning. "Three more months," he said hesitantly, "That's when the movie comes out."
Casey pretended to think, but really her mind was already made up. "Okay," she said to him quietly, "Three months. I can deal."
He frowned.
"You keep living your life," she explained in a reasonable tone. "And we'll see where we're at in 3 months."
"Wait," he said, beginning to look panicked again. "You're leaving, just like that?"
"I have an early morning flight back to NY," she said, taking a step away from him. "But things will be different now. We can…talk." She licked her lips, "You know, like on the phone. I...want to hear about your life, Derek."
Derek's gaze dropped to her mouth. "And I won't see you for 3 months?"
"You can come visit me when the engagement is over," she said, trying to smile at him and hide the fact that her heart was twinging painfully. "And we can…umm, I don't know. Go on a date?"
His arms tightened around her waist and he lowered his head, his nose nudging against hers. "Is that a no for tonight?"
"I have morals, Derek," she sniffed, "Fake engagement or not."
But she still let him coax her mouth open, his lips covering hers in a toe curling kiss. Flashes from earlier in the night went through her body and she could feel her skin begin to heat. Derek pushed her back against the wall of the staircase and she let out a moan as his hand covered her breast, his thumb stroking her through the silky material of her dress.
Derek pulled back slightly to look at her, his eyes dark. "I can't not…" his voice was hoarse, "Not see you for another 3 months."
And her heart tugged a little, because yeah, he looked so sincere and earnest and it was directed at her which was kind of a head rush in itself.
"Should've thought about that before, D," she mumbled. And then before she could change her mind, she darted forward and gave him one last kiss before picking up her dress and hurriedly racing down the rest of the stairs.
Derek didn't move, his fingers touching his lips, feeling the lingering effects of her kiss. Then he slowly walked down, and kept walking, all the way to the basement. He switched the light on his phone and eventually found what he was looking for. He hooked one finger on the strap of her heel and let it swing from his hand as he exited the building through a side door.
Three months. He could do this.
