A/N: Thank you to KnowPein, sheteego, rainbowsherbert927, Lcsaf, kissa621, shyesplease and Balyndaba for the reviews, and AnniexLove, SitarLover, and kissa621 for the follows.
Just a reminder, in texts - is sent messages, * is received messages. _-(words)-_ is a strikethrough, meaning it was deleted.
Chapter Eleven: Some Boys Are Sleeping Alone
Derek was not expecting any more from Casey that night. He expected her to go to sleep, and possibly never even text this so-called 'practice texter.' (In the morning, he knew he'd regret the decision to make this fake person. But, naturally, he'd deny that regret until it went away.)
What he hadn't expected was, after fifteen minutes of radio silence on his cell from Spacey, to have his computer ding quietly. A new text to his Google phone number. And it was from her number. He quickly programmed it in.
Casey (12:47am): Hi, this is Casey.
Casey (12:48am): So I guess Derek told you about me?
He didn't know what to say. Would his 'friend' have been awake at this time? Shit, he should've come up with this backstory ahead of time. Fuck him for being so impulsive.
On a Friday night? Yes. This so-called friend would be awake until at least 2 A.M. (Honestly, he was more surprised that Case was still up.) After a few minutes of consideration, he decided the kid's name would be… Dan. Simple. Classic. And incredibly common. Dan the Man from London, ON.
(12:53am): nothing too bad ;)
(12:54am): i hear im supposed to be teaching you the lost art of flirting via text
Casey (12:55am): So, what's your name?
Derek took a deep breath, pushing away all the guilt that was starting to bear down on him. He had to get in prank headspace.
(12:56am): dan B)
Casey (12:57am): And what are you doing up at 1am Dan?
…Derek faltered. This was gonna be so weird. But… maybe it was giving him a chance, here. A chance to talk to Casey without the foregone conclusion of drama.
(12:59am): had a poker game with my boys. made myself some $$
Casey (1:01am): Your boys, huh? Was it no girls allowed?
(1:03am): completely. i could lose my man cred just by mentioning it to someone of the fairer sex ;)
Casey (1:05am): That'd be a shame
He sensed that she had something else to say, but his computer didn't do the same three-dot bubble his phone did when someone was typing. He hesitated, but then it came.
Casey (1:06am): Aren't you supposed to be asking ME questions too? :P
_-(1:08am): you really are a keene-_
He stopped typing. Nope. Dan was nice, and Dan was into Casey. No name-calling. But what would he say?
(1:09am): you want me to ask something? ok: what are you wearing?
Casey (1:10am): I hope you're kidding
(1:11am): of course im kidding lol
(1:12am): loosen up casey its past 1 in the AM
(1:12am): and I should probably add that im a bit tipsy
(He was.)
(1:14am): sorry. didnt mean to offend. (blind monkey emoji)
Casey (1:15am): Sorry, I'm new to the whole texting flirting thing
Casey (1:15am): Hence the lessons, lol
(1:16am): are you up to anything tonight?
Casey (1:17am): Just chatting with you :)
Casey (1:18am): To be honest, I usually go to sleep by 10pm lol
_-(1:19am): You should never admit that to anyone.-_
(1:20am): what, a cutie like you? sleeping through the weekend? smh
This was far more difficult than he expected. The part of him that was supposed to be teaching her wanted to point out all the things she was doing wrong, but if he told her about them (as himself, of course) then she wouldn't trust Dan. Dan, the nonexistent person. Who was more trustworthy than Derek, the real-life stepbrother. What was he getting himself into?
Casey (1:22am): Not asleep yet :)
Casey (1:22am): But will be soon (sleep emoji) I'm wiped
He was figuring out what to respond when she added,
Casey (1:24am): Ttyl?
(1:25am): np. sweet dreams, Princess ;)
Fuck. Had he given it away? Derek worried for a sold minute before rationalizing that Princess worked as a pet name as well as an insult (though he liked to use it for her because of her reaction to it), and that he probably would've told this Dan guy something about Casey, and maybe mentioned the Princess thing. Still… he worried.
Casey (1:30am): Night :)
So… that was that?
Oddly enough, a second later his phone vibrated.
Spacey
* What's smh? And np? (1:31am)
* I think I know np but I'm not sure (1:31am)
- TRYING TO SLEEP, KEENER (1:32am)
- GOOGLE IT (1:32am)
* Calm tf down der (1:33am)
* Lol, like "calm the freak down, there" (1:34am)
* Ahahaha (1:34am)
She was obviously lacking sleep. For some reasons she got even more interested in puns and wordplay when she was loopy from sleep deprivation.
Spacey
- Go tf to sleep. (1:35am)
* FINE. :P (1:35am)
* Also I talked to Dan, what did you tell him about me? (1:37am)
- GO TF TO SLEEP KEENER (1:39am)
* Fine. But you're massively abusing your caps lock. (1:41am)
* Thought you should know (1:41am)
- DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE (1:42am)
* Asshole (1:44am)
- _-Cunt-_
He erased that. She couldn't handle that. And he really didn't mean it.
Spacey
- Language, Princess :P (1:46am)
* (sleep emoji) (1:47am)
Derek sighed. He had a feeling this would get complicated fast.
But for now, sleep. He'd have to think about it in the morning.
Casey was shocked when she woke up. It was after 9. Meaning she'd slept through her alarm clock. She hadn't woken up after 9 since… well probably since some Derek prank in high school. And this time it was all her fault – her fault for staying up texting with Derek and Dan.
Thinking of the new contact, Casey pulled up their text conversation.
Dan ?
- Hence the lessons, lol (1:15am)
* are you up to anything tonight? (1:16am)
- Just chatting with you :) (1:17am)
- To be honest, I usually go to sleep by 10pm lol (1:18am)
Why had she ever admitted to that? Now he was going to think she was a total loser.
Dan ?
* what, a cutie like you? sleeping through the weekend? smh (1:20am)
Now that she saw it again, Casey quickly Googled the term. Apparently it meant 'shaking my head.' She hoped that was said in a joking manner. Given the 'cutie' statement earlier, she assumed so. She also assumed she hadn't totally messed up in admitting her usual bedtime.
Dan ?
- Not asleep yet :) (1:22am)
- But will be soon (sleep emoji) I'm wiped (1:22am)
- Ttyl? (1:24am)
She'd texted three times in a row? Wasn't that some sort of faux pas?
Dan ?
* np. sweet dreams, Princess ;) (1:25am)
- Night :) (1:30am)
Huh. Was 'Princess' some super common pet name or something? She'd never had anyone call her that except Derek, and it was always an insult with him. But followed with the little winky face, it certainly wasn't an insult. Or at least – god – she hoped it wasn't. Oh no. Ohhhh no. She was starting to get in her head. Last night she'd been slightly buzzed and tired out of her mind, but now she was sober and well awake and her mind needed to analyze everything.
She scrolled into her text messages with Derek.
Derek Venturi
* Go tf to sleep. (1:35am)
- FINE. :P (1:35am)
- Also I talked to Dan, what did you tell him about me? (1:37am)
Oh no. That probably sounded desperate, didn't it? She sounded like a teenage girl (nevermind if that's what she was for another few months).
Derek Venturi
* GO TF TO SLEEP KEENER (1:39am)
Typical.
Derek Venturi
- Fine. But you're massively abusing your caps lock. (1:41am)
- Thought you should know (1:41am)
Ha. She totally showed him.
Derek Venturi
* DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE (1:42am)
- Asshole (1:44am)
* Language, Princess :P (1:46am)
- (sleep emoji) (1:47am)
She scowled. So he'd called her Princess, too? …Maybe she didn't like Dan doing it. (Not that she liked Derek doing it either, she didn't like either of them doing it, but she couldn't exactly tell Derek to stop. Or, rather; she had, and he didn't.)
She let her mind percolate as she got up and got ready for the day. She needed to figure out just what was going on with this new guy. Was he spying for Derek? How was Derek supposed to know when to give her Wesley's number? Hmm…
This was getting too confusing. And she didn't expect Derek to make it any clearer. So she hit up the one other person who might have an answer.
Dan ?
- Night :) (1:30am)
- …aaaand morning! :) (9:46am)
And then she waited.
And waited.
Dan ?
- I know girls aren't supposed to text more than twice in a row or something, but I need to ask: how is this thing with Derek working out? (9:58am)
- Like are you going to be sharing our convos with him? Cause I'd rather you didn't (10:00am)
- Also, not to pry, but how do you two know each other anyway? I never heard you mentioned when we lived in London (10:11am)
Still no response. She started to wonder if Derek was more likely to answer.
She'd been devouring her breakfast, eyes still trained on her phone anxiously, to no avail. She tapped her fingers impatiently on the table, lips pursing.
Finally, she couldn't take it. So she texted. And she broke her personal rules about foul language.
Derek Venturi
- (sleep emoji) (1:47am)
- Wake up shithead (10:25am)
She ended up occupying herself with other things (most of said things being homework) while she awaited a response.
Derek Venturi
- Wake up shithead (10:25am)
* What did I say about language? (10:41am)
* And good morning to you too (10:41am)
- ABOUT GODDAMN TIME (10:42am)
* Your massively abusing your caps lock Case (10:44am)
* Thought you should know (10:45am)
* :P (10:45am)
- You're* (10:45am)
- And fuck you Venturi (10:46am)
There may have been a tiny thrill at using the F-word in its purest form.
Derek Venturi
* HA you wish mcD (10:46am)
- So what's the deal with this Dan guy? (10:47am)
* ? (10:49am)
- He seems decent. How is he friends with you? (10:49am)
* Ouch Spacey (10:50am)
- :P (10:50am)
* We played hockey with each other back in primary school (10:53am)
* Then he switched into some private school (10:54am)
* Got shipped off (10:54am)
- It's weird, I never heard you mention him before (10:56am)
* Well unlike you I have more than 3 friends (10:57am)
* You don't know all my friends princess (10:58am)
* Deal with it. (10:58am)
- Let it be known that I am glaring (11:00am)
* Dulie noted (11:01am)
- Not how you spell duly (11:01am)
* All hail grammar nazi (11:02am)
- Spelling, actually (11:02am)
- And if you're going for accuracy it'd be all heil ;P (11:03am)
* Fucking keener (11:04am)
- How is this practice texter thing working? (11:07am)
* You tell me. Did he answer? (11:08am)
- I mean are you going to talk to him about what we talk about? (11:08am)
* So you've talked? How was it? Do you like him? (11:10am)
- ? Since when do you care? (11:11am)
* Whatever just wondering (11:13am)
- He's okay. We barely talked (11:14am)
* Ouch, getting the silent treatment already? :P (11:14am)
- Oh ha ha. You didn't answer my q (11:15am)
* Not sure, I'll get back to you (11:18am)
Casey frowned. It seemed like he really should've thought this through when he set it up with Dan. But, of course, Derek wasn't exactly a planner, like she was. She became more irked as she thought. He probably didn't even have a plan on how to set her up with Wesley. He was probably just leading her on. She huffed angrily, glaring at her phone.
In all honesty, she hated texting. There were too many variables she couldn't control for, and too many rules on how to appear cool. And now she was getting evaluated on it? By Derek of all people?
What had she gotten herself into?
A/N: This chapter's title is once again Death Cab for Cutie (one of my favorite bands, I will likely have another song or two by them before this story is over), this time from 'Some Boys,' which is a song I adore and have listened to on repeat. I thought the song had the right mellow tone for post-midnight conversations lit by blue screens in single-person bedrooms.
Has anyone been keeping up with the playlist? (Found at bit. ly/1Js2Osw) Or listening to any of the songs?
Let me know in a review!
I will be gone for about a month, but I do intend to continue! Thanks to everyone for they continued support, and wish me luck!
