Liar, Liar

Summary: Casey likes Derek. Derek is suspicious. Casey lies. Derek knows better...and isn't going to let her get off that easily.

Author's Note: I do not own Life With Derek

"Run your mouth,
I bet I can catch it."
- Sara Bareilles

Derek logged on to his Instant Messenger. He clicked on Sam_Da_Man_hXc and began to type, "Hey. So...something's up with Casey and she just lied to my face about it. Made up some bull about Em having a crush on me. Any idea what's going on with her?"

He put on some music and waited for a response. The IM window lit up, and Derek read Sam's answer, "Well duh, bro. She's been crushing on you for a long time now. I thought you knew. You can't be that clueless."

Derek's eyes narrowed as he typed back, "I'm. Not. Clueless. I just didn't think that'd be it."

"Well it is. If she said Em has a crush on you, that's to cover for herself. So what are you going to do."

"What do you think?" Derek typed back.

"?"

"Have some fun, of course ;) "

The next morning, Derek rolled out of bed and peered into his closet. Most of the clothes were rumpled up on the floor. But his "nice" things were neatly hung up in the back of the closet. Derek grabbed for his most prized possession - his leather jacket. Whenever he wore it to parties, the girls were always pawing at him. He set it carefully on the bed and grabbed a tight black t-shirt off the floor of his closet. He slipped it on, shook on a pair of jeans, and shrugged his leather jacket over his shoulders. He glanced at his mirror hanging on the back of the closet door. His look was almost complete. Grabbing some hair gel off the closet floor, Derek squeezed some into his palms and ran it through his hair. Messy and effortless. Then he grabbed for the cologne George had bought him for Christmas last year. He only ever wore it to parties and the girls always complemented him on it. After giving himself one more look-over, Derek popped the leather collar and grinned, "Casey McDonald, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into."

He casually headed downstairs, again - effortlessly. That's one thing girls didn't know about guys - that it took a damn lot of effort to appear effortless. He casually walked into the kitchen as Casey was pouring cereal into a bowl. She was alone. Her back was to him. The kids had already eaten and were probably off to meet their bus. Derek grabbed his bottom lip between his teeth and walked over to her. He got real close and reached around her exaggeratedly. He felt her whole body tense and he couldn't help but smirk. Oh yeah. This was going to be fun.

"Der-ek!"

"What? I'm just getting a bowl."

"You're in my way!"

"Or are you in my way?" Derek stroked his chin.

"Just go away," Casey pushed herself away from him and finished pouring her cereal at the island. Derek chuckled. His fun was just beginning.

Derek poured himself a bowl of Marshmallow Bunnies and leaned against the counter, eating. He didn't take his eyes off her. He could tell it was making Casey uncomfortable. She kept fidgeting in her chair. Finally, Derek said, "I'm thinking of talking to Emily today..."

"What?" Casey almost shouted.

"Don't worry," Derek shook his head, "I'm not going to tell her you said anything to me. I'm just going to tell her I've been getting some...vibes. You know, it's a gift. It really is."

"What is?" Casey asked suspiciously.

"My psychic abilities."

"Psh," she scoffed, "What psychic abilities?"

"The ability to always tell when someone has a crush on me," Derek stared right at her.

"Is...is that so," Casey quickly averted her gaze into her cereal bowl.

"Mmhmm. Had since I was eleven. I can always tell when a girl likes me. I was getting some vibes from Emily earlier, but what you said last night just confirmed it. So I'm going to just talk to her. Don't worry, I really won't even bring you up. I'll just tell her that I've had some vibes. And that I'm flattered, but I'm just not interested in her."

"Derek," Casey opened her mouth to say something, then said, "...nevermind. You won't tell her anything about what I said last night?"

"Of course not," Derek slurped directly from his bowl, "I'm not that much of an ass."

Casey smiled a tight smile, "Thank you."

"No problem," Derek tossed his empty bowl into the sink. He headed towards the living room but stopped and backed up towards her. He grabbed a strand of her hair and felt her body tense all over again. He was pretty sure she was holding her breath. He expected her to get mad at him for touching her, but she just sat there - rigid. "Did you do something different to your hair today?"

"Uh..." Casey's voice cracked slightly, "y-yes. I just curled it. I haven't curled it in awhile." Suddenly, her tone changed to panic, "Why? Does it look bad?"

"Well, I would say it looks nice. But since you're typical look is 'hot mess' the best I can give you is 'it doesn't look as bad as usual.'"

Casey batted his hand away, "Thank you so much, Derek. You're always such the flatterer."

Derek bowed exaggeratedly, leaning in closer to her ear, and whispered, "I do my best." He pulled away, running a hand through his hair, and said, "Get a move on, Spacey! I'm leaving in three minutes."