disclaimer: once again, I own nothing
Chapter 4: The Dinner Date From Hell
If anything should happen,
I guess I wish you well
Hmm a little bit of heaven,
With a little bit of hell
Casey and Derek came running into the emergency room, luckily with both their extracurricular activities, they weren't too much out of breath. They were looking around, hoping that they could find someone, anyone who would tell them something. They saw patients and their family members in the waiting room, staring at them. Who wouldn't though. They were both so frantic to get to the hospital that Casey grabbed the first thing that she saw in her closet, which was a green shirt and bright red jogging pants, she looked like Christmas threw up. Derek didn't even look in his closet, he just put on the clothes that he found on his floor, he had no idea how dirty they were, but they were probably really dirty because the brown shirt had wrinkles, and dust everywhere, and there were black spots all over the jeans.
"Where do we go?" Derek asked, turning around in circles. Casey then pointed to a front desk that they somehow didn't see in the first place. They both ran to the desk, startling the nurse who was behind it.
"Macdonald-Venturi," Casey said quickly. The nurse nodded, seeing the frighten expression on both teenager's faces. She was actually waiting for them. She was the one who called them.
"Follow me," she said, "You will be in a private waiting room, a doctor will be notified that you're here and come as soon as they can," the nurse continued, leading them into the small, dingy, gloomy room. There were a couple chairs against the wall for people to sit but that was it. Derek looked at Casey when the nurse closed the door, he saw her even more frightened, as if she knew something horrible that he didn't.
"Casey-" he started to say slowly but was interrupted by her.
"They put us in a private waiting room, this isn't good," she rambled, sitting on one of the chairs, and putting her head in her hands.
"Why?" Derek asked; it always amazed him how much she knew about the world and how little he did.
"They only put the families of the patients in a private room if it is a horrible situation. My aunt was put into one of these rooms when her husband fell from a tree and slipped into a coma," Casey said, not lifting her head to look at Derek.
"What happened to her husband?" he asked, now curious about the story, if he lived, that would at least give him a little bit of hope.
"He died on the table," she said, in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Oh God," Derek said, leaning his head back, against the wall, and closing his eyes. A second later, a doctor walked in, holding a folder. Casey and Derek both jumped out of their seats immediately and walked over to the doctor.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Sheppard," he said, holding out his hand for them to shake, he was young, he looked like an intern extra from "Grey's Anatomy".
"Derek Venturi and this is my stepsister, Casey Macdonald," Derek said as they shook hands.
"Before I start, I'm so sorry for what happened-"
"Can you just save us the suspense and tell us if our family is alive," Casey said bitterly. Derek gave her a glance, trying to tell her to let the doctor speak.
Dr. Sheppard nodded; he didn't seem too fazed by Casey's outburst. "Of course. All of your family members are still alive. George Venturi and Nora Macdonald-Venturi are still in major surgery. Edwin Venturi and Elizabeth Macdonald are being tested for concussions, broken bones, etc. so you won't be able to speak with them at the moment. You can talk to Marissa Venturi, but I must warn you before I take you to her. She seems to have a slight memory loss. She can't remember anything past her buckling her seatbelt and Mr. Venturi starting the engine. It's possible that in the state of shock, her mind has reset to before the accident. She doesn't remember the accident or coming to the hospital, she only knows what we've told her, which is very little since she is only nine. You can tell her about the accident if you like, that is your decision. Would you like to see her now?" Dr. Sheppard said. During his explanation, neither Derek nor Casey said anything, both trying to wrap their heads around everything that has happened. "Would you like to see Marissa Venturi?" he asked again.
"Marti, her name is Marti," Casey said, "and yes, we want to see her," she continued. The doctor nodded and led them to the room where Marti was waiting patiently for them.
Casey opened her eyes quickly, hearing her alarm clock beep. She automatically groaned, not because of how early she was getting up, but because of the dream. She didn't know why she was dreaming about that day but she wanted it to stop. It was as if she was reliving that day in her dreams. She then groaned again when she realized that today was the day that Derek and his girlfriend, Faith, were coming over.
She got up and after she got ready, she left her room, walking towards the kitchen. Once she reached there, she saw everyone eating, except Marti.
"Where's Marti?" Casey asked. Everyone looked up, as if they hadn't noticed that Marti's present wasn't there, they were not morning people.
"I think she's still in her room," Zachie said, trying to dip his action figure into his cereal but Edwin quickly grabbed it and put it on the table.
Casey nodded and went upstairs, thinking that Marti must have overslept. She knocked on Marti's door, not hearing an answer; she slowly walked in, assuming that she must have slept through her alarm clock. She was shocked when she saw that Marti wasn't in the room and her bed was made, without a wrinkle in sight. She walked to the washroom, seeing the door open and no Marti in there. She checked every room on that floor, leaving the one that she dreaded to go into for last, Derek's.
Casey sighed and opened the door slowly, seeing Marti on Derek's bed, staring at the ceiling as Derek did many times. The room looked as if Derek had never left. People have asked her why she kept it that way, instead of letting Edwin take the room so that he and Zachie could have their own separate rooms. Casey couldn't do that, for one thing, Edwin would have never agreed to that, no one stepped into that room unless it was an absolute must and Casey just couldn't bring herself to change anything. Deep, deep down she still wished that he would come back. Everyone in that family did, with the exception of Zachie since he didn't know Derek existed till a few days ago. Everyone wanted him to come back, especially when George started having a drinking problem and lost his licence to practice being a lawyer.
She found it was funny how everyone, including herself, thought, that Derek would be able to fix everything. How would he be able to fix everything? She guessed that everyone just longed for having the whole family together, no matter how much they tried to hide it. Casey inhaled and closed her eyes. She could still smell his cologne that he insisted the ladies loved, but no one really did. That stuff was so strong that he would spray it in the air and walk through it to not get too much of it on him. It didn't surprise her that much when, even after all these years, she could still smell it.
Her gaze then drifted to Marti, still not analogizing her presences in the room. Casey took a small step into the room, about to say something to break the deafening silence that was occupying the space but Marti beat her to it.
"Do you really think he's coming today?" Marti asked her, talking about the dinner party that was going to happen that evening.
"Yes, I believe he's coming," Casey said, still staying where she was, she didn't dare to come any closer, it hurt to much to be in that room.
"But not to see us, he's only coming because what's-her-face wants to meet us," Marti replied.
"Her name is Faith and I think, deep, deep, down, he has always wanted to see us, he was just too scared to do so."
"Whatever," Marti said, getting off his bed and walking out of the room. Casey smiled a bit, even though it hurt to be in that room, she still liked to be reminded that some things are normal, like Marti's favourite word being 'whatever' since she turned that magic number of thirteen.
---
Casey was scrambling around the kitchen, trying to get everything ready. She had taken Mark up on his offer with his grandmother's recipe and was now stirring it so it wouldn't burn. Not only was she making pasta, she also made Caesar salad and garlic bread. For dessert, she planed to have fresh fruits in case someone didn't want the Rocky Road ice cream that Zachie had picked out at the store. She thought it was funny that Zachie loved Rocky Road, that's Derek's favourite ice cream too. It amazed her how sometimes Derek could pop up in Zachie.
She glanced out of the kitchen, and into the living room, seeing Zachie and Marti watching t.v., both waiting for the guests to arrive. Lizzie and Edwin were upstairs in their rooms, trying to do as much homework as they could before Derek and Faith came. Lizzie asked Casey if she wanted help with cooking but she said no, she had everything under control, and besides, Lizzie needed the extra time to work on her homework, she was going to lose a couple of hours of studying tonight.
She had just placed the last piece of food on the table when the doorbell rang, promptly at six o'clock. Casey couldn't help but roll her eyes. Faith must be a very punctual woman, as she was but everyone knows to always come a little later to have dinner at someone's house to give the hosts time to run and pretend they aren't home. Obviously, Faith did not get this secret message of the sisterhood of women kind.
"Somebody get that please," Casey said, running back into the kitchen to get the huge spoon and fork for the salad that seemed to once again, be missing. Neither Marti nor Zachie got up to move. Zachie didn't get up because he was too engross into the t.v. to hear anything around him and Marti didn't really want to get it. "Marti please get it," Casey shouted. Marti sighed and got up to answer the door.
"Somebody get that please." Derek and Faith heard through the front door. That house really needed a new door; anyone could hear everything through that door.
"This is a bad idea," Derek whispered to Faith for the millionth time that day.
"Why would it be a bad idea? Casey sounded grateful on the phone. She was the one that suggested on having the get together here," Faith said back at him. She didn't understand completely why Derek didn't want to come. She knew that he hadn't spoken to his family for six years, he said that they grew apart. She knew his father was in rehab for alcohol and that his family didn't want him to go to Alberta to make a business. She thought that was pretty selfish of them but wondered if maybe she could help let by gones be by gones.
"It's just going to be one huge awkward night," Derek whispered back, just before the door opened. They both looked down at the fifteen year old that looked as bored as hell.
"Hello, you must be Marti, I'm Faith," Faith said friendly smiling and bending down to be at Marti's eye level which took a lot of effort, Marti wasn't a tall teenager. Marti just nodded and walked away, leaving the door open for them to walk in. If it was up to her, she would have slammed the doors in their faces but apparently, to Casey, that would be mean and immature.
"Welcome to hell," Derek said, stepping in first, followed by Faith. When they walked in, they could smell the sauce that filled the whole house. Derek took off his coat and put it on the coat rack, he then held out his hands, waiting for Faith to give him her's.
Faith shut the front door, and then handed her coat to Derek. She looked around the house, trying to memorize everything. This was where her boyfriend spent all of his eighteen years, living in this house. She was immediately curious about the place. She was looking for things that Derek had mentioned and realized that it was everything he said it would be. There was his recliner that he loved, in all of it's ugly glory. There were pictures on the wall, showing everyone that lived in that house. The walls were even the same colour that he said they were. She asked him once if he had any pictures of his family, he said that he had one. The picture was taken on his graduation day. He and Casey were in their robes and surrounded by the family, the younger kids in the front with the parents on each side of the graduates. Faith saw that same picture on the wall and smiled. She knew that there must be some room in this family for Derek to fit back in, if not, why were there be pictures of him everywhere. What she didn't realize was that in each picture he was in, there were other people too, and Casey didn't want to take any of them down, for when Nora wakes up, she would see that nothing has changed unless it had too.
Faith stopped looking around when Casey came out of the kitchen. She was wearing a pink shirt and a black skirt, with an apron over top. Casey quickly took off the apron when she realized she was still wearing it and held it in her hand. She smiled her fake smile at both of them, trying to hide her discomfort.
"Hello again, it's nice to know that we can meet without colliding into each other," Casey said to Faith, she didn't even glance once at Derek. "Uh, I'm sorry about leaving you out there for so long. I was busy with the food, Lizzie and Edwin are still upstairs finishing their homework and when that t.v. is on, I swear Marti and Zachie go into a zone where they can't hear anything besides the t.v., speaking of which," Casey said, grabbing the remote and turning off the t.v. This led to groans from both Zachie and Marti. "Go wash your hands, dinner's ready and while you're up there, tell Lizzie and Edwin," Casey instructed. Both of them got up and went up the stairs, leaving Casey, Derek and Faith in an awkward silence.
"Oh," Faith said, breaking the silence, "I brought cookies for dessert but I must have left them in the car."
"I'll go get them," Derek said quickly, but Faith wanted Casey and Derek to talk, if they made up, she figured everyone else would let him back into the family too. She sensed Casey being the leader of the family clan
"No, I'll get it," Faith said quickly, running out of the house without her jacket. Casey and Derek weren't alone for a second longer after that because everyone came down the stairs, all having the same 'I hate you' face for Derek, with the exception of Zachie. Faith then came back into the house, holding the box of cookies.
"Oh, uh Faith, this is Edwin and Lizzie," Casey introduced. Faith stuck out her free hand to shake but neither Edwin nor Lizzie made a move to touch it. Casey cleared her throat, "I'll show you where the fridge is," she said, trying to remain polite. Faith nodded, bringing her hand back to her side and followed Casey into the kitchen.
Marti, Edwin, Lizzie, and Zachie all sat down in their seats. Derek noticed that his three younger siblings all sat in the same spot they sat at six years ago, with the exception of Zachie sitting in between Edwin and Marti. He noticed that his seat wasn't taken and wondered if anyone ever sat there. He walked over to his seat and sat down slowly, no one said anything, all looking down at their plates. Even Zachie was because he was playing with his action figure, but Edwin soon whispered something to him and he nodded, getting up and putting his toy on George's desk. He sat back down just as Casey and Faith walked into the room.
Casey sat down in her spot, beside Lizzie, across from Derek, forgetting that Faith was there, not knowing where to sit. Faith then walked to the seat closest to the kitchen, which was where George would sit if he wasn't in rehab. She pulled the chair out and was about to sit when Zachie shouted.
"Don't!" he cried. Everyone looked at him. "That's where poppy George sits, you can't sit there," Zachie said. No one said anything to correct him; they knew that he didn't like people sitting in other's spots. Faith nodded and crossed the table to Nora's seat. Everyone's eyes bulged out, including Derek's.
"No!" Faith heard a voice say just when she was about to sit down. This time it wasn't Zachie who shouted it but Marti. "You can't sit there, if you do, it's like saying Nora won't come back," Marti said, trying to explain it to Faith, she assumed she knew what happened to Nora. Faith nodded, again but felt awkward, as if she entered a dangerous zone.
"Why don't you sit beside Lizzie," Casey offered kindly. Faith smiled and walked over and sat beside Lizzie, and that was more or less the last words that anyone said during dinner.
---
Faith tried her best; she really did to bring a conversation alive during dinner. She asked about how old everyone was, what was Lizzie's and Edwin's majors, what was Marti's favourite subject, things like that but all she was getting was one-word answers and that was it. The only person who really talked to her was Zachie and she felt that Zachie was her favourite of Derek's family. They all didn't seem much alive in the world. They all seemed to hate Derek, which made Faith not like them very much. Who were they to judge him, he just followed his dream and they should have supported him, unfortunately for her, she didn't know the full story.
Casey started clearing the plates and bowls off the table. They had just finished eating dessert. She couldn't help but relax a bit, after all Derek and Faith were sure to leave soon since they finished eating. When she walked back into the dinning room, she found out she couldn't be more wrong. Out of nowhere, Zachie came down the stairs with a board game and placed it on the table.
"Can we please, please play this," Zachie asked everyone at the table. Faith said yes quickly before Derek could say that they should be leaving and everyone else reluctantly agreed because what could they say to Zachie. Damn kid, Casey thought. He seemed to have this firm grasp with everyone to get what he wanted most of the time.
They began playing the game but the only two people who were really enjoying themselves were Faith and Zachie. Everyone else just wanted Derek to leave, finally that wish was granted with a cell phone ring. Derek reached into his pocket to answer it quickly, but not quick enough. Casey recognized the song; it was their song. The song that they both agreed it would be their song. She sometimes cried when she heard it, but this time she was more angry then sad. Derek stood up, excusing himself then walked outside to take the phone call.
"Hello," Derek said once he was outside and the front door shut. It was something for work, apparently they wanted to ask something that went on in the meeting that day and couldn't wait for tomorrow. It was a short call but when Derek hung up the phone, he couldn't bring himself to walk back inside. He sighed knowing that he would get sick if he stayed out here and turned to go back inside but jumped away from the door quickly when he turned around.
"What the hell!" he said, he was staring at Casey, clutching her sweater because she didn't grab her coat.
"So was that 'the call'?" she asked, bending her two fingers as air quotations when she said the call.
"What?" Derek asked her.
"You know the call for you to go back inside and tell Faith that you had to go because of some work emergency. Jeeze Derek, why did you even get Faith to call me if you didn't want to come?" she demanded.
"First off, that wasn't 'the call' and secondly, I didn't ask her to call, she called you on her own."
"Of course she did, I can't believe for even one second that I thought that maybe, just maybe you wanted to see the family that you haven't seen in 6 years, but no, I was wrong. Your girlfriend is trying harder than you!" she said, throwing her hands up in the air and getting hysterical.
"Hey I've been trying! It took a lot of guts for me to come on Sunday and today! And I do care; these stupid dreams have been bugging me about that day!" Derek shouted, equally hysterical. "And what did you do to everyone! None of them will even look at me, and Marti, Marti yelled at me! What did you say to them when I left?" Derek shouted.
"What did I say to them? I told them the truth, that you left and probably never coming back. I sugar coated it as much as I could but it was kind of hard. They have a right to ignore you and when did Marti yell at you?" Casey shouted back.
"At the hospital on Sunday and you did something more to them, that family loved me when I left and now-"
Casey cut him off, too pulled into the argument to even wonder why Marti didn't tell her that she saw him. "And now they hate you. Of course they do, because it hurts too much to love someone who abandoned them. It hurts too much to talk to them or even think about them. It hurts too much to love someone who doesn't love them back!" Casey said, now with tears rolling down on her cheeks. "It hurts too much when something can remind you of that someone but they don't seem to remember or care about it," she said, finishing her speech.
"What are you talking about?" he asked her, referring to the last part.
"Your ring tone, I asked Faith about it and she said that it was yours and her's song but I remember clearly that it was our song at one point," she said.
Derek stared at her, shocked. "Casey we broke up, I think that counts as 'our song,'" he said, using air quotations, "to not be our song anymore. Who cares if I liked it enough to use it with another girlfriend?" he said, oblivious to her feelings.
She nodded, wiping her tears off her cheeks and onto her sweater. "Your right, you should use it, it's just a song and our song has changed, it's called Happy Ending, look it up," she said, opening the front door and walking in, where she saw her family and Faith all jumping away from the window, clearly watching the feuding. They weren't the only ones watching though, the neighbours had too, all knowing the history between Casey and Derek.
Faith didn't know what to make of the scene. Casey mentioned their song, but if they had a song, that would mean that they were a couple at one point. If they were, what made them break up? Faith wondered. Many questions were spinning around in her head but one stuck out the most. Why had Derek lied to her? There was clearly more to the story then just a family disapproving the eldest child of his dream. Faith walked over to the coat rack, grabbing Derek's and her coat, she thanked Casey for having them over and left.
Casey stared at her family. She knew that they heard everything, all of them knowing exactly how she felt and why, with the exception of Zachie. No one said anything, waiting for Casey to say the first words.
"Well, I think we should clean up," she said, walking towards the kitchen. No one said anything, all knowing that she clearly did not want to talk about it.
---
"So were you ever going to tell me?" Faith said once Derek started the car and drove away from the house.
"Tell you what?" Derek asked, knowing exactly what but hoping that Faith was too afraid to confront him.
"About you and Casey, how you two were a 'thing' at some point. Is that why you moved all the way to Alberta? Because you and Casey broke up, or should I say you dumped her, she is still clearly in love with you." Apparently, Faith was too much annoyed with Derek not telling her the truth than being afraid.
"She isn't still in love with me," Derek said, not too convincingly.
"Oh, so her yelling at how much it hurt to love someone that doesn't love her back was just nothing right."
"Right," Derek said.
"So you don't love her," Faith asked, she didn't want to be in a relationship with someone who was in love someone else.
"No, I love you," Derek said as they drove. Faith nodded, feeling relieved that Casey was just a psycho that was in love with her stepbrother who wasn't in love with her.
What Faith didn't know was if Derek believed that he wasn't in love with Casey. He had been thinking it over in his head. He moved to Alberta because he thought it was far enough away from Casey. It took him months to get over her, to stop thinking about her every waking hour of the day. He still thought about her at least once a day. This was the reason why he didn't want to come to London but his partner couldn't go because it was his child's birthday that week. So Derek came and he now more then ever regretted it. He realized that he missed his family and that he never got over Casey and that was why he had that ring tone. He didn't want to change it so he made it his and Faith's song so she wouldn't get suspicious of the girly song. So, as they walked into the hotel room, he wished that Faith wasn't the one that he was going to lie beside in the bed tonight, but Casey.
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