A/N: I had this chapter in mind since I started the story and it came out the way I wanted it to. I hope you all like it.
In the next chapter or 2 you will see a little but more of the realization of feelings and such. I am really looking forward to one that I am going to call "The Game" (don't know if it's the next one or the one after yet).
Thanks for all the great reviews. They make me want to write more, instead of doing school work.
Enjoy and review please!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 7: Date Night and "We're even"
Casey and Derek walked into a small diner and headed towards a booth in the back. He let Casey pick the restaurant, but they both know that she picked the first one they saw, because they were both so hungry. Sliding into opposite sides of the booth, Derek passes Casey a menu from the end of the table. By the time the waitress came to take their orders, they knew what they wanted. Casey ordered a cheeseburger and fries, with a coke. Derek just nodded to the waitress and said he would have the same.
Waiting for their food, they looked around the diner. It was small but very charming. It had an old fashioned feel to it, with small jukeboxes on the tables, so people could enjoy the music they wanted to listen to while they ate. Casey flipped through the songs, which were mostly from the '80s and then just hit the random button.
During the meal there was a lot of conversation. It went from what classes they were taking to hockey season beginning the next weekend to what they needed from the supermarket. Throughout the meal, their waitress kept coming up to them, making sure the meal was ok and refilling their drinks.
"So Casey . . ." Derek began, not knowing how to continue.
"Yeah Derek . . ." Casey said, smirking at him. She always found it funny and little cute when he was flustered for words, hoping that she was the one making him fluster.
"Well, you know that I am not the best cook in the world." Derek said as he looked down at his food.
"What are you talking about? You make the best toast I have ever had, and your bowls of cereal are to die for." Although Casey tried to act serious, she could not help but laugh at herself.
"Ok ok, enough with the 'Let's pick on Derek because he can't cook.'" He waited for her to stop laughing before he began again, "I always plan on helping you with the cooking, but I was kind of thinking that you could teach me how to cook. I would feel bad if you had to cook for me every night." Even though I wouldn't mind eating your cooking.
Hmm, spending more time with Derek. "Only if you promise to cook me one meal a week by yourself, so I can taste your progress." Casey replied with a grin on her face.
Derek agreed, but then a thought crossed his mind. "Only if we can go out to eat once a week, to give ourselves a break from cooking. We can even come here, the food isn't half bad and it's kind of cheap." And a little dark and romantic.
"And then after we can rent a movie?" Where we can cuddle on the couch to watch it. Casey had to force her face from forming a huge smile as Derek nodded his head in approval.
"Every Saturday night then," Derek said as he shook Casey's hand to seal the deal.
Date night every Saturday, they both thought simultaneously.
Their waitress came by again to see if they needed anything else.
"Der, can we please get some ice cream?" Casey said in a baby voice, making her lower lip pout out.
Can she be any more perfect? Like I can even say no to that face. Derek gave her a sly look, acting like he was thinking. He turned to the waitress, "Can we please get vanilla ice cream with hot fudge. No cherry though, she's allergic." Casey was a little shocked that he knew what she wanted, but brushed it out of her mind, thinking he just picked it up from living with her for so long.
"Sorry hun, but we ran out of vanilla earlier today. Anything else?" Looking over at Casey's upset face, Derek said no and politely asked for the check. The waitress handed it to him and told him he can pay at the counter. Before leaving she turned to Casey, "You've got a great guy there, don't let him get away."
Before Casey or Derek could protest to the waitress, she turned around and left. They both sat there in complete shock. Without realizing it, they were both blushing and as their eyes met, they just blushed more.
Derek and Casey got to the supermarket around 7:30. They knew they needed to get a lot of stuff, so they decided to take the store aisle by aisle. They started in the back by the dairy section. The wagon contained things from bathroom tissue and napkins to poptarts and orange juice. They made their way through the aisles, asking each other what the other would prefer.
They reached the beauty care aisle and Casey began scanning the body washes, thinking she wanted to try a new kind. Derek went a little further into the aisle to grab his shampoo. When Casey made her decision, she turned towards the wagon to see Derek drop his shampoo in, along with a bottle of her own.
He knows my shampoo? I didn't think he paid any attention to that. She simply smiled at him when he asked if she was ok. He said she had a weird but happy look on her face. He secretly loved when she zoned out like that, thinking of the way she was in the kitchen the night before, she looked so innocent. They grabbed the other bathroom necessities, such as toothpaste and mouthwash, and made their way to the end of the aisle.
Looking into the wagon, Casey realized they forgot something. "Hey Derek, do you think you can run back and grab some milk? We forgot it and I don't feel like eating dry cereal in the morning."
"Sure thing," he said before turning to leave.
"I'll meet you in the next aisle. I'm going to grab some band aids and aspirin, seeing as you have a game this Friday." She chuckled and let him go.
I wonder if she said that out of care for me or if she is afraid I'm going to bleed all over the apartment, Derek thought as he walked to the back of the store and grabbed some milk. Well, she would make a pretty hot nurse, tending to his cuts and bruises. He decided to go down one of the frozen aisles before making his way back to the front of the store. His eyes scanned the case before landing on what he was looking for, Häagen-Daz vanilla with chcoclate fudge ice cream, Casey's favorite.
As Derek turned down the aisle that Casey was on his heart caught in his throat. What is she doing? We have been here for less than an hour and she already has a guy on her side. Derek saw some guy standing to Casey's right, blatantly flirting with her, even though he only saw their backs. But he was angry, angry that she was with a guy and that he was jealous. She is not your girlfriend. She could date people. She is allowed to have a friendly conversation. Derek noticed as the guy leaned in, whispering into Casey's ear. He saw how tense Casey got, he knew she felt uncomfortable.
Doing the only thing he could think of, Derek grabbed something from the shelf near him and made his way towards them. He placed himself right between the two and dropped the milk, ice cream and third item into the cart, making sure the last item was on the top and able to be seen.
Placing his hand on the small of Casey's back, he leaned into her and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey, I thought we would try these this time, to see how you like them," making sure he was loud enough for the guy to hear him.
Looking at the box of 'for her pleasure' condoms in the wagon and then at the look in his eyes, Casey knew exactly what Derek was doing. She thanked him with her eyes and leaned into him for a hug. Placing a kiss on his neck for the guy to see, she said "Thanks babe, I can't wait."
Derek instantly melted when her soft lips hit his bare skin. He wrapped his arms around her waist and inhaled her scent. Her hair moved a little into his face and her smell magnified. Mmm, coconuts, we should definitely pick up some fruit.
Casey closed her eyes when she made contact with his neck. She fought the urge to continue kissing and just relished in the warmth coming from him. She knew the instant they would break contact that she would be cold.
Neither of them noticed the angry guy grunt and walk away.
After what seemed like hours but was merely a few seconds they heard someone clear their throat. They reluctantly let go of one another and faced a little old lady, who had a smile on her face. She reached between the two and grabbed a bottle of cold medicine. As she walked away they could hear her say something about young love. Again, they both blushed and looked into the other's eyes.
Grabbing for the box, Derek took the condoms and placed them on a nearby shelf. Casey noticed a look of embarrassment on his face. "Don't be embarrassed, it was really nice of you. Thank you for saving me."
Smiling up at her, his only response was "You owe me you know."
She smirked thinking anything you want you can have.
When they got home and put everything away, Derek began to walk towards his room. Casey called out his name, making him turn to face her.
"Where do you think you are going? It's Saturday, we still have a movie to watch." She turned towards their small DVD collection and began looking through them. She was unaware of the huge grin across Derek's face. What is the most romantic movie here? Ahah! She grabbed 'The Notebook" and popped it into the DVD player.
Derek secretly loved this movie. It was another thing that reminded him of Casey. The characters were always fighting, but it was always so passionate. Although they did not fight anymore, they still had their playful banter and Casey was still a bit feisty when she wanted to be, which made him fall in love all over again.
As he sat down on the couch next to a wrapped up Casey, he watched her begin to eat her ice cream. "Well, if I'm going to watch this movie, then I'm eating some of your ice cream." With that, he snatched the spoon from her hand and placed it in his mouth, delighted in the fact that it was in her mouth only a few seconds before. Maybe I could just eat the ice cream right out of her mouth, explaining that I did not want to dirty anymore dishes. She laughed and grabbed the spoon back, occasionally sharing the ice cream with him, of course from the same spoon.
I cannot believe it is the first day of classes and I am already late. His eyes scanned the lecture hall and he finally saw Casey sitting a few rows ahead of him, with her bag in a seat to her right. I hope she is saving that seat for me.
This was world history, the only class that they had together. Casey saw that the class was beginning to start so she looked around the room, searching for Derek. She saw him heading towards her and she removed her bag from the seat to her right. I was hoping he would sit next to me.
As he sat down, he mouthed a thanks. I do not think I have ever seen lips so perfect before in my entire life. They look so plump and kissable. Maybe I could just run my lips over his, telling him I was killing a bug.
Casey was ripped from her thoughts when she heard him sigh annoyingly. Did he catch me staring at his lips? She noticed him tear a sheet of paper from his notebook and begin to write something that did not resemble history notes.
Look over your left shoulder. But don't make it obvious.
Casey did and saw an annoying blond a few seats away, blowing kisses in their direction. As she turned she saw Derek writing something else on the piece of paper.
See the blond, the one that reminds you of that slut Summer from high school. Well, she is in my drawing class right before this. She came over to me after and started flirting, which is why I was late - by the way, thanks for saving me a seat :). I tried to tell her I was not interested, but that seemed to piss her off. She kept at it and I couldn't take her idiotic behavior anymore, I really think she only has 3 brain cells. Anyway, I just blurt out the first thing that came to me . . . I told her I have a girlfriend.
Casey's heart skipped a beat. Although she knew he didn't have a girlfriend, she kind of hoped he thought of her when he said that, if only to get the girl to stop annoying him.
She did not believe me though, saying I was lying. I just left her standing there as I head to this class, not confirming that I did not have a girlfriend. I had no idea I had another class with her. Now she will probably try and sit next to us from now on.
Casey's eyes ran over the rest of the note. She had no idea that Derek planned on sitting with her everyday. But she wasn't going to complain.
Thinking quickly, she reached her left hand over her lap and captured Derek's left hand in her own, intertwining their fingers, setting the hands in her lap. She could not use her right hand, because she was a righty, as was he. Normally, someone would think it would feel uncomfortable, it being 2 left hands, but it felt just right to both of them. She looked up into his confused eyes, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, making sure the blond was able to see the whole thing. Casey leaned over and wrote on the paper . . .
We're even. ;)
They sat through the whole class holding hands, both with their hearts racing and minds full of thoughts. They were barely able to take notes the entire time, secretly thanking the professor for putting his notes online.