Chapter Three

Hi guys, if you're all still there. Sorry I haven't been around a while. I get distracted easily. If you want to personally yell at my ass for being lazy, then do so by emailing me - caitlinlouden at gmail dot com

We left off with Sam and Casey getting to know each other after Derek's horrible way of dissing Casey by shoving his tongue in her mouth, as you may recall. Oh, just as well, Sam never actually introduced himself to Casey, so I went back and fixed that in Chapter 2. Now, do enjoy!

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Casey got back to her house, where Marsh had already fallen asleep on the couch. Her Mother Nora was out with a guy, like she was every Friday night, and her sister Lizzie was up in her room asleep already. Casey sat on the couch beside her boyfriend. Marsh was a big guy, in the sense that he could pick Casey up with one hand if he felt so inclined. He was on the wrestling team at his high school, where Casey used to go with him. They met at one of his matches, which Casey didn't want to go. She was stuck at school until her Mother could pick her up later. Good luck, Casey thought, that she was forced to stay, because otherwise she never would have met Marsh.

Tapping him lightly on the shoulder, Casey woke Marsh up instantly. His eyes flung open and then he smiled at Casey. "Just dozing," he told her.

"Right."

"Did you get the chips?"

"No, this lame boy made the cashier think I was stealing, so he kicked us both out."

Marsh sat up now, his faint sleeper state totally gone now. "What lame boy?"

"I don't know him; he just decided to be an annoying child with his friends." Casey decided to leave out the kiss part and the encounter with Sam later.

"Did they hurt you?" he wondered.

Casey found the question absurd. "Hello, do I ever take crap from people?"

Marsh suddenly relaxed with a coy smile. "No, you don't, which is probably why I like you so much." As he went in to kiss Casey, his eyes got heavier again, and he fell asleep in the kiss.

Raising an eyebrow, waiting for him to get closer, Casey realized he had fallen back asleep, and she sat deep into the couch and folded her arms. "Boys will be boys," she mumbled.

Nora came stumbling into the house, her eyes all lit up. "Casey," she exclaimed, though quietly, "Chuck is such a great guy." She swooned as she closed the door and gracefully came toward the couch to Casey.

"Now all you have to do is get him to change his name."

"Oh, Casey." Nora pointed casually at Marsh, and then shook her head. "Some vacation with lover boy. I think he's been asleep every night before 10."

"Yeah, well, I think he may be a narcoleptic. That would explain his falling asleep mid-kiss," she said, rolling her eyes.

Marsh snorted, as if he were hearing these things in his dreams.

Nora and Casey laughed together. Casey felt close with her Mother, even when she was out on dates. They would talk like they were best friends in school, about the stupidest things, and things that people wouldn't think a girl and her Mother could talk about. Casey got up and pulled Nora into the kitchen, where she told her about what had happened that night.

"Sam sounds like such a nice boy," Nora pointed out.

Casey rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it's a boy ploy. I bet they are planning together ways to completely humiliate me before school even starts."

"Boy ploy?" Nora chuckled. "What about Derek? What do you think about him?"

"Mother, he sexually harassed me. I could have him arrested."

"Arrested, Case? Seems like a little fun between high school buddies. You will learn that no matter how old a guy gets, he will continue to be a total pervert. He just gets better at hiding it."

Casey explained, "Marsh is a total gentleman."

"Well, besides falling asleep when his job was to make sure Lizzie was safe while you were out." Nora tipped an eyebrow up, letting Casey know that she shouldn't have gone out alone, and probably shouldn't have gone out at all.

Nodding, Casey agreed.

"Anyway," Nora continued, "maybe you'll see Derek and Sam again. Forgot the other kids, maybe they're not complete jerks when their posse isn't around."

"Mother, if I never see Derek again, it will be too soon."

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Derek was asleep on his own couch now, waiting on his Dad, George, to come home. He too was on a date, with a girl named Kathy. Derek had met Kathy earlier, and almost laughed in her face when he saw that she was wearing a parka and sweater under it in the Summer time.

His brother Edwin and his sister Marti were asleep as well, but in their own beds.

George now walked in the door, a deep frown embedded on his mouth. He went over to Derek and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, son, I'm home."

Waving him off, Derek rolled over and buried his face in the couch cushion. "How was your date with the Eskimo?" he murmured.

"Kathy was, uh, interesting. She made it very clear that she wanted to get married immediately."

Derek shot up from the couch. "Uh, what?" he cried.

"Turned her down, of course."

"Well, it's the only logical thing to do, Dad." Derek sighed, and then he yawned, his face scrunching together when he did so. "We men gotta stick together, and fight the women who want a ring."

"A ring don't mean a thing, son. It's the ones who want a house and a husband along with the ring," George told him

Derek nodded. "Got it."

"What did you and the guys do tonight?" George asked.

Derek went into great detail about the night he had just had wit his friends, leaving out his rude forceful kiss. "That girl Casey was a real card. I mean, she was so… She was a little like Kathy - the kind of girl you hope to never see ever again."

"She seemed decent enough, not the kind of girls you guys talk to." George raised an eyebrow, suddenly realizing that his son wasn't finding the right girls attractive.

"Oh, Dad, come on. We had like 2 sentences between the two of us. What can you tell with that?" Derek shook his head, cracking his neck. "Anyway…"

"Anyway, you better get up to bed. No sleeping on the couch this summer. I don't want to have to have it professionally cleaned again."

"You know I didn't mean to get paint-balled, and then crash so soon after. I was totally pummeled, it was only normal."

George nodded. "Uh-huh, totally pummeled on your way home from a paintball field."

Derek shook his head, and then stated, "Random act of violence, Dad. You can't blame me for the childish acts performed against me."

"Go to bed, that's all I'm saying."

With that, the two went to their bedrooms. Derek decided that he would do his best to be half-decent this summer, and only commit a few heinous acts on his friends. And as he fell asleep, Casey too fell asleep in her own bed, deciding that she would not be the good girl she always was, and that when her boyfriend left the next day, she would be a more hardcore version of herself, and not let certain people get off on messing with her.

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Hope you guys liked this chapter! It was a bit long, and I found it a bit boring, but one of those chapters you just need. So with that…

What do YOU want to happen NEXT?