Author's Note: Hi guys! Thank you so much for all your kind reviews. I'm so pleased with the response it's been getting because I'm so excited by the story and it's only going to get more exciting with the coming chapters. So here's chapter 05!
Disclaimer: No, I still don't own it
Chapter Five: Getting Back On The Horse
July 10th
Derek narrowed his eyes at his enemy and did a quick fake to the left before weaving to the right and sinking a hook shot for the win. He immediately began to do a victory celebration for the nonexistent crowd and rub the loss in the face of his opponent.
"Yeah, yeah, bravo. You beat someone who doesn't even know how to play. You must be so proud," Casey told him with some mock applause before she walked over and picked up the forgotten basketball.
"Take your shots where you can, Case. I win," he said in reply, a victorious grin on his lips.
"Whatever. Can we stop now?" Casey placed the ball on the ground and perched on it, using it as a makeshift seat.
"Stop? I'm just getting warmed up."
"Yeah, not to mention ripe," Casey observed as she made a show of pinching her nose. In retaliation, Derek swooped in behind her and pulled the ball out from under her, sending her tumbling onto the pavement.
"Just admit it, you're a sore loser." He added insult to injury by sinking in three free throws in a row. "Don't blame me for your lack of athleticism."
"Lack of athleticism?" she squealed incredulously. "May I remind you who, between the two of us, has over ten years of dance training?"
"Dance? You're going to compare your prissy prancing around with my sports training?"
"Please, a bunch of sweaty guys rubbing up against each other doesn't have me picturing athletic prowess. It has me thinking all your macho talk about babes and boobs is nothing more than overcompensation."
"You mean like you 'loving the musical score' at the 'burlesque' show?" He did an exaggerated eyebrow wagging just because he knew it bugged her.
Casey crossed her arms in irritation. "Der-ek! You are such a pig!"
"And you are such a prissy, uptight Princess."
"You know, for not being able to stand each other, you two sure do spend a lot of time together," observed a third voice joining them.
"Not by choice," Casey quickly insisted.
"I second that," Derek added.
"Then, why are you two here together?" Ralph asked innocently as he rebounded the basketball and shot a free throw. They rapidly stumbled over each other, each offering a different explanation. According to Casey, she was coerced and forcibly dragged there only to be endlessly mocked by Derek for his own twisted amusement. According to Derek, it was charity. She had been sad, pathetic and alone, begging him for his company and he felt sorry for her.
"As you can see, he's clearly delusional," Casey concluded. Ralph just laughed at the two of them.
"Why don't you just admit you like hanging with each other? Really, it's not a big deal. We all pretty much hung out together senior year anyway and the rest of us already thought you'd become friends."
"Ralphie, bite your tongue," Derek admonished.
"Whatever," Ralph conceded. "Are you going to play me or what?"
"Gladly," Derek said gratefully. "After destroying Klutzilla, playing against someone with some skill would be nice."
"Fine, you take out," Ralph said and they both got in position as Casey moved to the sidelines.
"Space Case, take notes," Derek ordered. "This is what a game of basketball should look like."
"Derek, if I wanted to watch a monkey jump around, I'd go to the zoo," she retorted.
He simply smirked and went to work on beating Ralph. Best buds or not, Derek Venturi didn't lose. The other day with Babe Raider simply didn't count.
Forty minutes later, Derek and Ralph had met a couple guys and were playing a game of two on two. Casey had needed to head back home to shower and get ready for a closing shift at the boutique.
"Ralph, the big guy favors his right so I need you to fake right then go left for the shot. Think you can do that?" Derek asked.
"Of course, D. I got this," Ralph answered smugly.
"Okay then, let's crush 'em," Derek said confidently as they swaggered back into position.
In the end, they managed to squeak by with 2 two points for the win.
"Hey, nice game," Ralph said sportingly.
"Yeah, you've got a killer hook shot. Anytime you guys want a rematch, you know where to find us," Derek added. Their opponents said their goodbyes and Ralph and Derek gathered up their things.
"Casey's closing tonight, right?" Ralph asked as they headed out of the park.
"Yeah. Usually there's something in the ice box I can heat up, but tonight I'm thinking something greasy, cheesy and comes with a side of fries."
"See, now that sounds good. I think I'll join you," Ralph said amiably.
"Hey, maybe if you use your line on our waitress, she'll add a couple free shakes," Derek teased.
"Mock all you like, but we'll see who's laughing once I get my shake."
"Oh is that a challenge? It's on!"
"Sure thing," Ralph challenged back, giving his best impersonation of Derek's smirk.
Fate had decided to smile down on them and their waitress was definitely female and more importantly, was actually rather cute. To his credit, Ralph was on his 'A' game that day but as luck would have it, Ellen (their waitress), only had eyes for Derek. It struck Ralph as odd that he had had to be the one to point it out to him.
"D, man, that girl is seriously crushing on you," Ralph said, giving him a knowing smirk.
"Huh?" Derek asked, just barely paying attention as his focus was on the dessert menu and whether or not he was still happy with his order of chocolate cake now that he'd seen a picture of the fudge brownie.
"Uhh, earth to Derek. Our seriously cute waitress was seriously giving you some signals."
"Oh man, you are so out of it," he continued since Derek still seemed focused on the dessert menu. "I wish Sam was here to see this."
"What?" Derek demanded defensively, finally deciding he was okay with the cake after all. "What are you going on about?"
"Our hot waitress? You know the blonde who was practically begging you to ask her out?"
"Oh her? She was all right."
"All right?" Ralph exclaimed. "She was smoking. I'm so jealous of you right now."
"Whoa, down boy," he joked. "If you want her, Ralphie, be my guest."
"Are you kidding me? Did you not see me practically throw myself at her? Nuh-uh, she is all about the Venturi loving."
"I dunno, Ralphie," Derek hesitated.
"D, do not hold back on my account. You should definitely make your move."
"Eh, I don't know." He played with the straw in his soda as he thought it over.
"What would Casey say?" Ralph challenged.
"Casey? What does she have to do about this?"
"Didn't she say you guys had decided to 'rejoin the living?' Turning your back on a cute waitress doesn't seem like living to me." Derek rolled his eyes and threw the wadded up straw sleeve at him which Ralph quickly threw back.
"Sorry, am I interrupting your little game?" asked the blonde waitress in question as she put down their desserts and slid Derek the tab.
Derek got in a last shot at Ralph before moving his hand to grab the tab. He paused with his hand over it and looked up at Ellen through his lashes, giving a lazy, half-sleep effect.
"Wait a sec. Ellen, is it?" he asked, carefully reading her nametag despite the fact that he already knew her name.
"Yeah?" she said, being deliberately coy.
"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a movie or something tomorrow?"
She smiled a slow practiced smile and said, "I'd love to. My number's on the tab. Call me later and we'll talk details." Then she flipped her golden locks over her shoulder and sauntered away.
Ralph leaned over to watch her retreat before returning his attention back to Derek.
"Oh man, that was hot. You the man, D!" Ralph praised. "Is her number really on the tab?"
Derek smirked and flipped over the tab to reveal a phone number written in purple ink and signed with a lipstick kiss.
"Right now, I'm so proud to be your best friend," Ralph told him wholeheartedly.
Derek chuckled then added, "Dude, do you know how long it's been since I've been on a date? Hope I haven't lost it."
Ralph regarded the lipstick and the phone number on their tab. "Eh, I don't think you need to worry about that."
Derek smirked and pocketed the tab as they both burst out laughing then refocused on their desserts.
July 11th
Casey was miserable. Two of the snotty girls she worked with had decided to make it their personal mission to make any time she spent at work hell on earth. Everyday she came in, they seemed to find something else to hold against her. First had been when she'd been chosen to work the cash registrar while they'd been relegated to restocking inventory. The second time had been when some cute guy whose attention they'd been trying to get, spent his entire time up at the cash register hitting on Casey. It didn't matter to them that Casey had barely noticed since at the time she'd still been hurting from her breakup with Max.
As a result, they'd tried spreading rumors about her at work (which the others were mostly kind enough to ignore), they'd dumped out all her soda from the break room fridge, took the batteries out of her headset so she'd gone almost her entire shift not aware that the manager had been trying to summon her, made catty comments every time she entered the room, and ignored her calls for price checks. Casey had tried ignoring it and then tried going to the manager but the manager was the aging former beauty queen type and seemed to care too much about herself to still have room to care about others and so Casey was back to trying to ignore it.
Today, they were mad because again a cute guy had come into the store and rebuffed them. But now he was up at the register and trying hard to chat Casey up. And now, Casey was over Max.
"So, what's your name?" the guy asked, trying to sound casual as Casey removed the hangars from the clothes he'd selected.
"Casey," she said, praying she wasn't blushing as badly as she suspected she was.
"Casey," he repeated. "I like it. I'm Brandon."
Casey let out a little laugh. "Thanks. I like Brandon too." He smiled and thanked her for the compliment.
"Are you new here?" he asked, the smile still on his face. "Because I've shopped here before and I don't think I've ever seen you."
"Uh, yeah. Just for the summer. I just started a few weeks ago," she answered as she quickly rang up his purchases. He handed her his money and his smile grew as their fingers briefly touched during the exchange.
"I guess this summer I'm simply going to have to shop here more often," he told her, giving her an appreciative look. This time, Casey was sure she was blushing like crazy.
"Hey," he said as he leaned forward a little on the counter, giving her conversation a little more intimacy. "I don't want to seem too forward but a friend of mine is throwing this party tonight and I was wondering if you'd want to go with me."
Casey's mind went blank. She didn't know what to do. Was she ready to be dating again? Was this date? What if it wasn't and he was just inviting random girls to the party? What about Derek? They'd been hanging out most evenings and she didn't want to just bail on him. She decided to go with her instincts.
"Umm… sounds like fun but I'm not sure. I get off pretty late."
"Oh of course. No problem," he answered smoothly and leaned forward even more to pull out some register tape and a pen. Casey was too stunned to stop him. "Let me write down the address and my phone number and if you happen to get off early, you can stop by. And if you need directions, you can call me."
"Thanks," she said, taking the paper and pen from him. He grabbed his shopping bag and started to leave but then paused and turned back to her.
"Hey, Casey."
"Yeah?"
"Even if you don't make it tonight, you should still call me." He threw her a lopsided grin, did an about-face and headed out of the store. Casey wondered briefly about why she felt guilty.
Casey got off work at precisely six o'clock that evening and was home by six-thirty. She locked the front door behind her and wandered into the living room surprised not to see Derek parked in front of the TV waiting for her to make dinner.
"Derek?" she called out. Not hearing any response, she moved to the kitchen.
"Derek?" she tried again. She'd seen the Prince and she saw all the keys except hers still on the hooks so she knew he hadn't gone anywhere.
Alarmed that he might have relapsed into depression, she ran up the stairs screaming his name like the old days. "DER-EK!"
She ran down the hall towards his room, luckily stopping just short of the bathroom door swinging open into her face.
"Whoa, Derek, you almost hit me," she complained.
"Oops, sorry Case. What was with all the yelling?" he asked as he emerged from the bathroom.
"Nothing," she said, noticing his appearance. "Why are you all dressed up?"
"Like it?" he asked then did a spin to show her the rest of the outfit. "Am I hot or what?"
Casey raised an eyebrow at him, "Yeah, okay, Zoolander. What's up with the male vogue?"
He smirked smugly at her and turned his back to her as he headed into his room to finish getting ready. She trailed after him as he answered her.
"I'll have you know, I'm embracing your 'Rejoining the Living' mantra," he said, digging through his closet for a jacket to complete the look. "I have a date."
"A date?" Casey managed to repeat. She was glad his back was to her because she distinctly felt the color drain from her face.
"Yeah. I met her yesterday when me and Ralph grabbed something to eat after basketball. Anyway, I'm taking her to a movie, grab some dinner and then pull out the old Derek moves." He found the jacket he was looking for and quickly pulled it out.
"Oh," was all she could say.
He pulled on the jacket then whirled around to show her the finished look. "What do you think?"
From the way he'd popped the collar and was now leering at himself in the mirror, she didn't think a response was actually necessary so she didn't give him one.
Get a grip, Case, she ordered herself. What is this horrible feeling?"
"Anyway, you staying in tonight?" This, she figured, required a response. And from the look he was giving her when she lifted her head up, she knew that he just assumed that she in fact would be. She suddenly wanted to prove him wrong.
"No. Actually," she answered defiantly, tilting her chin up just slightly as she met his challenge and tried to come up with something. "That's why I was looking for you."
This time, he was raising an eyebrow at her and she knew it was because he didn't believe her.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yes," she insisted. "I was looking for you so I could tell you that no, I'm not staying in. I'm going out."
"Out?" He was peering at her intently, trying to find the bluff hidden somewhere in her expression.
"Yes, out."
"Out where?" he asked.
"Out. Out to…" she stalled, searching for something when suddenly it hit her. "To…umm...to a party!"
"You're going to a party?" He asked incredulously. "You got invited to some party?"
"Yes, I did," she bit out, defensively.
"You do realize you're not dating Max anymore, right? Anything you might have been invited to as his girlfriend, you can assume you've been uninvited."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll have you know, I was just invited today. And it has nothing to do with Max."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Have fun at the party."
"Have fun on your date." With that, she stormed out of his room and slammed her own door shut.
She found herself still fuming on her bed half an hour later. Derek had already gone and she was left alone to wonder about that horrid feeling she'd had earlier when he'd told her about his date. It took some thinking and she came to the horrible conclusion that she was jealous. But of what? Of his date? Because she wanted to spend time with Derek?
Panic now hitting her, she grabbed her cell phone and quickly punched in Emily's cell phone number. When it began to ring, she quickly began to pray that Emily answered.
Come on Em, please pick up. Please, please pick up.
"Hi, you've reach Emily. I'm currently on a road-trip with the love of my life but you can leave me a message and I'll get back to you –"
"Ugh!" Casey groaned and hung up before the message finished. She was too bothered to calculate the timezone difference, so she couldn't call Lizzie. She realized this wasn't exactly a topic she wanted to explore with Sam. Calling Noel about this would simply be insensitive and this just wasn't the type of thing she could talk to Trevor about. And since she obviously couldn't run to Ralph about this, she came to the conclusion that her circle of friends she could talk to simply wasn't big enough. Becoming a little desperate, she dialed a number she hadn't called all that often.
"Hello?" came the girl's voice on the other end. It was difficult to hear since there was quite a lot of background noise.
"Hi, it's Casey."
"Excuse me? I'm sorry I can't hear you. It's kind of loud over here."
"Sally? It's Casey."
"Stacy?"
"CASEY!"
"Oh. Oh my gosh, Casey! How are you?" Sally yelled over the background noise.
"I was wondering if I could talk to you about Derek."
"You had a good talk with Eric? I thought you were dating Max?"
"No. Wait. What?"
"Casey, I'm sorry. It's just too loud over here. How about I call you back, okay?"
"What?"
"I'll call you back!" Sally yelled into the phone.
"Oh, okay. That's fine," Casey told her, highly disappointed that that hadn't panned out either.
She threw herself on to her back on the bed then turned her head to the phone still in her hand. There was one number left she could call and she wondered to herself if it was worth it. Was she actually jealous of Derek's date? And then it hit her. She was jealous of Derek's date. She was jealous that Derek was dating and she wasn't. Derek was rejoining the living (which was her idea in the first place) and he was doing it better than her because while he was out dating, she was lying on her bed doing absolutely nothing.
She sat up and instantly began to dial the number she'd been hesitant about. As much as she didn't want to do this, going through with the decision she'd made meant there was no way she couldn't make the call now.
"Hello?" came the answer from the other end of the line.
"Hi, Kendra. It's Casey. There's this party I was invited to and I was wondering if you'd want to go with me."
Casey looked nervously at the party scene before her and knew she'd definitely made the right decision in calling Kendra. Sure the last guy Kendra had had a hand in setting her up with was Max (and look how that turned out) but to honest, it wasn't really fair to Kendra. She'd had no control over Max proposing and her refusing.
"Kendra," she said to her companion, "thank you so much for coming with me. There's no way I could have come by myself."
"No problem, Hun," she said, giving her a reassuring smile, "I'm glad you called. Besides, college parties are definitely not the type of parties newbies, such as yourself, should be attending solo for the first time."
"Yeah, thanks for letting me know about that. I didn't even realize it was a college party. Brandon was just this cute guy I met at work."
Kendra let out a small excited squeal and clutched Casey's hand at the mention of Brandon. "B.T.W. color me ten shades of jealous about that. Here you are, finally deciding to stop moping about the breakup of 'Masey' and who hits on you? Brandon Campbell. Only the hottest guy ever and Derek's predecessor. I crushed on him hard my first two years of high school and he never even looked my way once."
"I'm sure he looked, Kendra," Casey said, wanting to cheer her up.
"That's sweet, Hun. But no worries here, my self-esteem is perfectly in tact." Kendra grabbed her and half-led/half-dragged Casey further in the party crowd.
"Okay," Kendra announced, "college hottie at six o'clock. Just be cool, be yourself and don't take any open drinks."
"What?" Casey asked. Kendra gave her a bright smile in response.
"Just trust me on this. Anyway, I'll just be right over there if you need me and remember to find out if he has an equally hot, single roommate. I prefer someone who plays sports. Athletes tend to have great bodies. Good luck!"
"Kendra wait –"
"Casey, you made it!" came a familiar baritone voice. She remember to put a smile on before she spun around to return his greeting.
"Brandon! Hi. Umm…yeah…I uh, got off earlier than I was expecting."
"Lucky me," he said, smiling.
"Stop, you're going to make me blush."
"And I'm going to keep trying. You look amazing," he told her, taking in her outfit. Casey was immediately glad Kendra had insisted on dressing her. She was wearing a short, low-rise, denim mini-skirt and a sheer, lacey black top layered over a simple black camisole. She'd pulled her hair up, letting curls cascade down her back and Kendra had insisted on giving her 'smokey-eyes' with just a little shimmery lipgloss.
"Thank you," Casey answered. She never knew what to say when someone complimented her appearance.
He easily placed a hand on the small of her back and started leading her towards the kitchen. "Let's go get you a drink and get to know each other better."
Casey gulped, subtly, and quickly came to the conclusion that she might be a little out of her league. The guy was smooth, smoother even than Derek. Though, to be honest, she suspected that she was looking at Derek's future, three years down the line.
He found them a couple barstools to sit on in the kitchen and deposited her on one of the seats. "So, Casey, what would you like to drink?"
"Uh, not an open drink," she replied, parroting Kendra's warning from earlier. At the odd look he was giving her, Casey finally understood what Kendra had been cautioning her about. Worried now that she'd completely offended him, she quickly stammered out an explanation.
"Umm, sodas are just so much fresher, straight from the can. They retain more of their bubbles," she babbled dejectedly.
Rather than blow her off, which she had suspected he would not do, he simply chuckled and turned towards the cooler. "Two fresh Pepsis coming right up."
He came back over and took the empty stool next to her as he handed her her soda.
"Do I make you nervous?" he teased, playfully bumping her shoulder.
"Is it that obvious?" she asked, miserably.
"If by obvious, you mean glaringly so? Then, yes. But just a little bit."
"I'm sorry," she apologized.
"Don't be. I'm assuming you're nervous because you maybe, sort of like me. In which case, I'd be very flattered." Casey was definitely flustered. She worried that the constant blushing would eventually make it permanent. She a glance over at Brandon and was struck at how good-looking he was. She could certainly see why Kendra had been taken with him for two years and why he'd lorded over the throne Derek eventually took over. Just past his head, in the crowd, Casey could see Kendra giving her an encouraging two-thumbs up and Casey found herself having to fight to keep the giggles back.
"Well?" Brandon pressed.
"Well what? You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?"
"Maybe I'm curious because I'd like to know if you'd be interested in going to dinner with me tomorrow night." Her immediate reaction was to halt, stop, return to the station and get back on a track that was more her speed. Brandon was definitely cute. According to Kendra he was the total package; brains, beauty, money, and athleticism. He was studying politics at the University of Toronto with hopes of going into Law. His father was a successful businessman who was now making his transition into politics. He was almost always near the top of the class when it came to grades and he played practically every sport imaginable. The downside? He was Derek's predecessor. Meaning before Derek, there was Brandon. Which meant Brandon was just like Derek when it came to women. He was a player.
She was just about to say 'no,' when she suddenly thought of Derek out on a date that very moment. Then she remembered Max proposing and her not being ready for marriage and she realized it was just a date. A date with Brandon Campbell. And suddenly, instead of saying 'No,' she found herself smiling back him saying, "Yes. I'd love to have dinner with you."
"Excellent," he replied, lifting up her hand and bringing it to his lips. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven."
And then Casey was reminded just how far out of her league guys like Derek and Brandon were. They weren't even playing by the same rules, let alone the same game. But instead of backing out of the date, she simply pulled the tab on her soda and took a drink. And as she did so, she wondered if maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if someone had spiked her drink because then maybe she'd be able to relax.
--
Okay so that was Chapter 5 "Getting Back On The Horse." I feel like I got a little carried away length-wise but it definitely still worked. After you finish reading, please review and let me know what you think about the direction it's going :)