Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from outside this story. I claim only the plot, the characters, any places and such that I make up for the purposes of this story.

Homecoming Week

Chapter 6

Tuesday 1pm

Derek got out of his Tuesday morning weekly strategy meeting with the hockey coach just in time to run to his first class of the day. He is leaving his communications class and decides to stop to grab something to eat on his way to his intro to productions class across campus at 2pm. He has a work out and hockey practice immediately after so it will be a long day as Tuesday always is for him. He even has to squeeze in a few calls to make sure the championship flag football tournament game is figured out for tomorrow. He will be so glad when tomorrow is over and this tournament is done. His team may be doing well and he may be getting A's in his major classes but he sometimes his days weren't so packed all the time. Probably why then he had jumped at the chance to join some of fraternity brothers going to the comedy show on campus tonight for a chance to actually relax on a Tuesday night.

Derek sets a container of fries and a wrapped sandwich on the counter by the register to get in line to pay. He is looking through his wallet to find the right amount of cash when the person behind him bumps into him. He looks up ready to say something when he sees Janice with Rob walking up to them. Janice's soda titters on the edge of the counter from her arm hitting and Derek moves his arm to barely save it. She picks it up and after taking a sip glances up to see Rob at her side preparing to pay for their food. Derek steps to the side to let him go by gathering his food in his hands. "Hi Derek, are you okay?"

"Yeah I am more than okay. I am great. Why? Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" Derek stops from taking a drink from his coke.

"Have you talked to Casey yet today?"

"No, I was going to call and ask her if she was going to the comedy show tonight and maybe the fireworks. As far as I know, we had a nice time last night and she was fine when I left. She is okay right? There is no way she is mad at me."

"I don't know. I shouldn't say anything or get involved just yet. Maybe it's nothing and I don't want to get in the middle of this." Janice sets her food down on a table and Rob sits next to her. Derek glances at his phone to catch the time. He has a few minutes to spare before he has to dash so he isn't late for his favorite class and assumes he should probably hear this. He sits on the edge of the seat across from Janice while he pulls back the paper from his sandwich halfway taking a bite.

Rob laughs at this. Janice puts hands on her hips and narrows her eyes at him. "What? 'You not wanting to butt into your friends' business' is a funny statement. It would be like the sun rising in the west and setting in the east. It would go against the laws of nature and the universe. Go ahead and say what you want to say so you stop bursting at the seams and I can eat my lunch in peace." Rob stabs his taco salad with a fork and happily munches away now that he has said his piece.

Janice rolls her eyes at getting Rob's permission which she so didn't need anyway and turns back her attention to Derek. "Oh okay so last night I was hanging out in the first floor lounge with some other girls watching TV minding my business you know when Casey comes through the doors and looks so weird. It was like she was confused and upset yet determined about something, I don't know. Look, Cindy and I called for her and she waves us off. I text her telling I got a new movie and no response. I think she just wants to reorganize her notes for today real quick since she never misses a chance for frozen yogurt and a good romance movie. But then she didn't come down so Cindy and I go up and she had her stuff all around her in a giant semicircle on her bed. I go to snatch the paper from her hand only to find it is some poetry she just wrote. I ask her what she is doing. She jumps up and taking it back throws it away all the while ranting away that all guys are liars and doesn't even understand why they would even when they don't need to and she doesn't care what you did. I shove some frozen yogurt liberally covered with chocolate syrup at her and she finally starts making sense as we all walk downstairs. So did you really go play pool last night?"

"Well yeah, it's what I usually do on Monday night with Cory, Mike and John unless I have a better offer like I was hoping for last night. Sometimes other guys join but it was just us last night."

"Then why would she think you lied about who you were hanging out with?"

"I don't know. Me and the guys went to the same place and even had the same waitress we usually do. Why would I lie about that? It wouldn't serve a purpose. I may be amazing at lying but lying about something like that would be dumb. If I didn't want her to know, why wouldn't I just not say anything?"

"Ok so now you are making sense. I just know that supposedly you were with some girl last night. She knows you guys only had two dates and aren't like technically together yet or anything but thinking you purposely lied to her made her upset." Janice hits him in the chest pretty hard and Derek even ponders if he will have a mark later. "And I don't like seeing my friend upset. So you need to talk to her."

Derek holds his hands up in surrender before making an easy toss into the nearby trash can with his sandwich wrapper. Derek gets up while adjusting his backpack strap. "Okay I will text her and clear it up. I don't have time to do more right now. I am going to be late and I can't afford to piss off this particular professor."

Seeing the scowl on Janice's face, Rob jumps in before he has to get to a study group. "Not good enough. Call her please so I can go back to minding my own business. I don't have time for this. I have an exam coming up so no one call me unless someone is literally dying till tomorrow night after my class." Rob leaves practically jogging to the elevators to get to the second floor's lounge

Janice and Derek walk down the other corridor to the stairs to the outside and Derek reassures her before he himself jogs away in the opposite direction she needs to go. "I will talk to her after practice. Maybe I can get her to meet me for the comedy show and talk to her then. It's the earliest I have for anything more than a text which I do as soon as I leave here."

"You better. You hurt her, I will crush you Venturi," Janice yells out before she starts skipping her way to the drama department for a play meeting positively giddy with the interference with her friend's love life. Maybe now her friend can actually write some happy poetry instead negative crap she had been writing. As much as she obviously loved drama and stories her major being what it was, Janice has a special place in her heart for anything cheerful as she is an inherently positive person. Derek sends Casey a quick message while in the locker room getting ready for practice.

Cory and I beat John and Mike at pool last night, probably since the Raptors lost. Going to the comedy show tonight. You coming out? Maybe get some desert after?

Casey contemplates what to say as she isn't sure what she wants. It is true what she told Janice earlier about having no official ties to Derek or any reason for her feelings last night in reaction to that phone call of frustration or odd feelings of anger and one she couldn't identify yet. She, with every guy has dated over her time so far at university, has not reacted so strongly to talk from an outside source let alone to a couple dates. Life around Derek has always been like a rollercoaster of emotions and certainly not one of those kiddy ones. Yes she likes him but what does it mean? Damn it if she hates not being in control of a situation, which would be funny if this wasn't the same girl who not so secretly always wished for someone to sweep her off her feet. She has plans anyway tonight after her dance practice with her teammates to go to the karaoke night over at a bar on campus at the time he would be getting out of the comedy show. So she replies with a simple:

Can't. Busy.

Casey heads to her next class with her dance bag since she has to hurry straight to practice right after and then to the karaoke night.

Getting such a short reply and a negative one at that is not something Derek is inclined to take.

Want to get Indian food with me sometime? Derek gets a "maybe" in reply and though not liking it tells himself it will have to do for now. He will just see her at the flag football game tomorrow anyway and they can talk then. He flips his phone shut and proceeds to put on his skates. He throws the phone and bag into his locker slamming the door on his way to the rink He stands up and is halfway across the room when he notices one of his teammates eyebrows shoot up at Derek's skates. He looks down and sees he had put his skates on the wrong feet. Scowling he drops onto the nearest bench and fixes them. He grabs his hockey stick and helmet and follows his teammates onto the ice.

Alfies' 9:30pm

Not getting an answer from Casey's phone, Derek pushes open the door to the bar after slipping his phone back in his pocket and bowls over a tall blonde with cropped hair wearing a pleated white knee length skirt and pink halter top. He catches her by the elbow and steadies them both. The slender blonde women's volleyball captain looks up and smiles when she recognizes him. "Derek hey, didn't know you were going to be here. Alex is here with me and John and Mike are getting us drinks."

Derek smiles at his friend's girlfriend who has since become one of his friends. "John called when I was leaving the comedy show and mentioned this was going on and thought I would come check it out instead of head back to the frat house."

"Oh you should join us. Alex and I haven't had a chance to talk to you in forever. I am sure Alex will want to say hi to you too."

"Well then lead on, Britney." Britney tugs at his shirt sleeve to pull him with her. Weaving through the crowd, Derek follows behind Britney towards Alex. "Johnny!" Britney yells over the crowd as they pass by the bar. After seeing them, John turns back to the bartender to change their order to add one more beer.

Derek lifts right hand up in a small wave at Alex, the women's hockey captain, who is waving at them excitedly jumping up from the chair she was sitting in. She is bouncing a bit on her feet as she waits for them standing in the middle of a cluster of three armchairs facing each other. His friends sure know how to pick them. Actually it was like the girls had picked the guys knowing his bone headed friends. Derek chuckles a little at the thought.

Derek plopped dramatically into the middle plush armchair. He leans his head back and closes his eyes. The comedy show was great but he is exhausted. He is not a multi tasker by nature; instead whatever he is doing at the moment is his sole and greatest focus in life which has always helped him in hockey where his whole world becomes the rink. It is great for his performance on the ice and on the class assignments he actually buckles down to do but always tiring when the adrenaline wears off. Oddly enough, he had found himself, almost without realizing what he doing till he had already dialed, calling Casey right after practice and again after the comedy show both going straight to voicemail and not leaving a message either time.

Alex sits on the armrest on his left swinging her feet around to rest on his thigh propping her head up by an elbow on the back of the chair. Brittany leans on the other side of it resting her hip on the chair scanning the bar to see where John and Mike are at. The girls start chatting with him but soon enough he is becomes distracted by the same line of thought that had plagued him swimming around the back of his mind on and off all day for no reason he can think of. Brittany pokes Derek in head to get his attention. It also helps that John is twirling a beer in front of his face. He pulls himself from thinking about that smile, that perfect kiss, and wondering what Casey is busy doing. Turning his focus to present company, he replies to Alex's question about the two hockey teams doing a fun pickup game sometime while taking the bottle from John. John and Mike have come up and have their arms around their girlfriends. "Hey Derek, isn't that the girl you were with yesterday?" John asks from his place next to Brittany angling his beer towards the stage. Derek turns to see the object of his thoughts walk up onto the stage flanked by three other girls almost as if conjured up by those thoughts. His eyebrows shoot up at the song choice and a smile finds its way on his face as she starts to sing. As she steps off the stage, what happens next makes him find his way over to her. He lifts Alex's legs up and off to the side. "I'll be right back," he says as he gets to his feet.

Casey shoots her hand in the air as her voice trails off from the last note of the song she just got done singing with Priya and a couple other girls from the team. When they had suggested (suggested being putting it lightly) they sing "When I Grow Up" by the Pussycat Dolls, Casey had balked at it but found herself pushed on stage. She laughs as they get off the stage glad they had made her do it. One of her heels catch on the bottom step as she finds her way off the stage. Before she can completely fall she finds herself caught by her shoulders. Looking up to see her rescuer, she sees Paul, from the Homecoming Committee. Flush with gratitude for not embarrassing herself once again, she flings her arms around his neck for a lightning quick hug. "Thanks so much."

"No problem. You were great up there."

Backing up enough to put her hands in the back pockets of her white jean skirt, she flashes him a smile. "Thanks, I love to sing. It is so freeing. Are you going to go up there at all?"

"Oh no, not me. You would not want to hear me sing. Even my roommate doesn't. Just ask him and he will tell I suck at it after hearing me belt it out in the shower one too many times." This causes Casey to laugh good naturedly at his joke on himself. Looking just over Casey's shoulder, he spots Derek striding up to them. "Hey Derek."

Casey lifts her head up tilting her head to the right in time to see Derek move to stand next to her. Feeling a wave of possessiveness had goaded him into coming over and so he tucks her to him with his arm around her shoulders. "Hey Paul, wasn't Casey great up there? I was glad I could make it here to hear it."

"Yeah the whole dance team was great. A friend of mine wanted to come tonight and now I am happy I did. Amber did a nice job setting this up and decorating for it. Are you coming to Monte Carlo night tomorrow, Casey? The fireworks Brian set up for afterwards are supposed to be really good and I was able to get those crabs tables I was trying to get before too."

Casey leans out from under Derek's arm for a second to touch Paul's arm with an excited grin. "I am so looking forward to it. I am sure you guys did an amazing job setting it up and it will be a blast."

"We definitely will be coming to it, even if that means we will probably be roped in to help, right Case?" Derek says his eyes never straying from Paul's face. He leaves it vague enough so it could be seen as they were going together but only implied since he hadn't actually asked her yet.

Seeing Derek curve his hand down to run his fingers along the nape of Casey's neck and never wanting to be somewhere he isn't wanted, Paul decides to back out conceding and to go chat up that pretty bartender he had seen earlier. "Well, then I guess I will see you two tomorrow then." With that, he turns intent on finding the cute purple haired girl he now has his sights on.

Casey narrows her eyes and looks up at Derek moving out from under his arm entirely resisting the urge to place a hand on her hip. Was it her imagine or did Derek and Paul just have a staring contest with Paul losing? "Do I even want to know what that was all about?"

"Nope. Want to come meet some people with me? I never did introduce you to John and Mike."

"Maybe, but I should head back to my friends. My whole dance team is spending some time together," Casey starts to protest. She looks towards the table her teammates are at and sees Priya wave her off to leave with a wink when she catches sight of Derek. Derek takes her hand to guide her behind him to weave back through the crowd. Casey steps around Derek when he comes to a stop to two couples sitting in a couple overstuffed armchairs with the girls sitting on the guys' laps.

One the girls moved to get up and introduced herself and point everyone out. "Hi, I'm Brittany. This is my boyfriend John, my best friend Alex and the other guy here is her boyfriend Mike. Casey right? You sing really well." Brittany takes Casey's hand to give it a light shake before sitting lightly back down on John's lap. The others in the group wave her hello as Brittany points them out. "Thanks so much," Casey replies sinking onto the armrest of the third chair in the circle.

"Hey Derek you should bring Casey next time we play pool and she can watch with the girls Mike and I kick you and Cory's asses," John says gesturing with his beer.

"If I recall right, we beat and by a lot you remember? Or did the loss from that basketball game on TV warp your brain?"

"Hey I had money on that game. Ouch Brit, it was just five bucks," John says with a particular cheeky grin rubbing his arm. "Anyway that was a fluke. You guys had never won but that much before. I swear Casey those two cheated somehow. That's why we need witnesses." That earned a bust of laughter from the rest of the group.

"We couldn't even get the guy to stay to try best three out of five before he left. Beat us in two rounds of pool and then just leaves to study hockey videos so yeah rematch Monday," Mike joins in. It dawns on her that not only had Derek played pool with his friends but that was all he had done. His friends had recounted the night before with such enthusiasm and sincerity she has no doubt they were telling this story all on their own. Casey reaches over and gives Derek's hand a gentle squeeze before resting it back on her thigh. "I should probably get going back to my room but was nice meeting all of you."

"You too. Maybe we will see you around? If you want to hang out sometime, give us a call. Derek's got our numbers. We are going to the fireworks tomorrow and maybe we will see you at the events this week too. I can't wait till the show on Friday. I am in one of the group's performing and we have been practicing for a while."

Casey pulls out a scrap of paper from her purse and scribbles down her number handing it to Brittany. "My friend Janice is supposed to pick me up on her way back from Rob's to the dorms so I should get outside to meet her. Good luck with the show Alex. I am coordinating that event so I will see you then for sure. Night," she says with a wave turning to go. Derek follows her and walks with her to the doors. As they pass through the doors, he wraps an arm around her waist resting a hand on her hip.

Walking into the cool night air, she leans into him and resting more fully into his arms while turning to face him. With the lights from street lamps lighting up their faces, Derek hooks a couple fingers into her skirt belt loops and pulls her closer. Ducking his head, Derek places a kiss on her lips before kissing his way to her ear. She shivers as his breath brushes across it. "Come with me and my friends to the Monte Carlo night. I will even bring a blanket we can share for the fireworks." She nods as she runs her hands through his hair thoroughly messing it up causing him to swoop in for another kiss. A horn pierces through the air and they turn their heads to see Janice in a car waving at them sheepishly mouthing "sorry" to them. Casey grins back at her and disentangling herself from Derek she runs over to the other side of the car. "I'll pick you up at 7, Case," Derek calls over to her.

With a hand on the open door, Casey looks over at him and waves. She stares after him for a long moment after he had gone back inside until Janice leans over to yell at her to get her ass in the damn car. She plops down on the seat slamming the door. Casey gives her friend only half her attention on the drive back to the dorm as she realizes something. You know that rollercoaster she thought of earlier? Well sure life with Derek is that rollercoaster but maybe, just maybe, not only would that be okay or even more than okay but maybe she never got off it like she thought in the first place.

****End of Chapter 6****

Four things:

First: I have always thought relationships came gradually where a first date does not mean two people are together so this is all leading up to them being together officially at the end and those three little words. Finally got the rest of this planned out so should be coming faster now with three or four more chapters before the end.

Second: HP7 Part 2! Wow was it amazing. Gonna end up seeing it at least twice in theaters. In honor of the end of the movies, was wondering does everyone know what house they would belong to? Me? Totally a Ravenclaw.

Thirdly: Sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes. I do my best to edit. Please let me know of anything I missed or anything not making sense in this. I wrote all this today and am totally beat so crossing my fingers this is up to par. Night all!

Fourthly: Thanks for reading and hopefully reviewing. Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter (love love love you guys so much!): Dark-Supernatural-Angel, kitkatdotme, Nikki Gargol, Paper Angels, kmr04, Silverspear, Leaf26