A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I had to let the school term finish and the Christmas season pass by before I finish writing this chapter. Hope everyone had an amazing Christmas holiday! Again, thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome. Thank you and I appreciate every single one of them!
Yet again, the tweets have been tweeked to match the story. Some of the tweets have also been converted into dialogues, because it would be weird to have them tweeting while they're only a few inches away from each other. Haha.
Disclaimer: I own none of the trademarks. Tweets are from LifeWithCasey (some are mine) and DerekVenturi (mine, but inspired by him and LifeWithCasey).
Chapter 4: A Clueless Fish, Perhaps?
Casey locked herself in her room the entire Thursday morning, taking breaks only when she needed to go to the bathroom or if she wanted to get some light snack downstairs. It's already afternoon and the other siblings had gone to their own activities for the day. Lizzie went to her Tae Kwon Do class, Edwin hung out at Teddy's, and Marti was at her summer camp – which she often complained about, it being not as enjoyable as when Casey and Derek (mostly Derek) were there to inject some fun into an otherwise boring curriculum. The parents were at work and would be picking up the kids later when they get off. This left her and Derek home alone. Yeah, awkward. Thank goodness for dividers called walls and doors, at least they didn't have to suffer in each other's presence. Or so she thought, since every slight sound or movement coming from outside the four walls of her room made her squirm a little. But she wasn't planning on seeing him any time soon because she was busy burying her face in her copy of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", which she had already read for who knows how many times.
"'I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine,'" she mentioned that part under her breath as she went through Chapter 5 of the book. "Oh, how your words define my soul, Jane Austen."
She let out a sigh as she buried her head in her pillow, letting every word of that line penned by one of her favorite authors simmer in her mind. She did see that last tweet from Derek. 'I'm sorry.' Those words lingered in her thoughts for a while as she tried to judge whether the apology was sincere or not. First of all, this is Derek; second of all, this was an apology directed at her. From her usual very unfortunate experiences, he only 'means' his apologies to her whenever the family puts him through an intense, guilt-inducing intervention. Other than that, hah. Maybe when pigs fly. Maybe when he flies. She huffed and rolled her eyes while convincing herself that it was just one of his quick and easy escape routes so he wouldn't have to deal with the drama the next day.
Little did she know that the subject of her current train of thoughts wasn't even inside the house at that moment. He was currently at the nearest movie rental store, browsing a shelf of DVDs in the Horror/Suspense section.
Not what you came here for, D. Derek reminded himself as he tried to get the temptation of grabbing every film with either a gory picture cover or a freaky-sounding name out of his mind. He had been there for 30 minutes already, yet he couldn't bring himself to walk over to the shelves right across from where he currently was.
He didn't tell Casey that he was going out. Like she would care anyway. She didn't even respond to his last tweet. That should be a sign that she was still mad at his... what was it that she was mad about again? His misbehavior? His rudeness? His chronic Casey-related apathy? It wasn't his intention to make her cry; that wasn't part of the plan. Shouting is good, but not tears – he doesn't do tears. And the last person he would want to see crying is Casey. Because as much as he liked making fun of her, causing her tears is a different thing. A different bad thing. Why? Because.
Breathing out heavily, he braved the section he had been avoiding for a long time.
Derek came back home from the rental store after an hour and a half of roaming around the place, jumping from one section to the other. He had to call Sam for help in finding the cheesiest, corniest, sappiest romantic comedy ever to be made; but he figured he wasn't the best person to get romcom advice from. His best recommendation was to call Casey, and he wasn't going to do that even if the Prime Minister asked him to. Good thing the middle-aged lady at the store was kind enough to help him make selections. Maybe it was partly because he had been checking the Romance section for the longest time and he was being a bit of an eye-sore already. In the end, he settled for the movie 'Clueless'. If having three uber preppy chicks on the cover doesn't scream "chick flick", then nothing else would. He placed the DVD on the coffee table and went straight to the kitchen.
He made strawberry smoothie. Or tried to make. He thought he should at least be able to whip up something decent since he had been watching Casey make the concoction every once in a while. Taking out the popcorn from the microwave, he poured the contents on a bowl and set it on a tray along with the glass of smoothie. He carried it to the living room and laid it on top of the coffee table where he had also placed the DVD a while ago.
After making one last check at his arrangement, he nodded in approval, let out a breathy "okay", and proceeded upstairs. Seconds later, he was in front of Casey's door. He was staring at the Swan Lake poster and the pair of ballet shoes that were hanging there, but his mind was obviously in another dimension. Particularly in between 'Go knock on the door' and 'Run as fast as you can'. Blinking his eyes to snap him back to consciousness, he lifted his hand and prepared to knock. A little bit hesitant at first, he continued with the task anyway. He waited for a few minutes but was greeted by nothing – or no one. He knocked on her door again, this time a little louder. Meanwhile, his brain was processing a hundred thoughts per second, or so. Am I really doing this? What exactly am I doing? I can't believe I'm doing this. I should just leave and -
The door suddenly opened to reveal an irritated Casey, eyebrows raised, left hand resting on her waist.
"What do you want, Derek?" She impatiently asked the person in front of her who seemed to just lost his ability to speak.
Speak, you idiot! Be a man and tell her. Suck it up! Just one single sentence and you're off the hook. One single breathing. One -
"Well?" Casey added, tapping her foot as she waited for him to say even one syllable.
Tell her. Tell her, tell her, tell her, tell her! "AH!" Derek grunted loudly in frustration and retreated to his room, leaving a confused Casey who just followed his track with her eyes.
"What.." She scrunched her eyebrows as she closed the door slowly, still perplexed at his weird actions. She could've sworn she had already seen him like this before. Well, at least she wasn't the only one going crazy in this house.
A few minutes later, she heard another knock on her door. This time, she got out of bed quickly to face this annoying stepbrother of hers so she could tell him off and continue on with her life – i.e. read her Austen novel.
"What? Look, if you're not even going to say anyth-"
She stopped mid-sentence when Derek held out a remote in front of her face. Confused as to what he was trying to do, she just stared at the remote and asked, "What?"
"Just take it already, will you?"
"What am I going to do with this?"
"Go downstairs, you'll see."
Before she could even react to his words, he had already withdrawn back to his room.
Staring at the remote control she was now holding, Casey couldn't figure out whether to just ignore what Derek said or actually go downstairs to check out whatever it was that he was talking about. After reasoning out with herself, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Not too much benefit though, she was still in a flight-or-fight mode just in case this was another one of his annoying pranks. She took her laptop then slowly and carefully made her way downstairs.
No sign of anything alarming, so far. Not until she had completely gotten off the stairs and confirmed what she had seen midway down – a popcorn bowl, a glass of strawberry smoothie, and "Clueless?" She wondered as she picked up the DVD from the table.
"This is weird," she said as she tried to decode this Derek puzzle. There were so many things in her head at that moment and the fact that some of the ideas were conflicting didn't help the cause. She didn't rule out the thought that this might be his latest trick and that she was the target of his shenanigan. Again. And since it was the only one that made sense, she went along with it.
One can never be too sure. She made a quick stop to the kitchen to get a fork. When she came back, she slowly dipped the utensil in the popcorn bowl and carefully poked the kernels to check if something would jump out and scare her. Nothing. She even smelled it to see if Derek added some weird tasting seasoning with a pungent odor to it. Negative, it was just a harmless bunch of buttered corn puffs. Continuing with her food sleuthing, she hesitantly lifted the glass of smoothie and shook it a bit. She examined the contents too by turning the glass around and eyeing the color.
"It's not poisoned." Derek said from behind, which made her jump a little. "Although, it might not taste as good as you make it."
He disappeared again upstairs after getting his CD and before Casey could even mention his name.
| LifeWithCasey: Um... is everything okay?
| DerekVenturi: Should there be something wrong?
No, nothing was wrong. But that's what's wrong about it, there was nothing wrong at all. The food, the movie, Derek doing something nice for her even without outside intervention. No one to force him to make up for his wrongdoings. Wait, so this is about yesterday, right?
| LifeWithCasey: I... am going to go along with this and pretend like it's normal. Because it's nice. Thank you.
He didn't reply to her tweet, but she figured he saw it anyway. Right now, all she cared about was being immersed in the story of this classic movie and getting lost in anticipation of the sweetness of Cher and Josh's staircase kiss. A few minutes into the film, she remembered the fact that this was based on an Austen novel entitled 'Emma'. This made her appreciate his selection even more.
| LifeWithCasey: Clueless is based on a Jane Austen book. How perfect is that? This is kind of.. sweet.
| DerekVenturi: Don't get your hopes up, I only borrowed that movie because I get discounts for renting two. It's called an act of convenience.
| LifeWithCasey: And you made me smoothie and popcorn just because it was convenient for you, too? Call it what you may, Venturi... but I know somewhere, deep down you felt bad and wanted to do something about it.
| DerekVenturi: Yeah, well.. I checked the expiry date and it expires tomorrow.
Casey rolled her eyes and shook her head from the absurdity of his responses. He wouldn't admit it even if his life depended on it. But since it was a huge leap from the usual forced apology, she would take it anyway.
| LifeWithCasey: Well, it is kind of lonely down here. Do you.. want to watch the movie with me? Besides, who wants to spend Thursday afternoons alone.
| DerekVenturi: Romcom.. with you? No, thanks. And I would. Actually, I'd rather.
| LifeWithCasey: Oh, come on. It won't kill you. And I know how much you're missing the TV right now.
| DerekVenturi: There is no way on earth I'm going to watch that entire movie with you. No way. So, if you'll excuse yourself out of my timeline, that would be much appreciated.
| LifeWithCasey: Then.. watch ¾ of the film?
| DerekVenturi: ¼.
| LifeWithCasey: Half?
| DerekVenturi: You're not going to drop this, are you?
| LifeWithCasey: Well, since you're being nice to me, I just want to be nice back.
| DerekVenturi: By torturing me? Oh, you're a saint.
| LifeWithCasey: I'm not torturing you! I'm merely suggesting an alternative to your otherwise solitary afternoon. I'll share my popcorn?
She didn't exactly know why she was trying to persuade him to watch the movie with her anyway. It wasn't like he would consent to her proposal. Like what she said, she was just returning the favor. Maybe then they would be even, and his good deed wouldn't be much of a big deal anymore. But, she was expecting him to turn it down again. One last time and she'd drop the subject. He would never agree to this, he just made that clear. Again, maybe when pigs fly.
| DerekVenturi: Fine. Just this once! But if I die after watching this chick flick, stay away from my funeral.
Apparently, pigs do fly.
| LifeWithCasey: A little dramatic, aren't we? It's not going to kill you, I promise. But if it does, I'll make sure to bury you properly in the backyard.
"Boxers?" Casey uttered in disbelief as she looked at the person who had just plopped himself down on the recliner beside her, clad not in his usual pajamas, but in boxers.
"What? If I die after watching this, at least I'd die wearing a nice pair of boxers."
"Ew, and you said my 'Babe Raider' self-exposure was nauseating."
"I never said that. I said, 'while I'm eating'. But you're right, it was nauseating."
Shaking her head, Casey was about to make another comment when Derek reached out to the bowl on her lap, took a handful of popcorn and stuffed it in his mouth, distracting her from saying what she wanted to say.
"Uh, you're welcome?"
One-quarter into the movie..
"Look at that, she's so yellow. I mean, she's hot and all, but yellow, plaid, and knee-high socks? It's the attack of the bright-colored preppy E.T. from Planet Frufru. How can you watch something like this and not get blinded?" He was munching on some popcorn while complaining loudly, much to Casey's chagrin.
Halfway into the movie..
"I was right, this is worse than The Ring. I bet whoever watches this will die in 24 hours. Except you, because you're a zombie that gets powers from watching romcoms." Derek shoved another handful of popcorn in his mouth.
Three-quarters into the movie..
"Is it done already? Why is this taking so long? I want to watch some sports."
"Will you keep quiet? The complaining is getting obnoxious. And you say I'm bad during movies. Yeesh."
Derek mocked her words by repeating it while making faces, which Casey answered with an eye-roll.
Casey tried to ignore his awfully loud popcorn chewing by glueing her eyes on the TV and hugging the pillow on her lap tightly as she anticipated the scene that she had been wanting to see all along. She's not letting her troll-of-a-movie-mate take the excitement out of the most romantic part of the film.
"Eee!"
"Oh, no. No, no!"
"Okay, I promise I'll refrain from squealing too much but EEE! Here comes the best part!"
Derek grabbed the throw pillow from Casey's arms and put it in his face so he won't see it then covered one of his ears with his free hand.
"Der-ek," Casey grabbed it back, "get your own pillow!"
"Ugh," Derek complained. "Why did I even watch this movie? It's worse than getting tied up in a chair and eating broccoli. Torture at its finest."
"Shh, you're missing everything!"
As if trying to make it completely obvious that he wasn't interested in the least, he snorted and adjusted his chair to the reclining position as he waited for the movie to finish. After a few seconds, he brought it back to the sitting position as one tiny information dawned on him.
"Aren't they step siblings?"
Casey was so intently focused on the movie that she didn't hear what he said or even notice they both dug into the popcorn bowl at the same time. Shocked at the feeling of something else other than popcorn touching their skin, both of them quickly jumped like they had been electrocuted when their fingers came in contact. It's like tapping and being grounded by a live wire, but no one was messing with static electricity beforehand, not even Derek. Maybe it was the coldness of the skin, or the warmth. But whatever made this 'spark' happen, it caused the bowl to topple over and the rest of the popcorn to land on the floor.
"I'll clean it up," Casey stood up and left quickly to get the broom and dustpan. Derek was left staring at the TV, watching the last few minutes of the movie.
He kept quiet the entire time Casey wasn't there. If he were only paying attention then he would've laughed along with the guys who were making fun of the girls at the wedding. He didn't even make a snarky comment when "Tenderness" played in the background as the crowd of ladies fought for the bouquet that got tossed. His eyes were fixed on the TV, but his mind was still wondering if it was even possible for that type of pairing to be real. But the more he thought about it, the more he got uncomfortable with the idea. Not that he was being grossed out, no. But that he could be in a situation similar to the on-screen pair. Oddly though, there was something in him that was saying, it's not too bad.
"Haven't you ever just wanted a love like that?" Casey spoke from behind, carrying the things she needed to clean the mess up. "It's so perfect..."
"What?" He answered, shifting in his chair, obviously startled by her voice and by the question itself.
"Like that," she kept her focus on the TV while she swept the kernel remnants off the carpet as Cher and Josh shared their last kiss before the credits rolled.
"Step sibling love?" Derek wondered. "No, thanks."
Casey disappeared again into the kitchen. She did hear those last words. And even though she knew it was only natural for Derek to mention such ridiculousness, she couldn't help but feel... hurt. Hurt? Kind of. Hurt that he didn't seem to want to engage in a proper commitment, a long term one. The happily ever after sort of thing, where the prince pledges his undying love for the fair maiden and takes her up to his castle to make her his queen and live with her forever. Of course, she was concerned. If his goal in life is to chase after ever girl, two weeks at a time, he wouldn't be happy, and she wanted her stepbrother to be happy. Why? Because. So, she was hurt. Or was it because he said he'd never want to be in love with a step sibling?
"Not a step sibling love, of course! I mean... just... not a one night stand... sort of thing," Casey said when she came back to the room after putting the cleaning stuff away. "And they're ex step siblings for the record... ex."
"Nah, why do I have to deal with this 'love' biz anyway? There are lots of fish in the sea. Why settle for one?"
"Because somewhere out there is a perfect fish, Derek." Casey, slightly annoyed, assumed her old position on the couch as she tried to explain in an almost animated way. "I mean, look how happy they are! It is possible to have a happy ending like Cher and Josh. Romcoms are not just fiction, there's still a hint of reality to it. You can't run away from true love, it'll find you when you least expect it."
"Oh, yeah, totally. Like Cinderella and the Frog Prince?"
Rolling her eyes, Casey reached out for the remote and turned off the DVD player and the TV.
"What happened to your fish then?" Derek suddenly asked.
Casey froze for a bit. She wasn't expecting that question from him at all, judging from the sound of his previous sarcastic remark. She turned her head to face him, but much to her surprise, their faces were just inches away from each other since Derek leaned forward and rested his elbow on the couch arm prior to Casey leaning back on her spot after switching the devices off. They immediately withdrew from the position, Casey doing most of the retreating since she had more room for movement. It was like just like earlier, only their skins never touched. It's as if this 'spark' was getting stronger.
"Well, he just hasn't... caught the bait yet, I guess. Plus I'm very... particular about my fish."
"So, what are you looking for in a fish?" Derek questioned, aware that the question was weird, and him asking about it was weirder. "A perfect 'Fish Charming' who would sweep you off your feet and carry you to his castle in Atlantis? Bad news, he doesn't exist."
"If half the male population is composed of trolls like you, then I'm definitely giving up on chivalry." Casey couldn't help but snap back. "And I don't need someone perfect. Just someone perfect for me."
She proceeded to stand as she prepared to head back to her room. "Well, I'll go upstairs and let you watch what you want to watch. Because God knows it wasn't that anyway..." She held the remote in front of his face like he did to her earlier. Derek took it right away. "And thanks for the popcorn and the smoothie."
"Hey, fisherwoman, you forgot your laptop." Derek turned his head to speak to Casey who walked halfway up the staircase already. "On a second thought, leave it. I'll use it. Maybe I can find stuff that I can use to embarrass you."
"Um... I have nothing to hide there! Go ahead and check. It's Derek-proof. Later, shark."
Really. He thought to himself as he began to use her laptop to log into Twitter and browse the net. There were so many things that happened today, things that were not worth divulging. An afternoon of watching 'Clueless' with your stepsister wasn't exactly a blog-worthy occasion. What was even more bizarre was that he just had a conversation with Casey about fishes. The funnier thing about it was that he was actually... interested. Interested? He shook his head as he began his 'snoop quest' through her files, some of which were supposed to be private but she forgot to hide them. Scanning through the file names in the folder 'Poems', one particular title caught his attention.
'What I Really Wanted to Say' by Casey McDonald.
"Oh, this will be fun to read."
A/N: Ooh, could this be revelation time? We'll see. :)
So, yeah. Took a while to finish it, but I hope it turned out okay. Derek and Casey are still in the denial stage. Eek. They need a little shaking to realize they're in love. LOL. R&R! Thank you!