Derek involuntarily went to work Sunday evening after having listened to a crying
Ralph for (how long was that?) oh ya...three minutes. Sure he felt like a bad buddy,
but the brain dead idiot knew better than to come and tell his dilemma to the only
friend who wouldn't listen.
He should have went to Sam's. Sam wouldn't have grabbed him by his underwear
and flung him out the door. Maybe he can smooth things over at school in the
morning, but as of right now, he had bigger fish to fry.
The guilt that was gnawing at him over what happened yesterday was almost too
much to bear. He had been the one to train their new Smelly Nelly's trainee, so it
had been impossible for him to get away from her. Being a Saturday, it helped
keep her at bay somewhat with all the customers they had. Derek counted his tips
and came out with two-hundred dollars on one night's work. Not too bad
considering he had waited on more tables than he was assigned to just to keep busy.
He noticed how much he had looked at Sally. She was damn near perfect, just like his
Casey. Casey, Casey, Casey. He had said her name more times than he could count
over the excruciatingly long day. It turned out that Sally was saving up for college in
the fall which was five months away so she was going to be working all the time, just
like he did. Five months of looking at nothing but blond hair and a perfect ass.
He was in trouble.
The duration they had downtime (not many, but few) had been awful yet exhilarating
at one-time. She followed him wherever he went, claiming it was only so she
could learn her job more effectively. She was already a natural; little training would
be more than enough. If it had been any other girl, Derek would suspect she was
lying, but Sally didn't strike him as the 'come on strong' type.
She had even mentioned a boyfriend, Patrick, which eased Derek's mind a fraction. If
she was off the market, it would make it easier on him by having her be the one to
say no.
But for her allegedly being taken, she found every opportunity to brush up against
him, smile with a 'come hither' kind of look, and then walk away when she knew she
had his full attention. Derek could already tell that Sally expected him to fall at her
feet, like he was sure most men did, but she was the type to be hunted; never the
hunter.
She wasn't going to come out and say how much she wanted his body like Kendra
had. But she was thinking it. It also worried him that maybe Patrick wasn't real and
she made him up in a way to provoke a challenge out of him. He was always up for
a proposition, but now he really was off the market.
He two-timed on Kendra once...or twice, but he was never serious about her. Casey
made him ache in a way he never thought possible. After they hooked up, it was
clear that no other girl would ever come close to how amazing his step-sister really
was. His blinders were on for far too long when the perfect girl was right next door,
literally, the whole time. Why screw up something so right after the wasted time was
ticked away and he could never get it back?
And his thoughts on Casey brought him back to what happened in the middle of the
night; in the shower he had imagined her in more times than he could count.
Spending all day with a gorgeous girl and not being able to hit on her had been more
rough that he suspected it would be. Sally had purposely rubbed her backside on his
groin so many times that he had a hard on half the day at work. He just wanted a
cold shower and a little time away from girls in general. The guilt he felt had been a
brick to the chest. The disgrace he felt for being down right cruel with his little
Spacey when he backed her up against the tiled tub and the way he emptied himself
inside her made him feel like the worst kind of human being.
Afterwards, he did something he hadn't done in years...cry. He didn't
just shed a tear or two; it was full on sobbing. Every event that day, and night, had
been too much to take and he couldn't hold it in. He couldn't even look her in the
eyes this morning.
Derek did play a little trick on her in his way of an apology. She yelled at him
like he had hoped and then they both had a good laugh. Fighting was a second
nature to them; their fueds were far from over.
Sally was the next best thing to Casey and it bothered him to even be thinking in this
manner. It took him back to the kitchen when Kendra had wanted Casey to come to
the lake with them. His thoughts about her had been straight forward and how he
wanted someone a lot like her, though as the time he didn't actually mean Casey
herself.
It just turned out that way.
Sunday was a pretty slow day at the restarant so Derek never went in until 4. He
opened the door and was immediately met by a bent over Sally, who was cleaning up
a spill from the hardwood floor.
Focus. Keep it together, D, he told himself before adverting his gaze and speed
walking to the breakroom to hang up his leather jacket. He slowly put on his apron,
made sure he had a pad and pen in it's pocket, and then put his hands on his hips.
Derek rolled back onto the heels of his feet and scanned the small white room with
a mini fridge, one rickety round table, a microwave, and a T.V. that only got channel
3. He was looking for something to clean so it didn't look like he was avoiding the
dining room, even if he was. He popped open the microwave and noticed that the
normally crusty convection was spotless. Who the hell cleaned it?
"How's it going?" a confident voice asked him from the doorway. He kept his head
inside the microwave, damning it for not being able to turn on when the door was
open.
He could use a nice frying of the brain just about now.
"Usual," he answered with a muffle.
He could hear one of the two chairs squeak across the linoleum as she took a seat.
Derek closed his eyes in frustration, realizing what a moron he must look like with his
head buried in the microwave. He slowly stood up to his full height of five feet
eleven inches and turned around.
He had known that look too many times before. Every girl at Thompson High looked
at him in the same way. She was checking him out.
Derek wanted to grown on the inside. She has a boyfriend; why is she making this so
difficult on him?
"Slow?"
Sally folded her arms across the table, it moving off it's uneven legs.
"It's awful out there. I'm so bored and Randy's been in his office for the past hour."
Sally lowered her voice, "We've had two customers since Steve left and I'm shocked
he even went into the kitchen to make the orders."
Derek chuckled, "guys nice enough but he's not exactly the hard working type."
"You can say that again."
He found himself once again rolling onto the heels of his shoes and stuffing his hands
into the pockets of his low jeans. "Um, you can go ahead and take a break. I'll take
care of things out in the dining room for awhile."
"Randy said that once you got here it was your turn in the kitchen."
"Eh, that's alright. If we only have one table or so, I can do both." Derek turned to
leave and then said over his shoulder, "take a thirty...please." He added that please
after he already left the small room. At that moment, he needed a breather from her
strong presence. The scent of strawberries and bacon on her clothes were filling his
senses. Ten minutes down, about five hours to go.
"I don't need a break." Damn. She was right on his heels. "I've only been here two
hours. I'll probaby take one around six if that's alright."
"Mmmhmmm," he muttered.
Derek grabbed a wet cloth and began whipping down a table that was already
spotless. For someone whose body language said she wasn't interested, she sure
liked to have him around. Maybe that was the problem. She really was too much
like Casey. The casual way of speaking while still giving him 'the eye,' her crossed
arms and a shrugging shoulder which gave the impression she didn't care, and the
following him around when their conversation was clearly finished.
He was use to women fluttering their lashes and taking off their clothes before he got
two full sentences out. Not Casey...and not Sally.
"So, I was wondering?"
"Ya?" he asked while rubbing the table so fast it began to look polished.
"We talked about Patrick so much yesterday that I never asked you. Do you have a
girlfriend?"
Derek's hand stilled mid wipe. It was the dreaded question. What was he going to
say? He turned to look at her as she leaned against a nearby chair like his answer
would mean nothing.
The bell at the entrance rang, but he didn't turn to look. They could seat themselves
and take a minute to look at the menu that already rested in front of them.
What the hell am I going to say? If I say yes she might want to meet her but Casey and
I are still a secret. What if she finds out she's my step-sister? She might think it's gross
and just won't understand what we really have. What if I tell her yes and she stops
harassing me?
"It's complicated." Great. He gave a facebook profile answer. And the truth was, it
wasn't complicated. Him and Casey were hook line and sinker sunk in their devotion
for one another.
For the first time, Sally gave him a gaze that looked more like a women on a mission,
rather than a fluttering high school girl that he was so use to from every other
female. She walked over to him and placed a slim finger on his chest, making figure
eights.
"You know...Patrick and I are kind of complicated too."
Derek couldn't breath. How was he going to get out of this one because...because,
that girl, what was her name...think Derek think. He gave up but just because he
couldn't remember her name at that exact moment didn't mean she wasn't waiting
for him at home.
"You want to hang out after work?" Derek was stumped. He was stuck. There was
only one thing to say.
"Sure." And that was that. Sally smiled and pulled her pad and pen from the apron
around her slender waist and winked before going to take their new guests order.
He let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He had a date. A date
when he already had a girlfriend whose name escaped him seconds before.
The promises he made to Casey were weighing on him. At the time, he had meant
every word he said, and he still did. He loved her so much that he couldn't picture
his life without her.
But she was his step-sister, so even if they weren't physically together, she would still
be in his life to the day he died. Derek could always look out for her best interest
and make sure she remained all right.
Derek loved Casey, but maybe it was just easier this way.
Turning around to look at the one girl who could so easily pry his mind from the love
that awaited him, his skin turned cold at who was sitting in the booth, her eyes
fixated upon him as she gave Sally her order.
No, not Casey thank God, but the next worst thing.
Emily.