Over the course of four hours, Derek, Alan, and Casey had gone through an entire legal pad borrowed (to never be returned) from George's desk.
"We still don't have much to go on," Derek muttered.
"When do we ever?" Alan commented, sighing at his defeated tone.
The brunette glanced up at the two boys, her expression hesitant. "I don't know a lot about computers, Alan, but I know we're a lot closer than we were before. If nothing else, we can protect our family. That has to count for something."
Alan watched Derek's eyes watch her intently, the slight twitch in his neck as he heard the word our. He saw the tension bloom from his neck to his shoulders and arms, the way he seemed almost frozen in place.
What Alan didn't know was that he was devoting every bit of energy he had to keeping his mouth shut for once—but the desire to automatically correct her and cover up with a snarky comment was hard to shut down.
The blonde forced a smile on his face and said, "Yeah, maybe you're right, Casey. Derek and I will go down for some snacks, I think we need a break. Would you like anything?"
Grateful for the exit, Derek was out the door and down the stairs before he heard her answer. When Alan joined him a few minutes later, watching him pull out the ingredients for a rather sizeable sandwich, he smiled smugly and said, "You're welcome."
"No clue what you're talking about, geek." Derek maintained, eyes fixed on the edible creation before him.
"I don't know much about girls, or people, really, but I'm not blind. You like her, she likes you, it's obvious."
Derek snorted derisively. "You have more of a chance with her than me—if I even wanted her, which I don't. Casey's smart, she'll eventually land some guy that sees her…for who she is. Someone that won't make her change. And me? Well, high school's all I've got going for me."
"What?" asked the blonde, who was grabbing a soda from the fridge, though Derek couldn't tell if he was surprised or simply not following.
"It's just…you're smart, you know, going to MIT and stuff and…and I'm not going to do as well anywhere else as I do in high school."
It was true, he was sure of it. High school was a Derek-climate, but university? University was a Casey-climate—a place he'd drown.
"So you're just not going to apply? Give up?" Alan muttered, spinning the can on the counter, his eyes meeting the hazel stare on his face.
Derek shrugged, slapping on the last piece of bread on top of a mountain of condiments, cheese, cold cuts, and possibly a slice of tomato.
"That's the most asinine thing I've heard," was the other boy's response, "I'm not saving your ass just so you can rot here forever."
Before the brunette could provide a counterpoint, he disappeared past the kitchen threshold.
Alan tossed the can of soda to Casey, who flailed and ended up with the can falling beside her.
Derek followed moments later. "Dad and Nora'll be home soon," he said, the façade of devil-may-care etched into his features, "so you might wanna scram for now." He motioned to the door behind him, making a clicking sound with his tongue.
Casey rolled her eyes offered to drive him home, but he declined, stating it was better for him to take the bus back home. Then she offered to wait with him, but Derek vetoed that idea immediately.
In the end, all three of them found themselves waiting for the next bus, an awkward silence snaking between them.
Alan reminded himself that they weren't his friends. They couldn't be—they would go their separate ways after this and lose touch because that was the way things were.
He made a mental note to reveal to Casey what Derek had told him, however. Venturi never seemed to be able to say no to her.
The bus arrived and Alan muttered a quick farewell, dodging Casey's attempt at a hug, but acknowledged her thanks with a slight nod. He pulled himself onto the steps with his arms, a curious boarding maneuver, and then he was whisked away down the street.
"Well," Casey began, as Derek started back toward the house, "That was odd."
A sigh. "That's Alan for you. Seriously, the guy makes it hard to not kick his ass."
"He likes you, you know." Casey said, a hint of mischief in her voice.
"He does not!" Derek protested, "How many times has he alluded to my being an idiot, or my hockey status, or how no one can ever know we've spoken?"
All things Casey does, a voice sounding suspiciously like Alan reminded him.
Casey giggled. "A boy doesn't act like that unless he's smitten—and Derek, trust me, I know smitten."
Derek scowled. "Well, he thinks you like me! So therefore, he is not smitten!"
Derek chose to omit that Alan had only implied Casey liked him. In either case, it made her go off on a tangent about how wrong that was, and he ended her final thought—you're an annoying asshole and so not my type—by locking the door behind him.
"My point exactly," Casey yelled, too far away to stop the door from closing in her face, then growled, digging into her pocket for a key.
o-o-o
No longer than half an hour later, George and Nora burst through the door and called for them.
Derek met Casey in the hall, hesitance on her face.
Then Nora said, spying his form at the steps, "Derek! We heard about Amy! Why didn't you call—"
"They heard," Derek said flatly, then turned to Casey, whispering, "Not a word, Case. Not a word."
"You know, I'm really tired so I'm just going to bed. Okay? Great." He turned around the corner, slipped past Casey, and retreated to the notes hidden under his pillow.
Bewildered and concerned as they were, they didn't disturb him that night—nor did Lizzie, Marti, or Edwin. Derek knew it promised a shit storm for the next time they saw him, but that wouldn't hold a candle to Casey's reaction for leaving her to deal with it, or so he thought.
o-o-o
At midnight, his elbow ached from having to hold that miniature flashlight for so long. He'd gone through the pages and pages of notes, and at this hour they were just words, anyway. He didn't know enough to have an upper hand, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to go any deeper with this whole thing.
Just as he was about to give up, Casey opened his door silently, carrying two large mugs of coffee.
She gave him a little smile—a real one, not forced—and said, "I kind of figured you need some reinforcements. What do you think?"
He simply grunted and accepted the coffee gratefully. He wondered if she had laced it with laxatives or something, to get back at him for the pussy move he had pulled earlier, but it didn't appear so.
She took the pad from his lap and skimmed the first page.
"So, we should split up the work," Casey said, "I'll do the research and fact checking, you deal with George and Nora and the cops tomorrow, Alan can start drafting up plans for the legal office."
Derek set the mug on his bedside table and groaned. "Cops? Parents? Case, you weren't supposed to say anything!"
"I didn't! They just need your statement on the last time you saw her and that's it. George was sure of it."
Derek frowned, and made his way over to his computer, intending to check the news coverage. Something didn't add up.
But an email alert caught his attention instead, from a sender and client he didn't recognize.
From: Grty67sd34 12:15 am
To: Derek V
Subject: You're welcome, Venturi.
POLICE RECEIVE VIDEO EVIDENCE OF MISSING GIRL
It was just a headline. When he searched for the article, he found nothing.
Then he received another email, different user, same email client.
In the body was an image of Casey and Derek watching Alan at the bus stop.
The subject line?
I am always watching.
o-o-o-o
So sorry for the late updates on all my WIPs! I will try to update more once my internship is over this month!
As always, thanks for reading, and reviews are always appreciated.
-Remi