Hey sorry it took me so long, I've been swamped. Anyway I hope you enjoy my continuation and a little tribute to Brian because I'm going into things I initially wasn't. He's right though, it's made this piece stronger.
I do not own Life with Derek.
………
"Don't hurt this one Derek." Marti said with calm sarcasm. She smiled and moved over to wrap an arm around her niece.
From the kitchen Casey watched Derek drag the poor boy toward the harsh outdoors. She almost laughed outright, however residual anger kept her from doing so.
Casey felt a little lost. She listened to snippets of a conversation between Lizzie and Edwin who were seated on the newly painted bar stools which were finished, to Casey's amazement. She figured Nora had completed painting them the night before, after everyone had gone to bed.
"That's just ridiculous." She heard Lizzie say but she didn't know what she was referring to.
Casey looked out into the living room. Nora's most recent window treatments were drawn elegantly open. Casey's mind began to drift as did her swollen legs. They carried her subconsciously into the next room and she stared out the window dazedly. The snow was dancing languidly to the ground. Big, thick flakes ate away at the gray that enveloped the sky. The gray that enveloped her mood.
Casey stood, enraptured with the snow as she thought back.
It was the summer after their senior year. Casey and Derek fought more than ever before. However, their fights didn't have that playful feeling they used to any longer. If they weren't fighting they simply weren't speaking. Neither were quite sure what had changed but tensions were certainly higher.
Independently, they had both decided that avoiding each other was the best course and their parents enjoyed the peace for awhile. They kept away from the house as often as possible until George and Nora demanded that they play a more active role in their family member's lives.
It was still early in the summer when the family was all seated together for dinner.
"So, Dad can I stay with Mac tonight?" Derek asked around a large bite of food.
George sighed, "Derek, you've slept out nearly every night this week. I think you should take this weekend off and spend some time with the family. It won't be too long until you're off at college."
"Exactly. Mac is going to Alberta and Sam is going to Toronto. I won't see them again 'til break." Derek argued. He tried to hide his smile, knowing that he had a winning defense.
"You do have a point Derek but you can't just disregard your family. Besides, remember you only got a partial scholarship." George rebounded nicely with the ever useful argument: 'we're paying your college tuition'.
Derek bowed his head in defeat. It was true that he only had a partial scholarship for hockey. It wasn't at his number one school but he had to take what he could get. The last place he wanted to be was in that house with the last person he wanted to deal with.
The aforementioned person set her fork down gently and turned to her mother. "So, I spoke to the Western people today. Everything has been cleared up. Now, you're still sure that Brown isn't an option?" Casey asked pleadingly, yet still knowing invariably what her mother's answer was going to be.
Nora frowned but seemed firm with her decision. "I'm sorry Case but funds are just too low. Besides you have a full scholarship at Western." Nora stated firmly.
Derek had been ignoring the conversation -as he did most of the time Casey spoke- but something caught his attention this time. "Western what?" Derek asked dropping his fork which crashed to his plate with an annoyingly loud clang that set the whole room on edge.
Casey disregarded his question, figuring that he just wanted attention. George let out a long steady breath. He'd been anticipating this day. However he hadn't been excited about the prospect of it.
"The- uh, University of Western Ontario. The same as you." George said already wincing at the impending outbursts.
"Wait a minute- what?!" Casey yelled. Derek stared off stunned and unblinking. They looked each other in the eye for the first time in months due to their constant tip-toeing around the other. The two of them stared across the table in silence. They felt incredibly stupid. How could they have not known what college the other planned to go to?
The room remained silent until Nora cleared her throat which made Casey blink a few times and look down at her plate. Derek's gaze remained however. She could feel his eyes and she clandestinely looked up at Derek again, but the moment he caught her glance he quickly brought his attention to something else.
"It's a big campus; you won't even know the other is there." Nora stated in an attempt to calm the storm. Casey shot her an angry look. Apparently, she did not want to be soothed when she was so obviously outraged.
"You're kidding right?" Derek asked his father incredulously. For some reason he didn't seem nearly as angry as Casey which made her even more furious.
"This is ridiculous." Casey said. She stood abruptly, banging both palms down on the table beside her plate forcefully. Their younger siblings glanced wearily at each other. They knew this was a long time coming. However, they only had the means to calculate a minute fraction of the intensity of their reactions.
Casey's shoulders tensed, she couldn't believe this was happening. The moment that she thought she'd be far away from him, that she wouldn't have to deal with him any longer she finds out that she was incredibly wrong.
As previously mentioned, the past year had been especially bad between them. Fighting increased and when everyone had finally had enough they simply just lived as if the other wasn't there. They thought of this reaction to be a much more mature one however, the fact that they let their problems be ignored was actually quite juvenile. Casey looked at college as a reprieve from her currently tense lifestyle but that didn't seem to be the case any longer.
"This- this is ridiculous." Casey repeated. She was at a loss for words. Derek just stared in awe at her. Certainly he was surprised but he still wasn't sure exactly how he should react to the news. He watched as Casey huffed and stormed from the room.
Casey was brought back from reflecting with the sound of her daughter's musical laughter. She let the warm feeling wash over her.
She moved slowly over to her husband's chair and seated herself. For some reason she couldn't focus on the television set. Instead her eyes kept drifting to the now lightly falling show.
It snowed like this that day too.
It was months before the snow when Derek and Casey left for school. They said their good-byes to their family and left in separate vehicles packed with any and all amenities of home. They planned to not have to deal with each other until Christmas vacation when they would both go home. However, again due to a complete lack of communication, that could never have been the case.
Casey settled nicely into her new single dorm room. She was duly prepared for her first class having already read sections from the required text. She woke up two hours before her first collegiate course. She wanted to look good for her first day so she made sure her make-up looked nice and her still long straight hair was neatly brushed before leaving.
Casey looked down at her schedule for the fifth time while she made her way to the correct room and for the fifth time she had the time and location correct.
She took a deep breath outside of the double doors. Reaching out she pulled the door open and entered the large room.
Casey gasped at the size of the lecture hall. It looked like it was able to hold at least 500 students. She was a little early so the seats were only about half-way filled. It was a little overwhelming so she found a seat in the center toward the end of the row. She decided that she would start sitting in the front tomorrow.
Students quickly filled the seats. She gathered herself and got her notebook ready for the lecture.
The professor entered and wrote the words 'Psychology 101. Silence all cell phones' on the board. Casey nearly slapped herself, realizing that she'd forgotten to quiet her phone. Casey bent low over her chair, her hair cascading over her shoulders and irritatingly into her face. She felt the connected chairs around her lurch with the weight of whoever was seated next to her while she searched through her purse.
"Hey there. Is it just me or does it seem like we got father time as a professor?"
Casey stopped sifting through her bag and froze. The voice was so easily recognizable. She just didn't know how to react.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt… whatever it was you were doing. Anyway, I was wondering if I could get your number- you know, for studying purposes." Casey's mouth flew open but she couldn't get herself to sit up, to expose herself. She instead continued to look for her phone. When she finally did she slowly sat up. She saw him stiffen from the corner of her eye. She was so confused, so she resulted to the only emotion she knew she could handle, anger.
She turned on him quickly, startling Derek. Casey held her phone up. "You already have my number Derek. It's the first day of class and you're already trying to pick up girls?" Casey asked forcefully.
Derek back away from her and looked around frantically for an open seat. Unfortunately, it was the first day of class and all –well most- were present. There certainly weren't any open seats near him and the professor and his assistants were already beginning to hand out the syllabus. He was stuck. So he resorted to the only method he knew.
"Well, I guess I'm four for four so far then." Derek said snidely. He gave her a sly grin. She sneered at him and took the papers from the blond girl next to her. She separated the required pages for herself and shoved the rest of the pile into Derek's chest.
"Real funny. I'm glad I could contribute to such a small personal victory." Casey stated fervently. She straightened up the items on her desk. "You're pathetic".
"Says you." Derek retaliated.
Casey whipped around to shoot him a piercing glare. "Don't you dare think you'll be sitting next to me tomorrow. I don't even want to see your face for the rest of the semester, regardless of whether we have a class together or not." Casey seethed, all the while watching the professor begin to go over what was to be expected in the class.
"Heard you loud and clear. You are definitely the last person I wanted to see on the first day." Derek said lowering his voice.
"Oh, I'm sure everything will be fine. I mean even a 100-level class is too difficult for someone like you. I give you a week before you drop it." Casey said smartly. She should have stopped talking to him awhile ago but something kept her from shutting up and letting it go.
Derek scoffed at her insult.
"Excuse me?" The professor raised his voice and looked at the two. "Yes, you two." Casey gawked at the fact that he was gesturing toward her and Derek and that every student in the large room was now staring at them. "I don't have time for lover's spats. This is your first and last warning." The professor turned, clearly not caring whether either had anything to say for themselves.
Casey felt her face heat up, but when she looked around again it was as if everyone had forgotten it had happened. Even Derek didn't really seem fazed by what had occurred and he was listening adamantly to the course overview.
At the end of class they each went their separate ways.
However, despite her ranting Casey always entered the lecture hall the same way. She couldn't explain it and often didn't even want to acknowledge the fact that she always surreptitiously looked for him on her way to her usual first row seat.
Something about their last meeting reminded her of when she first moved into the Venturi household and before things had changed.
When the snow did fall much later in the semester, things were never going to be the same.
Coming out of her reverie Casey watched the television, finally able to concentrate on the images her daughter loved so dearly. She looked around at the sound of George and Nora coming in through the back door.
"Casey, do you want to come with Mom and me to run errands for tomorrow?" Lizzie asked from the kitchen.
Casey looked at Andie then toward the front door. "Definitely".
Outside, within the snow and the gray, Derek and Travis were slowly and tensely working with each other.
………
I hope I didn't confuse anyone with my flashbacks, I was going to italicize those pieces but I'm kinda in love with the past-tense and am too lazy to go back and change it.
The next update will definitely be sooner, it won't take as long as this one did to get online. Oh, and sorry that I didn't have time to go into Derek and Travis, that part isn't nearly ready to be posted. I really hope you enjoyed reading so far.
Let me know what you think, like if you like their back-story so far or not. There is more of that to come. I've loved the feedback so far. Thanks.
-Kelly
