Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing so please don't sue me!
Enjoy the second chapter! Let me know what you think!
The next day was like a whirlwind until the afternoon for Casey at school. As soon as it was an hour until school ended, the day just seemed to drag on from there. Finally when the bell rang, Casey went out to get on the bus to take her home. As soon as the bus turned on her block, she noticed something strange. There seemed to be people in her front yard; people that she didn't seem to recognize. There was a man and a young boy and a little girl talking to her mom on the front lawn. Casey departed from the bus and slowly walked toward her mother.
"Casey, come meet our new neighbors. This is Mr. Venturi, Edwin, and Marti."
"It is great to finally meet you Mr. Venturi, Edwin, and you too Marti." Mr. Venturi seemed to beam and Edwin just smiled a little while Marti looked like she was ready to ask Casey if she wanted to play tea party.
"Please Casey, call me George."
"Okay, George." Casey smiled noticing that George seemed like a really nice guy and was beginning to think that she was going to have no problems with these neighbors; they seemed great.
"I am sorry that you haven't been able to meet my oldest boy yet…he took off this morning, but he should be back here any time soon. He is actually about your age Casey, his name is Derek. He gets along with almost everyone so I am sure you two will get along great!"
"I am sure that we will. I can't wait to meet him" Casey said, thinking that the guy from the other night could not have been more wrong. The people seemed wonderful and she didn't regret at all wanting to meet them.
"Oh…well, you might just get your chance. I do believe that is his car coming down the road now."
Casey turned and looked at the dodge Dakota pick-up 4x4 that was coming down the road. The windows seemed a little tinted so she couldn't see who was in the car until it had parked and the driver had stepped out of the vehicle. It was at this same moment that Casey wanted to crawl into a little ball and die.
She would remember that face anywhere: the fair skin, the dark, shaggy hair, the tall and lean figure the seemed to stand exactly 5 inches taller than her.
If there had been a black hole in the nearest vicinity she would have jumped into it willingly. She was coming face to face with the mover…not her neighbor, Derek! As soon as this thought registered she suddenly remembered a conversation. "You don't happen to know the people moving in here do you?" "Yes, I do actually…"
Casey began to feel her face redden as he approached and she honestly wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or anger that was causing it. She knew that this guy had deliberately lied to her and that she was not happy about it. Before she could embarrass herself anymore, George finally continued with all the introductions.
"Nora, Casey, and Lizzie, this is my oldest son, Derek. Derek, these are the McDonalds."
"Hey, nice to meet you all."
"You too, Derek we have heard a lot about you. Your father says that you are a hockey player?" Nora added enthusiastically.
"Yea I am. I am pretty excited about getting on the ice again this year. I hear the local high school has a pretty killer team."
"Actually they kind of suck." Lizzie said right before Nora poked her with her elbow.
"Well, I guess they will be killer when I get on the team." Derek said with every show of cockiness that he seemed to possess.
"Hmm…" was all that Casey could muster up to say without getting into trouble with her mother.
"Well, George, would you like to come inside for dinner. I am making meatloaf and there is plenty for everyone."
"That would be great…with all of the moving I didn't even think about dinner."
As George, Nora, Lizzie, Edwin, and Marti walked in the house. Casey and Derek seemed to linger in the front lawn for a while.
"You are such a liar!"
"What? I didn't lie about anything."
"The absence of the truth is the same thing as a lie."
"How so? The last time I looked the definition of a lie was a fabrication of the truth…not the absence of it."
"I can't believe I actually thought you were cute!" Casey realized her anger had done it again. It had happened ever since she could remember…when she got mad, Casey seemed to blurt out the truth without even thinking about what she was saying.
"You thought I was cute, huh?" Derek said, getting that little smirk going again that made Casey wish she had a camera so she could take a picture.
"That is not the point here…the point is that you purposefully left out the little detail that you were my neighbor yesterday in order to embarrass me. Admit it!"
"Well I really didn't think of it like that, but now that I am seeing the reaction. I can safely say that I am enjoying your response. I am really surprise it was so easy to get you all riled up like this. Have you always had anger issues?" As he said it, he knew that he was just trying to make her madder. For some reason, her eyes had this glimmer of brightness when she was mad that he hadn't noticed yesterday. He had noticed her smile, her hair and that amazingly slim body, but nothing compared to this look that she was giving him. He wasn't sure if he needed to restrain her or himself.
"You are the most deceitful and infuriating person I have ever met. For your information, I don't usually get mad very easily…but for some reason you are bringing out that side in me."
"Well, I usually don't have the tendency to try to infuriate a lady like yourself, but for some reason you are bringing out that side in me."
"You know what…I am just going to go and hopefully we don't have to cross paths too often." As she said this, Casey turned her back and started toward the door. Similar to the day before, Casey could feel his gaze on her back as she walked away…the exception was he called out to her as she was about to open the door.
"I do believe that I got invited to dinner. So I guess I am just going to have to put up with your nasty behavior in exchange for a good meal."
Casey turned around to say something back but he was already in front of her waiting for her to get out of the way. She was so stunned by his nearness that she instantly jumped out of the way.
"Wow, Casey, I didn't know that you would be so accommodating. See you inside." He said with his voice seeping with sarcasm and without waiting for her to enter the house.
Okay…so maybe the whole new neighbor thing wasn't as great as I thought it was going to be...