A/N: This was such a long chapter...so I decided to split it into two chapter. A lot happens. Hope you dig it!
Three days later, the break was winding down and kids would be returning to campus very shortly. Casey had gone back to her room for the afternoon because she needed...a break and a shower. Derek was lying on his bed in a lazy blissful state, nearly asleep but still plenty awake. The past three days had pretty much eliminated any awkwardness or hostility between the two. It was proving really difficult to fight while making out or participating in other recreational activities. Casey was actually really good in bed, which was a shock because in their Pre-Make Out days she was quite the prude.
"Derek, do you honestly think you were my first?" Casey giggled while lying in bed with him on the second day. They had ordered a pizza and had made it halfway through the dish before playing never-had-I-ever.
"Well, I was hoping, you hoe." Derek sulked. "It wasn't Robin was it?"
"Don't be rude, Derek." Casey scolded. "And, no, Robin was a perfect gentleman." she crawled out from under the covers and straddled Derek's chest.
"Was it Sam?" Derek put his hands around her waist, not sure if he liked this conversation.
"No, do you really want to know?" Casey sighed as Derek gave a half nod. "It was Paul the last half of senior year. He and I were together for a few months...but it turns out he was a complete idiot. So, I dumped him. But he and I had...engaged in private activities three times during that."
"And I didn't know?" Derek was downright indignant.
"Well, you didn't ask." Casey shrugged and kissed his nose in a haughty fashion. A little smug that she had hidden something from the naked Venturi under her. "Who was yours anyways?"
"My what?"
"Your first time."
"Sarah Wind. Summer before our sophomore year. You were actually in the house. Supposed to be "supervising" while the others went out. I took her to my room to show her my vintage t-shirt collection while you watched The Sound of Music for an ungodly fifteenth time...and things happened."
"Der-ek! I remember that day. That's so wrong!" Casey shrieked and climbed off of him. "You betrayed mom and George's trust. Oh, and Sarah is such a...bad person. And gross...I was just down stairs while some trashy girl took your virginity."
"Wait...took mine?" Derek ignored the rest and targeted on the way Casey said the last sentence.
"You don't honestly think you were Sarah's first, do you?" Casey laughed.
"Well, I was hoping…" Derek sulked and Casey cackled. Derek, in spite of himself, grinned at the flashback of that morning. He rolled over, contemplating doing some of that studying Space Case was always going on about, when he remembered something Robin told him of. Derek went over to his roommates bottom drawer and pretty much hit a Casey gold-mine.
Across campus Casey got into the shower, completely wrapping herself in the silence. In less than a day the bathroom would be bustling and loud and there would be a forty five minute wait to take a fifteen minute lukewarm shower. The last three days had been a whirlwind. Going from just being Derek's step sister to his sex buddy...no, she had more dignity than that. She refused to be another one of his conquests.
"I will just have to talk to him about it later." Casey decided as she turned the water off and wrapped herself in a fluffy pink robe. Back in her room, that had been mostly unused during the weekend, Casey checked her phone. She had missed a call from Nora and after dressing she called her back.
"Hello?"
"Hey, mom. What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much right now. We just miss you so much we decided to end our American vacation early. I know it's a bit much to ask, but can you and Derek come home next weekend?"
"Well, classes start back up on Monday...So I guess we could leave Friday once my last class ends and come back late sunday evening…" Casey mulled.
"That's great, Case! The house has been so quiet since you two have been gone. It's spooky." Nora laughed and a comfortable silence briefly fell. "So, have you killed your brother yet?"
"Mom, he's not my brother." Casey said hurriedly.
"Oh, sorry. Sorry. Step-brother. Geez. You kids are always so picky about the proper term. Lizzie and Edwin are fine being brother and sister."
"Yeah, well. Derek and I aren't Lizzie and Edwin." Casey's voice was sharper than she had intended. But hearing her mother call Derek her brother made the entire weekend feel...wronger and dirtier.
"Okay, sweetheart. I'm sorry." Nora's apology was genuine. "Well, how has the week been? Gotten a lot of studying done?"
"You could say that." Casey laughed quietly as she recalled Derek teaching her a few new things.
"You need to take a break, Case. Have some fun!"
"Yeah, I know mom." Casey sighed, hating the losen up talk she somehow always got.
"How is Robin? That boy you've been seeing."
"Oh, well we split a while ago. I'm kind of...seeing someone else…"
"Wow, Casey! Way to play the field." Nora sounded a little forced, unsure of how she felt about her eldest daughter dating strange men in college. "Anyone I know?"
"Well, maybe." Casey hesitated. "I'm just not sure I want to talk much about him, us, until it's more solidified."
"That's smart."
"I've gotta go, mom. Laundry is done. I'll tell Derek and we will see you Friday night."
"Okay, we love you sweetheart. Bye."
"Bye, mom. Love you too."
Casey hung up and rested her head on her desk. Suddenly, the torrid affair she had been having with her brother by marriage was all too real. Her family, their family was involved. All of their friends and even the school was involved. It wasn't sexy and fun and exciting anymore. Casey felt real terror creep up on her. She couldn't be another one of Derek's conquests. Either they had to be a real...couple. Or nothing at all. She couldn't face her mother or George or the shared set of siblings knowing she was just another girl on Derek's list.
She and Derek hadn't had "the talk" yet and she really wasn't looking forward to it. Casey's mind was swirling like sugar in a cotton candy machine. To distract herself Casey cracked open a fresh package of notecards and started making new flashcards for her classes. As evening crept up on her, Casey realized she hadn't heard from Derek since that morning. She looked at her phone, considering calling him, but decided against it. She just wasn't ready for the upcoming storm. Just as she decided to go out and get something to eat, alone, a knock sounded at her door.
"Who in the hell." She opened the door and found Derek standing holding a picnic basket and a bottle of cheap store brand wine. He looked uncomfortable in his jeans and dress shirt. Dates came easy for him. Romance was akin to buck hunting with a nerf gun.
"So, look. You wanna go on a date? Like, a real date. I've got sandwiches...and this wine...and chips." His voice was hurried and Casey didn't answer immediately which caused the campus stud to panic. "Look, Princess. I haven't got all day. If you don't wanna do the dumb picnic just say so."
"Let me get my jacket." Casey said softly and grabbed a hoodie from her small closet. The two walked to a sunny part of the quad and Derek laid out a blanket on the grass. Early November had taken over the air and it really was quite chilly. Derek rifled through the picnic basket and handed a small, somewhat bent and petal missing, bouquet of white flowers to Casey.
"They're beautiful." Casey swooned.
"Thanks." Derek muttered and opened a bag of chips, taking a giant handful before offering the bag to Casey….his date for the evening. It really was weird, seeing Casey holding flowers he had given her. She was just wearing jeans and a university sweatshirt but the way her brown hair fell in gentle waves and framed her face, bringing out those drop dead stunning blue eyes. It made him wonder how he ever found anyone else even attractive. Which in and of itself was a horrifying thought. The pair ate in semi comfortable silence before Casey dived in.
"This is really nice. Thanks, Derek."
"Sure, I thought you might like it. It's kind of our first date. I guess." He was lying on the blanket with his eyes closed. She was sitting crosslegged beside him. Sure, there were about two hundred people milling around campus who also hadn't gone home, but it seemed like they were the last two people in existence.
"Yeah, about that." Casey hesitated. "Mom and George want us to come home next weekend. Have our own small family Thanksgiving."
"...And? We'll just take the bus home. It's only about a three hour trip."
"Um…" she took a big breath, ready to drown their perfect world. "What is this?"
"A blanket? A picnic? An empty college field ? Come on, give me specifics, keener." Derek teased lazily.
"I mean, us. This. What is...it."
"Fuck." Derek groaned and sat up. "We made it a whole three days before you brought it up. Honestly, Case. I'm impressed. You hardly lasted until lunch period when Sam told you he liked you before you started trying to define it. I got a whole seventy two hours."
"Der-ek. I'm serious, here."
"Me too! Look, Casey. Just leave it alone."
"I don't want to!" Casey shouted.
"What do you mean?"
"In one week we have to face our family and sleep in our separate adolescent rooms. I will not go back home knowing I was just another conquest."
"Look, Princess. You're not." Derek's voice was soft, a little frightened. Of Casey flying off the handle and throwing cheese at him or that he might just be falling in love with the cheese flinging girl, he was still unsure.
"Then what, Derek. What am I to you?" her voice was warbling but she pressed on. "I would like to think I'm not on the same level as Matilda or Sarah or anyone like that."
"Casey, you're not, so just shut up about them. I don't know! I just don't. You think this is easy for me? For five years I was pretty certain I hated you. Then I wake up one morning senior year pretty much in love with you but clearly that wasn't an option a year ago. Then we get to college and like the Queen Ice you can be, you freeze me out for months! Then when you have no other options we fuck. A lot! What the hell, Casey? You're no saint, either! So what am I to you, huh, Princess?"
"I have had your penis in my mouth too many times for you to give me this….this, bullshit!" Casey stood up, and stormed across the quad, leaving Derek and the crooked daisies on the blanket.
"What the hell…" Derek mumbled and laid back down on the blanket. It wasn't until Casey got back to her dorm his words registered with her.
"He loves me. Or at least loved." Casey thought aloud before logging onto her computer to wrap up some of the afternoons studies. Anything to keep her mind off of a certain brunette across campus who kept captivating her thoughts. She popped in her earbuds and turned up the mindless pop music to drown some brain activity. Derek went back to his room alone and immediately picked up the phone to call her. She didn't answer so he tried twice more. Figuring that the stubborn McDonald woman needed time and space, he went to the computer to play more Halo, switching his phone off.
Around ten o' clock Casey realized she had a few missed calls from Derek. She called him but it went right to voice mail.
"He must be screening my calls...dammit." Casey moped. She crawled into bed but didn't sleep at all. Both feeling a bit dejected from the missed calls, they stopped trying to contact each other. The days blended together and once again the campus was flooded with rowdy students. Casey was rapidly swept back into dance practice and pop quizzes and work at the bookstore. Derek was yanked back to the reality of hockey and staying awake in class. The two didn't speak until late Thursday night.
Casey was picking up a shift at the bookstore with Daisy. The two were lazily stocking product and Daisy was rambling about her thanksgiving holiday.
"Then I swear to god, my uncle tossed the yams on the carpet and came out of the closet."
"Wow, that's...amazing." Casey laughed. "How did his wife take it?"
"Better than our dog who got sweet potatoes and marshmallows dumped on her." Daisy shrugged. "How was yours? You stayed here right?"
"Yeah, it was okay." Casey didn't look at her friend. Suddenly, the scuffs on the shelf were the most interesting thing in the known universe.
"Casey, that's your shame voice. What are you hiding?" Daisy taunted. "C'mon. Spill it!"
"I slept with someone." she whispered, even though they were the only two in that part of the store.
"Oh my god! Who?"
"Derek…" Casey's voice was only half a decibel above being totally silent. Daisy didn't say anything for a full minute.
"Sweet baby jesus. This is better than my gay uncle." Daisy said. After much prompting Casey spilled the entire story. With even more prompting...she went into private details. "You have to go find him. Seriously, go find him. Apologize. Have a hard core make out sesion. And then have what ever twisted happy ending you two crazy kids can get."
"What is it like in your head?" Casey laughed at how simple her friend was.
"I get dizzy sometimes." Daisy laughed and hugged her friend who had quiet tears rolling down her cheeks.
Across campus in the room Robin shared with a Mr. Venturi, the boys were also bonding. In that they were eating pizza and playing Mario Kart.
"So, thanks for the picnic stuff." Derek said after three races and half a pizza.
"Did she like it?"
"Well, at first. Then she ran off sobbing."
"What did you do to her? I told you to give her wine, not make her cry." Robin said. Derek, with no prompting told Robin of their first night together. With more prompting he discussed the sappier moments. Not something he enjoyed, but Robin had sisters and thought maybe he could fix Derek's shit before the only good thing in his life exploded like mentos in diet coke.
"It will be okay, man." Derek said after a few minutes. "Stop being a girl. I've got a banana peel with your sorry name on it." Derek brushed his worried friend off, not admitting that he had no clue if indeed everything would be okay. He called George later that night, confirming plans for that weekend. He and Nora had emailed their bus tickets to Casey and said they were were excited to see the both of them again. Derek halfheartedly laughed at the dumb stories they told about their home life and he made up some boring college crap he knew his father would want to here. Derek didn't bring up Casey and George didn't ask. The men hung up and being the smart father he was, George knew there was something up with his son. He just couldn't put a finger on it yet.
A/N: TO BE CONTINUED (shortly)