Chapter 3, Casey: Pride and Prejudice
"Hiii!" Emily squeals as she opens her front door to Derek and me. We hug tightly and jump a little as Derek folds his arms, acting bored to cover up his nerves. Emily soon moves on to him and I notice he hugs her pretty tightly too, with a big smile on his face. Aww. And he was so worried things would be awkward.
"So … you guys are still together, right?" Emily asks as she leads us through her house to the backyard. She arrived home earlier this morning and invited us over for a pool party with our high school friends.
"Of course," I tell her, glancing at Derek. He seems to have calmed down completely.
"I'm so happy you guys finally got together. It makes things so much easier. I seriously thought it was never going to happen, and we'd all be miserable watching you fight all summer."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Em," Derek pipes up.
She smiles, opening the door for us as we head into the yard. "I honestly think you should be thanking Sam. I mean, without him there to keep an eye on you two, who knows where we'd be?"
I laugh. I missed her fast, bubbly way of talking, like everything's super exciting. It's a contagious attitude.
"Oh, so before I forget, here's the scoop," she continues. "You know Ralph and Sam are in town, obviously. Kendra came home yesterday, so I invited her tonight. Noel's coming home in a couple of weeks after some summer class thing. I haven't heard anything about Max. Trevor's staying in Regina with his cousins for the summer. Tinker's doing a year abroad in England, and Amanda's leaving for the Bahamas tomorrow, so she couldn't come over. Ralph didn't get to see her before she left, but he doesn't seem too upset. They ended things on good terms last year."
Emily stops to take a breath, so I jump in. "I'm always impressed with your research, Dr. Em!"
"I have good sources. Oh! I forgot about Truman."
My stomach turns over, and I see Derek clenching his fists beside me. I reach a hand over to his and squeeze it. Even hearing that name sets Derek on edge.
"He's got an internship in New York, and he won't be back all summer." Emily eyes us carefully, waiting for our reaction.
Derek and I let out a long breath at the same time. I don't know what I would have done if he was in town. I never want to see that creep again as long as I live, and I know Derek and Emily feel the same way.
Emily stares at us with a hint of wonder on her face. "Aww, you guys." She looks down at our still-intertwined hands. "I have to be honest. I thought it might be weird to see you two together, but it's really not. You're so cute together!"
"We are not cute!" Derek complains as I drag both of them toward the pool, Emily and me laughing at him all the way.
()()()()()
Sam and Ralph arrive a little while later, and we have a nice time catching up, playing in the pool and then relaxing on the deck. I keep noticing Emily and Ralph exchange these little bemused glances, and it's driving me crazy. I finally decide to call them on it.
"All right, what is up with all the looks? Is something going on?"
"What are you talking about?" Ralph asks.
"You and Emily are looking at each other like you have a secret."
Derek sits up straighter on the lounge chair we're sharing. "Hey, you know, Casey's right. I noticed it, too."
Sam turns a laugh into a coughing fit. We all look over at him. "I guess I'm kind of immune to it by now, seeing them at school so much," he says.
"Immune to what?" I cry, shaking my head in frustration.
Emily clears her throat. "Well, Ralph and I haven't really been around you two as a couple. This is the first time we're seeing you together."
"You said earlier it wasn't weird for you," Derek whines. "Make up your mind, woman!"
"Dude, look at your arm," Ralph points out, as Emily sticks her tongue out at Derek good-naturedly.
We both look at his arm, which is currently draped around my shoulders. "So?" Derek asks. But I'm beginning to get it.
"And Casey's right hand," Emily adds. It's resting on Derek's thigh, but I don't pull it away.
"You can't keep your hands off each other," Sam explains gently. Derek and I look at each other and share a smile. I guess it's become so second nature to us around our university friends that we didn't think about the fact that it'd be a little unsettling for Emily and Ralph to witness.
"We don't mind, do we, Ralphie?" Emily asks.
"Nah. It's cute." Ralph beams at us.
Derek throws his head back with a groan. "Stop calling us cute!"
"You're not fooling anyone, Der," I say as I kiss him quickly on the lips.
Emily, Sam, and Ralph say "Awwww," in unison.
"What in the hell?"
We swivel our heads in the direction of the new speaker, and none other than Kendra Mason is standing just outside Emily's back door, looking from Derek to me in utter shock. Her expression quickly turns to revulsion and I tense up. I wasn't sure how Kendra would react, but I'd hoped she'd take it well.
Derek is even tenser next to me. "H-hi, Ken," he greets her, trying to smile.
Kendra holds up a hand and stares around at our little group, her eyebrows furrowed and nose scrunched. "I just saw you kissing Casey," she addresses Derek.
Out of the corner of my eye I see that my friends are trying not to laugh. Real supportive! Derek turns pale, but he holds his own against the intense, whirlwind presence striding toward us.
She stops in front of us and stamps her foot, dropping her tote bag to the ground and placing her hands on her hips. "Don't make me say it again," she hisses, glaring at both of us now.
Derek clutches my shoulder tighter and runs a hand through my hair. I try not to enjoy the possessive gesture, but I can't help liking it. "I was kissing Casey because she's my girlfriend, Kendra."
"What?" Kendra's shriek probably shatters all of the glass in Emily's windows, and my house's, too.
"It's true," I add. "We've been dating since we got to university." Technically true, but she doesn't need details right now. She needs to not murder us with her eyes, because that's what it's feeling like.
"Did your parents get divorced?" she asks.
"Uh, no," Derek replies, making a face.
"So you're still … brother and sister?" Kendra's eyes are still flashing, but she's starting to come around; I can tell.
"No, and we never were. You know that." Derek grins at her.
"You're … dating?"
We both nod, and Emily, Ralph, and Sam are still stifling giggles. I guess I can't blame them for thinking this is funny. They don't realize that we'll have to face this kind of harassment all our lives. People at Queen's have mostly not cared, but we've met a few people who think we're gross. We figure we wouldn't want to be friends with those people, anyway. That's why I really, really hope Kendra decides to be okay with this.
Kendra comes over and takes the only empty lawn chair, gradually lowering herself into it as she stares at us. We watch her carefully, and she finally sighs. "Well, there goes my idea of a little summer fling with Derry," she mumbles, and Derek lets out a whoop of relief. I clasp my hands together happily, and she gives us a small smile. "How did this happen?"
We launch into our story, and Sam fills in where he can. Emily and Ralph have heard it before over the phone and email, but they listen attentively anyway. When I get to the part about Derek thinking I was about to move out, he of course tries to play it off like he wasn't worried. But Kendra's the one to jump in and say, "Oh, please, I completely believe Casey on this one. You are so obviously whipped. I can't believe I didn't see it in high school."
"Don't worry, I didn't see it, either," Ralph agrees, and I notice Emily and Sam lock eyes and smile. Sometimes it makes me feel really stupid that our two best friends knew about our feelings before we did. Or at least, before I did.
When we finish the story, Kendra actually applauds us. "That is so amazing," she gushes. "You can't stop true love." She looks a little misty-eyed, and as always, I appreciate our shared flair for the dramatic. Apparently any reservations she has about us are over with.
Emily taps on her plastic cup of soda, which doesn't actually make much noise, but it gets our attention. "I actually have a story, too. I wanted to wait until you were all here to tell you the good news."
I'm instantly wracking my brain trying to think of something exciting she's told me recently. But from the way she's smiling, this seems like it'll be news to me, too.
"I was fooling around on Facebook one day when I decided to look up Sheldon. We started messaging back and forth, and then it turned into emails and phone calls. We're, uh, well, I guess you could say we're back together." Emily looks around at all of us warily, as if anyone would take this as anything but good news!
"Oh, Em!" I jump up and run over to give her a hug, and she gets pats on the back from the boys and a hug from Kendra, too.
"Wait, you mean Sheldon Shlepper, right?" Ralph asks, always a little behind.
"Yes," Emily explains, and Ralph high-fives her.
"This is so great!" I exclaim.
"It gets better," Emily continues. "He's transferring to U of T this fall," she turns to Ralph, "so we'll be at the same school." Ralph gets it right away this time and there are more exclamations of happiness for Emily. She looks down at her feet shyly. "I'm a little nervous. We haven't seen each other since he moved away."
"Are you kidding? He was so in love with you. It'll be like you were never apart," Sam says, and I smile at him gratefully. I couldn't have said it better myself.
"We have been videochatting," she admits. "And he seems like the same Sheldon, just older."
"I would hope so. That's one guy who should never change," Derek says. I know Derek always liked him, but it surprises me that he would say something so nice about him. "I mean, there are only like, three pan flute players left in the world. It'd be a shame if they lost a member." Ah, there it is.
"Der-ek," I groan. I smack him playfully on the knee and the way he looks at me I can tell it would have turned into a tickle fight if we were alone (okay, it would start as a tickle fight and end as something else entirely). He looks at me longingly for a second, and I know he's thinking the same thing.
"Ninety days," I mouth at him. He looks taken aback for a second that I would say it out loud, and then he recovers and winks.
The others are still talking to Emily about Sheldon, so I refocus on my best friend. She's so happy. I settle back against Derek in the lounge chair and look around at my friends. It's nice to be home!