Chapter 6, Derek: Demily Revisited
I'm not really sure whose idea it was to get D-Rock back together, but I'll gladly take the credit. Emily mentioned that Sheldon wanted to "see" all of us, so we set up a time to videochat one Sunday. Somehow, that turned into a D-Rock rehearsal. Sam and Ralph are currently raiding the fridge, Casey is practicing scales upstairs, and Emily is freaking out over her laptop battery dying.
"Emily." I put a hand on her shoulder as she looks up from the couch, clearly panicked. "Go next door, get your cable, and plug it in."
She looks at me blankly. "Oh. Yeah. The cable." She gets up and races out the door, muttering to herself.
I rub my eyes. I can appreciate that Emily is anxious about all of us seeing Sheldon after so long. But really, what does she think is going to happen? That he'll break up with her if the chat cuts out? That we'll all turn on him because he moved away? She's acting like Casey, and not in a good way. Speaking of the drama queen …
"Where's Em?" Casey asks as she comes down the stairs. I take a moment to admire the view as she walks, and get rewarded for my leer with a light shove on the shoulder once she reaches the landing.
"Hey! No assaulting the lead singer!" Sam calls from the kitchen as he and Ralph emerge, loaded down with snacks.
"She ran home to get her laptop cable," I answer Casey. "She's terrified her battery is going to die, or something stupid like that."
Casey glares at me, and I try not to flinch. "Have a little compassion, Derek. Sheldon's the love of her life, and she just wants things to go well."
"Since when?" I scoff. Shlepper, really? He's a cool guy and all, but he doesn't seem like anyone's soul mate.
"Since forever. She just doesn't know it yet." Casey gives me a mischievous grin and I can't help but grin back.
Ralph and Sam start ripping into the snacks. I join them, and by the time we've all stuffed our faces, Emily is back and hooking up the laptop on the coffee table.
"Okay you guys, are you sure you want to do this?" she asks.
"Yes!" we all chorus, and that startles her into action.
She clicks on the chat and suddenly there he is, smiling out at us. He looks exactly the same, just a little older. He's looking at Emily like she's the most beautiful thing in the universe—and suddenly I get it. Casey just wants for Emily what we have, and judging by the way Emily's beaming back at him, their reunion is a very, very good thing.
"Hi," Emily breathes, and it's obvious that seeing him again hasn't lost its thrill yet.
"Hey, Em." Sheldon waves. "Hi everyone." He peers around at all of us as we squish next to Emily on the couch.
"Good to see you, man," Ralph greets him for all of us, and we sit there smiling like idiots for way too long. I know I don't know what to say.
"So, um, how are you?" Casey asks.
Sheldon chuckles as he turns to her. "Hi, Casey. I'm good. Much better now that I can do stuff like this again. I actually really missed D-Rock."
"I bet the musicians at your new high school all sucked," I add. Casey's finger digs into my side, but I ignore her. She tries her best to make me a gentleman, but to her annoyance I just can't be pinned down that way.
"You know, they really did," Sheldon says, laughing again. "Not a single Billy Joel fan in the bunch."
"Those heathens," Sam remarks, and he and Sheldon snicker together.
This is getting easier, and I decide to have a little fun. "You do realize that Emily's been absolutely unbearable to be around these days, right?" I ask him, and he eyes me, wondering where I'm going with this. "I mean, now it's constantly, Sheldon this and Sheldon that, and 'when we're both in Toronto, Sheldon and I are going to …'" Emily is squealing at me and smacking me with a pillow, and everyone else is laughing at her, so I trail off, grinning.
Sheldon, being the same old Sheldon, turns bright red and stutters, "Uh, are you kidding, because if I'm really causing problems …"
That just makes everyone laugh harder, and now Emily is covering her face with the pillow.
Casey recovers first and puts an arm around Emily. "Sheldon, Derek's kidding." She shoots me a smile. "We couldn't be happier that you two are back together."
"Yeah, man," Sam chimes in. "You guys are gonna take Toronto by storm this fall."
Sheldon's face reddens again, this time for being so gullible. "Oh. I'm glad you approve."
Ralph shakes his head. "Dude, we haven't changed that much. Derek will still mess with you every chance he gets."
"I should have known." He glances at me. "Um, speaking of Derek. Can we take the focus off of Em and me for a second and talk about the elephant in the room?"
"What elephant?" Ralph looks around, confused. We ignore him.
I swallow. I didn't really want to have this conversation in front of everyone. I don't know how much Emily's told him about our relationship, and I'm kinda hoping she totally downplayed it, making it seem like fling. Which it was. It ended in friendship, and there was some kissing in between, but that was it.
"Look, Sheldon, you were gone and it just sort of happened. But I promise you, there's nothing between us anymore. Emily and I only ever kissed, that's it." Emily finally takes the pillow away from her face and looks at me with wide, panicked eyes. She shakes her head vigorously while trying to tell me something, but I can't figure out what.
Sheldon's face falls. "Wait … what?"
I look from him to Emily. Emily hisses, "I didn't tell him about us."
Everyone is dead silent, and I feel like an idiot.
Sheldon says slowly, "You … and Emily?"
"What other elephant in the room could you have possibly meant?" I ask weakly.
Sheldon is quiet for a moment, and then breaks into a grin. "You know what, I don't even care. I believe you when you say it's over, and I know she liked you for a long time, so good for you guys that you tried dating. I'm assuming this happened last year?"
"Yeah …" I confirm, not sure why that matters.
"Emily can fill me in later." His eyes dart to hers and she nods so hard the couch bounces up and down with her, "but I was actually talking about Derek and Casey."
"Ohhh," I gasp. Now I understand why Emily was so jumpy earlier. Trying to bring someone back into your inner circle is really awkward!
Casey keeps her arm around Emily and smiles, eyes bright. "It's true, Sheldon. He finally drove me so crazy that I fell in love with him. Have I lost my mind or what?"
I groan. Casey can be so cheesy. But of course, I secretly love it.
Sheldon's much more comfortable being a sap in public. "It's so romantic. Emily told me how it happened. I can't believe he had you pretending to be his girlfriend!"
"Hey now, wait a minute!" I cry, not sure I want to be painted the bad guy so soon after making a fool of myself.
"Oh, don't worry, Derek," Sheldon says, turning to me. "If I had the guts, I would have done the same thing in your situation."
"I think moving to Toronto is pretty gutsy," Casey says, and we all murmur our agreement as Sheldon blushes and Emily squirms with happiness.
()()()()()
After catching up a little more, we finally get around to playing some music. We hook up the laptop to my biggest speaker, and Sheldon's keyboard skills have definitely gotten even better. Emily films us with her video camera as we rock out, playing all of our old favorites. I have to admit, it's pretty fun, and we agree to have another videochat jam session before the summer's over.
Our friends leave, and Casey and I are left alone in the empty house for all of five seconds before the rest of the family comes bursting in the door, back from a day at the lake.
I'm not disappointed by the interruption, not really, because Casey and I are spending the entire night home alone together … with Simon. Nora and Dad have a dinner with one of his clients, Ed and Liz have a birthday party, and Marti's going to a sleepover. Dad asked if we'd be interested in sitting for Simon. I deferred to Casey on that one. It's been a few weeks of me helping take care of Simon during the day, and I know there's no way I'd want to be alone with him yet. But with Casey, I can do anything. (I know, I know, now I'm being cheesy.) She said we'd love to, and now here we are.
As soon as the door shuts behind them, Casey turns to look at me, Simon on her hip. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"What do we do now?" She bites her lip, looking worried, and I try not to fly off the handle.
"Casey, I thought you said you could do this! You've babysat before! You're supposed to know this stuff!"
A wicked smirk plays across her face and I stop mid-freakout. "Woman, you are evil."
"I know." She keeps smirking at me, and Simon stuffs his fist into his mouth, gurgling.
"Dinner?" I ask, trying to sound confident, and she nods.
"Dinner."
I make up the bottle, trying to remember all of the steps Lizzie and Edwin take. Casey looks impressed when I test it on my wrist and deem it suitable for Simon.
She finishes heating up some leftovers for us and I strap Simon into his high chair.
I check Nora's list to see what foods he's supposed to have. There are about ten foods on the list and most of them start with "pureed." He's been eating solid food like that for awhile, but he still gets a bottle. I just can't remember what he's supposed to have for dinner, since I'm usually at work when the family eats. "How do we know what to give him?"
"Let's give him the bottle, and then see if he seems hungry enough for more after that, and he usually is. I think that's what Mom does."
We sit around the table, Casey feeding Simon and looking like she couldn't be happier. I watch them for a few minutes, and then she realizes what I'm doing.
"Stop staring! You're making me nervous!"
"You're doing fine, Case."
"Still. I'm not as big a baby expert as you think. I probably know as much about him as you do." She turns to Simon. "Isn't that right, bro?"
Simon thrusts his fist into the air and we both laugh, our eyes meeting over his head. "I never thought you were an expert. You're just more natural with kids than I am."
Casey stares at me in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? This from the guy who practically raised Marti? Who was always showing me up when we co-babysat? Who melts in the presence of anyone under three feet tall?"
I blink at her, now the one who's disbelieving. I had no idea she feels this way.
"Der." She puts a hand over mine on the table. I'm vaguely aware of Simon looking at us, probably wondering why he isn't getting fed anymore. "You're amazing with kids. You always have been. When I see you with Simon, I—"
I skid my chair back as she gets choked up. "No, no, no, no, Casey, don't do that." After all this time, I still can't handle it when she cries.
She's looking at me with this overly sentimental expression, but before either of us can say anything, Simon lets out a wail. Casey jumps, looking guilty, as she brings the bottle back up to his mouth. He grabs at it with his hands, and quickly resumes drinking, with Casey's help.
She looks over at me, and I scoot my chair back up to the table. "I love you, you know," she says, no longer about to cry.
I let out a half-groan, half-sigh. "I love you, too. But you have to stop going to pieces when you talk about me and babies. It freaks me out."
She smiles. "I know. I'll try not to, but no promises."
"It is kinda fun, though, isn't it? Thinking of having our own kids?"
She nods. "It really is." Simon chooses this moment to push the bottle away and proceed to spit up everything he just drank. He starts wailing again. "And then this kind of stuff happens," Casey says wryly, shaking her head as she starts to clean him up. Luckily, it's mostly on his bib and down the front of his onesie, so she strips both off of him and hands him to me. I bounce him up and down gently, and, not sure what to say, I murmur some hockey stats to him until he calms down.
By the time he's quiet again, Casey's back in the room with a clean onesie and new bib. "I think maybe he drank too fast. Let's try feeding him on the couch, and this time I'll pay closer attention to him." That guilty look crosses her face again.
"Hey, it's okay. We're still new at this. You forgive us, right, Si?" I ask him.
He looks up at me with wide eyes, and I take that as a yes. "I'll finish feeding him." I grab the bottle and sit down with him on the couch. Casey curls up next to me. He grabs at the bottle again, and I guide it to his mouth, watching him drink more slowly this time.
"He's pretty smart," Caseys says, watching him.
"Well, yeah." I lean over to kiss her. "He's a Venturi, after all."
She kisses me again, and then the top of Simon's head. "Yeah. He takes after Edwin."
"Hey!" I protest, and we settle back against the couch, her arms around me and my arms around Simon. All in all, not a bad way to spend a Sunday night.