It's nice to see one familiar face at dinner at least. Sam was was visiting Kingston to spend his last week of summer at his aunt's house so Derek invited him to dinner too. That's probably why Derek invited me along too, so he has somebody to make Sam feel less weird. There's no other logical explanation on why Derek would make me feel less lonely.
Now that I think of it, there were multiple times throughout high school where I was at a low point and he helped me out, like both year's for prom (the dress situation and the whole Max being a completely useless prom date and then not having a date for senior prom).
He definitely has an ulterior motive though. Maybe he's planning on pranking me tonight. I have to make sure to not let my guard down.
My thoughts are interrupted when Derek throws a bread roll at my face.
"Der-ek!"
"Spacey you were spacing out again. Don't do that when my friends come, I don't want them to think I'm trying to get them to befriend some kind of nut job."
I'm about to give a rebuttal to his insult when a group of 4 people pull up to the table. Derek gets up to greet them.
The first person he greets is a short but perky blonde girl who he gives a hug to. Definitely Derek's type. I don't like her. Derek introduces her as Olivia.
The next two are big tall guys who are definitely hockey players. One has blonde hair and is wearing cute square shaped glasses, Derek introduces him as Jake, while the other has dark hair and tan skin, and Derek says this is Ben. I didn't realize Derek would have such attractive friends, I would've put more makeup on today.
His last friend is a brunette girl named Jan, clinging close to Olivia. I'm guessing they've been friends for a long time. They kind of remind me of Em and I in high school after I first moved, since I'd cling close to her at any social interactions like parties since I was never good at talking to people myself.
The first party I ever went to without Emily was the one in Toronto, where Truman ditched me and I ended up spending the night talking to the host's dad. I smile remembering how sweet Derek was to me that night. This is the second time I'm remembering how he keeps coming to my rescue.
Olivia starts with speaking first, "I'm so happy to finally meet you Casey! Derek has told us so much in the past year about you. Everything we do, "Casey says this" or "No Casey would do it this way" or "Did I tell you about the time Casey fell down the stairs at school" Oh and remember when- OW."
She stops speaking to rub her ankle with a look of pain on her face.
"DER-EK why did you kick me?"
"Whoops, slip of the foot. Anyways, moving on."
I don't like the way Olivia said his name. I know I don't have the right to declare I'm the only person that can say it that way, but that's my thing.
Ben is the next one to start talking, "He has talked about you a lot, you and Sam. Nice to see you again, Sam. It's very nice that all of you were close friends in high school and staying in touch, I don't think I talk to any of my high school friends anymore."
Wait did he just call me Derek's high school friend?
"Well I mean obviously I have to stay in touch with Derek considering we're -" I start to speak when Sam interrupts me.
"-all very close friends! Plus so much easier to save money on rent when you move in with old friends right?" Sam says while looking at me with his eyes squinted.
I'm not really sure what's going on but when I try to meet eyes with Derek, he's engrossed in a conversation with Jan and avoiding all eye contact with me.
"Casey I was going to ask the waiter about how we're splitting the check later so they don't mess it up later, do you want to come with me?" Sam asks while standing up from his seat.
"Uh why would you really need me for that?"
Sam, clearly annoyed that I didn't pick up on his hint, just grabs my arm and we start to walk to the front desk of the restaurant. I can see Derek looking at us suspiciously over his shoulder.
"Sam, what is going on with you?"
"Derek didn't tell anybody you were his step sister, nobody really asked how you knew each other whenever he'd bring you up so everybody just assumed you guys are close friends. I noticed it the last few times I was here whenever your name came up, especially when people were teasing him about how you guys are moving in together."
"That doesn't make any sense, why would Derek ever willingly let people think he'd hang out with me on purpose? He used to say I ruined his rep in high school."
"I don't know why he's doing it but he obviously has his reasons. But think about it this way, do you really consider Derek your brother?"
"No, I guess not really."
"And are your parents here, that you'd have to act like siblings at all?"
"No, I guess not," I'm mumbling now because I start to see his point on why correcting anybody doesn't seem to matter.
"Don't you think this could be good for your relationship with him? No pressure of being siblings, no forced relationship. We could all use a break from the fighting honestly."
"First of all, I have no "relationship" with Derek."
"Casey, that's obviously not what I meant." Sam is rolling his eyes and looking back at our table at Derek's glare. I can see Derek try to ask him what's up but Sam shrugs it off.
"Just give it a chance Casey, okay? This could be good for both of you."
"Mmm yeah okay whatever, can we go back to sitting down?"
—
Dinner is going well, all of Derek's friends seem really nice. I'm surprised he made such a sensible and sweet friend group. I expected him to just have loud obnoxious hockey friends honestly.
Olivia is pre-law, trying to become an immigration lawyer for 3rd world countries. She's making it kind of hard to hate her, but I still don't like her. Or the way Derek has had his arm around the back of her chair.
Jan is trying to become a teacher, Ben is pre med, and Jake is a journalism major, just like me.
"Are you taking media for the arts this semester? I have it on Wednesdays at 10:20 AM," Jake asks me before taking a bite of his salmon.
"Yeah, I think I'm in your class!" I exclaim a little too loudly. I can't help but feel relieved that I'll have at least one familiar face in my class.
We go on to talk about classes and more high school memories. Derek even brings up the story about Scott, Lizzie's soccer coach, and how he had brought all his girlfriends to the house. He laughs remembering how he even hooked up with one of them later that night.
I roll my eyes. I can't help but notice how when he talks about Lizzie in that story, he refers to her as "my" step sister, and not our sister. I still don't understand why he isn't making it clear that we're from the same family, but I know Sam isn't going to let me call him out so I let it be.
"Casey always had a bad taste in guys, whether it was boring Max or douche bag Truman."
"Hey! Okay, well I guess I agree Truman is a douche bag, but Max was sweet."
"The only decent guy you ever picked up was Sam over here, and you guys couldn't get along for more than 5 minutes."
"Hey that's not true, we got along. We weren't that bad together," Sam says with a grin.
"Wait wait wait, Sam and Casey went out? How did you never mention this Derek? And how were you cool with-" Olivia had started speaking but Derek quickly puts a bite of his pasta in her mouth.
"Here Olivia try this!"
"Der-ek!"
If she says his name that way once more, I might throw a bread roll at her.
—
"Why did you have to tell everybody about Sam and I going out?" I groan to Derek on the car ride home from the restaurant. We're sitting in the Prince, driving home from the restaurant.
"Just thought I'd remind you guys why you ended in the first place, you know, in case you were thinking about getting back together," he says, not really making eye contact with me while he looks straight ahead.
"Get back together? Why would you think Sam and I are ever going to get back together?"
"I don't know you guys were talking alone for a while. I don't care what you do, just didn't want to deal with the drama of 'we broke up again' 'we're back together again' and all the tears, especially since there's not Lizzie or Nora to console you this time."
"You thought we were talking about getting back together?" I start laughing, realizing this is why Derek was glaring as us weirdly the entire time we were talking.
"Well, weren't you?"
"No Derek, you dumb ass. He was telling me to go along with this whole "high school friends" charade you have going on with your friends."
"Oh- that."
"Yes- 'that.' Were you going to let me in on that before I ended up making myself look stupid in front of all your friends? Thank God Sam was there."
"Sorry I didn't really think about it. I don't consider you my sibling, so I never thought it was important to tell people our parents are married and I don't know, I don't like calling you my step sister."
He's mumbling and playing with his hands while we're at a stoplight now.
"Well, I don't really consider you my brother either so it's fine. Makes me look less dorky sharing an apartment with my friend versus with my step brother anyways."
"Yeah exactly, that's why. Glad we're on the same page."
The rest of the car ride is silent. I don't know the way around campus that well, but I do recognize the street we live on, and I recognize when Derek takes a turn in the opposite direction.
"Where are we going?"
"I thought I'd show you my favorite spot on campus if you don't mind? Unless you have some nerdy plans for the night like reading your syllabus."
"Yeah that sounds good, and shut up I wasn't planning on doing that," I respond, lying because that was actually my plan for the rest of the night.
I don't know why he's still being nice to me but why question something that doesn't feel totally wrong. I guess a year without fighting did us some good.