"Dashing through the snow!"
Nora, Casey, and Lizzie spent the morning baking cookies, and because it was Christmas Eve, they allowed Edwin to sample their hard work.
"Freshly baked cookies definitely beat cereal in the morning," Edwin said.
"It should be illegal to wake up this early. And what's up with all the singing? I should alert the cops before they suspect foul play." Derek shuffled into the kitchen in a robe and sweats, helping himself to the carton of orange juice in front of Edwin.
"I thought rockstars enjoyed all genres of music," Casey said, tossing a mitten on the kitchen island.
"It's not the music I have a problem with; it's the people singing the music," Derek laughed, getting a chuckle out of Edwin, as well. Angrily, Casey snagged the cookie Ed was eating and plopped it onto the pan.
"Hey!" Edwin called out.
"You can have a cookie when you stop laughing. As for you, Derek, you weren't laughing when you needed a singer for your band or when you needed help impressing Sally." Yes, there was a revolting tone in Casey's voice when she said his ex's name.
Derek couldn't deny that he needed help when it came to his relationship with Sally, especially when she wanted him to write a song about her. The lyrics he came up with weren't even about Sally; they were generic, at best, and he never could quite tap into his feelings. Without Casey's help, Derek wouldn't have finished the song or been able to perform on stage.
He hated to admit it, but Casey's voice and her aura on stage were perfect. Using the words perfect and Casey in the same sentence didn't sit well with Derek, but in this case, it was accurate. He didn't want to call her a muse, but that's practically what Casey had become. Of course, he wasn't going to tell her that, even in the spirit of Christmas.
"Yet I still lost the competition, and the girl. Seems like you were bad luck." He was lying, of course.
"I am not bad luck! Blame Ralph for crying like a big baby when Sheldon took the stage, not me. And, considering you've dated every girl you've ever met, including all of my friends, I don't think I should be blamed for your failed relationships."
"You should be thanking Casey. If it weren't for her, you would've dropped out of high school for a girl you barely knew," Nora, tending to the broken coffee machine, searched the drawer for the manual, nonchalantly responding to Derek's claims.
"Casey didn't convince me of anything because I wasn't dropping out. I'm dramatic, but not that dramatic."
"Dramatic? No, dramatic is Casey's thing; impulsive, however, is yours," Nora added.
He may have been impulsive, but he always came to his senses at the end of the day.
Derek wouldn't have left home to follow Sally, but he had been tempted to leave for Spain with his mom. Seeing how everyone wanted him to stay, including Casey, it made his decision easy.
"Gee, thanks, Mom," Casey rolled her eyes as she continued to work hard on making cookies.
Derek scanned Casey's distressed face, memories flooding back to him. Derek recalled a time when Casey's dad came to visit. Casey wanted everything perfect for his arrival, and thanks to Derek's canceled plans with Kendra, along with his curiosity to meet the oh-so special Dennis, he spoiled her special evening. If given the opportunity to leave for New York with her Dad, Casey would've taken it. It was the first time Derek acknowledged (secretly) that he would've missed her just a little. Thinking of an empty bedroom next to his made him feel..weirdly uneasy. Those feelings he swore he didn't possess plagued him incessantly. And then, of course, when Casey didn't leave and her father left without much notice, Derek decided to give Dennis a piece of his mind.
Casey knew Derek talked to her dad, but the details in that conversation remained a secret to this day.
Derek shook those memories out of his head, coming back down to earth when Lizzie entered the conversation.
"I was eavesdropping before Sally left. You said Casey was right about staying in school, so maybe her better judgment did control your impulses," Lizzie said.
"Uh, you heard wrong. I didn't mention Casey," Derek nervously laughed, scratching his head.
"Then why did Sally question you about the opposite game? She knew Casey was trying to save you from a life of regret."
Casey remembered telling Derek he should quit school because he always does the opposite of what she recommends.
"I tried but failed," Casey smirked.
Derek let the conversation die and grabbed a cookie without permission.
"Oatmeal, really? Who eats this stuff?"
"There's chocolate chip in the oven, but if you continue to be a jerk, you won't get any," Casey warned.
"Whatever, Mom Jr; I don't need cookies. I'm going out with Sam, so I'll get breakfast on the way."
"Uhm, no. We agreed to stay home to spend time with the family. Marti is looking forward to it," Casey reminded him.
"Tomorrow is Christmas; I'll be home then," he argued.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Sam texted and canceled; ironically, to spend time with his family."
Of course, Sam would cancel at the last minute for family. Always the nice guy.
"I didn't know you two were texting buddies." Derek pushed Edwin off the stool so he could sit there. Might as well get comfy since he's not going out.
"We aren't. Sam texted me because he thought you might be sleeping. No surprise there."
"I'm surprised he still has your number."
"We were friends in high school," Casey said.
Derek reached across the counter and took hold of Casey's shoulders.
"Casey, Casey, Casey...guys and girls can not be friends...especially not exes."
"Sam and I are civil with each other, at the very least. Besides, I still believe a friendship can grow organically under any circumstances." Casey wiggled her shoulders to free them of Derek's large hands.
"Nothing organic is good. Right, Ed?"
"I'd like to agree with you, bro, but I don't want my breakfast taken away again." Was it too late to trade Derek's easily manipulated brother for another?
"Whatever. I'm tired of talking about Sam and Casey. What's the great family plans for today?" Reliving Sam and Casey's on and off again relationship wasn't something he wanted to do. In fact, the mere thought of them texting each other stirred an unusual amount of anger deep inside. Derek was a tiny bit glad Sam had canceled, after all.
"I'm late wrapping gifts for the extended family, so if you guys could pitch in to help, that would be great. Other than that, Marti has a checklist of Christmas movies she wants to watch as a family," Nora explained.
"A checklist? I knew that kid was spending too much time around Casey."
Casey, quite annoyed, grabbed an oatmeal cookie and ate it on her way to the living room.
"Would it kill you to be nice?" Nora sighed.
"It would, actually."
What was wrong with him? If he continued to get under Casey's skin, Nora would put him under the mistletoe again.
Casey and Derek still fought at university, sure, but it seemed like every time they were in the presence of their family, the fights were amped up to the extreme. Then again, Derek was always one to suppress his true feelings this way, especially any and all feelings toward Casey McDonald. Fighting counteracted feelings - always.
Suppose it was also easier to act as if nothing had changed between them than to admit to his family he found Casey to be a decent human being.
Casey wrapped Derek's first gift, a pair of sunglasses he was eying (no pun intended), at their college store. His second gift was the pair of pajamas he waited in line for but couldn't get - the ones she gave him a hard time about. Casey had made a special trip back to the department store to get them. Who knows? Maybe he could finally stop wearing that stupid black robe in the mornings.
Once her half of the gifts were wrapped, Casey nearly lost it when she went into the living room to find empty rolls of wrapping paper and huge scraps on the floor, surrounded by horribly wrapped boxes.
"What have you done?! There's no bows, no name tags, and no precise cutting!" Casey sat beside Derek on the rug and started to grab a box to see if she could remedy these mistakes. She should have known Derek couldn't be trusted to wrap half of the gifts, but Nora insisted.
"Relax. I'm doing things the Venturi way." Derek took the box back from Casey's hands, and the two began a tug-of-war. When the box fell out of reach from both of them, they continued to fight, rolling until one pinned the other, over and over again, fighting for dominance. Casey nearly knocked over the pink tree as Derek pinned her down against the mismatched skirt, holding tightly to her wrists. She wasn't going anywhere.
"Are you done?" He asked her.
The Christmas lights illuminated Derek's face that somehow was full of glitter from wrapping all day. Casey's face slowly softened, and Derek noticed this, reluctantly getting off of her.
"I'm sorry; this was stupid. Christmas isn't about gifts, and I'm sure our family will appreciate them no matter how the boxes are wrapped." The apology was a sincere one.
Casey placed her knees against her chest, giving Derek some breathing space on the rug next to her.
Derek mirrored Casey's position on the floor, with eyes flickering to the family ornament on the tree.
"We really were acting like idiots. We should clean this up before Nora comes in and cancels Christmas."
"You should start with your face," Casey reached to wipe at his cheek, causing Derek to wince as if she were going to hurt him. That made her giggle. She then presented her glittery fingers to Derek to show him the damage.
"It can't be worse than that blue, sparkly eyeshadow you wear," he teased.
He actually loved that eyeshadow.
"An insult from you? Now I know the eyeshadow looks okay," she smiled.
"And that pink lipgloss? I can't stand it."
Wait. Were they playing the opposite game? Was Derek saying he liked her lipgloss? No, he wouldn't! Casey wasn't going to allow herself to read into things.
Technically, what Derek said wasn't a lie. He hated her lipgloss and her eyeshadow as much as he hated her Babe Raider costume.
(He hated to love it, that is.)
Oh, and he especially hated her stupid Mary Shelley costume. He couldn't believe she talked to him into dressing as Percy to her Mary Shelley for their English class. Percy and Mary were a married couple, a poet and a novelist. As if they could ever resemble Percy and Mary Shelley!
She could've insulted him back, but that would've been too easy... too expected.
"My lipgloss? Most guys seem to like it."
She waited for a reaction of some kind, like a roll of the eyes or a hearty laugh, but instead, Derek remained still while his eyes bored into hers.
Derek knew how guys felt about her, and it drove him crazy. Hearing Casey speak on it, though, made him want to toss the tree out of the window and cancel Christmas.
Luckily, their coversation was interrupted by a displeased Lizzie, complaining about the mess. At least Lizzie was willing to help.
After cleaning up the mess in the living room, it was time for Marti's pick of movies. She flicked off the lights as Home Alone, her favorite holiday film, started and jumped on the couch next to Lizzie and Casey. For being so petite, Marti took up half of the couch, forcing Casey to inch closer to Derek's side. Casey was so close to him that he had to lift his hand to the back of the couch so he wasn't smashed. Part of him wishes he had chosen the recliner, but George was sitting there with Nora.
Maybe he could sit in the crib with Simon? Okay, maybe not.
Casey mumbled something about being sorry, but Derek said nothing, trying to focus on the television instead, which was to no avail.
During the funniest parts of the movie, Marti was a bundle of laughs, fidgeting, and forcing them closer than they ever thought possible. Casey's leg was nearly on top of Derek's, reminding him of how she cuddled up to him that night in the basement during Thanksgiving break.
And, to add in the discomfort, Derek's hand accidentally slid off of the back cushion and rested against the collar of Casey's shirt. Eyes popping out of his head, Derek didn't know what to do. He wasn't a cuddler, and most certainly not with Casey and not in front of his family. If Casey realized where his hand was, he would be screwed!
"Uh, I'm gonna pop some popcorn. Does anybody want any? No, okay!" Derek all but ran to the kitchen to open the freezer, sticking his flushed cheeks in the chilled air.
"Get it together, man," he mumbled to himself.
When he returned to the living room, Derek kicked Edwin off their blue accent chair and made him sit by Casey instead.
Casey and Derek always sat on the same couch at their apartment. She hadn't a clue why he was acting so strange. (More so than usual.)
When the movie marathon was over that evening, Derek took back his reliable recliner, and Casey and Marti sat alone on the couch.
"Isn't it your bedtime, Smarti?" Derek called out, getting tired himself.
"I guess so. I left milk and cookies for Santa in the kitchen; I hope they're all gone by morning."
"I'm sure they will be, kiddo. As long as they're chocolate chip," Casey smiled, looking at Derek.
Marti made her way to bed, and minutes later, Derek made his way to the kitchen, coming back with a platter of cookies and a glass of milk.
"You're not going to eat all of those, are you?"
Was Casey born yesterday?
"And risk upsetting Marti? I think I'll lick the plate clean."
"Does she really still believe in Santa?" Casey asked.
"No, of course not. I'm sure at some point I'll have to talk to her, tell her it's okay to admit she's growing up."
"Probably a good idea," she nodded.
"It's a good thing she still believes in the magic of Derekus. I have no problem eating all of these cookies."
"Of course."
Derek offered Casey a cookie, and she surprisingly took it. He slid his crumb-filled glass toward her, but she declined.
"What's wrong? Scared of my germs?" Derek asked.
She wasn't a germaphobe. If she were that scared of germs, she wouldn't be wrapped in the flannel blanket Marti slobbered on when she took a nap earlier.
"Says the one who couldn't bear to sit by me during a movie," she blurted.
Derek wiped his mouth, caught off guard by her statement. Of course, she noticed. She notices everything.
"You were nearly on top of me; I was doing us both a favor."
Casey didn't know if she believed him, but she nodded anyway, reaching for the glass of Derek-tampered milk. Derek watched her in curiosity, smiling when she finally took a bite.
"What?" She asked, covering her mouth.
"Nothing."
Another ten minutes went by until the cookies were all gone, and these were the next to hit the hay for Santa's arrival.