Life With Dasey (A Life With Derek Fanfic)

Chapter Twelve

"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 at his own joke, 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 insisted he write a song about her. The lyrics he managed to come up with weren't even about Sally; they were generic, at best, because he couldn't 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 for his band. Using the words perfect and Casey in the same sentence didn't sit well with Derek, but in this case, it was necessary. He didn't want to outright call her a muse, but that's pretty much 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 to save his reputation, needless to say.

"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, nonchalantly responded 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 to Vancouver, but he had been tempted to leave for Spain when his mom offered him a trip of a lifetime. Seeing how everyone wanted him to stay and finish school in London, including Casey, it made his decision easy.

Derek scanned Casey's distressed face as she worked diligently in the kitchen, old memories flooding back to him. He recalled a time when Casey's dad came to visit. Casey wanted everything to be perfect for her father's 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, Derek knew in that moment 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..oddly uneasy. Those feelings he swore he didn't possess had plagued him incessantly throughout the dinner fiasco. And then, of course, when an offer to leave London never came and her father left without so much as a goodbye, Derek decided to give Dennis a piece of his mind. Casey knew Derek talked to her dad, but the details to that conversation would never be revealed.