A/N: I got tagged for the iPod shuffle challenge twice I think. I don't know. I would have done it right after I got tagged but that's right when my internet stopped working. So, it's a little late but here it is. I thought this was pretty tough. Especially my first one because the song was only like two minutes long. But I think these turned out okay. Mine is mostly Dasey but I think one Lizwin sneaked in there. I didn't intend to tag anyone, but if anyone wants to do this and haven't or want to do it again….TAG YOU'RE IT! Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac
Disclaimer: I don't own LWD or any of the songs that inspired these drabble-y ficlet things. :)
Turn The Music Up, So It Drowns Us Out
1) Fever Dreams – Dashboard Confessional (Dasey)
During their first year at the University of Toronto, he gets sick. Not the stuffy nose, achy kind of sick either. It's the hundred-and-one-degree fever and can't-move-not-even-to-get-out-of-bed but still-thankful-there-is-no-vomiting-involved kind of sick. So he's stuck in bed in his dorm—alternating between freezing cold shivers and boiling hot flashes that result in his sheets and comforter become so tangled he stops trying to use them all together—with no one to take care of him.
A couple days in with no sign of the fever breaking, Derek starts calling Casey. He leaves begging, pleading, messages on her phone for her to please, please, please come help him. She can't ignore the desperation in his voice. So she high tails it to his dorm room with every over the counter remedy she could get her hands on. She spends two whole days at his bedside playing nurse. It's hard for him to say it, but he couldn't be more grateful. Just knowing she is there makes him feel one hundred percent better. Though, he seems to be enjoying the feel of her cool skin against his warm skin way more than he should. He knows she's just trying to test his temperature as neither could locate a thermometer, but it feels so good that doesn't seem to penetrate his fever clouded brain.
And then, when her lips found his forehead, he literally almost died. His whole body was set on fire (as if it wasn't hot enough already). He told himself repeatedly that she was only trying to see if his fever had broke. But again, if feels so good that doesn't even register.
When he starts having dreams about her touch and her lips and her body, he blames them on the fever. Which even he knows is ridiculous because his fever broke nearly a week ago and he's still having them.
2) Games – Jonas Brothers (Dasey)
"If I walked out right now, would you even care?" Casey screamed at him.
"I don't know Casey," Derek retorted, "But I sure would like you to stop screaming at me! I don't even know why you're so angry at me."
Casey let out a frustrated growl, "I'm so sick and tired of these games you're playing. If you want to be with someone else, tell me now, because I'm not going to sit by and let you flirt with everything in a skirt. I'm done playing. I'm done."
"If you're 'done' then go," Derek snapped, "Just go!"
As the last two words left his lips, Casey froze. Her eyes widened and filled with tears. The hurt that crossed her face, instantly made him regret saying it. But before he could apologize, Casey was out the door and it was slamming behind her. Derek blew out a breath and flopped down onto their couch. He brought his hands up to his face and rubbed at his eyes. His chest was tight and he felt like his whole world had come crashing down. She had never walked out before.
Before he could even adjust to her absence, the door flew back open and Casey ran in. She was sitting next to him in an instant, "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry!"
"No, Casey," Derek shook his head, "I'm sorry. Whatever I did, whatever you think I did with other girls…I didn't, I don't…I can't want anyone else…because I need you. In an always-and-forever kind of way, that won't change."
"I know, I know," Casey shook her head, "I know that. It's just my hormones are all messed up and I'm getting angry and jealous over the littlest things…"
"Wait," Derek stopped her, "why are your hormones messed up?"
Casey snapped her head up to look at him, "That's the thing…I came to your office to take you to lunch to tell you and I saw you with that girl and I freaked out, so I took off and didn't tell you…and by the time you got home I was so overwhelmed with being angry with you…I still haven't told you…"
"Casey, short version," Derek interrupted.
Casey smiled, "I'm pregnant."
(This really had nothing to do with the song, but I started out with one idea and then it turned into something else, well, whatever, onward to the next song)
3) Somewhere Only We Know – Keane (Lizwin)
This was their place. It was only their place. When life got too chaotic in their house—which it tended to do quite often with Derek and Casey back home for the summer from University and Marti entering that awkward pre-teen phase—they would go there to find some peace in each other.
It was a seclude spot at the park they used to take Marti to play. It is enclosed by trees and the grass is long and grown wild. A fallen tree crossed the middle and they would sit against it and talk for hours (or what felt like hours).
At first they used it only as a refuge from their house, but then they started going there so that they could be alone during that small period of time before they were leaving for different colleges. They started sitting closer. They started holding hands. She started curling against his side and resting her head on his shoulder. He started holding her like he never wanted to let her go.
This was their place. The place where they got to know each other. The place where their friendship grew. The place where they found solace in each other. The place where they fell in love. The place where they shared their first kiss.
When they return during winter break, his first stop isn't their house. He passes it right up and parks his car at the park and follows the path to their place. He finds her sitting on the fallen tree, waiting for him.
4) Relapse – Jesse McCartney (Dasey)
He wasn't good for her. Her friends had told her that. Her family had told her that. She had told herself that many times. The hot and cold relationship they had shared for the past few years was taking its toll on her. It was bad for her health. He kept her dangling on a string and it was stressing her out.
He was with her for awhile, and then he got bored and moved on to another girl stupid enough to let him use her. But then he was back again and she couldn't help falling in love with him all over again. She thinks she has him out of her system and then he calls her name and she's right back in his arms. She tries to leave, but she comes back every time.
She can see the bad. She's not blind. But the good is so good, she can't seem to give it up. She knows she needs to get a grip on herself, but sometimes she thinks maybe she doesn't want to.
5) Cover Your Eyes – Straylight Run (Smerek-Smarti)
One late Friday night, Derek and Casey were babysitting. Derek had gotten himself grounded again and had been forced to take responsibility and baby-sit. Casey had volunteered to help out because as usual she had nothing better to do—as Derek would say.
Lizzie and Edwin were upstairs doing what they do. Derek and Casey were downstairs with Marti watching TV, when all of a sudden something really strange happened to their cable. It flickered on and off for a moment, and then static filled the screen. Derek snatched up the remote and began to press random buttons.
"That's not going to do anything, Derek," Casey snapped.
"You have a better idea?" Derek countered.
Casey simply walked over to the TV, picked up the cable receiver and pressed the reset button. The TV clicked off and she reached down and pressed the power on. The TV came on and the picture was perfectly clear. Casey walked back over, smirking triumphantly until she saw what was playing on the screen. The family-friendly movie that they had been watching had been replaced by what appeared to be an R-rated movie smack dap in the middle of an…ahem…adult content scene.
"Oh shit!" Derek exclaimed and fumbled with the remote as he tried to turn the TV off, "Smarti, cover your eyes! And Smerek did not just say shit."
Marti obeyed and covered her eyes with her hands and squealed, "Yes you did!"
Derek finally got the TV to turn off, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Casey turned to him with wide eyes. Neither knew what they should do next. Derek finally took the lead and looked Marti directly in the eyes.
"So Smarti…you're not going to tell Dad and Nora about this are you?"
6) Everything And More – Billy Gilman (Dasey)
He wasn't even nervous as he got down on one knee. Proposing hadn't been a decision, a choice he had made. He just knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and asking her to marry him was only a step on the road toward that.
And he took that step with ease.
He didn't do anything showy or flamboyant. It wasn't rose petals, candles and a diamond ring in the champagne glass. It wasn't some grand display of romanticism. In fact, they were just sitting together on their couch. He waited until there was a commercial on the TV and he turned it off. He silenced her questions as he pulled out the ring box and got down on one knee. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth as her eyes widened in surprise.
"Casey, I love you so much. I can feel you in my veins, running through my heart and soul. You have given me everything I've ever wanted, and more. I'm asking you to give me this one last thing…will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
"Yes!"
7) This Year – ATeens (Casey introspective with a almost nonexistent side of Dasey)
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,1…Happy New Year!
Casey cheered with the rest of the people at the party. She drank some of her glass of champagne and blew on the noisemakers the host had passed out. So, she hadn't gotten that kiss at midnight but she knew this was going to be her year.
She had graduated from University and had already been picked up by a small publication. She was going to be the best journalist this town had seen. She had found a place of her own at a reasonable price—no more dorms or living at home. She had actually gone shopping for her very own furniture!
All the planets were lining up for her.
As she got sight of Derek across the room, he lifted his own glass of champagne in a toast to her and she returned it. And maybe, just maybe, she would fall in love again this year.
8) Come Home – OneRepublic (Dasey)
Derek sat on the couch at the apartment he was forced to rent for himself after Casey kicked him out. He knew he had deserved her anger. He knew he was working way too much and neglecting her. But he never expected her to throw him out. He never expected her to threaten divorce.
They had been separated for just over a month and he was missing her like crazy. She wouldn't answer his calls. She wouldn't open the door for him. When he showed up at her office she would be conveniently "in a meeting" or have "just stepped out." She had somehow worked it so that they were never at their parents at the same time. He didn't know how they could work things out if she wouldn't even speak to him.
As he sat in his quiet, empty, depressing apartment all alone, he could barely breathe. She was everything to him. He needed her with him. He was dying without her.
He was shaken from his thoughts as his phone rang. He scrambled off the couch and into the small kitchen to answer it. He put the phone up to his ear.
"Hello?"
Her voice spoke two words that brought him back to life, "Come home."
9) If You Want It To Be Good Girl (Get Yourself A Bad Boy) – Backstreet Boys (Dasey)
Casey was tired of the nice guys. The ones that would do absolutely anything to please her. She wanted to watch a chick flick? He was in touch with his feminine side enough to not be threatened by that. She had to spend the day with her family? He could wait to see her one more day. Her friends were having a 'Girls Night In'? Sure she could cancel their plans, it's no big deal. She didn't feel like Thai (his favorite)? Well, he could compromise.
No more. She wanted someone that could match the fire in her.
She wanted a bad boy.
She's not sure they're right for each other? She can test the waters, he doesn't mind. She wants to see other people? Sure, he'll wait for her to come back. She wants to make out with her step brother? No problem.
10) 7 Things – Miley Cyrus (Dasey Love-Hate introspective)
What do I hate about Derek? Casey scribbled into her journal. She bit on the end of her pen for a moment before she continued.
He's vain. He plays games. He's insecure—because that the only logical explanation for the way he acts. He is way too casual with girls. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry. I don't know which side is the real him. When he's around his friends, he treats me differently. And what I hate most, he makes me love him.
Casey paused, her pen finding her mouth again. She chewed on the end for a moment before she wrote down, What do I like about Derek?
His hair—it's always messy but it's so sexy and soft. His eyes. Those old faded jeans he likes to wear. His kiss is hypnotizing. He makes me laugh, he makes me cry—but I'll take both sides of him if it means he's with me. His hand in mine—when we're intertwined it seems like everything will always be alright. And what I like most, he makes me love him.
Casey capped her pen and closed her journal.