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Casey walked into the kitchen and was greeted by the scent of chocolate and the sight of Derek cooking.
"Oh, that smells amazing. What are you making?"
"Chocolate cake," he told her, waving a spoon in her direction. "Do you want to do a taste test?"
"Ew, no," she said, leaning against the counter. "You've been mixing with that spoon and knowing you you'll be back to mixing with it again."
"I'll wash it, I promise", he promised, waggling the spoon. He made a move towards her and she took a step back.
"But, Casey, it's important to taste the food as you're making it, otherwise how will you know if it's good or not?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, sensing a jibe about her cooking coming along.
"Although," he started, arching a brow, "I guess if you never taste the food as you're making it, that would explain your cooking".
Before she had time to react he was bounding after her, mixing spoon in hand and she was running as he chased her around the kitchen island.
"Derek, no!" she cried. "You're getting cake mix on the floor!"
"I'll clean it up after!" he responded. "And I told you I'd wash the spoon."
She came to a stop near the cake mix. Her cheeks flushed pink as he backed her against the counter. He placed his whole body directly in front of her so there was nary an inch between them. Their chests rose and fell with their accelerated heartbeats. He leaned one hand against the counter to the right of her to pin her in place. In the other, he held the offending spoon up closer and closer to her lips.
"Stop!" she cried.
He stopped.
"You should really ask for my consent first," she told him.
He smiled as he twisted his tongue between his teeth. Then, in a low, slow voice that bore a deep resemblance to a whisper, he said, "Yes, a non-consensual spoon-feeding would be a very serious thing".
Her breath hitched a little as he slanted his body ever so slightly closer to her own.
"Casey -" he implored with dark, brown eyes that, it had just occurred to her were a little bit like chocolate drops, "- do I have your consent to feed you some chocolate cake mix from this spoon?"
She took one deep breath in and it occurred to him in this moment that her eyes were impossibly blue. In the way that the sky is on a clear day or the sea is on ... also a clear day.
"Yes," she said. She swallowed air. "You have my consent."
Casey's eyes were fixed on Derek and Derek's eyes were fixed on Casey as he slowly moved the spoon closer and closer to her mouth in a manner that one might describe as teasing.
She moved her head forward and took the spoon into her mouth.
It tasted... good.
She licked the spoon in his hand for the remnants of cake mix in a way that was completely normal and fine and not at all flirtatious.
"Casey," said he, in a voice that was suddenly husky. "I need to know..." he began. She let out a little sigh (for no particular reason other than the cake mix tasted pretty nice). He was so close she could feel his breath on her face. "... did I use enough vanilla extract?"
She fluttered her eyelashes. "Yes," she said, "there was just the right amount of vanilla extract."
He moved away from her and towards the sink where he promptly began washing the spoon.
"Oh, you're actually washing the spoon," she noted brightly.
He turned around and winked at her.
"Oh, but wait," she sighed. "It's already been in your mouth, hasn't it?"
"Yes. Yes, it has," he replied.
"I'm not even mad about that, I should have known," she told him.
At that moment, Skyler and Luca entered the kitchen. They were both clearly in the middle of a heated debate as they plonked their bags on the counter and sat down at the stools around the kitchen island.
"So, you do like Paige!" Skyler exclaimed, with a finger extended accusingly at Luca. "But you don't want to ask her to prom because..."
"... she's part of the friend group, Sky. You remember how awkward things were between you and Gabe after you guys broke up. As well as Cherish and me after our break-up too. Also, don't you think there's been too much inter-dating within our friend group?" Luca asked. "It's getting quasi-incestuous."
Casey let out a sharp intake of breath for no particular reason.
"You can do a lot with the word quasi ," mused Derek, addressing the cake he was mixing rather than any particular person.
"What's going on?" Casey asked.
Skyler sighed. "Luca likes Paige but he doesn't want to ask her to the dance because he, I don't know, lacks the mental capacity to make good decisions."
"Hey!" Luca cried. "I have reasons! Good reasons! I see Paige everywhere . She's in all of my classes, two of my extra-curriculars and we just started volunteering at the animal shelter together. If things were to go bad between us because we're, y'know, high schoolers, I'd have ruined an important friendship with someone I can't avoid. I'm just trying to be realistic."
"It is true," remarked Sky. "The only way that you could be more involved in each other's lives would be if you lived together." Then Sky let her eyes linger on her dad and her step-aunt in a way that did not betray complete comprehension.
"What do you think I should do, Mom?" Luca asked Casey.
Casey took a deep breath. "Well, I guess I do see the problem -"
"- Problem?" interrupted Derek, as he poured his cake mix into a tray. "He likes her, she likes him. There's no problem."
"Oh, yeah," Luca replied boastfully. "She definitely likes me."
"She does," Sky confirmed. "I offered to take her to get her head examined but she told me there's no need. She's far gone."
"I guess it would be like dating a co-worker, though," Casey noted.
Luca nodded in agreement with his mother.
"Generally, if a friend of mine came to me and told me they wanted to date a co-worker of theirs I'd tell them they're probably better off not. Break-ups can get messy, but you don't need me to tell you that," said Casey, alluding to the time that Luca's one ex covered his car in broken eggs.
"So, I shouldn't ask Paige to the prom?"
"Well, that all depends," Casey continued. "I mean if you and your 'co-worker' are so close anyway that you might as well be a couple, if you get jealous when they're dating someone else, if you wake up one day and think to yourself, 'actually, maybe my co-worker is perfect for me', then maybe it might all be worth taking a chance."
Casey didn't make eye contact with Derek, she pointedly thought about not making eye contact with Derek.
Luca bent his head slightly to the side as he considered his mother's words and weighed up his options.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are exceptions to all rules", she concluded. "Except from a purely legal perspective, of course."
"Casey," Derek began, as he shoved the cake into the oven, "do you want to date one of your co-workers?"
"No!"
"Just checking."
Casey looked back at her son. "You just have to ask yourself, is she worth the risk?"
Everyone took a second to consider the weight of Casey's question.
"Eh -" Luca began with a shrug, "I don't think it's worth ruining the friendship."
"Are you sure?" Sky asked him. "Is that your final answer?"
"Yes."
Skyler let out a sigh of relief. "Good, I'm going to text her and tell her she should accept that invite from Zach."
Luca frowned. "Zach Forster? Soccer Zach?"
"Yes," Sky responded as she whipped out her phone to text.
"What does Zach Forster want with Paige?!!"
"The same thing you apparently don't want with her," Sky told him as she began texting. "Because you're too afraid to ruin the friendship."
Luca didn't stop to argue. Instead, he got out his own phone and, in a move uncharacteristic of himself and his entire generation, called Paige. Then, in an uncharacteristic move for someone of her age and level of introversion, she immediately picked up.
"Hey, Paige," Luca said, turning away from the family and heading out of the kitchen. "So, about the dance, do you have a date yet? .... No? .... Okay, would you like to go with me? ... Good."
Derek, Casey and Skyler exchanged glances with each other.
"Just like that, huh?" said Derek.
"All's well that ends well," Sky responded with a shrug. Then she paused. "I'm going to do my homework upstairs. See you at dinner."
"Wowwwww ," Casey exhaled as she sat down at one of the stools.
"That was... something," said Derek.
"You know that bit earlier with the spoon," she started, "I really thought that... wow... we haven't fought like that since we were teenagers."
Derek leaned towards her as he propped himself up on the opposite side of the kitchen island.
"We were fighting, were we?" he asked.
She blushed.
"Well," he said, with his head tilted suggestively to the side. "If you want to go again, there's some shampoo in the bathroom upstairs with your name on it."
She laughed. "I think I'll pass but thanks for the offer".
"Anytime."
"Oh, and Derek," she said, blushing even deeper. "Uhhh... Brad asked me out for tomorrow night -"
"- Brad? Brad Jennings?" Derek asked. "Single dad Brad?"
"That's the one... I was wondering if you were... okay with that?" she asked tentatively.
"Oh, Casey. Of course that's not okay with me -"
Her heart leapt against her chest.
"- we agreed that if either of us wanted a night out we'd give each other two nights notice in case we need to make arrangements with a babysitter."
All the air left her lungs and she looked down dejectedly at the cold, hard tiles of the kitchen island. "Oh, yeah," she said. "Of course ."