Semi Charmed Life

Semi Charmed Life
Prologue-
Casey moved about the hotel room, hurriedly shoving items of mismatched clothing into an open duffel in the middle of the floor, not caring whether they were clean, or, more likely, dirty. She just had so many thoughts racing through her head at the moment she wasn’t really bothered with the details, she was just worried. There was no time to waste though, no time to dwell on these thoughts, time was running out. It was of the essence, at the moment. She had to stay focused.
When she had swept up the last article of clothing from the closet, a baggy, three=sizes-too-big=for-her brown leather jacket that smelled like pine and Axe, she checked her wallet. She was disappointed to see the dismal amount of bills inside, merely a few ones and fives. But she shook her head, still determined. She could charge everything to her card if she needed to, if she had to. She’d do anything at this point, to save him.
At the moment Casey couldn’t be bothered with the technicalities, like having nothing to wear and looking a mess, and not having any money. It just didn’t matter anymore, not when Zack was in trouble. She just had to hurry back, plain and simple, to the one place she was running from for so long. It seemed so backwards to her, but if he was in danger, and she was the only one who could help him, she would. She’d do whatever it took. Even if it meant this.
Even though Casey had no idea what she’d do once she saw him, but Alex had said that all it would take was for Zack to see her, and that’d be enough. She didn’t really see how, if his mind was set, but she’d try, she owed him that much. Hell, she owed herself that much.
In her rush, Casey didn’t notice Derek standing in the bathroom doorway until she stood up, ready to leave. She could tell he’d heard everything from the phone call with Alex by the way he stood, tensed, his arms crossed together of his chest. Oh, so he knew where she was going already, whom she was going back to. And he most definitely wasn’t happy about it.
“Case, you’re about to cross a line,” he said, head down, studying the dirty flecks in the carpet as if his life depended on it; not looking her in the eye. She sighed; pushing past him to go out the door, then thought better of it and went back, dropping the bag at their feet. She took his face in her hands, forcing their eyes to meet.
“Then don’t draw one Derek, please,” she whispered, touching her nose to his. “He needs me right now. I have to go. You know I do.”
Why was she doing this? She had to leave, hadn’t she already said there was no time? She could explain later, every second she stayed in this damn hotel in L.A was one more minute that kept her away from Zack in Baltimore.
“What if I said that I needed you Case? Would you stay with me then?” he asked with sad, pleading eyes, one of his arms trapping her against his waist.
“Derek, please. I’m begging you, I have to go. I’ll call you when everything’s settled down.” She extracted herself from him after touching her lips to his turned cheek. He said nothing as she gathered up the duffel bag, or muttered a pained “I love you” before walking out the door. How could he have? He knew all along it’d come down to this, again. That no matter what it would always be Zack that came before him. Was it so stupid of him to have thought that this time things might’ve been different?
Casey tried her best not to think about either of them as she hailed a taxi to the airport, though not without difficulty. She couldn’t get that look in Derek’s eyes out of her head, and that mixed with the visions of Zack that kept butting in. She couldn’t worry about either of them now; it’d do her no good. She had to get to Baltimore as fast as possible, the thoughts she was trying to push back would only slow her down.
But she granted herself one last fleeting thought as she bought a one-way ticket and settled onto the plane.
Was she even doing the right thing?