Hi guys!

While this may not be the newest installment of The Other Boy, it is connected. This Derek's POV of the whole thing, and I'm sorry, but:

It's...realistic. Painfully realistic.

So, review, and I hope you enoy it...

Disclaimer: Serious disclaiment.

OH, and this is dedicated to When Lightning Strikes, whose advice spurred me to write it. And also because, frankly, WLS a wicked awesome writer.

I sit up against the pillows, remote in hand. The television gives off a muted blue light that washes out everything it touches: the sheets, my hair. I'm swimming in a midnight aquarium of hockey and David Letterman and news. The walls around me feel nebulous at best, a barely-there push against my mind, and for a moment the bed and I are non-existent, floating in a sea of darkness and anti-matter…

I shake my head at the deep turn my thoughts have taken. It's far too late to be talking Spaceytalk. A picture of big blue eyes appears, drawn by the power of names, and I shake my head again.

But before I can think, the girl beside me stirs, and I smile softly in spite of myself. I lightly put my hand on her shoulder, and in response she snuggles closer, puts her arm over my lap. I study her face, hockey reruns forgotten. Her hair, twisted into long rebellious dreadlocks, curls over her face, hiding the dark eyes I've come to know so well over the last year. I reach out to touch her cheek, but stop myself just in time. She wouldn't appreciate me waking her up so late; after all, she has an important meeting tomorrow.

See, Casey? I can be considerate. I can have feelings for others. I can…I can... I can…

I told her the opposite before. She looked at me with her eyes glowing so goddamn blue and told me flat-out that she still loved me. Did she just think that after breaking my heart she could waltz back and I'd still be waiting, still hoping? Still loving?

When I told her, she didn't say anything for a while. Just stared at me with her eyes growing bluer and brighter. And then her face…broke, and she started talking so fast about nothing at all, something about her teacher's cat got caught in the roof "just like Bandit, you know?!" her eyes just growing bigger and bigger until they filled her entire face.

She didn't say goodbye when she left the car.

She didn't say anything.

I turn off the television and I'm blind. I grope for the pillow and burrow down among the blankets, holding the girl beside me tighter against my chest. I take a deep breath and smell her hair, rich in mango and cinnamon and some scent that is so inexplicably her that I can't breathe for one beautiful moment. She makes a sound as she moves closer to me. She's so small compared to me, and a wave of protectiveness washes over and makes my arm tense slightly. Iand I smirk as I drift, dozing.

Casey McDonald can go fuck herself for all I care. Her and her perfect boyfriend.

Hope you enjoyed, and newest chapter for The Other Boy should be coming nout soon. Cheers!