Disclaimer: I don't own Life With Derek obviously, or we would have definitely seen some DASEY action in the show. Please enjoy the plot bunnies that came out of my mind when I heard the Paramore song this fanfiction is titled after.

Misery Business

By: A Nonny Mouse23

Chapter 1

Ah, Derek Venturi. He's defined as best hockey player, hottest guy in school, most popular, but also for me he's defined as untouchable. What am I, Casey McDonald supposed to do? Go up to him and confess my undying love for him. HA! I think not. I watch him as he talks to his girlfriend of seven months, Kendra.

He doesn't like her, he told me this once, or rather implied it. I always think back to that night, it puts questions in my head that shouldn't even be there. It was one of the greatest talks we'd ever had, and I was almost convinced he shared in my secret un-sibling-like feelings, but we never spoke of it again and he's still with Kendra. I cherish moments like that, without the fighting, when we're just being us; actually that's a lie, I cherish all moments that include him.

:: Flashback: (3 months with Kendra) ::

"...so all you have to do is add x to the other side and you'll be able to solve for y then plug it into the other equation to solve for x." Casey explained some of Derek's homework to him, and surprisingly he was picking up on it pretty quickly.

"How come the teacher can't explain it to me like this?" Derek pouted, then he smirked and tackled Casey and began to tickle her mercilessly, "Say my name...say my name..." he taunted. "Ok, ok! Derek! De-rek!" she squealed. He stopped and was hunched over her panting and laughing, when he suddenly realized they had ended up on the floor, and were very close. For a minute Casey thought he was going to kiss her and something flashed in his eyes that convinced her of it, but just as quickly it was gone and seriousness replaced it as he helped himself then her off the floor.

"Case?" he turned toward her window and looked out, not really seeing anything. "Yeah Derek?" he turned around to face her, then sat on her vacant bed. "Do you ever feel like you're life's going great, but then you want something really bad?" he paused. She nodded for him to continue. "Then you find out you can't have it, so you settle for something that's not as great, but makes you happy for a while..." he bit his lip as if wondering to go any further, and took a deep breath, "But you've only settled so you get unhappy again, but you've fallen into this rut and it's gotten so deep that you can't get out?"

"Yeah, I think we all feel this way sometimes about certain things," she replied. "How do you get out of it?" he asked staring into her eyes. Whoever said the eyes were the window to the soul was right. Casey could see so many emotions in those gorgeous eyes: there was fear, sadness, hurt, confusion, and something she couldn't put a finger on. "What you have to do is make a decision. You decide if what you want is worth taking the risk for. You decide if you would rather give up the safety you have for something that may or may not end up the way you want." Casey's wisdom was shining in her eyes and Derek was trapped in her blue orbs.

::End Flashback::

A/N: I edited for terrible spelling and took out the song lyrics as that is frowned upon. I'm kind of getting my writing back on track so if anyone still follows this story, there still may be hope for me yet. Oh, and thanks for sticking around, or for being an awesome person that is looking for Dasey stories way out in 2015. You are my kind of people.