"Tell me again why I'm doing this for you?" Derek complained.

"Because I don't want to mess this up. As much as I hate to admit it, I need your help."

"Casey, it's only Sam."

"Yeah, but you know what I'm like. I seem to have a talent for messing things up." she held out his jacket for him.

"No arguments there."

"Come on! I have a date with him in four hours and I have nothing to wear."

"Casey, why do you need me? Why can't you shop with Nora? Or Lizzie? Or Emily? You know, a girl. Anyone other than me."

"No I can't. You're the only one."

"Can't you use Edwin…he's kinda a girl."

"Stop complaining. Mom's busy, Edwin's at Teddy's, Lizzie's at soccer practice and Emily's refusing to tell me where she is at the moment."

"Not that I care, but how come?"

Casey frowned. "I don't know. She's being weirdly secretive at the moment. And I need you to come shopping with me because Sam is your best friend and you can be honest with me about what does or doesn't look good on me."

"Come on then, let's get this over with." Casey grinned at him and they headed out of the door.

Casey was right; he was brutally honest about the outfits she picked out.

"What would you suggest I wear then?" she grumbled as they trundled down the high street having failed to find anything in the tenth shop they looked in.

"I thought you'd never ask." Derek disappeared into a nearby store and she followed reluctantly. It was a shop she would never go into in a million years…vintage clothes.

"Trust me," Derek said coming over with a few dresses in his arms. "For some unknown reason Sam likes vintage stuff. Go try these on." He really meant that he liked the older styles. He shoved the clothes into her hands and pushed her into a fitting room with surprising enthusiasm.

A few seconds later he called her out to show him what she was wearing. Tentatively she came out in a fifties sundress. It was white with some large red flowers imprinted onto the skirt. She looked very sweet and innocent in it.

"Nice, just not for tonight. How do you like it?"

"I love it. I feel like Marilyn Monroe." Casey replied smiling broadly. Derek thought she looked very pretty in it.

"Get it for something else then. Try the next one."

She next emerged wearing a loose gypsy top and floaty skirt set in lime green with a pattern of oranges on it from around the 1970's. He cringed and shook his head, trying his best not to laugh at her pained expression. She clearly hated to wear it. She disappeared behind the curtain as though she wanted to get out of the outfit as soon as possible.

The next couple of outfits were general 50's getups. All of them incredibly pretty on her and a few which she could even get away with at school.

"Can't get it." he heard her mumble from inside the cubical after she had been in there a while.

"What have you got?"

"60's minidress. But I can't get the zip up. It's stuck or something."

"Want some help?"

"Sure." She stepped out and turned her back to him. He too struggled with it. "You've certainly changed your tune, Derek. Time was when you would run a mile before helping me with this kind of stuff. What's happened to spark this change do you think?"

"I dunno. Can't really explain it. Man, this thing really is stuck."

Casey glanced over her shoulder at him and saw his handsome face scrunched up in concentration over the zipper. Suddenly it gave and he zipped it up to the top. He turned her to him and smiled in appreciation.

"I think we have a winner for tonight. Why don't you get some of the 50's ones too? " Casey grinned and went back in to change out of it.

"For once I agree with you. Thanks Dere." She said as they headed to the till with the clothes.

"No problem. And don't call me that."

"Sorry. Hey, you wanna go get smoothies after this? I'll pay."

Chuckling Derek nodded.

When they were sitting down outside the smoothie parlour they started chatting about anything they could think of. Casey couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to him.

Suddenly he stopped in the middle of a rant about his ex girlfriend Kendra and stared at something on the other side of the street.

"What are you looking at?" Casey asked.

Then she saw it too.

Derek's best friend Sam was strolling down the street hand in hand with Casey's best friend Emily.

Casey could feel her mouth drop open in horror. Derek looked angry.

"Sam and Emily?" Casey said in disbelief.

"I'm sure nothing's going on. Maybe she's doing what I'm doing and helping him pick out something to wear for tonight." Derek said without believing it himself.

Sam leant in and kissed Emily as he finished. "Or not." He said, looking at Casey to see how she would take it. Her hands were shaking as she dove into her bag for her mobile and rang a number.

"Hi Sam." She said into it, she had managed to keep her voice steady. "Oh, sorry, am I interrupting? Well I only want to say one thing to you. Look across the street, jerk!" she turned off the phone and slammed it down onto the table.

Emily had seen them first. She pointed them out to Sam who, Derek was pleased to see, looked incredibly guilty. Casey and Derek glared back at them. Emily bit her lip nervously as Sam dragged her off.

"So, I guess the date's off then?" Derek asked as casually as he could.

"How could you tell?"

"Sorry."

"I don't believe this. He asked me out again, trying to ignite the old flame again and now I see him kissing my best friend. Did you know about this?"

"Case, I swear I didn't. I'll try and get the whole story from him for you if you like."

"Might help. So, looks like I'm free tonight after all. Wanna rent a movie or something?"

"Why don't I take you out tonight? We'll have fun. Maybe we'll get to be friends."

Casey smiled at him. "I think we already are." and was surprised when Derek smiled warmly back at her.