Casey Mcdonald was not one to be fooled around with but Truman did just that. Only, it was not like the way her step-brother, Derek, fooled around with her in a joking manner. Truman had played her feelings like an out of tune instrument, the notes sounding sour and unforgiving. Last night's party marked the last straw for Truman's relationship incompetence. He had kissed Vicky—her own cousin!—and had the gall to attempt to convince her it was purely of a platonic nature. Now she was left with a shattered heart and a tear stained pillowcase.

She had spent nearly the whole day beneath her comforter, head and all, peaking her nose out every half hour to get a few breaths of air. Her mascara from the party was still a streaky mess on her cheeks and her fist remained clutched tightly on her pillow in anger, sadness, and disbelief. When she stopped crying, she only needed to remember the way Truman slipped his damned tongue into icky Vicky's mouth before succumbing to the tears.

Her mother and sister had both knocked on her door numerous times throughout the day to ask if she was okay or to tell her they had left a tray of food outside her room. "Don't starve yourself, Case." Lizzie would say outside her door with a worried tone. But she did not want to stomach anything they gave her. Marti slipped a few letters of comfort under her door that Casey appreciated but it only barely had an effect. Even Edwin and George recited several jokes to her which she would have laughed at on a normal day (because of the level of stupidity the joke had) but this time, she could hardly even muster a snort.

Her cellphone had been going off all day, most likely Truman desperately trying to explain himself, but Casey was not going to have any of it. She turned the darn thing off and threw it to down to the carpet by her bed. The only person who had not tried to make any sort of contact with her was Derek.

When night came around, she grew tired from her crying and fell asleep. At almost midnight, she woke up to someone knocking on her door. She assumed it was Lizzie and answered as calmly as she could.

"Yes?"

Much to her surprise, the voice that answered did not belong to Lizzie, but was Derek's.

"I need to talk to you," he said seriously.

"What for?" her voice cracked from lack of use. Before he could answer, she continued, "I don't want to talk about it right now, Derek. I can't. I-"

"It's not about that dufus. It's important. Meet me in the closet in ten." She heard him walk away.

She could now add worried to the array of negative emotions she was already feeling. What could he possibly need to talk about? Her stomach growled loudly as if in response. Refusing food was not going to last forever and perhaps this was an opportune time to nibble at her ice, cold dinner that sat outside her door. Reluctantly, she sat up on her bed, slipped her fuzzy slippers on, and headed for the door.

Derek had always been a someone who would take any chance to act out a silly ruse on her but she knew, from his tone of voice, that this was no laughing matter. Of course he would not think to hurt her further. He was the one, after all, who called Truman out at the party. Out of all people, he was the one who helped her out the most.

In fact, now that she thought about it, none of her boyfriends had done as many good deeds as Derek had done for her. The least she could do for him was to co-operate and meet him in the cramped closet that served as a shelter from nosey siblings. And, she had to admit that during her time of grief, Derek felt like a comfort to talk to. Not Lizzie. Not even her best friend Emily. It was her "good-for-nothing" step-brother she could find herself confiding in. She felt he understood her most for some odd reason.

On her way down the hallway, she had grabbed a dinner roll from the tray to the left of her door and chewed it. She saw a sliver of light from beneath the closet door at the end of the hallway. He must have been waiting for her. After swallowing the last bite of dinner roll, she turned the knob of the closet and walked inside.

Casey carefully positioned herself in front of him. They were so tightly packed inside that her breasts nearly touched his chest. She looked up at his face and his gaze fell upon her own. She remembered that she must have looked a fright. Despite this, Derek withheld any sort of rude comments he could have been thinking of.

"Case, you have a little..." he said as he wiped a crumb off the corner of her mouth with his thumb. His face was so close to hers now and this for some strange reason, made butterflies fly in all different directions in her stomach. She felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Why did you want to talk to me?" she said in a hushed voice, not wanting to rouse the rest of her family. He retreated and took a deep breath.

"I..." he started but paused for several seconds before continuing. "I need to tell you something"

She began to fear what he might say and asked, "Yeah I figured... is it bad?"

"No. Well, maybe. I guess if you look at it a certain way, it's kind of bad ha-ha." he laughed nervously but his lips quickly turned back into a thin, straight line.

"Derek... you know I hate it when people beat around the bush. I think you should get straight to the point. It's worrying me."

He turned away and whispered to himself, "God, you still look pretty even with all that stuff on your face..."

"What?" she asked although the tight space did not allow for his words to escape from earshot. She heard him perfectly fine. Her face grew hot. This must be one of his silly jokes. How could he do this after what happened to her? He was absolutely despicable. "I'm going back to my room. I don't want to hear your sarcasm right now. Leave me alone."

Before she could turn to leave, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him as if they were not close enough. Her breasts pressed up against his chest and she swore he could feel her heart beating rapidly. What was going on?

"I couldn't handle seeing you hurt like that." He loosened the grip on her wrist but did not let go. "I didn't think it would drive me crazy this much, but it is. Ha-ha do you hear me? I sound crazy. This is crazy..."

"You're scaring me, Derek. Please, just-just tell me what's going on." She tried to back away so that they were not touching but he would only come closer.

"All this time, I told myself I hated you and that you were an annoying grade grubber of a step-sister. Even though you never failed to tick me off, I still helped you. I wanted to help you and I always felt like I needed to. Yeah, yeah maybe it was my brotherly instinct to... but it just never felt that way and I've been confused until..."

"U-Until when?" Casey could not tell where this conversation was going but her mind feared the worst.

"Until last night, at the party. Case, I needed to protect you from that idiot and I finally knew why. I knew why I cared so damn much!" Derek leaned forward and embraced her. "You've been driving me nuts, you know that?"

At this point, Casey did not know how to respond. She struggled to comprehend what he was trying to tell her yet she could not figure out what exactly it was. She blushed immensely and kept her arms at her sides, not returning the hug. Derek was showing way too much brotherly love than he should have been.

"Casey I love you," he said softly into her hair. She was shocked at this sudden declaration—Derek had not once told her he loved her! This must be some sort of Derek doppleganger.

"Derek, you know I love you too. Thanks for being a pretty decent step-brother." She pulled away from him and gave him a sheepish smile but he wore an expression of disappointment on his face.

"No, you don't get it," he said. "I love you Casey. It took me long enough to realize it. I love you."

Her stomach did flip flops. Surely he could not mean what she was thinking. No! She was making stupid, ridiculous assumptions. It was completely out of the question and she felt disgusted with herself. Regardless, her cheeks withheld its bright, red blush

"What is family for?" she said, hoping the conversation would end. She was way past her comfort zone and Derek was making her feel extremely awkward.

Derek sighed heavily and grabbed her by the shoulders with a fluid quickness. He pressed his soft lips against hers and her eyes widened in shock. She forced him back and there was a loud thud when he hit the shelves behind him. The room began to spin and her entire face was beet red.

"D-Derek! Have you lost your mind? I'm your sister!" she exclaimed loudly, possibly waking up the whole household, not that she cared.

"Step-sister. And I'm in love with you."

Before he could hold her back, she reached for the doorknob and flung the door open, running down and tripping into the hallway. She slammed the door of her bedroom behind her before melting to the floor with hot tears streaming down her face. What she did not notice was Marti standing outside her bedroom door, listening to every word.