Hey everyone!

Aww…thanks for the reviews! You guys always make me smile :)

Anyways, for anybody who was asking about the podcast (since people have been asking on reviews for Out of the Blue), it will be airing in September on iTunes and the Family channel website.

I would tell you who the prevailing couple at the very end of this story will be…but, what would be the fun in that? ;P

Guess you'll just have to keep reading…wink, wink

Without further adieu, here's Chapter 2! (Hey, that rhymed! I'm a poet and I didn't even know it! God, I'm corny. lmao)

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Chapter 2

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Breathe, Derek. Breathe. I tell myself as I sit at our staircase, staring down at my hands. Nora and George went out to pick up Casey and the beloved, oh-so-praised Andrew at the airport, leaving me here with Marti.

"Excited?" she asks me from where she is sitting on the couch in the living room. She turns towards me, wiggling her eyebrows and giving me an impish smile.

Marti has grown up to be one of the craziest, most adorable teenage girls I have ever seen. She has so many characteristics of me and Casey that you'd almost think she was our daughter, as opposed to our sister. She has my quirk, charm, and way with the opposite sex, and she has Casey's academic abilities, and powerful personality. And Marti's beautiful, just like our mother was. At the age of 14, she is at the top of her class, popularity wise and academically wise. She's gone out with as many boys within her eighth grade year that I had gone out with throughout my entire Jr. High career…is that sad or what?

I lean my head back and sigh, "Oh, yes. Definitely excited."

She shrugs, getting off of the couch and making her way towards the stairs, sitting beside me, "Andrew's a really cool guy, Derek. I think you'll like him."

I run my hands through my hair and shake my head at my little sister, "Trust me, I won't."

She rolls her eyes, "So juvenile."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask, looking towards her in surprise.

"Nothing, nothing." She says, shaking her head. Her long, dark hair with blonde highlights flutters against her eyes, "Any plans to woo her?"

I guffaw, "Woo her? She's engaged."

Marti scoffs at me, shooting me a 'do-you-think-I'm-an-idiot-?' expression, "As if that stopped you from sleeping with Monica, who was married."

My eyes widen and I snap my fingers towards her, "Hey. You said you would never mention that."

She giggles, "Just making my point clear." She says as the familiar sound of the family SUV hitting the pavement of our driveway fills our house.

Marti grins at me, "Its game-time."

Shit. She's here.

-♥-

Shit, he's in there.

I glance at the familiar house in front of me and my stomach tightens. Andrew is carrying on a conversation with my parents about something that happened at his job the other day, and all I can think about is my seeing my ex-boyfriend (AKA: stepbrother Derek) within a matter of moments.

I suck in a deep breath as George's SUV comes to a complete stop in our driveway. Andrew smiles at me and pecks me on the cheek, "The next few weeks are going to be the best ever." He says towards me, grinning happily.

As you can obviously see, he hasn't met Derek.

He then turns towards my parents, grinning his charming grin that wins the hearts of…basically everyone, "And I'm so happy that you two are going to be here to experience it all with us." He says, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

Mom smiles at him, turning to face him, "And we're happy that Casey has picked such a great guy to marry. It'll be great having you as a son-in-law."

Andrew smiles at her in return, "And it'll be great to have you as a mother-in-law."

Despite my nervousness of what is yet to come, I laugh slightly, lacing my fingers through Andrew's as I haul him out of the backseat of the SUV, "Okay, cornball. Help me get our bags."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" Andrew says, saluting to me. His parents both served in the United States Marine Corps. His dad, a retired Marine, has to be one of the biggest hard asses I have ever met, but it's pretty incredible how powerful he and his wife, Andrew's mother, are.

I laugh and roll my eyes as George pops the trunk and comes back towards the trunk to help us get our things.

"It's okay, George. We can handle it." I say, shooting him a thankful smile.

He nods and smiles at me in return, "You got it."

He and my mom begin to head off towards the house. Andrew turns towards me as he hoists his duffle bag onto his shoulder and drops his suitcase down to the pavement, popping out the handle for it. "So, is the infamous Derek just a mere thirty feet away?" he asks, smirking at me.

I freeze at the sound of his name, before slowly hoisting my pink duffle bag onto my shoulder. "Uh…yeah. He should be, I guess." I say slowly, nervously, as I pull down the door to the trunk and we make our way up the front walk.

"I've heard so many stories about him between your mom and George, it's insane. I've gotta meet this guy." Andrew says, laughing. We make our way towards the front door and he reaches his hand out towards the handle, beginning to pull it.

"Trust me, you're not missing out on much of anything." I say bitterly as he pulls open the door.

I suck in a deep breath as I am face to face with…

Marti.

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I have to be the biggest wimp on the planet Earth.

I hid from my step-sister. I am hiding from Casey. I am locked in my bedroom to avoid a run in with my ex-girlfriend.

Marti gave me the stupidest look as I jogged up the stairs towards my room, telling me that I'd have to face the music sooner or later.

I chose later; way later. As in, "Dearest Casey, may you rest in peace while I throw this lily on your gravestone" later.

Not that I'm wishing her dead or anything. I don't want her dead.

I hear a door open followed by a joyful, "Hey Marti!" and I recognize the voice instantly. It's Casey's voice, and it sounds just as cheerful and angelic as it always had. You know, it sounds like it did all those times when she wasn't yelling at me.

My stomach knots up and my heart tightens as I fling myself on my back on my bed, staring up at my ceiling. Even my bed was torture to be on. All it ever makes me think about is all the memories that I shared with Casey in this bed; from our first kiss on my bed to what happened after senior prom in this bed. God, I had been so mad at her for going to the prom with her friend Jacob that I couldn't even see straight. It didn't even matter that he wasn't into girls (if you catch my drift), and it didn't mater that we had both agreed to go with other people so that George and Nora wouldn't find out. I hated seeing her dancing with him, it made my fists clench. But, what happened later on that night made up for everything that had gone on earlier that night (again, if you catch my drift).

"Hey Casey! Hey Andrew!" Marti said happily.

I heard a male voice then, laughing, "Hey Marti, how are you doing?"

It made my jaw clench as well as my fist. It was an unfamiliar voice. It was an unfamiliar voice that responded to the name Andrew. That could only mean one thing…

It meant that these next two weeks were going to suck.

-♥-

I am so relieved that Derek isn't here! I spent the entire trip since when we arrived at the airport in Virginia to pulling into our driveway here in London fretting about seeing Derek. And he's not even here! (Thank God.)

"Well, I'll let you converse with the family, I'm going to go drop my bag off upstairs." I say towards Andrew.

He nods, kissing me on the cheek, "I'll see you in a little while."

I smile and make my way up the stairs.

"Miss you already!" he calls out as I am halfway up the staircase.

I grin, my heart fluttering.

Could he be any more perfect?

I make my way past the closed doors of our familiar hallway, stopping for a moment at Derek's door. It's closed and has the same KEEP OUT sign that it has had on it since we were fourteen. Even though he's not even here, the presence of the room still sends a chill down my spine.

"Snap out of it, Casey." I say to myself quietly before making my way towards my bedroom.

I smile as I enter my familiar bedroom. I haven't stepped foot in it since the day I left for college four years ago, but George and Mom didn't change it a bit.

I sit my duffle bag on my bed and sigh, stretching my arms over my head and closing my eyes, tilting my head back.

I plop down on my bed and glance around the room; a brief sadness washes upon me as I remember how I spent one of my last nights in this bedroom. I spent it sobbing into my pillows until the wee hours of the morning. Lizzie heard me and came in to see what was wrong, and I wound up spilling the entire story to her. I told her about Derek and what's-her-face (who to this day I still won't talk to…no matter how many times she tries to explain to me what was really happening), and how I had caught them together, and how Derek and I had gotten into a screaming match and broken up. And Lizzie held me for another good thirty minutes before I finally fell asleep. I woke up the next morning and packed for Georgetown, wanting to get out of the country as soon as possible.

Derek tried to contact me for almost a year after we had broken up, but I couldn't talk to him. I didn't even want to think about him. But, I still did think about him. A lot.

I shake my head in disbelief about the thoughts that are running through my head about Derek and stand up, raking a hand through my long hair and letting out a sigh.

I pull down on my shirt and make my way out of my bedroom.

I put a smile on my face as I enter the hallway. I have nothing to be freaked out about. Derek isn't here, I have an amazing fiancé, and I'm about to get married. I have nothing to be frowning about.

That's when I see Derek's bedroom door open, and my heart stops.

-¤-

"It's show time." I whisper to myself, standing up from my bed. There is no way in hell that Derek Venturi is going to sit in his room in order to stay away from somebody, How much more immature can I get?

I make my way towards my door and begin to twist the knob, before pausing and making my way to the mirror to make sure I look okay. I run a hand through my hair and flash a grin towards the mirror. Yeah, this will show Casey what she's missing.

I return to the door and twist the knob, stepping out into the hallway. I hear a gasp and I turn around.

The moment I turn to face the suspect in question behind me, I almost want to turn around and walk back into my room.

…but I don't. I simply stand there and stare at my stepsister, my ex-girlfriend.

"What are you doing here?" she says, breaking the little staring contest that we had going on.

I shoot her a blank expression, "I live here?" I note dumbly.

"But you weren't supposed to be here." Casey says, shaking her head, "You can't be here."

She isn't even looking at me, actually. She's staring at the ground, muttering to herself.

She looks just as beautiful as she did when we graduated, if not even more beautiful. I stare at her body, from the top of her head to the flip flops on her feet. I always loved her body. I hate thinking what parts of it Andrew has touched…even more so what parts he hasn't touched.

I straighten up and smirk at her, "Well, I'm here for the rest of the summer. Now, let's go meet this Andrew of yours!" I say and make my way down the stairs.

Casey growls (yes, growls) from behind me. "I swear to God, Derek. If you do anything so much as look at him incorrectly, I'll-"

"Oh, Casey. Relax." I say, turning to face her. "I'm not going to, you know, shoot him or anything." I gin at her.

Her lips purse at me and she crosses her arms over her chest, as she follows after me. She jams into my side as she pushes past me to get down the stairs.

"Vicious…" I murmur before following after her.

We make our way towards the bottom of the stairs, and I see a tall boy with dark blonde hair talking to my parents, laughing. His hair is short with the tips pointed up, and he has icy blue eyes. Just one look at the guy and I hate him.

"So, I told Phillip that if he simply added the formula onto the paper, that the score would go up." He explains to my dad, who is nodding enthusiastically, as if he actually cares what this guy has to say.

"So, did he listen?" he asks.

Andrew pops his imaginary collar and grins, "He scored a 95 when he would have gotten a 91."

Nora smiles at him proudly, as if he discovered the cure for morning breath or something. What the hell did they put in the water here that's making them seem so intrigued by this…Ivy League Einstein?

I clear my throat to draw the attention to the attractive early-twenties boy in the room, and Andrew glances at me out of the corner of his eye, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

"You must be Derek!" he says excitedly.

I lift an eyebrow at him. Did he squeak? I swear to God he squeaked.

I nod slowly, a flat-lined smile on my face, "The one and only."

He chuckles happily at me; his voice slightly resembling Goofy's from "The Goofy Movie". "Man, I have heard so much about you." He says, making his way over towards me and lifting his hand up in the air, it dangles above me, and I make no motion to smack mine against his. Seriously, who does that anymore?

"Wow." He says, laughing as he looks up at his hand. "I get it now. I'm literally left hanging!"

You have got to be kidding me. This is my replacement?

I give him a sarcastic smile, "Nothing gets passed you, does it?"

He grins, "I didn't graduate at the top of my class two years ago for nothing."

Two years ago? How old is this guy?

"Graduate from…high school?" I ask, smirking towards Casey at the thought of her dating a "younger man". She returns my smirk with that of a death glare.

Oh, is it good to have her back.

"Law school." He corrects me, grinning towards my dad. "I'm planning on opening up my own law firm in Virginia."

No way. This guy is, like, 28.

He glances around at my family before smiling, "Well, I'm going to go bring my things up to the guest room."

"The guest room?" Marti spits out. I hadn't even noticed she was in here! But, low and behold, she is sitting on the couch.

Andrew nods at her stupidly, "Yes."

"We don't have a guest room." She fires back.

I scoff, "Well, I'm sure Lizzie and Edwin wouldn't mine sharing." I say, smirking.

"Derek." Dad and Nora fire at me in unison.

I roll my eyes, "If Andrew feels uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed as Casey – and who could blame him? She snores like a horse- then why not let the man get what he wants?"

It'll make me feel better, at least.

Casey narrows her eyes at me before latching at Andrew's arm as he grabs his luggage, "Come on, babe." She fires the word "babe" at me, while looking at me and glaring, before she and the fiancé head upstairs.

Dad places his arm on Nora's shoulder, smiling at her happily, "Casey picked a great match, don't you think?"

Nora smiles back at him approvingly, "I'm not sure Casey could have chosen a better match."

I snort and they both turn to stare at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Marti smirking, and I can hear the faint sound of her giggling softly.

They make their way towards the kitchen and Marti hops up from the couch, making her way towards me and smiling devilishly.

This girl is truly conforming into a mini-me…a female mini-me.

"What are you smiling about?" I ask, glancing down at her.

She crosses her arms over her chest, smiling, "Any ideas on how to make her yours?"

I scoff, "Marti, I don't want to make her mine."

She shrugs, "But, you don't want her to be his do you?"

I jerk my thumb back towards the stairs, "Did you see that clown? I wouldn't want him to be anybody's who wasn't missing had part of their brain removed."

Marti giggles, "Well, I'm sure you'll think of something." She walks away from me, and in a sing-song voice replies, "You always do."

It is when I check my voicemail that I realize just what it is that I'll do.

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Dun, dun, dun!

So…what did you think?

R&R and please, no flames!

Peace, love, & Cheerios.

-degrassichick :)