Auther's note: Thanks for the nice reviews!

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Casey's Point of View:

I am going to kill him.

I am doing him a favor, and he still has the nerve to go out of his way to mortify me. The comment and the hug, why the heck did he have to mention that! It was embarrassing enough to have him see me half naked. I was still not use to having guys around the house, especially a guy like Derek, who had no qualms about getting in somebody's private space. His being closer in age didn't help one bit. How was I supposed to think of him as a brother, knowing him for only 3 years? And even then, with our constant McDonald vs. Venturi dynamic, the step in stepbrother was emphasized well enough. Also, with the whole female population taking the time to point out all his 'attributes,' it was not easy. Well now it was different, I had something to bug him with, his inability to dance.

I was so surprised when he came to me, knowing that I would torture him to death. Still, after he asked so nicely, I could not say no. Though if he thought that I was going to make this easy, he was sadly mistaken.

So here I was, 7:00 AM on a Saturday, outside his room. What better time to have dance lessons insert evil laugh. I slowly opened his door, making sure to make the least amount of noise as possible. Then the harder task came, of passing the obstacle course called the floor of his room. Hopping around while holding the cold glass of water was no easy task, but I finally reached my destination i.e. Derek's bed.

I couldn't help but stand there and observe him a little bit. It was not everyday I could look at him without wanting to throw something to shut him up. He looked pretty innocent with his arm thrown over his face, and his blanket half on and half off the bed. So I almost felt bad for being the one to take him away from that serene dream place. Almost …Smirking, I bought the glass of water close to his face and tilted it letting his face get the full treatment.

"Rise and shine, Derek!"

With a shout, he sat up, almost falling from the tangled up bed sheets. Before I could use my common sense and move away from him, he grabbed my arm pulling me on top, and in one quick movement below him.

"You know! I am beginning to feel like Cinderella with you as my evil stepsister…"he coughed, and then added "… a manly Cinderella that is."

I rolled my eyes. Mr. "Guyist" shows his face again. When he didn't move, I looked up to ask why. I stopped short.

He was leaning over me with a thoughtful expression, his sleep laden eyes unfocussed. His bed messed hair, which were wet now, obstructing his view. He didn't notice, but automatically I reached forward to brush it out of his eyes. His look of surprise bought his focus back to me lying under me, and alerted me to the fact that it was not something I should be doing.

I hesitantly moved my hand back, casually as possible, but he caught it. He slowly used it to brush his hair aside. Still holding it, he trailed it downwards, lightly brushing his cheek and lips before placing my hand against his bed cover. I could literally feel my heart thudding in my chest, why did he always feel the need to make uncomfortable! The moment was made more intense by our positions, his body was covering mine and I couldn't discern where he ended, and I began. But before I could overanalyze the situation as anything else then Derek being Derek, he leaned back taking the position of lying on his side, facing me.

"So by the way, could I ask why I am getting this very lively seven o'clock wakeup call?"

Thank god the moment over, I settled in comfortably on his bed. However, the answer was lost as I realized he really did have a nice bed. It felt like heaven, I bet it was made of feathers. I was so going to have a family meeting about this; I wanted a comfy bed like this. As if reading my mind, Derek exasperatedly put an arm over my waist to stop my movements.

"Will you stop moving! …..and no you can't have this bed, so don't go complaining to the parents. Now can we please get back to the subject at hand"

He looked like he was ready to murder me. I could never figure out the reaction I got out of him, since with anybody else he was his normal cool self. He dealt with situations in a calm manner, requiring little effort. It was like all he had to do was will it and it would happen, but with me he turned into the devil himself, yelling and screaming. I sighed; it wasn't the greatest thing to find out that I had that effect. I shook my head as if to clear my thoughts and focus on his increasingly angry face.

I put on my best innocent face and answered "Well you wanted dance, so let's dance. I will meet you in my room in 10 minutes, wear something comfortable."

He gave me an incredulous look, and before he could start his temper tantrum. I covered his mouth, and said calmly. "You know if you want to wake up everybody, its fine with me but if they ask me what we are doing, I will be sure to tell them all about your inability to dance and well you know what happens once this family gets a hold of juicy info like this."

I removed my hand soon after, because he surely looked like he was going to bite. Hearing his muttering about blackmailing stepsisters, I just smiled and slid off the bed, literally skipping towards the door. Life with Derek had its charms.

----- 30 minutes later

Well I really didn't expect him to be fully awake and be ready in 10 minutes, so I was perfectly happy that it wasn't an hour or something when he appeared at my door. He hesitantly walked into the room looking a little apprehensive. He stood out even more with his clothes in complete disarray in contrast to my well organized room. His typical shirt on shirt style with a pair of baggy pants made me question his sense of style. Though, that didn't stop him from being everyone's favorite at school. Ignoring his already bored look, I got up from place by my desk and made him sit there.

In my best no nonsense teacher style, I started, "So before we begin this we got to set up a schedule, since we want to do this incognito, we will do it every Saturday morning."

This was timely followed by Derek's groan, "Come on! Saturday is my off day, I want to sleep in!"

I irritably replied, "You know there is no other day, Monday through Friday we have school, and there is always somebody in the house, and Sunday is your hockey practice, you are usually too tired to do anything after it"

When I saw him grudgingly nod is head, I continued, "Anyways, the dance is October 1st, and we have only three weeks to do this. Meaning, I teach you this and next two Saturdays, but that doesn't mean you don't practice. Couple dancing involves a lot of footwork, which you can practice on your own. If you are still hopeless we will figure something out."

When I stopped, I found Derek looking at me with a small smile. It would be a lie, if I said that didn't freak me out. He changed his stance as soon as he realized that I was looking pointedly at him, it could also have been the confusion in my expression. Whatever it was, it had made Derek uncomfortable as now he was staring at my computer. While still focused on the screen, he stuttered out, "I don't think I said it before….but thank you for you know…willing to help me out…"

I couldn't help but let my face split into a wide grin. Never in these years I have known him, did he ever just come out and thank me. Thus even though it would be sad to destroy this beautiful moment, I couldn't help but cheekily reply in my best baby voice, "Awwwwww Derek, you are such sweet heart, here let me pinch your cute chubby cheeks"

I couldn't help but laugh as he turned red and tried to run from me. I grabbed his arm as he was about to pass me. I laughed as I wrestled him back into the chair, straddling him as to prevent his escape, I said in my most sincere tone, "You are welcome!"

He just looked at me for what seemed like a minute, and finally with a blank face he said, "It's okay Casey, don't need to give me a lap dance to prove how 'welcome' you are."

With my indignant gasp, his smirk appeared and I took pleasure in smacking his arm as I got up from my position in his lap.

I turned before he could see me smile; it was weird how this was normal for us compared to our sincere selves. I don't think Derek and I could ever live without making each other crazy, which was sad considering both our parents were still hoping for the day we would act civilly towards each other.

I turned towards him again, it was dance time.

"First lesson to couple dancing for guys, you have to lead"

He gave me an incredulous look, and replied sarcastically, "wow Case you astound me with your knowledge. Of course I lead! I am not that stupid"

"Sureeee," I replied, smiling innocently at him.

He growled.

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Anyways, so come over here, let's get this over with!"

I grabbed his hand to put on my waist, and grabbed his other hand, in the typical dance position. Even though I didn't want to, I had to make the gap between us shorter, since I didn't think my arms could take that much stretching. So I moved forward, only to have him take a step backwards.

"What are you doing Derek?"

He looked at me weirdly, then replying in a very cautious tone, "What am I doing… What are you doing?"

Rolling my eyes at his antics, I said exasperatedly, "We can't dance million feet apart, especially when I am trying to teach u"

"Yes we can!"

"No, we can't!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Fine! You are such a chicken!"

My technique worked because he suddenly got his competitive face on and he pulled me closer. A lot closer… meaning that well my upper body was getting very well acquainted with the hardness of his chest. Since we were that close, I could feel his breath on my face, and his lips were brushing against my ear as he spoke. Giving me a sensation, that should not be felt anywhere near Derek.

"Close enough?"

I swear I could feel his smirk even if I couldn't see his face. I gave him a little push, and went to put on the music. I began slowly teaching him. He wasn't kidding when he said he couldn't dance, because by the end of the lesson my feet were hurting from being stepped on. Still, even with the pain, I had fun. He was nice when he wanted to be.

"Comon Casey, I am never going to get this"

And a whiner when he wanted to be.

"Look you can't learn it in one try, but common you learned not to step on feet anymore"

"Oh yeah that's really not going to help impress my date, when I do the feet robot"

"No, I think you trying to grab her ass won't impress her."

"Hey I don't grab… most of the times"

"Whatever! Anyways we are done for today, now that I know what your problem areas are, I can work from there"

Our lesson ending time was great, since as soon as Derek had left for his room. I heard noise downstairs indicating George or Mom had woken up. That meant in a minute or two they would be up to wake us up as well. I sighed tiredly, and decided that it was no use sleeping now. So I decided to go downstairs to see if I could help in the preparations for breakfast. As I walked downstairs, I couldn't help but think about the dancing lessons, and how it ended. Why did I feel that by the end, we were either going to kill each other or come out different some how.