Title: Stylistic Infatuation
Author: Freeing Alys
Rating: T
Summary: Casey hated Derek seeing her weaknesses, but it seemed to happen more then she wants. [Dasey
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Life With Derek or anything affliated with it. I AM NOT claiming this as my own. I'm just a fan practicing my writing skills, that is all. No copywrite infridgemnet intended.

Chapter Four

Casey's alarm clock went off and Casey leapt up in bed. She let out a groan as she realized it was a new day and she pushed the alarm button on her alarm clock. Casey ran her fingers through her long, brown hair and then touched her lips. She smiled at the memory of the night before, but at the same time she felt butterflies in her stomach. Today was going to be a hard one.

Casey slide out of her bed and walked over to her closet where she picked out an outfit and quickly slid it on. Casey glanced at herself in her vanity mirror, ran a brush through her hair, sighed and walked out of her room.

Walking carefully she stepped passed Derek's room-who Casey knew was still asleep-and then down the stairs towards the kitchen. When Casey had first moved into the McDonald-Venturi household the sleeping patterns of Derek annoyed her. She hated how he slept until the last minute, rolled out of bed, ate cereal straight from the box and then went to school-where he was practically the king. But now Casey found herself not caring all that much, let Derek do what he wanted.

As Casey reached the kitchen she didn't know if that was because of their new relationship, or because she simply didn't care anymore. Casey let out a sigh as she tried to figure out what was going to happen when their parents saw that something was obviously different between the two. "Casey! Good morning." Nora McDonald-Venturi greeted her daughter, with a warm smile on her face.

"Hey Mom." Casey replied as she walked towards the cupboards and pulled out a box of cereal, a bowl, spoon and then the milk from the fridge.

"How was your night last night?" Nora asked and Casey glanced over at her mom trying to look normal.

"It was fine…just did homework and stuff." Casey mumbled as she finished putting together her bowl of cereal.

"How is the schoolwork here? Any didn't from the academy?" Nora asked as she took a sip of her coffee, referring to the all girl prep school that Casey had gone to before the wedding.

Casey nodded her head and cracked a smile, was it ever. "Yeah, it is." She admitted as she walked ot the table, sat down and started in on her cereal.

"Oh. Well, you'll get into everything here soon." Nora predicted and Casey nodded her head as she took a bite of cereal. She highly doubted it though.

"Sure." Casey mumbled again as she finished off her small bowl of cereal. "I should get going. Don't want to be late." Casey stated as she rose from her seat at the table and walked towards the sink to dump her bowl.

"You sure you're doing okay Casey?" Nora asked and Casey let out a sigh as she rinsed off her cereal bowl.

"Yeah Mom…" Casey started but was interrupted by the loud greetings of Derek.

"Morning household!" Derek exclaimed as he sauntered into the kitchen, wearing jeans, an old tee-shit and he infamous leather jacket.

"Smerek!" Marty greeted her brother from under the table with a wide grin on her face.

Derek kneeled down and stared Marty in the face. "Morning, Smarty!" Derek rubbed Marty's head and then stood back up.

Nora smiled at Derek and took another sip of her coffee. "Morning Derek." She said and Derek nodded his head towards Nora.

"Morning Nora." Derek quickly walked to the kitchen, wehre Casey was standing, and reached for the cereal in the cupboard. "Casey." Derek mumbled and glanced back towards Nora who was now greeting Lizzie and Edwin.

"Derek." Casey mumbled back, feeling herself go weak at the presence of Derek.

Derek poured cereal into his mouth smiled at Casey, chewed and swallowed. The whole process making Casey wish she hadn't just eaten the cereal. "Okay Mom! I'm going to school now." Casey called over to Nora and Nora turned towards Casey.

"Bye honey!" She called back.

Derek smiled at Casey as Casey turned around, picked up her backpack from beside the door and slipped out, finally being able to breath in the fresh, cool air. Casey was right, today was going to be hard.

LWD

Casey reached her locker that she shared with Emily, Casey's now new best friend, and pulled it open. Stacking things carefully in her locker, Casey set the textbooks used for homework back and stared into her locker. It was still ten minutes before first period and Casey had no idea what she was going to do with her time.

"Case!" Casey spun around and saw Emily sauntering over to the locker, smile spread across her face.

"Hey Em." Casey stated and stepped aside so that Emily could do what she needed to in the locker.

"So first couple days here weren't all that bad were they?" Emily asked and Casey shrugged her shoulders. Honestly, Casey couldn't tell.

"I don't know. I think I still need more time. " She admitted and Emily nodded her ehad.

"Yeah. I mean this really isn't an academy." Emily stated and then shut the locker. "There he is." She breathed out stared past Casey's shoulder.

Casey spun around and saw herself looking down at Derek, talking to some random blond girl at her locker. "Yeah." Casey said trying to sound cool and not as weak as she felt.

"God, that jacket does wonders for him." Emily said and Casey crossed her arms over her chest.

"I guess so."

Emily shook her head and placed an arm on Casey's shoulder. "Sorry, I totally shouldn't be talking about your step-brother like that. I mean, you must be disgusted." Emily joked and Casey let out a fake laugh.

"Sure." She stated and Emily shook her ehad.

"Come on, let's go to first period." She suggested and Casey nodded her head, liking that idea.

LWD

Casey was walking the hall after second period, her gaze set ahead of her, and she was hardly paying attention to anything. As Casey rounded the corner going towards her locker she felt a tight tug at her wrist and before she knew it she found herself standing in the dark, dank supply closet. "Derek!" Casey exclaimed as Derek turned on the light and smiled at Casey.

"I had to talk to you." Derek whispered and Casey fought back the urge to smile. The way that Derek was standing in the supply closet with his hands tucked in his leather jacket pockets, his head tilted down and a smile on his face it was enough to make Casey want to smile all day.

"Oh." Casey said as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, unsure of what to do. Now that she was all alone with Derek with no impulses left in her, she felt odd and awkward.

"I was thinking we should get together tonight to. Just to talk or whatever." Derek suggested and Casey took a step back from him, unsure of what she really felt. She liked Derek, and being with him the night before was more then Casey wanted to feel. Everything in her life had been moving way faster then she wanted since her mother's wedding. And Casey had no idea how she was going to deal with any of it.

"I don't know." Casey said and ducked her head low, she was almost embarrassed to glance at Derek after rejecting him.

Casey heard Derek sigh and then pick up her hand in his own. "I know this is weird Casey, but I don't know…you said yourself you feel better when we're together." Derek reminded Casey.

Casey glanced back up at Derek and nodded her head, that was true. She loved being with Derek, and talking to him, he made her feel safe and okay. It was weird for Casey, she didn't feel that way about Derek when she had first met him, but after time the annoyed feelings turned into admiration. "Okay." Casey breathed out and Derek smiled at her.

Derek picked up Casey's hand held it to his lips and softly kissed between her first and second knuckle. The movement was soft and fluttery and made shivers go up and down Casey's spin. As Derek released her hand and smiled at Casey, Casey felt the warm and safe feeling again and she was glade that Derek had pulled her into the closet.

Going on nothing but pure impulse Casey leaned over and kissed Derek on the lips, wanting to feel the exact way that she had felt the night before. As Casey leaned back from Derek and smiled at him she realized that she did feel that way again, and she never wanted it to end.