A/N: Sorry about the delay, but between school and work I just didn't have the time. Flashbacks are in italics, when the font is normal thoughts are in italics.

Disclaimer: I don't own LWD.

OOOOOOOO

"So, like I said—

Casey broke off abruptly when she noticed their neglected waitress pretending to sweep the area surrounding their booth. Catching Emily's attention, she signaled to the waitress. Personally, Casey was amused by the young girl's tactics, but she wasn't sure if Emily was of the same opinion.

Emily merely shrugged when she took sight of the girl. Their waitress was college age, pretty, and seemed to be bored out of her mind. Business had started to wind down about an hour earlier, so it was no surprise to Emily that the girl had been using her down time to listen to their conversation. What else did she have to do? And, besides, Emily could admit to herself that during her younger, nosier days she would have been the main one in the restaurant listening shamelessly, so who was she to pass judgment.

"This is gonna seem weird, but would you mind if I invited her over?" Casey asked nervously. "She looks bored, and lonely."

"Why would I care?" Emily asked, shrugging again. "It's you who I'd think would mind—the story doesn't make me look like a slut."

Casey gasped, and Emily regretted the words almost as soon as they were out of her mouth. She hadn't even meant to say anything bitchy, but it was like she just couldn't help herself when it came to Casey.

"I am sorry about that," her voice was stony, but sincere.

"So much for us having made any progress," Casey mumbled.

Emily's eyes flashed. "That's not fair. We have made progress"—Casey's eyes widened at this, but Emily didn't even notice—"but you can't expect me to turn off Lord knows how many years of hate in two afternoons."

"But you admit that we have made progress." She was almost smiling.

Emily blew out an irritated breath. "You're totally missing the point. All I meant was"—she stopped short; she refused to get into this now. "Never mind. Call over the waitress, don't call her over, just do something so we can get on with the story."

"Fine," Casey conceded, holding up her hands in defeat. Inwardly, however, she was about to burst—she could see that she was wearing Emily down. She just hoped that the parts of the story to come wouldn't undo what progress she had already made.

"Hey," Casey called out to the waitress. "Come here a second."

The girl turned bright red, but walked over to their table, head bent in embarrassment. "Did you guys need refills?" she asked, trying not to glance at their practically full glasses.

"No, we're fine," Emily responded, trying not to smile.

"What's your name hun?"

"Mya," she mumbled, shyly.

"Well, Mya, I know this might come out odd, and I don't want you to think we're like creepy old women or something, but—

"Do you want to join us? That way you won't have to strain yourself to listen." Emily saw no reason to beat around the bush.

"Miss, I am so sorry, I—

"Calm down, Mya. First off, you don't have to 'miss' us—I'm Emily"—she pointed to Casey-"and that's Casey." Emily wasn't sure why she was telling the girl their names; with the way Mya had been eavesdropping she had to know who they were. "And, secondly, we're serious. If you don't think you'll get in trouble with your boss, pop a squat and listen comfortably." Emily didn't really like people knowing her business, but the girl was going to listen whether they gave her permission or not, so she figured Mya might as well sit with them.

"Who Tommy?" She popped her gum, perking up a bit as she pointed to the manager who was glancing at her from behind the counter. "Tommy's cool, we're cousins, so he pretty much let's me do whatever, as long as I'm not bothering anybody."

"Well, okay then. Sit down"—Casey patted the spot next to her. "I'm not sure how up to speed you are, but I was just about to tell Emily—

"You were gonna tell her about the conversation you and Derek had," she supplied eagerly.

Casey and Emily shared a look, but Casey responded, "That's right."

Casey's back was turned as she organized last year's homework and listened to her ipod, so she didn't see or hear Derek slip into her room. When he tapped her on the shoulder, she just about jumped out of her skin.

"Jesus, Derek," she said, spinning around and catching sight of the culprit. "Thanks for taking ten years off of my life."

When he remained silent choosing instead to simply stare at her, she blushed a little. Casey had assumed that his presence in her room meant that he was willing to speak to her again, but apparently she was wrong. That thought made her even sadder than she already was; it had been seven long days since they had exchanged words, and Casey missed him more than she cared to admit.

"So, umm… did you want something?" she asked, anxiously.

"I get it."

"Excuse me?" Casey's brows crinkled. She was completely lost.

"I get why you're doing this," he said, resolutely.

Casey started to smile—she wanted nothing more than for him to understand why she had to call things off, if he did maybe they could at least become friends again—but something about the look in his eyes told her that he didn't understand at all.

Derek's eyes rolled at her look of confusion. "I've seen how you are with Sam, you crave drama, and you're always trying to test him to see how much he cares about you."

"W-what?!" she sputtered indignantly. But Derek held up a hand to ward off her ranting before she could get started.

"I understand that this was your way of testing me." He sounded a little bitter and put out, but he was trying to appear unaffected. "That's why I'm here now. I care about you Casey. So"—he sighed, looking a little happier now that the emotional stuff was out of the way—"did I pass?" he asked, reaching for her.

She stepped away before he could pull her into an embrace, and it literally took all of her willpower not to slug him. She didn't know what pissed her off more, the fact that he seemed to think she was a drama queen or the implication that he thought she was callous enough to play with his feelings like that.

"God!" she growled. "This isn't some stupid test; I was serious when I said we had to end things."

Derek wasn't unmoved by her display. "Casey," he began, voice so chilly that she had to resist the urge to shiver, "there is only so much of this game playing that I'm willing to take," he warned. "In fact, if you were anyone else I wouldn't be doing this much."

"Don't I feel special," she responded, sarcastically.

"You should feel special!" His voice wasn't chilly anymore, quite the contrary actually; Casey could tell it was taking everything in him not to yell. "There are hundreds of girls in our school and any one of them would kill to be in your shoes right now."

Casey had a jealous nature—she had come to terms with that a while ago—but it was a very particular jealous nature. She couldn't have cared less about Sam's old girlfriends or the girls in school who had no problem openly hitting on him now, but it was different with Derek. When they were together she had always worried about his other women. Casey knew that he had other girls, and even though it made her a hypocrite, she couldn't stand the thought of him being with anyone else. She may not have known how she felt about him, but she knew how she felt about him seeing other people. She hated it. And she hated all the girls who had come before her, and would come after her. And at that moment, she hated him for making her painfully aware of just how replaceable she was.

True as it might have been, he had definitely said the wrong thing.

"Are you trying to piss me off?" She honestly couldn't tell if his last comment was supposed to make her want to throw herself in his arms, or slap him.

For a moment he looked taken aback, but he recovered quickly. "No," he drew the word out. "I'm here, against my better judgment I might add, telling you how I feel and you're acting like it doesn't even matter." He folded his arms across his chest. "Are you trying to piss me off?"

"No," she snapped. "See, I'm not the one throwing my harem in your face."

"What harem?" His voice was mockingly perplexed, and Casey's hand itched to slap the smirk off his face.

"Oh, that's real nice." She knew she wasn't popular—if it hadn't been for her position as a hockey player's girlfriend, Derek's sponsorship, and Emily's friendship, school would have been unbearable; as it was, it wasn't that pleasant—but Derek didn't have to say it like that.

"I tried being nice, but nice doesn't work with you!"

He had no problem yelling now, and Casey gave a silent prayer of thanks that the parents were already asleep.

"I have been going out of my way for I don't know how many weeks, being nice to you, showing you that I care, and it doesn't seem to have made any impact on you. You know," he gave a hollow laugh, "for someone who claims to be so concerned about Sam's feelings, you sure don't seem to have any problem acting like a cold hearted bitch when it comes to me."

If she had been feeling reasonable, or even charitable, she would have been able to see that he had a valid point. But that wasn't the case; actually she was feeling very unreasonable—being in a heated argument kind of had a way of doing that to a person. And, the "cold hearted bitch" comment had hurt. Bad. In fact, since she had chosen to be with Sam, they had both been hurting each other so badly that Casey didn't see how they could ever find their way back to each other, even if they wanted to.

"If you think I'm a cold hearted bitch, then why do you want me?" she fired back. Her grimace was almost instant; she really hadn't wanted to say that. It wasn't like his answer would make a difference. It was too late to go back now, she had chosen to stay with Sam and she was resolved to stick with that choice, even if it did hurt like hell.

"Humph"—he rubbed his hand over his eyes, tiredly—"I'm beginning to wonder why myself. You're so much work, and there's been nothing even resembling a payoff," he said, sounding frustrated.

Casey bristled at that. 'Just what sort of "payoff" was he expecting?' Her anger was clouding her judgment; she couldn't see that the only payoff he wanted was her affection.

"Then maybe you should find someone more rewarding," she suggested, snidely.

Derek's eyes flickered then, and she actually saw it go: in an instant the last traces of affection for her were gone from his gaze. Those eight words, spoken so sarcastically, so flippantly, were enough to push him over the edge. The expression finally made sense—how easy it was to actually break the camel's back.

She had been wrong the other day; this was the day they were truly over.

"Maybe I will." He rubbed his hands together, seemingly wiping them of the mess that was Casey. "I don't need this."

'This, or me?'

His expression was oddly speculative for a moment, and then he continued speaking. "Maybe I'll find someone nice and uncomplicated"—he heavily emphasized the last word.

"You do that." Her voice had been completely level, but inside she was dying. His gaggle of girls was one thing, but the idea of him being in a monogamous relationship was enough to reduce her to tears.

"Oh, don't worry, I will," he assured her, sounding chipper. Then he gave her a smirk and turned to leave, his gait so relaxed, that anyone watching him at the moment would've never guessed that he had lain his heart on the line—and been rejected—only minutes earlier.

"Hey, Case, one more thing," he said, turning back to face her again.

She blinked at the shortening of her name; he hardly ever called her that these days. 'I guess I'm not his princess anymore,' she thought sadly.

"You will regret this." In zero to sixty, his voice had gone from annoyingly happy to frighteningly severe, and any hint of a smirk was missing from his face. "You'll see your mistake, and when you do it will be too late. There won't be another chance."

After delivering that last blow he was gone, and Casey was left alone with her thoughts. She had known they were done for good, but it still hurt like hell to hear him say it.

"Jeez," Mya said, blowing out a breath. "You and this Derek guy were… you were just so… jeez," she repeated, unable to even respond to what she'd just heard.

Emily felt sick, and not because that story had made her even more upset with Casey, but because it hadn't. She could see Casey's point—she understood why she had acted the way she had. When Emily had gone out with Derek, even though he had appeared completely faithful, she still had developed a tiny complex about his legion of admirers. Casey's defenses popping up when faced with the reality that she was easily replaceable was entirely understandable. But Emily didn't want to understand Casey. And she certainly didn't want to feel bad for Derek for getting his heart broken. Especially when—

"Wait- so was I the more rewarding choice?" she asked finally putting two and two together. 'Of course I was.' "Just what was the length of time between you and Derek's 'real'"—she used air quotes—"breakup, and him asking me over that day we hung out and watched a movie?" Emily hoped that it was at least a reasonable amount of time, but she was sure that her hope would be in vain.

"A couple of days," Casey mumbled. She couldn't even meet Emily's eyes, and Mya was tactfully looking anywhere but at the two of them.

Emily gasped. 'A couple of days,' she thought, 'maybe I gave Derek too much credit.'

"Why me?" Her voice was desperate, and Casey's heart ached for her. "Was it because I was your friend and he knew that would hurt you even more?"

Personally, that's exactly what Casey suspected, but there was no way she was going to say that. "I honestly don't know for sure"—that was technically true. "That's something you'd have to ask Derek."

"Okay," Emily snapped. "Maybe this is something you can answer: were Derek and I ever really together?"

Mya and Casey both blinked at that.

"I don't um, I uh don't think I know what you mean," Casey responded, truly confused.

"Let me spell it out for you." Emily still felt sick, but now it was for an entirely different reason. "How long did you wait until you stole him back?"

TBC…

Reviews Are Always Welcome!

A/N: Sorry about everyone being OOC, but it goes with the plot. Anyways, thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought.