Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this. It turned out to be quite a busy weekend and I didn't have as much time to write as I had hoped. I'm not really sure that I'm happy with this. It seems a little bit anticlimactic. Not that this is a very dramatic little story. Hope that you like it though . . . Read & Review.

It didn't happen like in the movies. She didn't just open the door, look deeply into his eyes, and kiss him. Hell, she didn't even open the door. By the time he arrived it was the late afternoon and somehow he expected her to be home. Although he knew that she was living with a girl named Anya and her boyfriend for the summer, he was caught off guard when a tall, thin, blond girl answered the door.

"Yes?" she asked, looking at him quizzically. "Who are you?"

"I'm Derek," he said, "Casey MacDonald's st—Derek."

The girl gave him an amused look, as if, on the inside, she was laughing at him. Something about it made Derek scowl.

"Oh," she said, knowingly, "of course. Casey's long distance something."

"D-Did she say that?" he stuttered, trying to sound as nonchalant as he could despite his nervousness. Knowing that she had said that would have somehow made him more secure in what he was doing.

"No," the girl said, looking at him strangely, "I just figured that's what it was like since she talks to you on the phone everyday."

"Oh," he said, with disappointment in his voice.

"Dude," said the blond girl, with laughter in hers, "she talks to you on the phone everyday!"

Derek scowled again in annoyance. "Is Casey here or not?" he asked angrily.

"No," said the girl, clearly put off by his tone of voice, "but if you calm the fuck down you can come in and wait for her. She should be back from rehearsal soon."

"I'm Anya, by the way," she said leading him into the living room.

"I figured," he said, "Casey talks about you."

Anya was apparently quite nosy. In the 45 minutes that he waited for Casey, she managed to ask him a number of overly personal questions. Somewhere between them he managed to text Edwin to let him know that he wouldn't be home that day and actually didn't know when he would be back. Anya didn't even give him time to call—not that he was exactly eager to. Plus, his cell phone battery was running out.

Finally, when Derek thought that he couldn't take much more of it, Anya's boyfriend came bursting through the door. He was talking to someone over his shoulder, and with a mingled sense of relief and nervousness Derek realized that it was Casey.

"Derek!" she said, bursting into a smile, surprise evident in her voice. "What are you are doing here?!"

"Well, I . . . um . . ." he started nervously.

"Robert, Anya," she said cutting him off, "this is Derek, my . . . my . . . Derek."

This time Anya actually did laugh and Casey turned beet red.

"Derek, this is Robert," she said. "And it looks like you've already met Anya."

"Good to meet you, man," said Robert extending a hand.

"Same here," said Derek.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked again.

"Well," he said looking around nervously, "I was heading home when I realized that . . . that I really didn't have any commitments this summer so I thought, why not visit?"

He would save the more complete explanation for later, when he didn't have an audience. Anya and Robert were still watching them . . .

"That's right," she whispered almost to herself, her face visibly lighting up. "You were kind of planning on just slacking around the house this summer weren't you!"

"Well thanks for being so positive about my lifestyle choices, I guess," he said cocking his head quizzically.

"No," she said, smiling softly, "I mean that I guess I hadn't realized that you were free . . . That there's no reason why you couldn't slack around here if you wanted." At that she looked down and blushed.

"And you're supposed to be the smart one," he said with an affectionate smirk, knocking gently on her head.

"Der-ek," she said softly, and pulled him into a hug.

"Well," said a somewhat uncomfortable Robert, "what does everyone want for dinner?"

They didn't get a chance to talk until later that evening when Robert and Anya finally took the hint and gave them a bit of privacy. Derek had just asked Casey to sit down and was pacing around the room trying to figure out how to tell her how he felt when her cell phone rang. Derek sighed in exasperation. Who knew that holding a simple, life-changing conversation would be so difficult?

"Don't get that," he said.

"I have to," she said, giving him a don't-be-irresponsible type of look. "We'll have plenty of time to talk afterwards."

Derek sighed again and sat down the couch, reclining backwards and closing his eyes as Casey picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said. Either the volume was set abnormally high or the person at the other end of the line was practically shouting because Derek could make out every word.

"Hello, Casey?" said George. "I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night but we've been calling Derek all evening and have tried all his friends and we still haven't been able to find him."

"Find him?" Casey asked, shooting him a puzzled look.

"Yeah," said George, sounding frantic, "apparently he sent Edwin a text that he wouldn't be home tonight but we have no idea where he is. Your mother and I are really worried."

"Calm down, George," said Casey, looking at Derek angrily, "Derek is right here. Do you want to talk to him?"

Derek was panicked; he didn't want to have to explain his actions to their family until he knew how she felt about him. He shot her a look and tried to motion that he didn't want to speak to his father. Casey just rolled her eyes at this.

"Yeah," said his father, sounding stunned at learning that he was there. "Put him on the phone."

Apparently the shock quickly wore off because by the time that Casey had forced the phone on him his father was in full yelling mode.

"Derek, what the hell did you think you were doing?!" yelled George. "You can't just send that kind of text message! Didn't you think we'd wonder where you were?!"

"Sorry, Dad," said Derek. "Just chillax; I'm okay."

"I will not 'chillax,' Derek!" he said. "What are you doing there anyways?"

"Yeah, about that . . . could I call you back later?" asked Derek, fiddling with his collar and looking around nervously. "It's not really a good time to get into that."

"No, you can't call me back later," said a flabbergasted George. "What are you doing there?"

"Dad," Derek said firmly, a tinge of anger seeping into his voice, "I'll call you back later. It's not a good time!"

"Oh, you better call me back, Derek!" shouted George. "And you better have a good explanation for all of this!"

"Love you too, Dad," said Derek, hanging up the phone.

"Derek, what the hell is wrong with you?!" yelled Casey. "How could you talk that way to George?! Can't you even imagine how worried everyone must have been?!"

"Wow, I thought I had hung up the phone on my father, but maybe I didn't," he replied.

"Excuse me?" she said, looking at him incredulously, clearly surprised by the way he was talking to her.

"It's okay, Case, you're excused," he snarked.

What the hell was he doing? He had driven all the way out here to tell her how he felt and now here he was picking fights with her? This wasn't happening like in the movies. Not at all.

"Derek, seriously, why would you just come here without even calling home or giving them any explanation?!" she asked angrily.

Did she really have no idea why telling them he was coming here might be awkward?!

"Because," he shouted, becoming more and more angry, "maybe I didn't exactly feel like telling them the reason I came here!"

"And what's that, Derek?!" she yelled back.

"This!" he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and kissing her.

It was brief, passionate, and at the same time, somehow tender. Before she even had a chance to respond, he pulled back and looked her in the eyes questioningly. His own eyes were filled with nervousness and he couldn't make out what she was thinking. She brought her fingers to her lips, as if in a daze.

"That's a good reason," she said, after what seemed like an eternity, "but I think I'll need more of an explanation."

"Oh," he said, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice, and turned away from her slightly. "Well . . . um . . . I was driving, and—"

"No," she said softly, cutting him off and touching his arm so that he had to turn toward her. "That's not the kind of explanation I meant." She was smiling softly but there was also a kind of fire in her eyes.

"Oh," he whispered, realization spreading across his face and a goofy smile appearing on his lips.

Apparently amused by it, she cocked an eyebrow at him and that was all the encouragement that he needed. She laughed as he grabbed her by the waist and he pulled her into a passionate kiss.

It was everything that he expected and more—deep, ardent, and full of all the feelings that had been growing between them over the course of the year. He ran his fingers through her hair and across her back, almost as if confirming that it was really her and this was really happening. He was kissing the girl that he loved. "Best conversation ever," he whispered when they finally came up for air. She laughed softly and kissed him harder.

And as their lips crashed against each other, Derek Venturi was purely happy. In that moment, he knew that, despite distance, family, and any other obstacles that their relationship might encounter, the two of them would be okay.

Of course, Casey was still Casey, so before the "fun conversation" went too far, they she insisted that they actually sit down and talk about their future, how they felt, and what they were going to do about their family. Currently, Derek was waiting for her to get out of the shower so that this not-so-fun conversation could begin.

It wasn't really the first two parts he was worried about—he loved her and wanted to be with her. Now that he knew she wanted this too, he wasn't afraid to say it. But telling the family, well, that wouldn't be fun. He didn't actually expect it to go that badly. He felt sure that, since this made them happy, their parents would come to accept it eventually. It would just be a lot of questions and awkwardness and things that he would rather not deal with. Tired of waiting for Casey to return, he plopped himself down on her bed and leaned back against the headboard. By the time Casey got out of the shower, he had begun texting.

"What are you writing?" she asked, looking over his shoulder. Smirking slightly, he casually handed her his phone and she began to read.

Nora. Have decided not to come home this summer. Staying here with Casey. Also, am in love with your daughter. Love—

"Der-ek!"

Author's Note: So that is the end of the story. I'm a little bit pleased with myself for finding a way of writing the title into the story. I honestly had no idea of how or if I would when I began this. Anyways, I am debating about whether or not I should add a one-chapter epilogue to this. I do have an idea of where they'll be a few years down the line and how to integrate a brief explanation of what happened immediately following these events into that. However, if I have learned anything from J. K. Rowling, it's that an epilogue can sometimes detract from a story. Hence, I'm not sure if I should write it. Let me know what you think, and of course, let me know what you thought of the chapter.