Derek flipped his phone closed again. Frustration was evident on his face as once again Casey's phone went to voicemail.

"Hey, lighten up, Mr. MVP Man!" Sam said, throwing an arm around his shoulder. "You've had that phone attached to your ear since we got here. How many times have you called, twenty? And the pizza hasn't even gotten here yet!"

"I have not called twenty times, more like eight. And something's not right. Why would she have her phone turned off?"

"Listen, you're over analyzing this. Maybe it died and she hasn't charged it yet. Or maybe she was really tired and she wanted to go to sleep and she knew that if she didn't turn it off, you'd be bothering her constantly."

"I do not bother her constantly. I… I…. okay it's not bothering. It's called caring. And something wasn't right when she left tonight. I just want to talk to her and make sure everything's okay."

"I know man, but lighten up. Can't you at least wait until we eat? You're putting a damper on the celebration."

"All right, I give. I won't call again, well until after we eat."

"Okay, bro. I'll take anything I can get at this point."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Derek held to his word, but pulled out his phone as soon as they walked out of the restaurant. Once again, Casey voicemail immediately came on.

"Listen," he said turning to Sam, "I'm sorry, but I've got to beg out. There's no way I can have a good time until I find out about Casey. It's too late to call the house and I don't want to wake up my parents. I won't be any fun this way. I promise its better that I go."

"All right, all right, but I want to go on record as saying that you, my friend, are acting like an old married man. What happen to party animal Derek?"

"He fell in love, and maybe if you're lucky enough, someday you will too," Derek said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Derek walked into the house quietly. It was 1:00 in the morning and he didn't want to wake anyone. In fact, he wouldn't even wake Casey. All he wanted to do was check on her and make sure she was safe and asleep in bed.

Derek thought back to what Sam had said. He didn't even realize he had changed that much. It just seemed like a natural progression to him. He'd had his fun and sown plenty of wild oats. In fact, he wished he'd had some of it to do over again. The endless girls seemed so trivial now. He was ashamed to have shared certain situations with them. It was all so pointless and meaningless and he wished he could take it all back.

Creeping up the stairs he pushed Casey's door open. Not wanting to wake her, he didn't turn the light on. He cautiously walked through the dimly lit room and was startled to find Casey's bed perfectly made and no sign of Casey anywhere.

Derek began to panic. Surely something hadn't happened and no one called him. He rushed down the stairs and into his parent's room. When he threw on the lights, a startled George and Nora sat up.

"What are you doing Derek?" George asked as he squinted at the clock. "It's 1:00 in the morning. Are you drunk?"

"Uh, no, but I am scared out of my mind. Where's Casey? I've tried to call her all night and I just keep getting her voice mail. Then I come home and she's not in bed, of course I'm going to assume that it's not good."

"Derek," Nora began, "she went home with Emily. She told us she was spending the night there. She said she had a lot to think about and that she wanted to talk it over with Em."

"Think about! What's there to think about?" Derek asked as he began to pace, running his fingers through his hair. "I don't understand. She was fine before the game, but then after, I don't know, she just acted different. What did she say? I need you to tell me exactly what she said."

"I've told you already. Those were her exact words. She said she had a lot to think about and she wanted to talk to Emily about it."

Derek pulled out his cell phone and began looking through his phonebook.

"Who do you think you're calling at this hour?" his dad asked.

"Emily's cell, if Casey won't answer her phone, maybe Emily will."

George began shaking his head. "Put it up Derek. You're not calling at this hour. If Casey's not answering her phone, I'm sure there's a completely logical explanation. An explanation you'll find out about in the morning. If Casey had wanted to talk to you tonight, she would have called you. Now, go to bed and get some sleep. There's nothing you can do, well let me rephrase that, there's nothing you're going to do about it tonight. It will be morning before you know it and then you can find out what's going on."

"But…" Derek started.

Nora interrupted. "Listen Derek, Casey has been through a whirlwind of emotions in the last few months. I'm not saying anything is wrong, but maybe she just needs someone else to talk to. Someone that's not so personally involved in everything. I know how you feel about Casey, but maybe she just needs to talk to someone else."

Derek didn't accept that explanation, he knew that it didn't make sense. They had been all the other had needed for months now. Something had changed, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what.

"Please, can't I just…"

"No, Derek. This isn't up for discussion. In fact, this discussion is over. Go up to your room and try and get some sleep."

Derek shook his head. He didn't like this; he didn't like this at all. Something was definitely wrong and he wouldn't rest until he found out what it was.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Little did Derek know that had he called Emily's cell phone he would have found a very awake Emily trying to talk Casey down from one of her famous rants.

"Case, really," Emily tried to reason, "do you honestly think Derek is just going to magically take this all in stride? I've know Derek Venturi a lot longer than you have, and he isn't going to take this well at all. You know the saying, because I've heard you say it too many times, 'What Derek wants, Derek gets' and what he wants more than anything is you. He's not going to let this rest."

"Emily, I know it will be hard on him, but I can promise you that it won't be any harder on him than it is on me. But he'll never take one of those scholarships as long as I'm in the picture. I'll come up with an excuse. I'll just tell him that it was too soon and I had my feeling confused, that I was just transferring my feelings for Max over to him and now I realized that I really don't love him."

"Oh yeah, that will work, not! What it will do, is go over like a lead balloon. Sorry Case, but I've seen you two together. There is absolutely no way he's buying that. A blind man could see the love and chemistry that just oozes between you two."

"Whatever Em, I'll come up with something. I just have to make sure that he takes one of those offers and you're going to have to help me. Derek sees right through me and I need you to help me convince him that we're over. Please! I've never needed your help so much in my life."

"Casey, you're my best friend and I love you, but I just don't think this is going to work. Maybe Derek's dreams aren't the same anymore."

"I know, and that's my fault. He told me himself that he had dreamed about this since he was a little boy. But now, he's caught up in my situation, and I don't want him to settle because of me."

Emily shook her head. "I'll try Casey, but I don't think this is going to end with a positive result. I can't believe he's not over here right now. How many times do you think he's tried to call your phone? And what do you think he's going to do when he finds out you're over here spending the night with me? You told him you were tired and all you wanted to do was go to bed."

"I don't know, Emily," Casey said. "I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I'm sure we'll find out soon."