Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from outside this story. I claim only the plot, the characters, any places and such that I make up for the purposes of this story.

Set out to finish the next chapter of a different story yesterday and this came out instead but I promise I will try to balance writing them both so they both will get done and have endings. They will get done even if it takes awhile. I am off to work on the other one now so it can be done. No idea where this came from but here it is.

Chapter 26

Friday January 1st

The next few days leading up to the beginning of the winter semester went by without too many surprises, well except for two things. When Derek and Casey get back to Kingston, they unpack the car and seeing all they had in the fridge was spoiled food and alcohol they order Chinese. Casey starts to scowl as she puts all the bad food in a garbage bag setting it next to the half full bag that had been left while they were gone. Derek goes into his room and tosses their bags down on the floor. Hearing a loud thud, Casey lets out an exasperated sigh. She lifts up her head and calls out, "you aren't going to just leave them in the middle of the floor are you?"

"Of course not Casey," he yells back. Looking around he spots the hamper in the corner. He opens both of their bags and tugs their toiletry bags out. He tips the bags up upside down over the hamper and unceremoniously dumps in all the clothes in them. Kicking the bags into the closet, he is actually pretty proud of himself for unpacking.

Derek, sensing she wasn't happy, stops going into the living room and walks towards her. As he ambles up to her, she expects him to stop but jumps startled when he smacks her butt and smirking he continues past her picking up both garbage bags to throw them in the dumpster outside. She smiles at his back watching him amazed at the rush of affection she could feel just from him taking the trash out without having row about it. She answers the doorbell and makes sure to tip the delivery guy well. She sets out the little white boxes, chopsticks, a bottle of beer and a glass of wine on the table.

When he comes back, he finds himself ambushed by her. He stumbles back a step off balanced when he finds his girlfriend kissing him. "What to go wash up for dinner?" Casey whispers in his ear licking it for emphasis.

Her words set off by her actions send a shiver down his spine. He makes a mental note that taking out the trash and remembering where the hamper is really isn't so bad if this is his reward. Kissing her hard, he lifts her up and she wraps her legs around his waist as he slowly makes his way to the bathroom. They bump into the hallway wall clumsily a couple times causing Casey to let out a couple raspy giggles but make to the bathroom. Derek sets her down after she removes her legs from his waist. Derek reaches behind the curtain turns on the water. They stop kissing just long enough to hurriedly undress each other before tumbling into the shower.

Later they change into their robes and eat cold Chinese food. They settle in for a quiet night on the couch with Casey reading cuddled up to Derek who with the remote in one hand and the other playing with Casey hair watching TV.

Saturday January 2nd

The next day they begin the task of getting ready for settling into their apartment for the next school semester. Derek is standing at the stove in just a pair of pajama pants singing along to the music playing on the radio in the kitchen. He lets out a loud exclaim "damn it" after a bit of grease comes spurting up hitting his bare chest from the pan he is attempting to cook bacon in. He had woken up early before Casey and thought about tucking back in to try to sleep once more when his stomach growled. Sometimes hunger overrides sleep. He pulled his arm out from under Casey and pulled a pair of pajama pants over his boxers to go in search of food. Knowing there wasn't much of anything in the fridge; he opened the freezer and had rejoiced when he had seen bacon, a bag of frozen strawberries, ice cream and a loaf of bread. Looks like its strawberry smoothies, toast and bacon for breakfast this morning. The toaster makes a little ding and up pops the bread which burns his fingertips when he pulls them out. He quickly drops them on a waiting plate on the counter swearing again. Derek pauses instinctively anticipating Casey's scolding on his language. Huh, he thought she would be up by now. Taking the last of the bacon off the skillet, he turns off the burner He notices a light turned on in her room which is interesting considering they had slept in his. He grabs one of the glasses filled with smoothie and a bacon sandwich

He walks in to see Casey standing the middle of the room in her pajamas with a pencil and paper. He walks up behind her and looking over her shoulder he sees two diagrams on the sheet with the top one labeled bedroom and the bottom labeled office. "Huh, Casey?"

Casey startles recovering quickly. "Oh hey, yeah hi. Good morning. So what do you think?" She presents him with her handiwork holding it up with both hands. Derek squints a little at Casey's drawings of labeled squares and rectangles. "What does all this mean?"

"It means we have a lot of work to do before school starts again in like a week. Do you think your friends could come by in the next couple days to help move furniture? I am thinking a pretty light blue for our room and a nice green for this room."

"This room?"

"Yep, your room is a little bigger than mine and mine has the bigger closet. I figure my clothes can still be in here and we can share the bigger one. We only need furniture moved and the walls painted. The girls said they would help me paint so all you need to do is ask the move all the furniture out of the rooms and back."

"When did you talk to talk to people?"

"I texted them this morning when I got up and got an idea for the office space. The girls are going to meet me later to talk paint. Do you care about colors?"

"Not really. Nothing weird and it should be fine so blue and green are good. When exactly do you want to do this?"

"Whenever is fine. Hey did you make breakfast?"

"Yeah I did," Derek says gesturing with his yet uneaten sandwich.

Casey takes both the smoothie and the sandwich from his hands naturally assuming it is for her. "Thanks D. I am going to go take a shower and get ready to meet the girls. We are going to pick up our books too. Let me know if you want me to get yours too." With that, Casey shuts the door to the bathroom.

Derek stares down at his empty hands for a long moment before it sinks in what just happened. Derek leaves the room and pulls a sweatshirt over his head that was lying on the couch. Shaking his head Derek makes a sandwich out of the rest of the bacon liberally adding butter to it. He grabs the other smoothie resting on the counter and his sandwich on his way to the couch propping his feet up on the coffee table. He plans on going for a work out today with some teammates but for now with no practices until tomorrow his only plan is to get reacquainted with his TV. He has a home game on Tuesday so he is going to take advantage of the quiet. "Derek, really? Come on!"

He turns his head to see Casey frowning at the dishes littering the counter and filling the sink and the dirty blender. "Casey, just go shopping. It can all wait. I am busy and so are you."

Casey places her hands on her hips. "Derek, you are watching a movie on TV you have probably seen a hundred times."

"Yep, like I said busy. After this, it is the gym, packing my hockey bag for practice tomorrow and a nap. It is going to be a tough day but everyone has their lot in life to endure."

Casey snatches her jacket off the hook by the front door in a huff and stalks out the door. Derek buries himself further into the couch tucking a hand behind his head and turns up the volume with other.

Kingston Hardware Store 1pm

Casey excitedly waves to her friends spotting them at the entrance of the store. Even though she had just seen Katie a couple days ago, it has been awhile since she had seen Whitney and Nicole. She hugs all three girls and they start to walk back to the back of the store chattering away catching up. That is until Whitney touches Casey's elbow and curious she pulls back a few steps. "What is it?"

"I think there is something wrong with Nicole," Whitney says. "She acted normal and all when we met earlier over at Starbucks for lattes but a little off you know? And we talked mostly about my holiday and barely about hers and you know how she loves to talk."

"Okay well maybe she will bring it up later? Let's catch up." They find the other two examining paint scraps and merits of other colors.

Katie eagerly pulls out her camera from her purse. "Hey now that you are here, I have to show you my pictures from the concert. They turned out amazing. I am still in shock I think from it. Casey, I even took some shots of Derek on stage. He played great."

"These shots really do look good. I'm glad we got to see you guys over break. So Whitney how was your Christmas?"

"Oh it was pretty low key but so nice. I went home for a while and spent time with my family. I went ice skating with my siblings and cousins. Andy took me away skiing for a few days with some friends from high school. I didn't know he was that good as a snowboarder but is really good and even gave me lessons using his old board."

Casey holds a strip of a light sky blue. "What do you guys think?"

Nicole holds up a different strip for inspection and Casey lets out an 'oh' before grabbing in delight. "It's perfect." Casey turns towards the counter to show the man behind it the colors she wants. As casually as possible she asks her friend, "So Nicole how was your holiday? Anything new we need to know about?"

Nicole picks up "Oh not much really. I got some nice presents including a new iPod. Danny and I broke up. I took my little cousins sledding and we even went caroling."

The other three girls pause a little confused as to whether they were hearing her wrong or not exchanging glances with each other. "Nicole did you just say what I think you said?" Whitney asks worriedly.

"Sure, haven't you guys ever caroling before?"

Casey places her hand on her friend's shoulder. "No Nikki, she means the part about Daniel and you breaking up."

Nicole shrugs off Casey's hand and picks up a paint brush to twirl it in her hands. "No you guys heard right. We broke up over break. It's fine though, no big deal."

"No big deal?" Casey asked skeptically remembering how she had seen them around each other.

"Yes no big deal. We want different things and I don't want one boyfriend all through college anyway."

"Ummm Nikki, are you sure you don't want to talk about this?" Katie takes a step closer to her cautiously as the girl in question looked like she was either going to run or cry.

Nicole visibly shakes herself and any traces of a notion of bursting into tears are gone. "I am fine. Maybe later ok? It just didn't work out. Besides we were just having fun, something casual and nothing too serious. After we are done shopping for everything, do you guys want to go out dancing tonight?" With that, Nicole wanders over to a shelf to start putting paint brushes in the little basket hanging off her arm. Casey breaks her look at her friend when the man set the finished cans of paint on the counter.

"Girls, what are we going to do about her?" Katie asks completely at a loss for words.

Whitney crosses her arms tilting her head staring at her friend. Times like these she doesn't understand Nicole. She thought things were going so well. Guess she will see tonight. "Looks like we are going out to the bar tonight. Hope you don't have plans for tonight."

Katie picks up one of the paint canisters and deadpans as she walks towards the registers, "Oh goody, I was hoping to go dancing tonight."

Dasey Apartment 1 am

Casey walks into the apartment slipping off her heels as she goes carefully setting them on an end table. Opening up the fridge, she grabs a bottle of water and leans against the counter to take a long sip. She smiles when she looks over to see the counter wiped down and the dirty dishes all resting in the sink with the blender disassembled and rinsed out resting among them. Considering he made breakfast and he knows her feeling on the grossness of smelly dirty dishes, this is meeting her more than halfway. She changes into tank top and a pair of silky boxer shorts In her room before going back out to turn off the living room lights. She goes over to the end table to turn the lamp and sees the game console is still on with the TV flashing a large set of GAME OVER flashing on the screen. Casey looks to the couch and sure enough Derek is sprawled on it still wearing his gym clothes from earlier. He is sleeping soundly emitting little noises every once in a while and his hair standing sticking up every which way. She sits carefully on the edge of the couch, leans over his chest and rests her hands on shoulders. She places light kisses from forehead to his ears, cheeks and lastly to his lips. He lets out a hum coming from the back of his throat and trailing his hands up her back. Slowly waking up he kisses her back before opening his eyes. "Hi there Babe. How was dancing?"

"Wonderful though I think Nikki had more fun than all of us and didn't have to buy herself a drink all night. Did you really fall asleep playing games today?" Casey lays her head on his chest savoring the feeling of his chest underneath her head and the rhythm of his heartbeat.

Derek sleepily strokes her back still wavering between sleep and being alert. "I will have you know I had hard day."

Casey runs her fingers along his arm bringing that little hum back from him she enjoys so much. "Oh really? Just what did you do that was so hard today? I even got your school stuff for you."

"Don't give me that. You were going to the bookstore anyway. I will have you know I ran three miles, lifted weights and did drills for hours. I think I deserve to reward myself with a shooting game and some 'me' time."

"I can't believe you like those horrible violent things."

"It's not like I am going to all of a sudden snap and go shoot up a post office. You shouldn't knock till you try it. You did like babe Raider after all. Hey if we got one where we are shooting zombies and not people, would you do it?" Seeing the look on her face that she is open to the idea, Derek starts to get excited. "I have Left for Dead somewhere and I think you will love Kingdom Hearts. Good and evil and Disney characters with game play even real gamers appreciate."

Casey finds herself unable to refuse at the look of enthusiasm on his face. "Okay I will try them when I get the time. But there is something I wanted to ask you about before we head to bed."

"Shoot."

"When were you going to have the guys over to move furniture?"

"Monday they agreed to help before practice and then after practice we are going to play poker. I texted them when I saw you already brought paint back before you left when I got back."

"Good, we can paint then this week after dance practices and before my job in the afternoons. Plus then I can see about something but I might need your help." From what Casey had seen at the club tonight, she wasn't exactly sure if Nicole was telling the truth about moving on and wanting to embrace being single or not. She didn't look like she needed gallons of ice cream and sappy movies to cope while laughing so hard. The only thing troubling her was it didn't look to her like Nikki's smile and the look in her eyes matched sometimes.

Derek opens his eyes all the way frowning at her request. "What do you want my help with?"

"Well can you ask Daniel how his holiday was? Maybe what happened with him and Nikki?"

Derek's hands stop their movements and his eyebrows furrow together. "What happened with him and Nikki? He didn't say much of anything. Just decided to go swim laps instead of running but he always does that. He didn't want to play a game of pick-up basketball with the rest of us after the gym but insisted he was okay."

"And you let it go? What if he needed someone to talk to?"

"Come on Casey really? If he brings it up fine but I will not ask him about his feelings. I am not going to force a friend to talk about them. His exact words were 'it just wasn't working anymore' before leaving. Then Mark suggested on the poker and beer while Andy voted for a bar to cheer him up. I think we are doing both this week."

"Whatever, I have a plan anyway to see what really happened and find out."

Derek sighs knowing she is telling the truth about not dropping it. "Good, but can we just go to bed now?" He sits up and pulls her to her feet. "But we aren't done talking about this," Casey starts to protest. Derek picks her up cutting her off. "Oh yes we are. I am tired and cold and want to get under the covers with my hot girlfriend." Derek kisses her vanishing that all thoughts of the outside world as he tucks them both in promptly going back to sleep. Between the weariness she felt and the warmth of his arms, she soon followed him.

Monday January 4th

"Derek wait, wait. Stop. Hold on. I almost backed into the wall. I think need to change the angle of this or we will never get out the door with this dresser." They set down the dresser with a heavy thud. Mark switches hands and tilts the dresser a little. Now ready, they easily bring the dresser out to the hallway along a wall. They had decided to take all the furniture and put it in the hallway or the living space except for the bed. Casey and Derek had agreed they were keeping Derek's since his was bigger and putting hers in storage until they had time to take it somewhere to get rid of it. The bed was moved to the center of the room and covered with plastic but that was all they had done with it. Derek, for one, was glad for it. Moving a queen sized bed just to the middle of the room was enough for him. It didn't take too long to move everything with four guys working together. Casey and her friends were going to take care anything on the walls so after this they got was done until the paint dries. Derek and Mark each carry a nightstand into the dining area and set them next to the table. Hearing a grenade go off, they turn to see Daniel and Andy playing on Derek's Xbox 360 hunched over trying to kill some people on Xbox live.

What the hell guys? Taking another break?" Mark says leaning against the nightstand he had just set down. Daniel answers without bothering to remove his gaze from the TV.

"No breaks needed anymore. We are done already. What took you guys so long?" Derek looks around and sure enough his dresser, nightstand which will now be used as an end table in the office, and his desk are scattered around.

"We told you we were done. Now Danny, why do people never believe us when we say we did something responsible?" Andy quipped seeing Derek and Mark look around from the corner of his eye.

"I don't know Andy but it is sad really. I mean we look trustworthy and mature and all that happy shit right?" Daniel punctuates his words letting out a whoop of celebration as he snipes three people of the opposing team in quick succession.

"Whatever man, we need to leave for practice soon anyway. Anybody up for getting some lunch on the way? I am starving," Derek asks while sticking his head in the fridge to grab an energy drink.

Andrew gets up and starts putting on his shoes. "D, can you drop me off at the science building can your way to the arena? I need to talk to someone about a tutor for this chemistry class I have to take this semester. I just know I am going to need t."

The front door opens surprising Derek and the guys as Casey and her friends walk in the door. They weren't supposed to be around for another hour or so. "So no Denny's today after practice, Casey?"

"No we got some pizza and brought it back here to eat before we paint. Done already?" Casey asks as she and Whitney set down two medium pizza boxes and a bag of breadsticks on the counter.

"Yep, all done. You can have at it. The faster we get this done the faster I won't have to sleep on a bed in the middle of room or the couch even if its folds out." Derek leans into Casey and drops his voice to a low whisper. "What is going on? What made you change the routine?"

Casey places a finger to her lips and shushes him before pointing towards the living room area. Daniel had just finished zipping his jacket up when he looks up to see Nicole standing in front of him. He freezes for a moment before plastering a smile on his face. "Oh, hi Nicole. How have you been?"

She spins the paintbrush in her hands a couple times before answering. "I have been good, busy with dance and getting ready for classes and helping Casey today. How are you?"

Daniel looks about ready to run to his friends under his game face. "Yeah I have been doing great. I might even have a date Friday, only need to call this girl I got a number from yesterday," Daniel informs her. "Hey guys, I will meet you at the car."

Everyone's eyes follow him as he walks to the door. After the door closes, Derek picks his hockey bag up off the floor slinging it over his shoulder and gives Casey a kiss on the cheek. He grabs Danny's forgotten hockey bag and trails his friends out the door to join their friend outside. Nicole clenches her fists and shudders as two solitary silent tears run down her cheeks. She hurriedly wipes her face with her palms. She picks up the cans of paint designated for the office area and shuffles down the hall. Casey stares after her while asking her other two friends flanking what they are going to do. "Well I don't know about you but I am not leaving her alone much for a while. We will take the office if you two will take the bedroom. We can probably get the first coat done today. I will holler if something happens okay" Both girls nod as they pick up their supplies and join her in the walk down the hall.

Once Derek gets outside he dashes the last few steps coming to an abrupt halt by the car halting Danny by the arm. "Hey Danny, wait, slow down." Andrew and Mark come up beside them opening the car doors to get in the front seats. They are taking Mark's car so he pops open the trunk so Derek and Daniel can throw their stuff in.

Danny swings around angrily. "What?"

Derek holds up his bag. "Uh, you forgot this."

Danny features dissolve into a sheepish grin taking the bag from him. He walks over to the open trunk. "Sorry, but I just got pissed off and hauled off said I had a girl to date this weekend. Why the hell did I say that? Now when we go out, I have to find one so she doesn't know I was lying."

Andy sticks up his hand. "One question then. Uh Danny, why did you lie then?"

Danny slams the trunk lid down and holds his the air with shrug. "I don't know. Freaking Christmas. I told her I loved her and I wanted her to meet my folks at Christmas and you know what she says? The first words to come out of her mouth were I think we should break up. And she ran out of the restaurant before I knew what happened." Seeing the looks on his friends' faces, he smiles. "She was right anyway. There are plenty of girls I can date and I was wrong about her and me. Let's go play some hockey." Danny gets in the back seat slamming the door.

Dasey Apartment Wednesday January 6th

Derek comes home from practice completely beat. He flings his bag into a corner of the living room next to the couch before going to the bathroom to take a shower. He rests his forehead against the tile just standing there for a while letting the scolding hot water pelt on his aching muscles. Derek gets out putting on some loose Queen's sweatpants that hang low on his hips and a close fitting black tee.

They had won yesterday but only by a point that was earned by a power play. Danny had let a couple easy shots go past and had got him pulled making Eddie, the senior goalie, play the whole game. Luckily Danny had gotten his head back in the game for most of today's practice though his heart obviously wasn't in it. Apparently poker and beer on Monday night and going to the bar after yesterday didn't completely cheer up his friend. Derek grabs his guitar from its case to carry it to his recliner. He will be so glad when the paint is dried and the guys can help him move the furniture back on Friday. The apartment is feeling was too crowded and the clutter is getting on Casey's nerves which in turn is driving him nuts. He had gotten a call from Billy Dierks today before practice with praise on the concert but also had a request. He had an artist comment the other day that he couldn't find any duets to use and Billy had been wondering if Derek had any ideas. Derek told he would call him back if he got anything decent.

Derek is strumming the notes he has been experimenting with and singing the song all the way through for the first time pausing periodically to fix the notes he had been writing down on paper on the coffee table when Casey comes through the door. Casey slips off her shoes relishing the feel of the cool wood floor on her bare feet. She bends down to pulls a water bottle from her dance bag. "Hey Casey," Derek calls out to her. Casey comes up to behind the couch leaning on it taking a drink. "Can you sing part of this for me? I need someone else to sing this part to see if sounds right."

Casey perches on the arm of the couch and picks up the notes studying the lyrics. "Are these about anything or anyone in particular?"

"Nope, Billy challenged me to write a duet and so I need a girl to practice the song with."

"Okay, though I might change a couple sentences or words if it were mine."

"Let's sing it through once and then we will see if you actually think it can be fixed up."

After they sing through it, Casey writes new words next to the ones she thought needed replacing and slides it over to Derek. He studies it and Casey sings through her verses once more to the melody of the guitar. Derek likes the word changes so he sets the guitar down and getting out another piece of paper he writes it out adding Casey's name next to his under the title.

Caffeinated Thursday January 7th 9pm

"Whit, what are we doing here? I thought I mentioned I was supposed to meet up that cute from the bar the other night." Nicole ends this a pout.

Whitney looks to her friend standing next to her giving her a hard look. "Oh no, you are not meeting up with some strange dude from a bar just so you can beat Danny at getting a date before he does. Don't look at me like that. You know I am right. Besides that, we are here to support Casey."

"She has sung in front of people before and so has Derek. What's the big deal?"

"Casey has never sung one of Derek's songs or sang a real duet with him before. She has a right to be nervous. Don't you want to be there for a friend?"

Nicole has the good grace to look a little ashamed of her earlier words. "Okay, you're right. I suck as a friend. But can we sit over instead?" She asks pointing to a couple chairs a ways away from customary cluster of chairs where they normally sit where the rest of their friends are. As they sit down, Whitney shrugs in answer to the questioning looks from Katie and Andrew. They are both unsure whether they should move and go sit with them. Katie pats Andy's arm as she gets up assuring him to stay with Mark and Daniel. She gives Mark a quick peck on the lips before walking purposely towards her friends. She pulls up a chair next to Nicole crossing her legs settling into her chair.

Up on stage, Casey sits down on a stool next to Derek who is checking his guitar and adjusting his microphone. Casey is nervous like Whitney thought but not for the reasons she thinks. Yes it is the first time she will sing a real duet in front of people with Derek but the song itself is what scares her. After they had sung it together, it turned out the song was perfect with only changes made in her verses. She actually helped him with a song which was exciting but also made it personal. Now what if her changes didn't help the song? The emotion she must bring forth to get it right and do it justice are tough ones and she doesn't want to do anything less than her best. She starts fidgeting and darts across the crowd with panicked eyes.

With the distraction of the hostess introducing them, Derek grabs her attention. Casey looks to her right to see him sitting with the guitar on his lap legs spread apart completely at ease. "Case, just go with the flow. Sing the words and let them speak for themselves. If no one likes the song, that's fine. People can't like everything I or you write. Let's try it out and find out. Don't over think it."

With that, Derek doesn't look at the audience in front of them but at the guitar as he starts strumming the opening notes. He opens his mouth and as his voice flows over the crowd it is if he is sharing a tightly held secret just between him and them.

Derek:
We broke up, yeah it's tough, most guys would've been crushed
Wastin' their time wonderin' where they went wrong
No way, not me hey I'm doin' just fine
I'm not afraid of movin' on, it's

Easy...goin' out on Friday nights
Easy...every time I see her out
I can smile, live it up the way a single guy does
But what she, what she don't know
Is how hard it is to make it look so
Easy

Casey closes her eyes and crosses her legs on the stool before forgetting all but the words:
The truth is I miss lyin' in those arms of his
But I don't ever let it show
I laugh and I act like I'm havin' the time of my life
As far as he knows, it's

Easy...goin' out on a Friday night
Easy...every time I see him out
I can smile, live it up the way a single girl does
But what he, what he don't know
Is how hard it is to make it look so
Easy
Oh it's easy

Oh it's easy...goin' out on a Friday night
Oh it's easy...every time I see him out
I can smile
Live it up

Derek:
Forget about the way it was
But what she

Casey: Oh but what he don't know
Derek:What she don't know
Together:Is how hard it is to make it look so...easy
Looks so easy

Derek slings his guitar up on his shoulder to hang off his back as they stand to go. Derek and Casey leave the stage with a bow amidst applause from the crowd. Casey throws her arms around him for a quick but fierce hug in relief as it sinks it all went okay. "That wasn't so bad," she comments to which Derek smirks knowing it is the closest she will come to saying he was right.

They are on their way to join their Mark and Andrew at their seats when Casey tugs on his sleeve. His gaze follows to where she is pointing. He sees Daniel weaving his way through the people and clusters of comfy chairs over to Nicole who is getting up and shrugging on her jacket. Daniel gets to her before she can take more than a few steps. He grabs her arm and pulls her towards him in a one fast motion. She stumbles crashing into him. He gestures wildly at the stage and she starts waving her arms towards the door trying to step back. He refuses to budge saying fast words their friends are too far away to hear. Stunning everyone including Daniel, she reaches up and grabs his face pulling him in for a hard kiss. Leaning back, Nicole says a few words that look to their friends' untrained eyes to be words of remorse. She takes a shocked Daniel by the hand and leads him put the doors to the outside. Whitney and Katie get up and sit themselves in their perspective boyfriends' laps. "Wow Derek, that song was brilliant. And Casey, I don't why you were nervous. It really did the trick."

"Hey, if asked I am going to maintain that I did not, in fact, write that about them. I do not meddle in my friends' lives."

Casey scoffs at that at knowing his past habits of doing just that. Derek squeezes her shoulder with the arm wrapping around her. "You meddle. I let people see the truth of a situation. They choose what to do with it after they get all the facts" Casey shakes her head at that but all in all feels like she won seeing as in a roundabout way she got what she wanted with her friend being happy and didn't have to do anything.

Mark sighs in relief. "I am just glad that is over with. Maybe now we can have our amazing goalie back. I was dreading what Coach would say about Danny playing in the next game. Eddie, the senior goalie, needs a relief goalie if nothing else."

"Eddie is a good goalie but he can't play the whole game. Besides that, Eddie had been working with him extra for when he graduates next year and Danny replaces him as the main goalie. Eddie texted me yesterday, wondering where Danny was."

"At least by Sunday's game he should out of the make up induced daze and we can win us a game," Mark says as all three boys clink their glasses together.

Whitney backhands Andrew's arm in indignation. "Really Andy? That's what you care about?"

"He is my best friend so sure it's great he's happy. Is it my fault that I have a copy of the complete series of Firefly and the Serenity movie riding on this from a friend that goes to the school they are playing on Sunday so it's just a little bonus plus side to it."

"Don't worry Andy. Those DVD's are as good as yours," Derek says self-assuredly.

"Good because I do not want to have to give him my Futurama DVD's." As the laughter dies down, Mark and Derek launch into a debate about ready they will be for the game while Andy waves to a waitress for a refill.

**** End of Chapter 26****

Thanks for reading. Hope you like it. As always, sorry for any and all spelling and grammar mistakes or confuison. I edit all my stuff myself.

Sorry for the confusion in end of the last chapter. Miles' girlfriend's name is Jennifer. The song used is Easy by Rascal Flatts.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last couple chapters: merdarkandtwisty, Ace5492, Dark-Supernatural-Angel, Kpfan72491, Leaf26, Kpfan72491, prettylittleliar47, Minako-Akemi