The next day, Derek was practically insane. He was so angry that Casey wouldn't tell everyone about them that he could hardly deal with it. He had never been good at keeping his anger inside, and he was even worse at not getting his own way.
"No, Marti!" he yelled. "I won't play a game with you!"
For the first time in months, Marti had tears running from her eyes. She saw herself as a 'big girl' and 'big girls' didn't cry. Only did she cry when her oldest brother yelled at her, which was barely ever.
After Marti had left the room, Casey walked in. For the first time ever, Derek was almost regretting one of his decisions. He knew that Casey would be angry, and making Casey angry would only deepen her feelings that keeping their relationship a secret was best.
"You just made Marti cry," Casey said, clearly disappointed in her lover.
"It's your fault," Derek snapped, and it came out more annoyed than he would have liked.
"You and I both know that my decision was the smart one," Casey said stubbornly. "Even if you won't admit it."
"Are you insane?" Derek said angrily. "You think that was the smart decision? It was the stupidest decision possible. Don't you think our family and friends would want to know the truth?"
"Not if the truth is going to hurt them," Casey argued.
Suddenly Derek was overcome by a quite different feeling than anger. "I love you." And he meant it.
Casey pushed him onto the couch and kissed him hard. They kissed for several minutes before they ended up the way they had the previous day. But this time, both were fully aware of how careless they had been. They had just made love in the open living room, where their parents or siblings could have easily walked in.
"Derek," Casey sighed. "This is crazy. In your room or my room, sure we can try and do this. But in the living room it's just not safe."
"Maybe a part of me was hoping someone would walk in!" Derek yelled, running upstairs to his room.
"What am I doing?" Casey asked herself, sitting on the couch alone, wearing nothing but Derek's boxers and a bra. Before she knew what she was doing, she ran upstairs after Derek, only to meet Edwin in the hallway.
"Edwin!" She practically shrieked.
"What's going on?" Edwin asked suspiciously. "Why are you wearing Derek's boxers?"
"You have to promise me," Casey started breathlessly. "That you will never talk about this with anyone. You will never mention it to anyone, you will never think about this ever again. Promise?"
"Okay, I promise," Edwin said, flabbergasted. How often does a guy see his step-sister in his brother's underwear? "What's going on?"
"I can't tell you," Casey said apologetically. "In a few days or weeks or years, it might make sense. But not right now."
Edwin nodded as Casey ran into Derek's room. "I think Edwin knows," she said, collapsing on his bed into a fit of tears. "Everything is ruined. Our whole lives are ruined completely."
"It's not that bad," Derek said, not even looking at her. "It's just Ed. He won't tell without permission."
"Derek!" Casey yelled. "This isn't you skipping school or copying someone's homework! This isn't you borrowing money or lying to our parents! This is you and me, in love with each other! You haven't dealt with this before, and Edwin has never kept a secret this big!"
"You're being stupid," Derek said, annoyed. "We'll deal with it later."
"We need to deal with it now!" Casey said angrily.
But in Derek's opinion, there was absolutely nothing to deal with.