Derek trailed into the bar behind Kate, the hockey groupie who'd practically demanded he go out with her after the game. He'd tried to beg off, citing the exam he had in the morning which he needed to study for, but she wouldn't hear of it. He'd only really agreed because his buddy Mike and that girl Danielle were going too, and he wanted to avoid going home because he had no idea what to say to Casey, mostly because he had no idea what the fuck was going on anymore. It's all fun and games until someone loses their mind.

This stupid game was getting completely out of control. At first it had seemed harmless, even kind of fun, as most competitions with Casey were. Even when the unexpected attraction to her had started it wasn't that big a deal. But last night had been a game-changer, because even though he'd barely touched her, she'd let him. That alone should make him give up and take advantage of what Kate was clearly ready to offer, if only to restore balance to his world. And yet he wasn't going to lay a finger on her.

He scowled into his drink and tossed the rest of his beer back like it was water. Goddamn Casey, he thought, and along with the curse thought of Casey with her secret tattoos, and in her underwear, and the look in her eyes last night. He even thought of the way they'd wrestled around in the snow that morning, and the fact that that was on his mind worried him the most. Then, as if he'd conjured her out of thin air, Derek saw her across the bar. She was still in the outfit she'd left to go running in earlier that day and was playing darts by herself, a half-empty pitcher of beer on the table next to her.

"What's she doing here?" he said, mostly to himself. Danielle heard and followed his gaze. "Looks like she's playing darts," she said. "What do you care?"

Derek glared at the challenging tone in Danielle's voice but said nothing. There was no way on earth he'd be able to explain it to her so he forced himself to focus on Kate. He pretended to be interested in her inane chatter and even managed to have a half-decent conversation with Mike, but every few minutes he couldn't help but find Casey in the crowd and wonder what she was doing there. Kate, who'd grown bored with him and turned her attention to Mike, didn't notice, but Danielle did. "Oh, for god's sake," she muttered to him. "Just go talk to her and get it over with." He didn't bother pretending she was wrong and slid out of the booth.

"Hey Case," he said as he strolled up. She offered him a quick sideways glance before hurling the last dart at the board. "What do you want?" she snapped, and he could tell immediately that she was drunk. He held up his hands in surrender. "I come in peace, honestly."

"Whatever."

Derek smirked. Drunk Casey was an interesting study: she could be surly and belligerent and mean, just about the exact opposite of her sober self. And while sober Casey got verbal diarrhea on a regular basis, getting more than a few complete sentences out of drunk Casey was like pulling teeth. "How long have you been here?"

She emptied the pitcher into her glass. "Not long enough."

"Uh huh." He pried the glass from her hand. "Hey!" she said indignantly. "Seriously, can't you just leave me alone for one night?" He went on as if she hadn't spoken. "Since when do you drink alone?" She grabbed the darts again and started throwing. "Since you started ruining my life." Derek felt something inside him twinge when she said that, and the feeling caught him completely off guard. "You'll have to narrow it down, Princess," he snapped, his back up. "I've 'ruined your life' plenty over the last eight years. At least, according to your diary in high school." He didn't know why he'd thrown that in, or why he was suddenly on the attack, but he couldn't seem to help himself. Surprisingly Casey didn't even acknowledge the crack about her diary, instead reaching around him to grab her glass. "Fine, is six weeks ago narrow enough for you?"

He blinked, then let out a short, mirthless laugh. "I ruined your life because you haven't been able to get laid? That's what this is about?" The same spot that had twinged when she'd accused him was suddenly taken over by a feeling he couldn't identify, except that he didn't like it or its implication. She jabbed a finger into his chest. "First of all, fuck you. Second, I couldn't give a shit about not being able to sleep with some random guy." He reached up to grab the hand that was still poking him and squeezed it tightly, leaning into her almost menacingly. "Then how exactly have I ruined your life?" She glared back. "Because I can't stop –"

But she did stop. She caught herself before she could finish the thought and snapped her mouth shut. She can't stop what? She yanked her hand out of his and turned on her heel to face the dartboard, as if the entire exchange hadn't just happened. "Shouldn't you get back to your date?" she asked calmly, only smiling slightly when she struck the bullseye.

"What date?" he asked furiously. Something big had nearly happened there, he could feel it. Casey spared him a glance and jerked her chin toward the booth he'd been sitting in. "Blondie over there. You came in with her."

"It's not a fucking date," he snarled.

"Sure looks like one," Casey shrugged, but Derek didn't miss the glare she shot over towards Kate, who by the looks of it hadn't even noticed he wasn't still sitting there. He smirked. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were jealous." The corners of her mouth turned down, but it took her an eternity to reply. "But you do know better," she said finally, sighing. "I'm going home."

"I'll take you," he said immediately, but she shook her head. "No. I'll call a cab. I just want to be alone for a while." And with that she weaved her way through the crowd, only slightly unsteady on her feet, and disappeared out the door. All he could do was watch her go, his thoughts whirling. What had just happened? She hadn't said it outright, but had she just intimated that he was getting to her as much as she was to him? He wandered back to the table to tell everyone he was leaving and ended up giving Danielle a ride home (as Kate and Mike would obviously be leaving together). As he pulled up to her place, she hesitated before getting out of the car. "Derek, I can't believe I'm telling you this, but maybe you should know. Me and Kate saw Casey earlier today and we got to talking about your bet. Kate offered to try and help Casey by taking you out or whatever."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, and Casey wasn't happy about it. She probably just said yes to save face."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Danielle grimaced. "I have no idea. I don't even like you."

Derek snorted out a laugh at that, appreciating her honesty. "So Casey tried to set me up again?"

"No, she got roped into it. She's obviously got issues when she runs straight to a bar for four hours after letting some girl go after you."

Especially when she was Casey MacDonald, he mused as he drove away. Unfortunately Danielle's confession only served to confuse him even more. How the hell was he supposed to feel about Casey's possible jealousy? Smug? Weirded out?

Happy.

"Oh fuck me," he groaned.

Wednesday greeted Casey with a killer headache and an overwhelming annoyance with herself. One of her great failings as a drinker was that she never forgot anything. She remembered every humiliating antic and, in the case of last night, everything she said that she wished she hadn't. She'd nearly spilled to Derek that she couldn't get him out of her head, and she hadn't been very subtle about her opinion of Kate. She heaved a sigh and decided the best she could hope for was that Derek hadn't noticed her near slip-up, and lay in bed pouting about her headache for a while longer before dragging herself to the bathroom for some Tylenol.

The house was strangely quiet, she thought, then remembered that both Lisa and Derek were writing their last exams this morning. So she got a bowl of cereal and settled into the couch for the long haul, flipping through the channels until she found some kind of romantic Christmas movie. It was the typical story about two people who pretended to hate each other but then got together in the end, and the parallel between the movie and her own life was not lost on her. She glowered at the screen. "Don't be an idiot," she told the main character. "He's no good for you, and this will end badly, just you watch." But of course they got together anyway. "This is ridiculous," she grumbled and flipped around until she found The Grinch, which was a much better fit for her mood.

She pretended not to notice when Derek came in until he collapsed on the couch next to her, digging into a bag of chips. "What're you watching?"

"A movie," she said shortly.

"Looks lame," he remarked around a mouthful of Doritos and made a grab for the remote. She kicked his hand out of the way and pushed him back with her feet. "Forget it, I was here first." He regarded her feet resting on his leg with mock-horror. "Ugh. Get your gross, smelly feet off of me."

"My feet do not smell," she informed him haughtily and made no move to lift them off of him. "If you don't like it, leave." He said nothing, but shoved her feet away. She promptly dropped them back on his thigh and began to relax minutely. This she could do, this bickering with Derek was the norm - it was reassuring - so she decided to attempt a conversation. "How'd your exam go?" He shrugged. "Okay, I guess. I probably won't fail, if that's what you're wondering." She rolled her eyes and nudged him with a heel. "You know I don't think you're going to fail. I realize that you're not as dumb as you like to act." At that he tore his gaze from the TV and nearly smiled. "Gee, I didn't think you cared," he mocked. She sighed dramatically and turned her attention back to the movie. "I was wrong, you are an idiot." She didn't notice him smile at that, or that he shifted around to make her feet more comfortable on his lap; she only noticed the oddest sense of contentment, but shrugged it off after a minute or two as a weird side effect of her hangover.

By some miracle Casey managed to put her newfound attraction to Derek out of her mind for the rest of the afternoon, and it stayed that way until just after dinner, when Derek was chatting with her mom on his laptop. They were discussing the upcoming Christmas vacation while she puttered around the kitchen, tidying up the mess from dinner, when Nora said something that stopped Casey in her tracks. She rushed over to the computer and leaned in close over Derek's shoulder. "What did you just say?"

Nora grimaced apologetically. "It's the perfect storm of holidays. Everyone's coming to stay. My mom and my sister, and even George's parents are coming down from Barrie for a couple of nights." Casey didn't care about that, she only focused on one point. "Aunt Fiona's staying over? Why? Please don't tell me Vicky's coming too."

That was the last thing she needed, her bitch of a cousin getting involved. Thankfully Nora shook her head. "No, she's going skiing in Quebec, which is why Fi wants to stay a few days. She doesn't want to be alone." Casey braced one hand on the table and the other on Derek's shoulder. "Well thank god for small miracles." Then, "Wait, where's everyone going to sleep?"

It was as she leaned in closer to the screen to glare skeptically at her mother that Casey noticed two things. One, whatever shampoo or deodorant or cologne Derek used smelled incredible, and two, in her attempts to get closer to the computer she'd draped herself over his back. That in itself wasn't the issue, what was was that she hadn't bothered to change out of her pajamas that day and as a consequence her very braless breasts were now pressed up against Derek's very tense back. He must have realized their situation at the same time as she had because he was taking great care not to move a muscle.

For reasons that escaped her at the moment, she stayed exactly where she was and pretended to listen to what her mother was saying. She was hyperaware of the heat radiating through his thin cotton shirt, and that after a second he seemed to relax minutely and lean back into her, just a little. Her heart skipped a beat and she glanced over to find him watching her. It would be so, so easy, she thought, to just do it, to kiss him.

"Hey, hello?" Nora was waving her hands on the screen. "Is this thing working? Can you guys hear me?" Casey expelled the breath she didn't realize she was holding and reluctantly turned back to face the computer. She immediately felt her body protest when she stepped back from Derek. "Sorry, must be a glitch. What were you saying?"

"Just that we'll figure something out for the sleeping arrangements. Anyway, I have to go, but I can't wait to see you guys on Friday. Love you both."

"Bye." As Derek signed off, Casey hurried over to the sink to wash the dishes. Any excuse to stay away from him at this point was a good one. Frankly she couldn't believe she'd just entertained the idea of actually kissinghim, even for a split second – and not because of any dumb game, but simply because she'd wanted to. Looking as troubled as she felt, Derek came over and leaned against the counter. "Case…I–"

She could scarcely bring herself to look at him. "Yeah?" He seemed to wrestle with himself before he shook his head a little. "Ah, thanks for dinner."

"No problem," she said, both relieved and disappointed, but he was already hurrying out of the room. She took her time finishing up the dishes as she mulled things over. It was becoming obvious that something was going to give between her and Derek sooner or later. It was probably just a matter of time. The question wasn't how to stop it, but would it be so terrible if something did happen? What was one measly kiss in the grand scheme of things? It wasn't like she was going to sleep with him, she just needed to get him out of her system. Of course there was the small chance that she'd been misreading him and he wasn't attracted to her, in which case kissing him would be a disaster. She wanted to growl in frustration. Derek really was ruining her life.