A/N: I know that this chapter is shorter than usual and took a little longer, but I kind of got a little bit of writer's block. I know where I want to go and what I want to happen, but the journey became a little hard. I've been thinking a lot about the next few chapter to come, and I'm really excited to write them. Hopefully I will be able to write them a little faster.

Enjoy and review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 11: The Invitation

It would have been too much of a heart break if they ever told another soul. Despite the fear of rejection, they were afraid of judgment. Casey didn't want to be known as the freak that fell in love with her stepbrother. She wouldn't be able to handle the criticizing eyes on her all the time. And Derek was mostly afraid of the reaction from his dad and Nora. He didn't want them to look at him as a disappointment.

They both held their feelings in for so long, both afraid of the consequences of letting their feelings out. Neither of them had ever said a word of how they felt to anyone. Feelings were bottled up and never let out, making them both feel completely alone.

Friends was something they needed, something that they thought would help ease the pain of feeling alone. They had hoped that their friends would understand of their weird situation, but with the friends they had, Casey and Derek could still tell no one.

Emily was always a great friend to Casey, always understanding of Casey's insane ways and her need to be the best at everything she did. But now that they were 2 hours apart, they weren't able to talk as much as Casey liked.

Their friendship did take a toll on Casey during the first few months that she realized how she felt about Derek. Emily had always been madly in love with Derek, fawning over him every chance she got. Casey couldn't take it. It drove her crazy to sit there and listen to her friend talk about Derek, since Casey could only disagree, while inside she was agreeing. It made her mad that she wasn't able to have a healthy crush, to express herself to anyone. Casey was only able to share her feelings with herself, in the privacy of her own room.

Things began to get better for Casey when Emily started dating some guy Trevor in their grade. Emily stopped swooning over Derek, which made Casey's frustrations over the situation alleviate a little. But Casey still couldn't bring herself to tell Emily of her own feelings. She thought that her feelings were abnormal and would only make her seem like a monstrosity to society. So Casey was left all alone with her feelings growing by the day, only sharing them with her diary.

Derek was always surrounded by people throughout high school. Although he didn't really consider many of them friends, he was always surrounded. But he was Derek Venturi, someone who didn't have feelings. So when he actually began to like Casey, he couldn't let his feelings show. It wasn't that he was ashamed of liking Casey, he actually wanted to let everyone know, so that no one else who try to go out with her. Derek couldn't tell people because he knew it looked bad to the world, having feelings for his stepsister would definitely make him public enemy #1.

Sam was another problem Derek had when he began to like Casey. Sam was Derek's best friend and Casey's ex-boyfriend, and Sam still had feelings for Casey after they broke up. It was difficult for Derek to tell Sam that Casey was just being a bitch and he just needed to get over her, when in all actuality Derek knew he himself couldn't get over her. He understood when Sam would describe every perfect thing about Casey, but he had to pretend everything Sam said was a lie.

If there was anyone that Derek would have admitted his feelings to, it would have been Sam. They were friends for over 10 years, and he knew Sam would have understood, only if he hadn't dated Casey. But there was the problem that Sam was Casey's ex, and although they were best friends, Derek could never say anything. It would have been an awkward conversation with a million different horrible outcomes that played in Derek's head, every time he thought he was going to say something to Sam. So Derek was left keeping everything inside for 3 years, expressing his feelings to himself, in the comfort of his room with the door locked.

It's been about 2 weeks since Derek made Casey dinner. They hadn't really spoken much about that night, both being too embarrassed to mention anything. Derek had wanted to tell her how he felt, and he thought that Casey would have put it all together. Unfortunately for Derek, Casey didn't say a thing, besides a quick thanks for her flowers.

Casey wanted that night to mean so much more, so much more than what she thought Derek thought it meant. She wanted it to show that Derek cared more for her than she thought he did. Casey wanted Derek to say something, anything that would show that it meant more than a thank you. But he didn't, and she was afraid of embarrassing herself, so she didn't either.

It was Thursday night and they were in the middle of making dinner. Casey was trying to teach Derek how to make baked ziti, but she found that Derek's mind seemed to be somewhere else. She couldn't help but wonder why he always seemed to have a problem concentrating when she was trying to teach him how to cook, when he made an amazing meal for her all by himself.

As Derek sat at the table, shredding the mozzarella cheese for their meal, Derek wasn't able to keep his mind focused. He couldn't help but find every move she made mesmerizing. From the way she poured the pasta into the pot of boiling water or tasted the sauce, everything drove him crazy. He faintly heard her voice in the background, but her movements kept him in a trance.

Derek was finally broken from his trance when he heard the doorbell ring. He was about to get up to answer the door when Casey put a hand on his shoulder, telling him she would get it. Her hand sent a chill down his spine, it was something about the way he wanted the touch to mean more, but he thought that she meant nothing other than telling him to stay seated.

Initially, Derek was worried that it would be some guy at the door, but his worries subsided when he heard the voice of a girl.

Casey came face to face with a tall blond when she opened the door. This girl better not be here for Derek. "Can I help you?"

"Does a Derek Venturi live here?" Oh no, she is here for Derek. Casey nodded, not wanting to let the girl into the apartment. The girl continued, "Well, this was delivered about a week ago to my apartment, I just hadn't gotten the chance to drop it off."

"Oh, thanks." Casey quickly grabbed the piece of mail from the perfectly manicured hand and shut the door. She didn't want to look at the blond popping the gum between her teeth anymore.

Making her way through the living room, she looked down at the piece of mail. It was actually addressed to both Derek Venturi and Casey MacDonald. What a stupid slut, she sees a guys name and can't even read any further to see that it was addressed to a girl as well. As she walked into the kitchen she began to open the envelope and pull out an invitation.

Reading it over, Casey noticed it was from her friend Emily's parents. They were known to throw a huge party every year for Halloween. But this year they were going on vacation and they decided to have their annual party a few weeks earlier.

Casey stopped reading when she heard Derek complain at how his hands were all cheesy from preparing dinner.

"Yeah, well it suits your personality." Casey said teasingly, not wanting to let the moment pass.

"Ha ha, very funny Case." Derek said rolling his eyes while he washed his hands. Turning around he noticed Casey reading something. "What's that?"

"An invitation to a party. Apparently the Davis' are going away this Halloween and their party will be a little earlier than usual."

Derek loved the Davis' parties. They were usually a week or so before Halloween, so that people didn't have to cancel their Halloween plans to go to their party. He also loved that each year had a specific theme. Derek's all time favorite was sports, because he didn't have to get a costume, he just wore his hockey uniform.

"What's the theme this year?" Maybe conjoined twins and we can go together Derek thought.

Casey looked back down at the invitation, "Masquerade ball, everyone has to wear a mask." Then Casey's eyes fell on something she wasn't expecting. She let out a groan of frustration before she continued. "It seems that early to them is about a month early, the party is this Saturday."

Derek felt his smile falter. Saturday was the night they set aside to spend together, even though they spent almost every night together. "But that's our dat . . ."shit, you can't say date night. "Day to spend in the library working on our homework." Derek knew that was the worst cover he ever came up with, but he was hoping Casey bought it.

And it's our date night . . . don't seem too desperate to want to stay here with him. "Yeah, I know, but I don't really have work to do this weekend. I also kind of miss everyone. But if you don't want to go . . ."

Derek cut Casey off, "No, I want to go. I really miss Marti and I'm sure that you want to see Emily again. But I have a game tomorrow, so we would have to leave Saturday morning." I guess she doesn't want to stay here with me. I should just be excited to be seeing everyone again.

Casey agreed and they finished making dinner. Neither said much throughout the meal because they both were a little upset about not having their movie night that week. Derek wanted to ask Casey if she wanted to see a movie on Friday night after his game, but he didn't want to seem too eager.

Later that night, Casey called her mother to inform her that they would be coming home on Saturday for the party. After a few minutes of normal conversation, Casey was surprised by the change in discussion with her mother.

"So, how is everything going with you and Derek?"

"What do you mean mom? We haven't fought in years if that's what you mean." Casey only assumed that Nora was thinking that they were at each other's throats not getting along.

Nora sighed, she didn't want to say anything that would give her knowledge away. "I was just wondering if anything came about after Derek cooked you dinner."

Casey was a little confused about her mother's tone and she thought that Nora knew something she didn't know. "It was just a thank you dinner. Did Derek tell you it was anything else?" Casey couldn't help but have a little hope come out in her voice.

"No honey, that's all he told me." But I sure hoped he told you something different. "Well, I'll see you in a few days then. See you when you get here." After a short goodbye, they both hung up the phone.

Casey was beyond confused. She felt that Derek told her mom something more, but she knew that her mom would have told her. But being scared about her feelings coming out, Casey wouldn't confront either Derek or her mom. But she did decide that she needed to spend some more time with Derek, as if it would help her find out more than what she knew, hoping something would slip from his lips.

Walking across the hallway, Casey knocked on Derek's door. It wasn't very late, but when Casey saw Derek she knew he had been lying in bed. His hair was standing up all over the place, making Casey want to run her hands through it, to smoothen it out.

Using all of her will power not to touch him, Casey asked "Since your game is late tomorrow, do you want to go out to dinner instead of cooking?" It could make up for missing our Saturday night date.

Derek couldn't help but smile. He was lying in bed for the past hour trying to gain the courage to ask Casey what she just asked him. "Sure Casey. Do you also want to rent a movie? It could be like our Saturday night, but on Friday."

"Sounds like a plan." And a date. She said before saying goodnight and heading to her room. She was smiling, knowing that she would be getting her date night after all. Little did she know that Derek was also smiling, thinking the same thing.