Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter, you guys are awesome!

So, did you guys all see the new LWD episode? I thought it was really cute, but I was so pulling for Dasey fluff…but did I get any? Hardly. LoL…which is why I put Dasey interaction-fluff in this chapter, haha.

Anyways, R&R and please, no flames!

Lotsa love,

degrassichick

-♥-

Chapter 12

-♥-

"Well? Who is it?" I hiss at Emily into my cell phone as we enter DiMaggio's.

"Who is who, Casey?" Marti asks, glancing up at me with a puzzled expression on her face.

I shake my head, "It's nothing Marti, don't worry about it."

She shrugs, "Smerek!" she calls out and races towards Derek.

I smile softly before tuning back into my conversation with Emily.

"He said that he is going here tonight with his family and that he will meet you at the booth nearest the washrooms at 7:05."

I glance down at my watch and it blares 7:02 at me…I have three minutes.

"Okay, you better not have paired me up with anybody that will force me to regret our friendship, Em." I warn her.

She giggles on the other end, "Don't worry Casey…"

As I press the end button on my phone, I can hear Emily's voice, "…at least I hope not."

Well, that's never good.

As we get seated at our booth, I glance down at my watch once again. It's 7:04.

"Will you excuse me?" I ask quietly and excuse myself from the table.

Time to go meet Mr. Mystery.

-¤-

Where is Casey going?

I look back at her as she walks away from the booth and heads back towards the washroom area.

Ross Bingham is sitting at a booth by himself.

Poor loser couldn't even get a date.

Well, he is the President of the Future Scientists of Canada society…and an avid member of the chess team…so I guess it all makes sense.

Wait a minute, Casey is walking towards him.

She's sitting down across from him.

Why is she sitting down across from him?

As she sits down in the booth, all I can see is the top of their heads, so I get up on my knees to look over.

"Derek, what are you doing?" Nora asks confusingly.

I wave my hand at her, "Nothing, don't worry about it."

Just then, a figure pops up beside me.

"Hi Smerek!" Marti says excitedly.

I give her a small smirk, "Hey Smarti." I say before turning my head back towards Casey and Ross.

Casey covers up her mouth with her napkin, closing her eyes.

Oh my God…he made her cry.

I begin to scoot away from the booth just as her napkin disappears and a smile is shining on her face.

She's laughing.

The captain of the chess team, is making my Casey laugh.

Wait a second…

Did I just say my Casey?

-♥-

I walk over by the washrooms, and am surprised to see Ross Bingham sitting at a booth by himself.

He looks up at me and smiles, "Casey, hello there" he says happily, his brown eyes sparkling.

I give him a soft smile, "Hey Ross."

"So I'm guessing you're my date…" he clarifies.

I sit down across from him, "Guess so."

"Well, of all the pizza joints in the world, I'm glad we got paired up in this one." He says, looking around the Italian restaurant. Red and white checkered table cloths lay over each table, the restaurant is lit by candles and lanterns, Dean Martin is crooning through the speakers, and the walls are decked out with vintage advertisements for Italian restaurants and clubs.

I give him a small smile.

Ross proceeds to tell me a story about what happened in biology today and I cracked up when I heard about the frog that landed on Mr. Bengali's head.

I glance up at Ross with a smile on my face.

Finally, a normal date!

Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I can see Derek glaring at me from across the room.

I give him an expression that says 'ha-ha' before turning towards Ross and grinning, piping up yet another conversation.

-¤-

"Where did Casey wander off to?" Dad asks, glancing around the restaurant.

I hike my thumb back towards where Casey and Ross are sitting, "Emily paired her up on a date tonight; she's back there with Ross Bingham."

Lizzie glances at Dad and Nora, "This is supposed to be a family dinner."

I smirk at her, "How nice of you to notice. Why don't I make it a family dinner and go get my…I mean, Casey back over here?" I suggest.

Nora sighs, "I'd hate to ruin her date."

"Where's Casey?" Marti asks excitedly, pounding her fists on the table.

"That settles it, I'm going to get her." I say and get up from the table.

As I make my way past the salad bar, I feel a hand gripping my wrist.

I turn around and am face to face with Edwin.

"Can I help you?" I ask.

Edwin rolls his eyes nudging his head towards Casey, "Why are you trying to ruin her night?"

I scoff, "I'm not trying to ruin her night. This is a family dinner, she's part of the family, and she's being unfair to us."

"Oh please." Edwin laughs, "You miss tons of family events because of dates or plans with your friends, so why should it matter if she does it just this once? You're the only one who actually cares. None of us mind that she's over there and not with us."

I nod towards Lizzie, "She cared."

Edwin shakes his head, "Lizzie didn't care, she was just curious as to where Casey was."

I roll my eyes, "Well, I'm going to go get Casey anyways." I say and begin to walk towards the booth.

"She's not going to like you anymore than she already doesn't if you do this, Derek." Edwin's words stop me.

I turn to face him, "Excuse me?"

Edwin scoffs, "The entire human world by now probably knows that you're in love with Casey."

How the…?

I gulp, stepping towards him, "What the hell are you talking about, Edwin?"

"You're into her. Everybody knows. But this really isn't the way to express your feelings towards her, its just going to make her hate you."

"What feelings?" I exclaim, "I don't have any feelings for Casey. God, Edwin! She's my stepsister for crying out loud."

It's at that moment that I realize how loud we have been talking.

The entire restaurant is staring at us, Casey and Ross included.

Edwin looks up at me, "Well, now you might just have a chance to tell her how you feel." He whispers.

I narrow my eyes at him, glaring, "Shut up."

-♥-

"What feelings?" I hear a guy's voice who sounds very familiar to Derek exclaim, "I don't have any feelings for Casey. God, Edwin! She's my stepsister for crying out loud."

Oh my God.

It is Derek.

I whip my head towards him and watch as his ears begin to turn red, as he glances around the room nervously.

Edwin leans in and whispers something towards him and Derek glares at him before stalking off outside the restaurant.

I sigh, shaking my head in disbelief.

Ross laughs, "Well that was odd."

I look out the giant windows of the restaurant and see Derek running his hands through his hair frustratingly.

Ross catches my stare, "Go."

I turn my head, "What?"

"Go see what's wrong with him."

"But our date-"

He shakes his head, "Don't worry about it. We haven't even gotten our drinks yet, so it's no big deal. I had fun tonight though, Casey."

I give him a small smile, "Me too…rain check?"

He laughs and glances back at Derek, "With him around, I don't really think we'll make it to a rain check." He says.

I eye him confusingly before he waves his hand off towards to door, "I'll see you around, Casey."

Smiling at him confusingly, I get up from the table, "See you."

-¤-

"That was, uh…quite the outburst, Derek." A cool and very familiar voice says from behind me as I prepare to beam my head up against the brick wall of the restaurant.

I turn my head to face Casey, "So I'm easily upset at times, sue me."

She laughs, her blue eyes twinkling in from under the street light as she makes her way closer towards me.

"Well, my date didn't count." She says with a sigh, plopping down on the bench.

"Why?" I ask confusingly.

She sighs, "You didn't meet him."

"Ah…" I say with a laugh, "Well I was getting ready to…until Ed stopped me."

She laughs, "Well, that's alright. I'm beating your ass anyways, so…"

I narrow my eyes at her and she grins.

"What was with the outburst though?" she asks confusingly.

I shrug, "I don't know…I guess I got…well…I…" oh my God, I'm stammering. I'm seriously stammering.

Unbelievable.

"You got what?" she asks confusingly.

I suck in a deep breath, "Jealous, okay? I got jealous."

A smile forms over Casey's pink lips, "You were jealous?" she asks, almost excitedly.

I roll my eyes, "Yeah." I grumble.

She laughs.

"Glad you find this so amusing." I mutter.

She smirks, "A girl is always going to find that flattering, Derek."

I turn my head to face her, "You included?"

She looks down at the ground bashfully before looking up at me with half-lidded eyes and nodding, "Yes. Me included."

I gulp and slowly begin to lean in closer towards her.

"Derek…" she whispers, leaning in closer as well.

I slowly put my hand against her neck as we are practically nose to nose. I can feel her breath against me; it smells like a stick of spearmint Orbit gum.

"We can't do this." She whispers, her eyes slowly fluttering shut.

"Yeah, I know." I whisper back towards her as our lips are a mere millimeter apart.

"There you two are!" a voice cuts us off.

Casey shoves me away from her, practically sending me flying off of the bench as she leaps up.

"Hey George." Casey says, brushing off her jeans.

"You guys ready to come in, the waiter is getting ready to take our orders." Dad says.

Casey nods, "Uh…yeah…I'm starved." Casey says and begins to make her way inside; I'm at her feet, Dad giving me a curious look that I shrug off.

As we enter the restaurant, Ross comes into view as he comes towards us.

"Oh, hi Ross." Casey says with a smile.

Ross smiles, "Hey Casey." He turns towards me, "Derek…Casey's date doesn't count unless you meet me, so…hey, I'm her…well, was her date tonight."

Casey gives him a small smile before turning towards me as my face pales.

"Thanks Ross, see you in school." She says before we head back towards our table.

Great, now my ego is completely deflated.

-♥-

"So how did the date go last night?" Emily asks as we stand at my locker.

I sigh, thinking back to how I almost kissed Derek, "Fine. Ross was pretty nice."

"So now you're beating Derek by…?"

"Four." I declare.

Emily squeals, "Case, that is great! You are so going to win this."

I smile weakly, "Yeah, I hope so." I say as I see Derek leaning against a sophomore's locker, telling her something.

She grins and nods.

Emily catches what I am looking at, "Looks like he's getting himself back in the game…" she says slowly.
Derek walks by me and smirks, "Sorry Case, looks like you're only beating me by three now."

I scoff, "Still beating you." I say over my shoulder as he walks away from me.

Emily smiles, "Just keep it confident, that way you're sure to beat him." The bell rings, "Look, I'll set you up with more dates today; I'll try to squeeze in like…three or something. Since tomorrow's Friday, you might be able to still win this." She says before waving at me and walking off down the hallway.

I sigh frustratingly and close my locker.

I hope so.

-¤-

"Case, this is Bianca…my date." I say proudly, coming up to Casey's locker at lunch time.

Casey turns to face us, "Okay, great. Why are you introducing me to her now?" she asks drowsily.

"Because I'm taking her out to lunch, that's our date. I'm taking her to Millbrook's." I say, referring to the coffee house I'm taking Bianca too.

Her head perks up, "Oh…okay. Have fun." She says before closing her locker and taking off down the hallway.

Bianca scoffs, "What's her problem?"

I look down at her and smile, "I may never know." I say before wrapping my arm around her shoulder and leading her out the doors.

-♥-

"Em!" I yell after Emily as she stands at her locker.

She squeals and turns to face me, "Gosh, Casey! Give me a heart attack, why don't you?"

"Sorry, but I just realized something." I say hurriedly.

She eyes me confusingly, "What?"

"I can make a date during lunch." I say happily, "That way I can still be beating him by four, because he's going on a date with Bianca Diaz right now so if I get a lunch date with a guy right now, that means that I could squeeze in like three or four dates today, which means I'd be beating him by like, seven."

Emily laughs, "Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and find a guy!"

Of course, me being the desperate girl that I am, I go for the first guy I see.

His name is Mark Rochester and he is in my history class.

"Hey Mark." I say with a smile, making my way towards his locker.

"Hey Casey." He says coolly, turning to smile at me.

"So, listen, Derek and I have this bet going on-"

"Who can get fifteen dates before the other?" he cuts me off.

I eye him confusingly, "Um, yeah…how did you know that?"

"Derek was talking about it with Sam in the locker room during gym…do you need help beating him?"

"You're offering?" I ask excitedly.

"You were asking me anyways, weren't you?"

I grin, "Yeah, I know just the place to go to." I say as he closes his locker.

"Where?" he asks as the two of us walk off down the hallway.

"Millbrook's Coffee House."

-¤-

"Isn't that your stepsister?" Bianca asks confusingly as we sit down at a pub table at Millbrook's.

"Where?" I ask confusingly, glancing around.

She points a perfectly manicured finger in the direction of the restaurant's entrance, "Over there…with Mark."

I whip my head around. Sure enough, Casey is standing proudly beside Mark Rochester.

Of course.

Bianca waves her hands at them.

"What are you doing?" I hiss.

"Mark is awesome." She says with a grin, "Mark, Casey, over here!" she says excitedly.

I overlap my hands on the table and rest my head down.

This is not going as planned.

-♥-

"Oh, there's Bianca and Derek. Let's go sit by them." Mark says, grabbing my hand and leading us towards Derek's table.

"I'd really rather not…" I say cautiously.

Mark sighs, "C'mon, Casey, this'll be fun."

I wince, "That's what I'm afraid of." I say as we sit on the other two stools at the table.

Derek glances over at me out of the corner of his eye, "Hey Casey."

"Derek." I say with a nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey Derek." Mark says.

I nod towards him shortly.

Bianca immediately turns to Mark and pipes up a conversation with him, the two of them completely ignoring me and Derek.

Derek sighs, "Well, this is good."

I laugh, "Yeah, definitely."

"Well, since we've both met each other's dates, maybe we should just get out of here, doesn't seem like they're really in any position to be away from each other."

"These hardly even count as dates though." I whisper.

Derek shrugs, "So? Still counts doesn't it?"

I look towards Bianca and Mark, as she rests her head on his shoulder and giggles, "Good point, let's get out of here."

-¤-

Well, there it is! So what'd you think?

R&R and please, no flames!

I'll try to get another chapter up before we leave for my mom's surgery…

Happy 4th of July!

Lotsa love,

degrassichick