AN/ OMG, Completely forgot to thank white-doe for her help on the last chapter, and her CONTINUOUS REVIEWS throws cookies ANYWAYS, this time I won't beg for reviews, even though I probably should, considering how many I've been getting... and I won't have a novel of an authors note, so here goes my writers block chapter!

Derek got comfortable in the drivers seat, closed the door and began buckling up. He turned to see if Casey was buckled and noticed that she was sitting on the edge of her seat, unbuckled and the door still open. She looked at him expectantly…

"Yes?" he questioned

"Well you see…"she responded, "I feel like I haven't really had a chance to drive this car. I mean, we had agreed to share, but I feel that I'm not being granted this end of the agreement." Derek raised his eyebrows "I want to drive." Casey declared.

"NOPE. I don't want to be in the car to witness a girl drive my manly car in a girly way. End of story."

"MANLY car?" Casey asked skeptically while pointing to the bright pink, strawberry scented car freshener hanging from his mirror.

"That was a gift from Sally, who refused to go anywhere with me in this car unless I took care of the smell." He mumbled uncomfortably.

"Ah, yes…let's talk about SALLY, shall we?" said Casey, opting to stay in the passenger seat.

"Here, you can drive." Derek stated, tersely unbuckling and exiting the car.

Casey was, to say the least, shocked. She knew he only did it to escape confrontation, which was inevitable either way, but figured she would take advantage and scooted over into the drivers seat while Derek occupied her previous place.

"AH, the power of being behind the wheel!" she stated contentedly.

"Alright, no need to go all power crazed now. Drive." He replied off-handedly while staring out the window. But Casey had no intention of leaving just yet. She turned off the car engine, which caused Derek to look over at her questioningly.

"Alright. I know you don't do 'feelings', but I just want to know why you were determined to leave the party so early. And you don't have to include anything about feelings." She finished, clearly implying that though he didn't HAVE to, she would prefer it that way.

Knowing that she would never leave if he didn't respond, Derek decided to give her an almost honest answer.

"Sally was at the party with Ralph, and then I saw Ralph walking to our table and I didn't want to deal with it, so I left."

"RALPH?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, but he probably wasn't aware of it. I mean he is Ralph after-all." He reasoned, surprised that talking to Casey had helped him grasp how he felt about what Ralph had done.

" So, you basically just didn't want to run the risk of bumping into Sally…" Derek nodded at Casey's conclusion "Why?" she pried.

"Why? WHY?! Really Casey? We broke up, that's why! I answered your question so lets go." He said angrily.

Casey mutter a simple 'oh' and turned the engine back on quietly and began driving.

"Umm, Case? You forgot to put on your seatbelt…"

"OH CRAP!" She shrieked while coming to an incredibly sudden stop in the middle of the road. She quickly buckled up, as if that one second that she hadn't would be her last.

"Thanks." She sighed

"Yeah," Derek replied, prying his fingers from the dashboard, where he had been clutching onto for dear life "don't mention it, and don't EVER stop like that again."

"Scared?" Casey challenged

"No, just don't wanna get killed…" he retorted

Casey simply smirked and began driving again. After a few seconds, Derek turned to look at Casey. She had both hands gripping the steering wheel tensely, and her eyes focused straight on the road ahead.

"You look funny driving the car like that and wearing my jacket," he observed smiling.

"Why? Used to a reckless driver wearing it?" She smirked back.

" Yeah, I guess you can say that." He said, looking back out of the window again. His lack of a retort made Casey nervous.

"I don't look too ridiculous though, right?" She said, turning to him worriedly

"No, it's cute. I mean, uhh, funny." He mended, caught off guard.

"Aww, Derek thinks I'm cute!" Casey joked.

"No, no, not you, just the whole scenario in general. And I didn't say cute, I said funny!"

"I was kidding Derek, no need to get so defensive," she replied smirking "although that did just prove that you find me cute!" she finished, grinning.

Derek just sighed and looked out the window again. "Whatever you say Spacey."

After another silence Casey spoke, "Listen, I'm sorry for prying, it's not my business, about you and Sally."

"You're right, it's not." He said rudely, but seeing her grow quiet and unhappy changed his tone "And I'm sorry for snapping at you. There was no need."

Casey looked over at Derek and smiled a sincere smile. "Thanks Derek. That means a lot to me." Derek simply shrugged and looked back out the window.

They pulled up the driveway. Casey unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for her purse. "Wait" Derek stopped her by reaching his arm over her abdomen. She paused her search.

"The rents will be curious about why we came home so early…"

"And?" Casey pushed " Just tell them the truth. They'll get it."

"No they won't, and no I won't. Can we just stay put for like 15 minutes, I don't want to answer a bunch of questions." Casey simply rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

"You owe me," she whispered, shutting her eyes.

" No, I think our debts are all settled now." He responded, smirking and leaning back as well.

Casey simply shook her head exasperatedly and went with it. What he said was somewhat true, and she didn't mind staying in the nice, warm, comfy drivers seat…

She awoke with a start an hour later. "Shit!" she exclaimed as she sat up and her head hit the ceiling. She checked the clock. "Shit!" she repeated. They had less than 5 minutes 'till curfew. She turned to a fast asleep Derek in the passengers seat. "Derek!" she whispered. He didn't stir. "DEREK!" she said a bit louder, nudging his shoulder. Still fast asleep.

"He's just as bad as Marti!" she exclaimed, nudging him some more.

"Mfmmm, just 5 more minutes dad…" he said, rolling over.

"Sorry, honey, but I'm NOT your dad and we don't HAVE 5 minutes. Now GET. UP!" she exclaimed shoving Derek forcefully until he hit his head on the window.

"AW SHIT!" he yelled, rubbing his temple "What was THAT for!" he said turning to Casey.

"Sleeping beauty finally got up now, didn't she." She said mockingly.

"I could say the same for you, beauty." He said sarcastically "You've got some drool on your cheek by the way." Casey squeaked as she wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. Derek simply laughed. "OH YOU JERK!" she shrieked, hitting Derek with her purse.

"OUCH, watch it Case! You wouldn't want to hurt this beauty…" he said beckoning to his face. With that, Casey paused, Derek smirked and a second later a purse hit him flat across the face. Now Casey was the one laughing.

"AH!" he exclaimed, shocked and worried. He reached for the mirror, and adjusted it to examine the damage more closely. This caused Casey to laugh even harder. "Alright gorgeous, lets go home." She laughed, reaching for the door.

"Not so fast, goody-two-shoes." Derek smirked before tackling Casey. Casey shrieked and ducked, but there was only so far one could go in a locked car. In the end, Derek won. The driver's seat had somehow been tilted completely horizontally in the fight and Derek now had Casey's arms pinned up above her head, and was straddling her waist. Casey continued to try and fight him off while Derek smirked.

"No way McDonald. I win. I always win." Casey eventually stopped fighting him.

"Alright, D…you got me. But its past curfew, so let go!" she said trying to get her hands free.

"I don't think so," Derek laughed "we'll already be in trouble, so what's a few minutes gonna do?"

Casey attempted to cross her arms across her chest in a stern way, but unfortunately, they were restrained. She contented herself with a 'humph,' which simply caused Derek to laugh some more.

They stayed in this position for a few more moments, both subconsciously cherishing this instant. Their eyes were locked. Casey was finding it almost impossible to breath.

The etch of a smirk disappeared from Derek's face and suddenly a nervous Casey found herself facing a serious Derek. The car grew hotter, and Casey found that she wasn't as eager to go home as she had been before. This scared her. It was past curfew and it didn't seem to matter to her anymore. That was so unlike her.

Derek noticed Casey's flushed cheeks and the compromising position that they were in. He wanted to freeze this instant. He leaned his face closer to Casey. Then he felt another pair of lips pressed against his, and he didn't know who had closed the gap but it didn't seem to matter. It was a short kiss, but it felt so right.

AN/ Hehe, an almost cliffy, hope you liked. Keep up the helpful reviews, those who are actually reviewing.

AND REVIEW MORE! Come on, like 2 reviews on that last one? Be happy I'm not ending the story right here. HA!

OH, Just so you know, this past week I've been waking up in the middle of the night with random Dasey inspirations and been unable to go back to sleep without writing my ideas in the notebook I keep by my bed. Let me tell you, there are some really random ideas in there. Strawberry car freshener was one of them. I may use the rest of them in some other stories. Be prepared.