Ta da! Another chapter successfully punched out! Go, Milly! I almost forgot what I wanted to say in this chapter, but I had fun writing it nonetheless!

A very excited and grateful thank you to those who've taken time out to review; look for treats in the mail! :)

There is a flashback in here, so that's why there is a loooot of italics. Which is the flashback part. But that's probably evident. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Still nothing. Nothing is mine. I am not creative or wealthy enough to own more than my Zune. Not even the charge cord. Which is actually my sister's.

Casey pulled a hair pin out of her purse and secured her bangs out of her eyes. Emily stared expectantly at her over her coffee, biting her lip. This pause made Emily's eyes grow wider and wider with encouragement. She looked almost crazy.

"So," Casey started, "I started working for the student library during my second year at Queens. I loved being a part of that staff. The people who wanted to be around the books were amazing. Some of the students that needed to be there, however, were a different story.

"Because I started after the start of the semester, some students noticed someone else was asking for their student card. And at one point, being the "new girl" made for more attention than I'd expected. And after what happened over the summer, I responded to it. Nick Mortson seemed like a really nice guy; he had a great sense of humor and could carry on an intelligent conversation. He was pretty laid back and didn't seem to have any bite to him. So, when he asked if I'd go see a movie with him, I said yes. And it all went downhill from there."

Casey danced from foot to foot as the phone rang. Please, please, let him answer the phone, she pleaded with a higher power. She felt almost mean, but this was an emergency. It rang again.

"Come on!" she encouraged, out loud. And finally, someone answered. There was muffled fumbling before he spoke.

"What?" he demanded. Casey frowned, even though he couldn't see her.

"Usually one answers phone calls with 'hello,' Derek."

"Usually you don't call people past nine o'clock," he retorted. Which was true because calling between nine at night and nine in the morning was rude; everyone knew that. "What do you want?"

"You could have been a little nicer about it."

"Don't start with me, Princess. I'm not playing; it's late. What do you want?" He sounded impatient. He had asked three times already.

"Will you come get me?"

"What?"

"On campus? Will you come pick me up?"

He paused. It was a weird request. They hadn't actually seen each other for about ten months. That's what he got for living at school over the summer because of some girl. "Uhm, why?"

"Because it's snowing, dark, late, and I'm alone and wearing a dress."

"Why are you wearing a dress in the snow?"

"That's not the point. I'm stuck on campus and you're the one with the car. Pleeeeease, Derek." He was really her only logical option. If he said no, or hung up like she thought he would, she was sunk. He let out a long sigh that was almost a moan of annoyance.

"Fine, where are you?"

"On campus."

"Thanks, genius. Campus is a large area and I'm not going to search around for you."

"Library. Hurry, it's cold and I might be dying from heat deprivation."

"No, you're—" he cut himself off. "Fine," he said again, after a breath, and hung up before saying 'goodbye.' He really needed to work on his phone manners. Was it so hard to be polite?

She hugged herself against the cold, pulling her scarf closer to her ears. It made her nervous to be on campus when it was dark. Who knew what type of people creeped around when it was late? She shuffled her feet in the snow, trying to encourage movements in order to prevent freezing. How long did frostbite take to set in?

Her teeth were chattering when she finally saw headlights. She moved away from the doorway and the car slowed. It was his sad, beat-up, little car; he saw her.

She pulled open the passenger door and slid into the icy seat. She rubbed her hands together for the friction and held them up to the vents that were spewing warm air. He raised his eyebrows at her, but she didn't say anything. Eventually, he started moving again, no longer expecting an explanation.

Even though her residence was only five minutes away, the roads were icy and it was snowing, so the drive seemed to take forever.

"Stop it," she commanded. Derek looked at her, surprised at the sound of her voice. The car drifted a little.

"Stop what?" he asked, eyes on the road. There was a quiet moment before she spoke again.

"Stop it!" her tone was a little harder and she shoved his arm.

"Stop what?" he looked at her like she was crazy.

"That! Looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm gonna start crying and you have to get away."

"So," he chanced looking at her, "you're not going to start crying?"

"No, Mr. Sensitive, I'm fine. You'd just laugh anyway; it was simply awful." He smirked over at her.

"That doesn't sound like 'fine' to me," he commented. She'd brought a hand up to cover her eyes. And he could tell she was uncomfortable. "Well, now I gotta know, Case." She peeked at him through her fingers, not amused. "You know you want to tell me," he encouraged. "Because Kelsey will be asleep when you get there and calling Emily after nine would just ruin her REM cycle."

"You are the last person I want to tell about a bad date," she grumbled, pouting again. He laughed, the sound coming out in one sharp, short sound.

"A date? Is that why you're in a dress in the snow? And you were on campus? What, a library picnic?"

"You can't eat in the library, Derek," she reminded him. "It's messy and not allowed." He wasn't listening to her, but continued to composite scenarios that he found very amusing.

"So, he got bored with your explanation of the Dewey Decimal system and ducked out? He didn't know that the date was serious? Oh, wait! He didn't show up and you got stuck in the snow?"

"That may have made for a better evening," Casey muttered, more to herself than to him. But in the close quarters of the car, he heard.

"Why?" Derek frowned. "Did he touch you?" His knuckles were white on the wheel and they fish-tailed as he turned the corner to get to her residence.

"No, I'd probably be sobbing in the event he did that," she made a face, "but it wasn't for lack of attempting to convince me to let him." She shuddered and pushed her hair off of her face. "I mean, who talks to a girl like that on a first date?"

"Not a smooth operator, Case? Or were you being a prude again?"

"I am not a prude!" He cocked a brow at her, "all of the time," she finished, lamely. He still didn't look convinced.

"What actually happened then, Princess?" She considered telling him to mind his own business, but he had come at nearly midnight to pick her up.

"We went to see that end of the world movie, you know, with all of the explosions," she paused and he interrupted.

"You sat through that movie?"

"Yes. Because he picked the movie for me. Just bought the tickets without asking my opinion. And I didn't know what it was."

"You'd have talked his ear off with your opinions though, Case. Saved himself some reconstructive surgery."

"Shut up," she made to shove him again but he yelled "I'm the driver!" at her, so she rolled her eyes at him and continued. "And who doesn't let the girl choose on a first date?" She didn't let him answer her rhetorical question. "Anyway, so, we go get coffee before the movie starts and I spilled a little on my dress—"

"Because you're Casey."

"—and he tells me I could just take it off and he wouldn't mind. Which I let slide because I figured he was trying to be funny. But in the movie he put his hand on my leg, with which I was not okay in the first place! So this guy, this character, is using the world coming to an end to, like, get it on with this girl and he leans over and tells me that that is probably what he would do at the end of the world." Derek laughed so much he had to put the breaks on and stop before the lot to her building.

"The look," he gasped, "on your face... Must have been priceless!"

When he was quiet, she spoke again. "I'm not done. So, we go out to his car and I'm trying to make small talk about something other than the horrible movie, because it was so not for girls. I mean, almost everyone ends up dead, and it's just depressing. And he's petting my shin because I put my purse on my lap to stop him from putting his hand back on my leg. But I'm saying how my knees are the first thing to get cold and he leans over and goes 'you know, there's a way to fix that.' I'm in the passenger seat thinking 'yeah, knee-high socks,' and he says, 'it's called getting naked in a sleeping bag.'"

Casey was glad Derek had put the car in park because he was laughing so hard and so loud that the entire vehicle was shaking. Casey was regretting telling him. He didn't understand how traumatized she was. Really, who thinks talking to a girl like that is a good idea? She sat there, watching Derek wipe tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Oh, my God, that's fantastic!"He was still chuckling, but had gotten quieter.

"What? Fantastic? Derek, I was mortified!"

"Why were you mortified? He was the one saying that stuff. This kid obviously didn't know what he was getting into, or didn't realize women are usually smarter than that. Who took you out, anyways?"

"Nick Mortson?"

"What?" he looked stricken.

"What?"Casey was confused. "Do you know him?"

"No, but I think his mom, maybe grandmother, is my Business Management professor." Casey groaned and covered her face.

"Oh, God, why? I have to take that class!" Derek shrugged.

"Take it from a different prof, Case. You'll be fine. He's just a douche."

"Don't use that word, Derek."

"And he probably won't get laid until he learns to talk to girls."

"Ew."

"How'd you get back on campus? If he was driving…?"

"He was not coming anywhere near my residence hall!" Casey stated, seriously. "I told him Kelsey was on campus and didn't want to walk alone."

"And then you called me."

"And then I called you." It was quiet for a minute except for the sound the heater made. Finally, Casey sighed. She just wanted to forget the whole thing. She reached for her purse and the door handle.

"Well, it was lovely to see you, Case," Derek said, holding out his hand like she was supposed to shake it. "You just need a better person to first date next time." He smirked and shook his head. "What a loser."

"I'm starting to doubt the college male's ability to speak to a female," she told him, stepping out of the car.

"Hey, I am an excellent first date," Derek protested, pointing a finger. She smiled a little, tired and glad to be close to her room.

"I'm sure," she conceded. "Thanks for coming to get me."

"Thanks for the fantastic story that I will share with everyone."Casey moaned.

"God, please don't, I'll never get another date again." Derek laughed, good naturedly then, and gave her a rare, legitimate smile that reached all the way up to his eyes.

"It'll get better, Princess." He pointed his finger at her again. She gave him another small smile, nodded, and made to push the door shut. "Goodnight, prude," he called, smirking again.

"Goodnight, jerk," she retorted, slamming the door. He waved and she turned toward her building. He waited until she was safely in the door before sliding the emergency brake off with a squeak and driving away. Casey climbed the stairs to the third floor and let herself into her room.

Kelsey was asleep, her head under the pillow and her leg off of the mattress. Casey pulled out her phone, set her morning alarm, and changed for bed.

"Oh, my God," Emily said, still giggling. "That story was fantastic, though, Case. Who else has a creeper like that take them to a horrid movie and still try to get some?"

"Probably a lot of people, tragically," Casey reasoned. "Some boys are dumb." But she smiled. It was funnier in hindsight than it had been as it happened.

"So, tell me again how this is telling me about you and Derek? I mean, yes, you were both there, but nothing remotely exciting happened, apart from hypothermia guy."

"I told you it would take awhile, Em," Casey reminded her. She was looking at the table and twisting her ring around. "But that's where it started."

"He took you home after a bad date?"

"Yeah."

"And drove away."

"Yes."

"Without you."

"Yes…?"

"And you didn't jump his bones or anything?"

"What? No, I didn't—wouldn't have—jump his bones?—Jesus, Em!" Emily held her hands up. "Do people still say 'jump his bones'?"

"I do! It still works. And I'm just saying, he's hot. I would have jumped him right there in the car." Casey covered her red face with her hands while Emily laughed.

"God, Emily, that's because he liked you. We still didn't get along. I didn't like him, I just needed his car." Emily wiggled her eyebrows.

"Riiight," she smirked, "his car. That's what they're calling it now."

"Oh, God," Casey's face got impossible redder and she could feel the heat radiating off of her ears. "No, we weren't even friends, Em. He was sort of my last resort. But it did start us talking again."

"What do you mean again?"

"We just," Casey shrugged, "stopped talking when he didn't come home that first summer. It was a nice break, two months of no Derek. And when school started, neither of us even thought to contact the other. So, we didn't talk for a while, most of the year actually, until that January. And I didn't realize how much I missed it."

"So, you started talking?"

"Not face to face, but we'd text and, you know, get along, which was weirdly easy."

"Because it takes too long to fight via text message?"

"Well, yeah, and because we could be friendly, we could share what we wanted about ourselves and not be forced to get along.

When we lived in that house all together, we were two selfish, attention-seeking teenagers who didn't want to get along. So, we really didn't want to get to know each other as un-selfish people. And we actually were pretty compatible."

"When did that change?" Emily asked, a weird "I-just-watched-a-chick-flick" look on her face.

"What?"

"When was it more than compatibility?"

"Not for a long time, Em, because it took me a while to figure out that we were getting along. And that was a long night."

"Why? What did you do?" Emily smiled at her, deviously.

"Oh, typical me," Casey sighed, "freaked out for hours, before confronting the problem head-on and making it worse."

"Oh, no."

Casey nodded. "I was super fun."

What do you think?

Who's first date story tops this? I would share mine, but I didn't know I was on a date until later... :/ oops.

Anyway! Look for me again soon! And sooner if you hit that lovely blue little link down here because that makes me happy all day long!