Greek:

Chapter 10.

Casey snuggled into Ryan as they looked at a pamphlet for media law. In response Ryan gave her a kiss on the forehead before asking her what she thought about it.

"This one sounds interesting and fun." Casey said as she took it and put it in her favorites stack with the criminal law, divorce law, and civil rights law.

Ryan reached out for the next one as Casey's phone rang. She sighed in apology and looked at it. It was the third time that Rusty had called. She had ignored it but he was being annoyingly persistent.

"Yes, Rusty," Casey said by way of greeting.

"Casey? I need your help."

Casey sighed heavily into the phone. Why didn't he ever call just to say hello?

"I'm a little busy at the moment. I'm gonna have to call you back."

"But Casey…"

"Bye Rusty," Casey sang as she clicked the phone shut. "Sorry. It was just my brother wanting to talk about some girl problem. Honestly, I don't know why he's in a fraternity if he can't even talk to his brothers about girls."

"Well sometimes its not always easy to talk to your brothers," Ryan said and Casey smiled at this. He knew just what to say and she liked that. It was somehow comforting to have him around, especially when she didn't have all the answers herself.

"What?" Ryan questioned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Casey's smile widened. "Before you came I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do and now I think I can actually figure it out."

Suddenly Casey wasn't in the mood to work. She wanted to get a tub of ice cream, pop a movie into the dvd player, and snuggle up under the covers.

"Lets take a break," Casey said as she threw the covers off of her. "I'll go get the ice cream. You pick out a movie."

Ryan moved across the room to where Casey's dvd collection sat. He bent slightly ran a finger down the list of chick flicks. He would have preferred to see something like The Departed but The Notebook would just have to do. Plus girls always got all mushy during that film and maybe he could finally get Casey to relax around him. She was always so tense and she always hit the breaks when things got heavy between them.

A loud thud shook Ryan from his thoughts and he turned to see a scrawny kid picking himself up off the terrace floor. They locked eyes and the younger man gave him a questioning look as he opened the terrace door.

"Is Casey here?" He asked hesitantly.

Ryan smiled and held up the dvd case, "She went downstairs to get ice cream."

Rusty seemed to relax a bit.

"You must be Rusty. I'm Ryan." He said as he crossed the room and extended his hand. Rusty took it, "Yeah, I know who you are. What are you doing here?"

"Oh. I was helping Casey study for her interview tomorrow. We are gonna watch a movie."

There was an awkward pause as the two men waited for Casey to come back upstairs.

"Listen man, I just wanna say that I respect your sister. She is one of the most amazing people I've ever met. She doesn't know it yet but I think I'm falling for her."

Rusty's eyebrows pulled together and he opened his mouth to say something but Casey interrupted him.

"Rusty? What are you doing here?" She said, a pint of Mint Chocolate Chip in one hand and two spoons in the other.

"I need to talk to you."

Casey had never seen Rusty so upset before. His hair was far more mused than she had ever seen it, like he had been pacing back and forth, tugging at it. His eyebrows were pinched together and his mouth was drawn down into an ugly frown. Casey took a quick glance over her shoulder at Ryan who was putting the dvd into the dvd player. Casey leaned against the doorframe and looked over at Rusty who was pacing in the hallway. She glanced up and down the hall but the house was quiet. No one was home to overhear them. Casey had a bad feeling he was going to mention Jen K., since she was the only girl capable of getting her brother this worked up, and that name wasn't particularly accepted around here.

"So what's this about? What's got you so upset?"

Rusty stopped pacing and moved to stand in front of her. His silence was unnerving her and she was starting to wonder if this was more than a girl problem.

"It's about Cappie."

The floor seemed to drop out from under her and her breath whooshed out of her lungs. She wasn't expecting that. It took her several moments to realize that she wasn't on the floor but standing in the same exact spot, leaning against the door, Rusty facing her with the same frown he had had a minute ago.

"Is he hurt?" Casey managed. Her ears were ringing and her skin felt hot.

"No he's fine but…"

Casey put her hand up for Rusty to stop. Her vital signs slowly returned to her normal and her heart moved back down from her throat to her chest. She turned her head to look at Ryan again. He sat on her bed with the remote in his hand, completely unaware of the conversation.

"I'm sorry Rusty. I can't help you."