A/N: Another chapter! YAY! :) Read and review!!

They Try to Pull Me Away

A Life with Derek Fanfiction

Disclaimer: Oh what I wouldn't do to own life with Derek.

So I met him.

And get this: his name's Darren.

And he's just so... familiar that its scary.

He plays hockey; he has shaggy brown hair; he's a bit too arrogant for my liking... more so than even I am. But the worst is...

He plays around with her, just like I do. And it gets to the point where she screams at him, "Dar-ren!" NO! That's not right. But no one seems to notice these similarities, or they just choose to ignore them because that just would be inappropriate for her to find someone who was almost exactly like her brother, and be happy with him.

It was the first time I'd seen her in over two months. The longest two months of my life.

We were back at home for some stupid holiday or something. Maybe it was just a weekend back with the 'fam', or whatever. I don't really know because I don't exactly... care.

I tried to corner her, to talk.

I know! Hard to believe; Derek Venturi? Wanted to talk?! Well it's true.

"Casey." I said. And I could see the tenseness and the fear in her eyes as she went completely still.

The beau seemed to notice the change, as well. "What's wrong, Babe?" Babe?! Casey let's this happen? Does he not know her at all?

Of course not.

I'd gotten some intel. from Edwin earlier that night before they'd arrived. He said they met about a week after she found out about my feelings. Apparently she'd gone to the library and he was there checking out the movie version of some book he was supposed to have read for class.

-Derek, you have a phone call on line one- It's Irony, they say it's important.-

"Excuse us, Dar." She said, but something about it was off so she clumsily added, "-en". I smirked at the boy-toy as his eyebrows furrowed. That's when Casey grabbed me by my elbow and pulled me into the kitchen. Ah... we had such good times in that Kitchen. Oh you know... like the time she tried to stomp on my heart by telling me she saw me as a freaking brother? Yeah. Great times.

"What do you want?" She asked me. Her voice sounding stressed beyond belief. Was she whining?

"Some answers." I decided to make her squirm like she'd done to me.

"About?" She was growing impatient. I could tell just by the way she was standing. As well as her crossed arms, and the incessant tapping of her fingers.

"What do you think?" I challenged, moving a step closer to her.

She backed up a bit. "Jus- just tell me straight up, Derek. What do you want?" She stammered.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" I spit out.

She took this opportunity to admire the kitchen floor. What pretty linoleum.

I stepped towards her again, this time I could feel the warmth of her body radiating off of her.

"Casey." I ran a hand up to her cheek. "I know you're freaked out or whatever, but... imagine how I felt when you just stopped talking to me." I admitted to her.

She didn't respond.

"And then Edwin tells me you have this... this boyfriend." My hand moved down to her arm. I could tell I was getting somewhere because I knew she was fighting not to look at me. And the goosebumps? Undeniable.

"Casey he's like... my clone!" This broke her. She looked straight at me. Apparently she hadn't realized it.

"No he isn't!" She argued ripping her arm from my hands.

"Oh, okay." Sarcasm was my best buddy, "He just loves hockey, loves to annoy the hell out of you, and oh yeah! Looks just like me!"

"Y- you have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I don't?" I laughed bitterly, "I believe you are the delusional one, Case. But its alright, one day you'll find something about him that isn't something I do and you'll dump him."

"He's nothing like you." She was trembling now, so I held on to her arms.

"Come on, Casey. His damn name is Darren." I shut my eyes. I was getting sick of having to explain the obvious to her.

Silence.

"Casey, I'm just going to say this because... I'm tired... of keeping it inside." Her eyes widened an I looked straight into them. Now or never. "I love you."

Her eyes shut tightly and I could tell she just wanted to get away. So I let go of her, took a step back, and focused my attention towards the window.

I knew she'd be gone when I looked back.

Except... she wasn't. She just stood there. Expecting me to do something else.

But I was still tired. Fed up with having to do everything myself. It was her turn.

So I looked at her with an expression that I was positive said, 'Your turn, loserface'. Ans she just looked at me. I actually thought maybe she had gone into some sort of shock briefly when-

"Derek..."

Wait. That wasn't her. It was Nora.

I shifted my attention towards the doorway to the living room. Thank God I'd taken that step back earlier. I just rose my eyebrows at Casey's mother.

"Can you come help your father carry in the new T.V.?" She asked politely, adding a flustered, "He thinks he's superman and can carry in a fifty-two inch television by himself."

"Can't Darren do it?" I asked, glaring at Casey. I had no problem helping my dad, but I needed Casey to know that she caused this hatred, that I couldn't... smother, no matter what; for Darren of course.

"Derek, he's the guest. We couldn't ask him to do that." Nora chuckled. Of course not.

I just rolled my eyes. "Whatever." And I left. I didn't make any contact with her for the rest of the night.

... ...

...That is... until she called me. Crying. Doesn't she know I hate that?

I found this interesting, though, considering I never gave her my new cell phone number. But I brushed it off.

It seems, somewhere, deep down, I do have a heart. So I couldn't just tell Casey to 'stuff it' and hang up.

She was rambling on in her crying voice and I only heard bits and pieces.

"You... Darren... me... wrong... Cheat-" wait a minute. What?!

"Casey, did you just say he cheated on you?"

"Yeeee-heh, heh-sss" She sobbed in agreement.

Oh, that assface.

His assface is grassface. Now I'm just nonsensical, not that I've ever cared about that before.

"I'll be right there." I mean, it's not like I really...wanted to put up with the tears but it was a matter of need.

I need to go talk to her; She needs me to be there; We need each other.

It took me a good seven minutes to get to her dorm, not like I was keeping track, or... anything. And when I finally got there she was waiting outside.

Something I'd never realized was, I'd never actually been in her dorm room. Which seemed insane to me, considering how much we both used to bust through each others doors as if it were normal to never knock.

She was leaning against her door, looking less shattered and broken as she had sounded on the phone. She didn't even look up when she said, "I stand by what I said earlier..." Then she looked up.

"Wha-?" I couldn't seem to finish that one word, but she didn't care.

"He's nothing like you."

I fought the urge to smile; not that I could have anyways, because in a millisecond she'd stepped towards me and put her arms around me, her head buried in my chest. I rested my chin on the top of her head and returned the hug... for the very first time... we shared a mutual, frontal, all natural embrace.

It was heavenly, let me tell you. Even if it was a bit wet.