The next week and a half, it looked like Derek was starting to turn around. He wasn't a jerk to Casey, he helped her around the apartment, and while at the restaurant, he was bumped up from a bus boy, to a waiter. And Casey couldn't be more proud of him.

Casey noticed that his weight had no gone down and she made a mental note to herself to make healthier meals.

Derek thought life was turning around for him. He was still having his cravings but he learned to channel it out by thinking about how much it would disappoint Casey. And it hurt him when she was disappointed in him. Sometimes, he would stay up all night, fighting his urge to walk out the door and get a quick fix and then he would be fine. But he chose not to.

Something else kept him from walking out that door as well. He knew what it was, he just wasn't about to admit it to anyone. Yes, his feelings for Casey were coming back.

And one night, while they were watching a movie on the couch, he thought everything was going well. And it was. They had ordered pizza, rented movies, reminisced, anything and everything that two people, friends, would do. And he could have sworn she was flirting with him. Then to his disappointment, there was a knock on the door.

Casey was about to get up to answer it but Derek stopped her.

"No, I'll get it." He insisted.

He then got up off the couch and walked over to the door. He opened it and saw someone who looked a lot like Max, but with green eyes.

"Can I help you?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Casey." He said.

Derek didn't even hear Casey get up or walk over to the door. Then only thing he heard was running and then squealing. She pushed past Derek and threw her arms around this guy's neck. Derek watched as this guy moved his hands all over Casey's body and then when he put her down, Derek cleared his throat.

"Oh, Derek, I'm sorry." Casey said with a smile.

"It's fine."

Casey looked at the random guy who showed up on her doorstep and smiled.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" The guy asked.

"Sorry, I haven't seen you in months. I just wanna get a good look at you." She said to him, "Ben this is Derek, Derek this is Ben," she paused, "my boyfriend."

And Derek's world came crashing down. She had a boyfriend and that meant no chance for him to be with her.

Ben stuck out his hand and Derek was brought back to reality.

"Nice to meet you." Ben said to him.

"Yeah, you too."

Ben then looked at Casey with confusion in his eyes.

"Derek, as in-"

"Used to be step brother. He's here on vacation and is staying with me." Casey informed him, leaving out the details.

For a brief moment, Derek thought he saw Ben glaring at him before he smiled at Casey.

"Great." He said, "But, Casey, I was sortof hoping that tonight would just be me and you."

"Ben,"

"No, it's cool." Derek interrupted. "I'll get lost."

"Derek,"

"No, Case, it's cool."

And with that, Derek grabbed his jacket, stepped into his shoes and walked out without a word. But then he was pulled back and he looked. Casey had followed him out and pulled him aside.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said.

"Look, I didn't know he was coming-"

"Casey, no need to explain. He's your boyfriend, and if he wants to spend time with you then I'll leave."

"We'll finish the movie tomorrow?" She asked.

He nodded and continued to walk out.

She was a little confused. She thought he looked sad when he met Ben. She thought he also looked hurt when he found out he was her boyfriend and that he had to leave. But he also seemed to understand too.

She sighed and walked back into her apartment.

XxX

It was just like before. He didn't know where he was walking but he didn't care. He wasn't mad, he was upset that Casey failed to mention that her boyfriend would be coming to her place, unannounced. But then again, it wasn't like he was expecting anything to happen between him and Casey but still.

He even walked past that alley way and stopped. He walked backwards and stopped. He then walked down the alley way.

XxX

Ben and Casey were making out on her bed. She had been dating Ben for about a year and still hadn't gone all the way.

Their make out session was pretty intense and she stopped him when his hands went under her shirt.

"What now?" He asked her.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked him. "I'm not ready, I've told you many times before and you still try to take my clothes off."

"You know I'm not like that." Ben told her. "And is it a crime to want to touch your girlfriend. I mean I am allowed to touch you."

"Why is it now you just wanna make out and nothing else?"

"Casey, I haven't seen you since Christmas, god forbid I want to show you how much I miss you."

She shook her head.

"Ben, remember when we first started dating at the beginning of summer? We used to talk and just hang out. And even when I saw you at Christmas it seemed like you just wanted to make out with me."

He watched her get up and walk over to her window. He sighed and walked over to her. He started to rub her shoulders and she shuddered.

"I'm sorry, okay?" He sighed, "It's just, I miss you so much and I think it's time for that next step you know?"

"Ben,"

"Not right this second. Soon though."

"I'll think about but I doubt I'll be ready."

"You will." She turned around and he kissed her softly, "Now, how about you and I go to dinner?"

"Okay," she said smiling, "what about Derek?"

"Derek said he's get lost and I expect him to stay lost for the night."

And with that he walked into the bathroom to get ready. Casey was confused as to why he said that, well, not that he said it, just the way he said it. Almost like he had a problem with Derek.

"Change," he told her from the bathroom.

She glared at the bathroom door. He didn't ask her to change, he ordered her to get changed. What a prick.

XxX

Derek was around the same people he was with the day he came home high to Casey's new apartment. He saw the same people he saw then too. And as he walked further in, someone one called to him.

"Hey," a girl called to him.

Derek turned to see a slim blonde with light blue eyes.

"You've been around here right?" She continued.

"Yeah."

"I'm Kayla."

"Derek." He replied as she walked over to him.

"Well, have you gotten the tour?" She asked him.

"No, the last time I was here, I just needed a fix."

"Well, some people come around here to escape reality. You know, jump out of the whole, 'life', thing."

"Wouldn't I give to jump out of 'life' right now."

"Don't we all."

And she then walked down the alley more and he followed. They walked past an open door on the left that two people were arguing in.

"That's Kevin and Barbra." Kayla said to him.

"They always fight like that?" Derek asked.

"Sometimes it's worse." Kayla told him, "He just got released from jail."

Derek nodded.

They continued to walk and she pulled him to a spot that he didn't even know existed. It was a short cut it seemed, to a door.

"This is where I hang out."

And when they walked in, it was like an underground clubhouse. Tons of chairs and couches, music blasting from a sound system, poster covered walls, and of course, the smell or drugs. Derek was so caught up with the look of the room, he didn't notice Kayla present a joint to him.

"Need it?" She asked.

XxX

"So I thought you weren't going to keep in touch with his side of the family." Ben said to Casey.

"I never said that. I said that I probably won't be in touch with them as much as I'd like to."

"Same thing." Ben said. "I don't like him."

"Don't like who?"

"Derek."

"Why? And you don't even know him."

"Listen, Casey, you are a very attractive young woman. He's a guy."

"Okay?" She asked him, really confused as to what he was trying to say to her.

"I just get a weird feeling about him."

"You just met him." She defended.

"And already I got a weird feeling."

Casey sighed.

Clearly this was going to be a problem. Her boyfriend didn't like her…well she didn't know what to classify Derek yet. But Ben didn't like him and she could already see the problems that would be ahead. Ben wasn't one to let anyone walk all over him and Derek, well if you had a problem with him, he would have no problem expressing how much he had a problem with you.

"Well you're going to have to get rid of that feeling quick because Derek isn't going anywhere for another two and a half months." Casey snapped at him, instantly regretting it.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry," she said to him.

"You know you're not supposed to talk to me like that."

Casey looked away from him, avoiding his angry glare.

"Did you hear me?" He asked her.

"Yes, and I said I'm sorry." She said to him, "I've had a stressful couple of weeks."

XxX

Derek heard them talking outside the door. He had gotten back to the apartment only an hour before.

He thought that Ben wanted him to get lost so that him and Casey could spend time together, not go out and spend time together. It was all good though, it wasn't like Derek liked Ben. In fact, he hated him. Only because he had Casey's heart.

During that hour all by himself, he started snooping around. He found that Casey's taste in certain things had not changed one bit. She still liked musicals, The Notebook, and dance. The only thing that seemed out of character for Casey was that she had a guitar. Well, it wasn't in her room out in the open, it was actually stashed in the closet in the living room.

He didn't think twice before that guitar was in his hands. It was almost like he couldn't stop himself. Because before he knew it, that guitar case was open and it revealed a black acoustic guitar. He picked it up and strummed a chord out.

It was perfect. There was no twang in it whatsoever. Nothing but a clean chord. And just like that, Derek was hooked on it.

But, he had a feeling that Casey would be mad at him if she found out that he had been snooping around. He put it back where it was and made sure it didn't look like it was touched.

And what surprised him the most, after he put away, he picked up one of the books that Casey had and started reading it.

"Hey, Derek." Casey said when she saw him on the couch.

"Hey,"

"Are you reading?" She asked him when she saw the book in his hand.

"Yeah, got kindof bored."

He watched her take off her heels and sit next to him.

"What did you do?" She asked him.

"Just walked around outside."

He saw an uncertainty in her eyes and he knew what was about to come.

"Did you do anything?"

His mind went back to that really cure girl named Kayla.

"Need it?" She asked.

He looked at the little white joint in her hands and swallowed.

He had two options here, one, he could take it, get high and get rid of the feeling he got whenever he thought of Ben and Casey, or, he could say no and enjoy the feeling of Casey being proud of him.

He looked at Kayla, her big light blue eyes looking back at him, and shook his head 'no'.

"Suit yourself." She shrugged.

He shook his head and looked at her.

"No." He said to her. "I was offered some but I said no."

A smile grew on her face and she gave him an awkward sideways hug.

"That's so great Derek." She said when she let go.

"But I still want it." He said, honestly.

"I know, but that's what I'm here for." She told him softly, "But you just have to let me be here for you."

He simply nodded.

So, I wrote half of this chapter last night when I came home from my dad and my step moms house. It was running through my head as I was working out. So here it is. Hope it was good enough.