Author's Note: Hi guys! So here's another chapter in this summer themed saga of Derek and Casey. I'm so happy with the positive responses it's been getting! I hope this newest chapter doesn't disappoint.

Disclaimer: While I will regret all of my days how Derek Venturi isn't mine, I can at least comfort myself with knowing that at least Brandon is...it's a small comfort, but it's all I have :(

Chapter Six: I Want You To Be Happy But…

July 12th

Derek strolled into his house at around 6:15pm. After Ian had dropped him off after their daily homework/study session at the library, he'd realized he still had around an hour before he needed to get ready for his date that evening. Rather than stick around waiting for Casey to come home, he'd called up Ralph who luckily had just gotten off from work. Ralph had invited him over to play some video games and so he took off.

He didn't see Casey in the living room and he didn't hear any noises coming from the kitchen, so he moved upstairs to look for Casey in her room. They hadn't really spoken since their little argument yesterday and given their new truce of sorts and discovering that Casey wasn't too bad to hang around, he decided to beat her to the punch and offer the olive branch first. That way, he figured, he was showing he was mature by apologizing, and by being the first one to make the move, technically, he won.

He decided since he was making the gesture, he'd go all out and knock on her door instead of simply barging in.

"Case?" he called through her door. "It's me. Can I come in?"

He waited a few moments but heard no response so he knocked again. "Casey? Case, open up." Now confused and wondering if she was madder than he thought, he decided to get an early start on the apologizing.

"Case, I'm sorry, okay? Let me in and we can…talk about it," he forced himself to say. He waited to give her time to response. Nothing.

"Casey," he called a little louder. "Look, I know that wasn't the best apology ever but give me a little credit, I don't do this often."

He knocked on the door harder. "Case-y! I never thought we'd be in this position, but, don't you think you're being a little, dare I say it, immature?"

A thought occurred to him. Maybe she's sleeping? With headphones on? He gingerly pushed the door open and kept low in case any objects came flying at his head. When he was able to stick his whole head in and take a good look around the room, he realized that she wasn't there.

He let himself in to take in the entire scene, just in case he was missing something. He checked the closet, under her bed, under her dresser and behind the door. No Casey.

Now this was odd. Casey was the responsible one. She wouldn't just go out without saying something and he didn't remember her saying anything while she drove him to school that morning. Of course, he was half asleep at the time and likely would have forgotten. Which actually explained why she probably hadn't said anything then. But since then, she hadn't called or texted or –

Even before he'd finished the thought, he was already walking to his room to check the door and sure enough, there was a note stuck to the front of it.

Derek –

I'm going out tonight. I would have told you this this morning but you probably would have forgotten by now. I'm probably going to be home late so in case you didn't have plans, I made a sandwich for you and left it in the refrigerator.

- Casey

P.S. I'm sorry about our fight last night. It was stupid and I shouldn't have been so sensitive. Truce?

As Derek entered his room to get ready for his date with Veronica (whom he had met last night while on his date with Ellen), the only thing Derek could think about was how, when she wasn't even there, Casey had managed to apologize first and thus had beaten him. Again. To make himself feel better despite the fact that he was going out that night, for dinner no less, he told himself he was definitely going to eat the sandwich. Just because.

Casey glanced nervously at the clock. Brandon would be picking her up in about twenty minutes and she couldn't seem to stop finding things that just weren't right.

"Kendra, have I thanked you yet for letting me come over? And for letting me have Brandon pick me up here? And helping me get ready for my date?" she asked as Kendra fixed a curl Casey had found fault with.

"Yes, yes, and yes. And only like a hundred times. Relax, Hun. You look great and from what I saw last night, Brandon's really into you." She pinned the last curl then gave Casey a final spritz of hairspray to keep it all in place.

"Do you really think so?" Casey asked her.

"Sweetie, he couldn't take his eyes off you all night."

"I guess," she sighed.

"Casey, what's wrong?" Kendra picked up that Casey wasn't as excited as she should be.

"Nothing really. It's just his reputation…" Casey trailed off.

"Oh that? Hun, I haven't seen him in like, three years. He could be a completely different person now. In fact, he probably is. Three years ago, he never would have gone for a girl like you. Sure you're super cute but you're obviously not just another bimbo and that's pretty much all he dating back then. Besides from what you told me, you guys have like, a ton in common."

"And I did make that open drink comment slash disaster and he didn't go running," she joked.

"See? That's something," Kendra agreed and they both had a good chuckle at the memory. "Oh and I'm sorry about that. I had no idea you didn't know what it meant."

"Don't worry about it. It worked out." Casey checked her makeup in the mirror and added a fresh coat of lipgloss. After a few minutes, she turned back towards Kendra.

"So, how do I look?" Casey stood up and did a twirl.

"Absolutely stunning," Kendra declared.

"Thanks, I mean it."

"Not a problem. What are friends for?" And at that moment, Casey realized that she was right. Her and Kendra were friends.

Casey beamed a smile at her then grabbed her into a hug.

"Uh, okay. There, there," Kendra said, patting her gently on the back. "Okay, Hun? You're wrinkling my outfit."

"Oops, sorry," Casey mumbled, pulling away.

"No prob. Okay, what say you and me go watch hot guys in music videos until Brandon comes?" Kendra proposed, already heading out of the room. Casey grabbed her purse and took one final glance in the mirror before rushing out to follow her.

Casey was afraid she'd hyperventilate, start to asphyxiate, pass out and manage to spill food all over herself on her way down. Then Brandon would definitely never call her again. And Derek would win.

She smiled at Brandon as he told her about the fraternity he'd joined. Scratch that, Derek couldn't win. Derek didn't even know she was on this date so technically it had nothing to do with him.

"So, Casey, do you think you'd join a sorority at college?" Brandon asked politely.

"Oh. Umm…I hadn't actually thought about it. I mean, my main concern really was making sure I got in," she answered and took a sip of her soda. If she concentrated really hard, she was able to do the move without shaking noticeably.

"Makes sense," Brandon replied with a smile. "So where are you going or have you not decided yet?"

"Well, my parents are divorced and I've spent most of my high school years with my mom. So I decided to attend NYU and hopefully get to know my dad better in the process."

"That sounds like a plan. NYU though? Really?" he asked and she swore she saw his smile brighten but she couldn't be sure.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to leave at the end of August." They launched into a conversation about college and classes as the waitress arrived with their meals.

She pushed the remains of her dinner around her plate with her fork. They'd pretty much finished eating and Casey had actually had a really good time talking with him. They had a lot in common. They'd talked about books they'd both read, movies, politics, hobbies. He'd even spoken about some his old girlfriends and she'd talked about her break up with Max.

But now, dinner was ending and Brandon had suggested a walk around the park so they could continue talking. And she was fine with that. It was the after part that worried her and had her on the verge of freaking out. She'd had an amazing time with him thus far but she didn't know what his expectations were. He was older and there was no question that he was more experienced. And he was charming and definitely romantic and she was afraid if she relaxed too much around him, he'd be able to charm her into doing way more than she was prepared for. And on the flip side, if she wasn't able to relax, she was afraid he'd think she was cold and aloof and maybe not that interested. And she was interested. Or at least she thought she was from what she'd learned about him so far.

Brandon was telling her about a prank his fraternity had forced him to do during rush week. It involved him in a giant cloth diaper, a gallon of honey and a foam bow and arrow. Casey was afraid to pry for details.

"And so then, they failed to tell me that it was a stuffed bear and I go running through the courtyard doing a really bad impersonation of a track runner. I'm shoving people out of the way left and right and jumping over everything in my way when I run smack into the Dean of my school screaming that a bear was loose and after me. He looks at me like maybe I should go see the Psychology department."

Casey's eyes widened like saucers but she wasn't sure how she's supposed to react. On the one hand, he was telling her about an experience that was clearly traumatic for him. He had thought his life was in danger and he apparently suffered a great deal of embarrassment and humiliation. On the other hand, the idea of this, the great Brandon Campbell, running through campus wearing nothing but a cloth diaper and drenched in honey was completely and absolutely hilarious.

He had paused in his retelling and was clearly now waiting for her response to his revealing tale. But she was undecided. She wanted him to think she was compassionate but the ridiculous picture of him in a diaper with honey refused to leave her brain and she could feel the bubbles of laughter threatening to come spilling out and tears were starting to form in her eyes at the effort of holding back them back.

"Go ahead," Brandon said, finally taking mercy on her. "Go ahead and laugh. I know you want to."

"I –uh…no, I don't want to laugh," she said with a straight face that cost her great effort.

"Yes, you do," he panned. "Everyone always wants to laugh when I tell them that story."

"No. Not me," she replied, now thinking she was a horrible person. "I don't want to laugh."

"Yeah, you do. I can see it in your eyes." Casey suddenly turned slightly away so he couldn't see her eyes anymore. He continued. "You're practically crying from the effort of holding back the laughter."

Casey quickly swiped at the few stray tears that had managed to fall. "No. Look, no tears. See?"

"Case, it's fine. It's okay."

"No, really I don't want to laugh it's just –" She stopped as she turned back to look him in the face and suddenly the image before her wasn't just this incredibly beautiful man with dark blonde hair, piercing green eyes, a strong defined jaw-line, impossibly long eyelashes that managed to avoid being feminine, and perfectly patrician features. Instead she saw this incredibly beautiful man with his perfect facial features and chiseled, lean yet defined chest wearing a diaper and drenched in honey screaming about a stuffed bear attacking him and trying to defend himself with a foam bow and arrow. And the dam broke and the laughter came flooding out.

"Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry," she managed in between hysterical peals of laughter. "I just…I can't stop."

Brandon suddenly turned away from her so that his back was to her.

"Brandon, no," she said and tried to reach out to him but stopped as another wave of laughter took her. "Brandon, I'm so sorry. But it's just so funny, don't you think?"

She heard an inaudible sound come from his direction and she immediately came to the conclusion that he was crying. She felt an immediate surge of guilt go through her and quickly sobered.

"Brandon, I'm so sorry. I can' even begin to tell you how sorry I am." She tried to reach out to turn him back to face her but he simply shrugged her hand off.

"Brandon, please. I feel horrible. I can't believe I just laughed in your face like that," she pleaded, now convinced she was a veritable bitch. Every other girl in London, he makes out with. But her? No, she had to make him cry. "I have no excuse for my horrible behavior. I –"

She paused to gather her words and raise cover her face with her hands in frustration when she noticed his shoulders start to shake. She paused and leaned forward and realized the sounds she'd taken as him crying were actually him –

"You're laughing?" she exclaimed, standing up from the bench they'd stopped at during their walk. She grabbed him forcefully on the shoulder and forced him to spin around to face her. "Oh my god, you're laughing."

"Hahaha," he sputtered. "I'm sorry, Casey."

"You knew I thought you were crying. You knew I thought you were upset," she accused. "I felt so horrible. How could you do that?"

"I honestly didn't think you'd assume I was crying. I wanted you to laugh," he told her, wiping away tears from the corner of his eyes. Technically, he had been crying…but only because he'd been laughing so hard.

"What?" she demanded.

"You were so tense that I wanted you to relax a little. And okay, so I thought I'd have a little fun at your expense," he admitted. "But honestly, I just wanted to loosen you up a little."

She relaxed at his explanation and even cracked a smile as she turned to her seat beside him. He had a point. She really had been stressing out.

"Was there really a stuffed bear?" He flashed her a dimpled grin at her question.

"Yeah, there was a bear. In fact, there really was honey and I did knock over the dean of the school," he supplied.

Casey smiled at his admission and caught that he'd failed to address one major factor of his story.

"What about the diaper?" she asked.

He let out a world weary sigh. "I should have known that'd be the only thing you'd care about, MacDonald."

"What? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I've heard stories about you," he said sing-songy, teasing kind of tone as he bumped her shoulder with his.

"What? What kind of stories?" Casey demanded, half playing along with him and half actually worried about he might have heard from some friends of Max who weren't really fans of hers.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he said in the same tone, not really as a question, as he stood up and offered his hand to help her to her feet. She noted that his dimpled half-grin was probably his equivalent to Derek's infamous smirk. It suited him and the effect made her feel all warm inside.

"Come on, MacDonald. Let me buy you a coffee and maybe after you could show me which of the stories are true."

"Bran-don!" she yelled and smacked his arm, completely affronted. But he simply chuckled at her indignation and dragged her after him back towards his car.

They were seated next to a window in the newest trendy café. Casey was sipping her iced mocha latte and he was drinking some fancy chai concoction it'd taken about two minutes to explain to the barista how he wanted made.

"I'm not really that uppity, I swear," he said to her as they'd waited for their drinks to be made.

"I didn't say anything," Casey replied innocently but let him see the smirk on her face.

"I'm serious. Back at school, it's simply called the Dean's Chai and you can order it at any of the school run cafés or coffee carts and I'm completely addicted to it. So much so that I had bribe one of the workers into telling me exactly how it was made so I could order everywhere I went and exactly how I liked it."

"Wow," Casey had responded, still smirking at him. "Yeah, you're not uppity at all."

He'd simply flashed her that dimpled grin she was quickly growing to love and said, "Okay, maybe a little uppity. But you will eat your words once you try it."

At the time, she'd simply laughed and rolled her eyes.

But now, now was a different story. She'd tried his "Dean's Chai" and now her iced mocha latte, even with the extra squirt of whipped cream and sprinkle of cinnamon and cocoa powder, just didn't seem to be good enough. She wondered if now would be a good time for her to ask him to write down the ingredients so she could have it the next time she came here.

She faked a smile when she met his gaze and forced herself to take a sip of her drink.

"Yours good?" he asked, smiling politely.

"Yeah, it's great," she answered. And even though she'd admonished herself from doing so, she felt her gaze travelling down to his drink and gazing at it longingly. She wished, hard, that she'd paid attention when he'd been ordering the drink.

"So, it's been pretty hot lately, huh?" he asked, trying to engage her back into conversation.

"Yeah, really hot."

"You have any idea what the weather will be like when you go to New York?"

"Not exactly but it is the end of August so hopefully I'd have missed the worst part of summer."

"You know anyone else going to NYU? Or maybe New York in general?"

"Well my best friend, Emily, said depending on how things went here, she might consider transferring to the Fashion Institute. You know, if she got in. But Em is awesome so I'm sure she could."

"Casey," he said suddenly and with such intensity that she felt compelled to look up and meet his gaze.

"Yes?" She held her breath and wondered if she'd somehow now ruined the date. He leaned in and she was momentarily mesmerized by how the greens in his eyes actually seemed with swirl around and swam in a pool just highlighted with golden hazel. Suddenly, she really didn't want him to be dumping her and she swore she would stop pouting about the stupid drink. This was precisely why she was very surprised by the next words to come out of his mouth.

"Do you want to trade drinks?" He pushed his drink towards her and she felt all the air deflate out of her. Catching herself, she managed a response.

"Oh no, thanks. I'm fine. It's fine." He somehow raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at the same time.

"No really. I'm fine with my drink. And you were right about yours," she said maturely.

This time, he just pointedly fixed her with a look.

She let out a sigh and dropped all pretenses as she quickly and simultaneously shoved her drink towards him and grabbed his towards her.

"Thanks. This really is amazing." He chuckled as she took a long greedy drink.

"Do you want me to give you the recipe?" He offered and she sent a quick thanks upstairs that she hadn't had to bring it up.

"Thanks, I'd love that."

They launched in an easy conversation after that as he confessed his secret love of comic books and she admitted to her dad storing all her old Barbies for her, in perfect condition all still with the original packaging. She explained that she would play with them then painstakingly return them back to their places.

"Wow, that doesn't sound like any fun at all," he admitted with a laugh.

She laughed with him. "It really wasn't. But at least all my Barbies are perfect. I bet you the next girl's are missing heads or clothes or shoes at the very least."

"I bet they are," he agreed. After a while, he decided to broach a different topic.

"So, you want to tell me why you were all tense earlier?" he asked seriously.

She brought her elbows up on the table and buried her face in her hands as she told him no.

"Not really. It's so embarrassing."

"Casey," he pleaded and she just shook her head. He reached and pulled hands away from her face. "Please?"

"Okay, fine." She crossed her arms and leaned them on the table. "It's…I don't know. No, I do know…I just…I don't really know how to say it."

He regarded her for a minute and finished off her mocha latte before placing the cup to the side and leaning forward a little so they could keep the serious turn in the conversation to themselves.

"It's the age thing, isn't it? You do realize I'm only three years older than you right?"

She had to smile at the way he'd said it. "No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"You're going to hate me," she predicted.

"Impossible. I just gave you my Dean's Chai. I don't do that for just any pretty face."

She sighed and again felt herself unable to stop from grinning. He was definitely a charmer but she felt a sincerity coming him and so she felt brave enough to continue.

"It's your reputation," she said slowly, avoiding his gaze. "I know we talked about it a little at the party after you asked me out and I hate bringing it up again."

"Look, Casey, I know I've dated a lot of girls –" he began but she interrupted him.

"And I don't mind that you've dated a lot of girls. Honestly, I don't. I'm over that part," she explained.

"Then?" he pressed her to continue.

"It's that you've maybe been with a lot of girls," she finished softly.

"Oh," he exhaled. "I see."

She chewed on her bottom lip nervously and purposely kept her gaze fixed on looking out the window at the people and couples on the sidewalk.

"I understand your concerns, believe me I'd have concerns about dating someone with my reputation here. But I want you to know, I'm definitely not seeing anyone else and I'm not that cocky teenager from back then," Brandon was explaining.

And though Casey was definitely hearing him and felt herself get excited at what he was telling her, something out the window now held her attention. She was watching a young couple walking by holding hands. They had paused at a street vendor selling small bundles of flowers and the girl was picking out a bouquet. What intrigued her was that the guy was Derek.

Some part of her realized that Brandon was still talking to her, but try as she might, she was able to tear her gaze away from the sight of Derek buying the other girl flowers, or tuck an errant lock of her ebony colored hair, or him leaning in to kiss her. Casey had no idea why she couldn't look away. Maybe she was simply curious since Derek usually preferred blonde bimbos? Whatever the reason for her fascination, she watched them until they walked out of her line of sight and she realized than Brandon was now expecting a response.

She suddenly felt his hand reach out and force her to face him.

"Casey, I want you to know that I would never force you to do anything you weren't comfortable doing." And the thing was, she believed him. She was relieved he hadn't seemed to notice that he hadn't exactly had her undivided attention. So she smiled at him and nodded to let him know that she believed him. And then he leaned in and gave Casey the most romantic kiss of her life.

And for the second time, Casey had the oddest sensation that for some reason she felt guilty.

July 13th

Casey was on a high. Last night with Brandon had been the most wonderful, amazing, romantic, exciting date of her life. In fact, if it had been any more amazing, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Later that evening, after he'd dropped her off and kissed her goodnight with a kiss that made her toes curl and her leg pop and her insides melt, she'd gotten ready for bed and was settling in her covers when she'd gotten a text message. It had read:

Hey Case,

I just wanted to thank you for

an amazing time tonight and

wish you happy dreams,

hopefully of me J

p.s. In case you feel the need

for a delicious cold beverage

tomorrow, I thought you

might need the following

A second text had come through and this time it contained the ingredients and how to order the Dean's Chai. As she was starting to drift off to sleep, she did stop to wonder about seeing Derek with the girl in front of the café and the mysterious pang of guilt as Brandon had kissed her the first time. But Casey simply brushed it off as her mind doing what Derek often claimed it did, overanalyze everything to death. And in order to move forward, she had to stop doing that.

Today, she was meeting Kendra at a different café for a debriefing of her date with Brandon. According to Kendra, nitpicking through every detail of a date with your girlfriends and junk food, trying to decode everything the guy was saying just not out loud, wasn't overanalyzing, it was every girl's birthright as members of the female race. Much as it was a guy's right to sit around a bar with his buddies and yell pointlessly at the TV.

She spotted Kendra at a table and went over to greet her. Kendra saw her and she was quickly swept up into embrace full of the latest fashion and lots of blonde hair.

"Hun, I am dying. You have to tell me everything he said. Oh, and everything he did. And everything he didn't do."

"Uh, okay," Casey said with a laugh, thoroughly enjoying Kendra's enthusiasm. "But let's order some drinks first."

"Sure and let's get some brownies. I hear they're to die for."

Ten minutes later they were back seated at the table Kendra had claimed for them and their table was now full of their drinks (two Dean's Chais at the insistence of Casey that she would love it) and their desserts.

"Hun, you're so right about this drink. How did you come up with this mix?"

"I didn't," Casey confessed with a goofy grin. "Brandon ordered one last night and let me try it. And I was hooked."

"Aw, he shared his drink with you?"

"Yeah and when I obviously liked his much better than mine, he gave it to me and drank my mocha latte instead." Kendra let out a squeal of excitement.

"I did tell you how jealous I was, right?" Kendra asked her.

"You might have mentioned," Casey joked back.

"Okay, enough about the other details, let's get down to the good stuff. How was the kissing? And have you found out about the roommate for me yet?"

Casey was still smiling to herself when she walked into the living room of her house. Derek looked up from his position on his recliner.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked then noticed the smile on her face. "And why are you so happy?"

Casey chewed on her lower lip, debating on how much to tell him as she flung herself onto the couch.

"Would you believe I've found inner peace?" she ventured.

"Not a chance," he retorted and pushed himself up from his reclining position so he could lean forward dramatically. "Are you on drugs?"

Casey narrowed her eyes and flung a throw pillow at him.

"I am not on drugs. I'm not drunk either so don't bother going there," she warned.

"Okay, chill. So what gives? It's kinda creeping me out." He shivered for effect.

Casey took in a deep breath and braced herself for the teasing she assumed was coming.

"I met someone," she blurted out. Derek felt himself freeze at her announcement.

"You were on a date last night?" his voice came out way more confrontational than he'd wanted.

"You went on a date too," she returned, automatically reacting to the edge in his voice.

"Yeah well, I told you about that date," he said defensively, assuming she was talking about the date with Ellen the night before.

"Yeah, about the waitress. You didn't tell me you were going out with her again last night."

"Last night? What are you talking about?" Derek suddenly found himself losing ground.

"I saw you when we were at the café. That girl with the long black hair. You got her flowers. Very smooth." Casey knew this was getting out of hand but she couldn't stop. She didn't even know if this was technically them fighting or not since she didn't know what they were fighting about or why.

"That wasn't Ellen." Derek didn't know why he felt the need to explain it to her. "That was Veronica. I met her the other night."

"You mean when you were out with Ellen?" There was something about the way she phrased the question and it felt like she was accusing him of something other than just being really shady with Ellen.

"Ellen wasn't a good match for me," he said simply.

"You heal fast," Casey replied flippantly.

"Wait. Don't turn this around on me. We both knew this was the way I was. What's you're excuse, huh?"

"My excuse? For what? I haven't done anything wrong," she responded, not bothering to stop herself from yelling. Except she had felt like she had done something wrong. She thought back to the pangs of guilt and still didn't know why she'd felt them or why the sensation was returning now.

"Really? Nothing wrong? How about failing to tell me where you were last night?" Derek pressed her.

"I didn't fail to tell you. I left you a note that clearly said I would be out late."

"Yeah and you conveniently left out that part where you went on a date with some guy I don't know. What if Nora had or Lizzie and called?"

"Then they would have left a message and assumed we'd gone out seeing as it's not like you were home to take the message," she reminded him. "Besides, why do you care if I went on a date?"

"I don't," he said quickly.

"Then why are we even having this argument?"

"I –" Derek started to yell back, then stopped realizing he had no idea what came next. "I don't know."

At some point both Casey and Derek had stood up to scream at the other. Both now sunk back into their seats and lapsed into a silence as they figured out what they had really been fighting about and neither wanting to be the one to bring it up first.

Casey decided to be the mature one.

"Do you think we should talk about it?" she asked quietly and she fidgeted with her hands. Derek leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

"Do I want to talk about it? No. Do I think we should talk about it? Unfortunately we probably should."

"I don't really know what to say though," Casey said honestly.

"You know, I think we're just making it a bigger deal than it should be," Derek said after a while.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe it's only an issue because we don't really know what we are and suddenly we're spending a lot of time together."

"What do you mean we don't know what we are? You're my stepbrother and I'm your step-sister. We remind people of that all the time."

"Yeah, but do you really mean it?" Casey had to stop and think about it.

"I don't know," she answered after a minute.

"Well, I can honestly say I don't think you as my sister. At least not the way I see Marti or Lizzie."

For some reason, his statement made her heart skip a beat.

"Derek?" she questioned, just above a whisper.

"I don't know. I just don't see you as my sister. Probably because we hated each other so much in the beginning and missed some key bonding moment or something."

She had to smile at the memories of those early months forced under the same roof.

"Yeah, I'm sure we missed it. And all the ones that came after as well."

This time Derek laughed. "Well, whatever. Now that I think about it, I kind of liked hanging out you."

"You know what? Me too. I liked hanging out with you. I looked forward to it the whole time at that horrible job of mine."

"Maybe Ralph's right," Derek observed. "Maybe we're friends?"

Casey thought it over and she figured he was right. Somehow in sharing their misery at the disappointment their summers had started out to be, they'd become friend.

"Yeah," she agreed with him. "We're friends and we both just got a little jealous at the idea that someone taking our friend away so quickly when we'd just become friends."

"And having never been friends with each other before and the whole step-sib issue, we didn't know how to act," Derek added.

"Yeah, exactly." They both took a moment to let it all sink in.

"Want to hug on it?" Casey suggested when she caught his eye again. He hesitated before giving in.

"Fine. But you tell anybody about this and I cause you serious bodily injury," he said standing and pulling her to her feet.

Casey easily stepped into his arms which he quickly wrapped around her and as Casey leaned her head against his chest, listening to beating of his heart, she realized that something, she still didn't know what, wasn't quite right.

He released as her cell phone started ringing, letting her know that it was Brandon calling.

"I better get that," she said sheepishly.

"Sure. I gotta go anyway, I'm meeting Ralph and some guys for hockey."

"Okay, I'll see you for dinner?" she asked as she picked up the phone.

"Yeah, sure," he said as he got up and playfully punched her in the shoulder before he headed to his room to grab his hockey gear.

Casey waited until the sounds of Derek heading up the stairs stopped and ended with the sound of him shutting his bedroom door behind him, before answered the phone.

"Hey," she said in greeting and sunk back into the couch to talk to Brandon. He was telling her about this one Chinese restaurant he wanted to bring her to that Friday when Derek ran down the stairs and paused at the door to wink at her and gesture towards her phone before heading out.

Even as Casey accepted Brandon's invitation and was even genuinely excited at the prospect of going out with him again, she still couldn't shake the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong with this picture.

--

That was a doozy of a chapter, huh? I hope you guys didn't mind all the Brandon/Casey action. It's all for a reason, I swear and Brandon isn't going to play a big part for much longer. That's all I'm saying. This was one of those necessary chapters so I apologize if it didn't really move anything too much forward. It was more like laying tracks but I hope it was still enjoyable. Again, reviews are greatly welcome and I like reading what you guys have to say. See you next time!

- SugarRune :)

P.S. It was real late when I finished this and I was in a major hurry to get it posted so I apologize that I didn't really get to edit it as much as I would have liked. Please let me know about any major errors and I'll try to fix it when I can.