A/N: For those who are not familiar with Twitter, an (at) or "at" symbol (which doesn't work on FF for some reason) is just placed in front of a username to tag people. So whenever you see (at), that's what I'm trying to show. I've patterned it a little differently so that it won't get too confusing for those who don't use that site. If you see the letters "RT", it only means that the person is repeating what the another person is saying and sometimes adding little comments in front of those letters (depending on the user). The comments, for this story's purposes, will be in bold letters. So anyway! Sorry to get all technical on you, but hope that clears some things up a bit.

I've also tweeked (and added) some of the tweets in this chapter to fit the story, but still, most of them are taken from the actual Dasey Twitters. Ah, what else. I think that's about it. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Life with Derek. And Twitter and most of the tweets posted here - Property of (at)DerekVenturi and (at)LifeWithCasey.

Chapter 2: Virtual Bickering?

"WHAT!" Derek's startled reaction caused him to cough out the rest of the popcorn he had just put in his mouth. Usually, when a girl followed him on Twitter (or in real life, really), he would go on a smug-fest and be all too confident for hours, not that he didn't do much of this everyday, but it was very much an ego-booster. Except if it was Emily, because stalking in person was creepy already. But this. This name was not what he wanted to see online, on a site where he could possibly have the freedom to finally say what he wanted to say, whenever he wanted, wherever he wanted – Casey McDonald, resident-keener, head of "annoy Derek" department. Is there even a place in this world where I can't be bothered by this person? Seriously. He thought as he went on to rant about this inconvenience that had been present in the household for four years now.

| DerekVenturi: Excuse me? Who told you to invade my "No Casey" zone? I've had enough of you in reality. Now, let's see... go away, (at)LifeWithCasey.

Rolling his eyes and smirking, he thought of how Casey could be the perfect leader for his fan club. She just couldn't stay away. After throwing him out of her room and telling him to stay out, it should be clear that he wasn't allowed to meddle with anything that has to do with her. At least that's what people with common sense would think. What would people with common sense do? Exactly the opposite of what Casey just did. Clearly, there was nothing common about their relationship. And now, she decided to stalk him online and ruin his virtual tough guy rep, too. There is never a privacy in this place! He groaned and stared at her username once more. Great, they might just have found a much needed extension for their daily brawling sessions.

In the room adjacent to his, Casey read the current tweet that showed up on her timeline. She just finished reading the Twitter basics in the Help section of the site, but was still debating with herself as to how to actually get started. Microblogging wasn't her forte. With her love for writing, it's only proper that she shouldn't be placed within the bounds of character limit. She figured that maybe following the people that Derek followed would help her. Apparently, more than half, if not all, of the people he followed were girls. Typical, she thought.

| LifeWithCasey: Derek! I won't bother you... that much. I don't want you posting rude things about me! After all, you're the lord of the lies.

| DerekVenturi: Yeah, well, my business is NONE of your business. My world doesn't revolve around you so don't flatter yourself, "sister".

And so their online quarreling went on and on, which meant that the house was a little more quiet than usual.

"A little eerie, if you'd ask me," Edwin told Lizzie after noticing the living room void of any sign of the two older stepsiblings. He moved towards Derek's recliner and inspected it. "Cold and relatively clean. Yep, he's been away for a while."

"Derek and Casey left the house?" George said while hooking his coat. "Casey didn't inform me of anything," Nora answered, sharing the curiosity of the other family members.

"Well, at least they didn't leave a mess," George shrugged and lounged himself on the couch. Nora glanced over the ficus plant, expecting remnants of another highly-concealed fight – like leftover meatloaf – only to find it free of said food or anything out of the ordinary. "Yeah, this is very odd," she said. "I'm liking this afternoon already," George let out a chuckle and rested his feet on the coffee table.

| DerekVenturi: Lame. RT (a)LifeWithCasey We're having a book club later! We're reading the second "Sisters of the White Cave"! AH, I'm so excited!

| LifeWithCasey: Skirt chasing cad. RT (a)DerekVenturi "The guy you'd have angry hot sex with: Derek Venturi." (Whoever wrote this, meet me at Smelly Nelly's at 5pm.)

| DerekVenturi: Jealous much? Can I help it if I'm too sexy? Exactly. Now, I'd like my timeline to be less Casey-y, so... shooo.

| LifeWithCasey: Whatever, Derek. I could have any boy I wanted... I'm just picky, that's all. I'm going out in a bit, anyway. So wish granted.

| DerekVenturi: Oh! That's very uh, let's see, yeah - I'm not interested. Bye.

Suddenly becoming aware of other people's presence in the house, both of them snapped back to reality and started preparing for their appointments that afternoon.

"I'm going out!" Two loud voices from upstairs exclaimed at the same time after a few minutes, followed by one loud door slam – yes, Derek's. Everybody else downstairs directed their attention to where the sound came from. A hint of relief upon the return of a familiar vibe overcame the entire household. And then there came the familiar annoyance.

"Will you stop following me? That means on Twitter and in real life. What are you, my stalker?" Derek exclaimed as he pushed her slightly out of the way to walk down the stairs.

"Excuse me? I am NOT following you! I'm going to a book club, not a strip bar. I'm not even sure if you'd be allowed to enter one. Seeing you getting kicked out would be highly entertaining though," Casey retorted, pushing him back and making him almost stumble.

"Oh, you're trying to be funny now, huh? Just stay out of my sight until I'm 30," said Derek, regaining his balance and making his way towards the coat rack to get his black leather jacket. Rolling her eyes at his remark, she made her own way to the door. But before she could get past the post, Derek quickly placed his left hand against it, blocking her and stopping her from going any further. "Delete or I'll hack into your account and delete it myself," he said in a voice that was almost too faint to register or even hit her eardrums and get picked up by her hearing senses. If this was meant to be a threat, it certainly didn't get through. This could be due to the fact that this previously mentioned sense was considered negligible compared to the millions of other senses shouting 'danger, danger, danger' or the other million busy giving her 'cutis anserina' or goose bumps in normal talk. Maybe because this sudden and alarming closeness of their bodies sent her into a weird trance where all she could hear was the chirping of birds and the buzzing of bees. Stop it, Casey! You're losing it!

"Whatever, you don't own the Internet, D. So, I'd shut up if I were you," Casey broke away from the uncomfortableness of this setup and the feeling that was so unfamiliar. Or maybe too familiar, that it's getting too uncomfortable for her taste.

"Spoke too soon," George sighed at the sight of the teenagers going about with their daily argument.

"Casey, Derek, stop it," Nora scolded the two who were seemingly too oblivious or too busy to even acknowledge their presence until she uttered those words.

"Sorry, Mom. I'm going out to meet with Em and a few girls. Book club meeting," Casey's apology earned the consent of her mother, along with a tiny reminder about a few errands to run.

Derek just returned the reprimand with a smirk and another door slam.

|LifeWithCasey: So my curfew tonight was supposed to be 11. I'm 9 minutes late, but no one seemed to notice. Hopefully I'm safe! :)

|LifeWithCasey: Oh god. I just realized that Derek might see that tweet and use it against me. How do you delete?

Panic overrode Casey's initial feeling of fulfillment after she had managed to sneak in without getting caught. Not that anyone would care about her missing her curfew, she was the one who set them anyway. Now that she had cut all her connections with Truman, she felt that it was necessary to revert to her old usual curfew-setting, curfew-loving self. Didn't Sensitive Derek say before that if you feel like you've changed, then you have to change back? Or something in between those lines. Oh, I cannot believe I'm listening to Derek. Rolling her eyes at the sudden, uncalled-for but reasonable thought that had come across her mind in the middle of her panicking mode, she desperately searched for an answer in the Help section, letting the idea of simply hovering the cursor over the tweet to show the delete button slip her mind.

| DerekVenturi: You, princess, are the worst sneaker in history. I'd tell on you if I were home right now. Who are you with? I bet you're with that Truman guy again.

Too late, Triple D had spoken. Speaking of the devil. Who's oddly talking about his co-devil. She thought. Not letting the reply slide, she decided to give him a piece of her mind.

| LifeWithCasey: You'd tell on me? Really? I thought you were above that, Venturi. And no, I was not out with Truman. Did you even hear what I said a while ago? I was at a book club meet.

| DerekVenturi: Oh! Says the girl who tries to sneak in without getting caught 'cause she came home past her curfew. How entertaining. Good, 'cause that guy is a stupid moron. Tell him not to call me "D" again, or else I'll introduce him to my fist.

| LifeWithCasey: Well excuse me for being approximately 9 minutes late! And where might you be, sir? Still on your hot date?

| DerekVenturi: Of course. I must say, she really did mean it when she said she'd like to have angry hot sex with me. ;)

| LifeWithCasey: If that wasn't the most disturbing visual I've ever had, then I don't know what is. Thank you ever so much, "bro."

| DerekVenturi: You're welcome. ;) I'm very "shocked" that you would even try to imagine that. You dirty-minded, you.

| LifeWithCasey: Your outstanding moral integrity never ceases to impress me. Your date must be thrilled that you would choose twitter over her

| DerekVenturi: Hah. Casey, Casey, Casey, you don't get it, do you? She is on a date with ME. She's lucky to be going out with ME. If I go on Twitter right now, she would not complain because she's with ME. So, keep your thoughts to yourself.

| LifeWithCasey: Contrary to popular belief, Derek, I'm not a total prude. I still wish you wouldn't have told me, though.

| DerekVenturi: What? You had to ask if I'm still on my hot date. I answered you, and I get all this. Make up your mind, princess.

| LifeWithCasey: Ah, Derek. You would think that such a small brain would get lonely in such a big head.

| LifeWithCasey: Well are you coming home any time soon? I'm not worried. I'm just... concerned for your date's sake.

| DerekVenturi: Ah, Casey, you cut me deep. I'm so honoured to be dissed by you. Almost home, make yourself useful & open the back door.

| LifeWithCasey: Alright... But if I get caught, all the blame goes on you! I don't need a week of seeing nothing but the walls of my room.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Derek muttered as he parked the car in the garage. The date wasn't really that eventful; he just met up with Kendra and a few of her blonde lady friends. In the 'eye candy' category, they definitely passed with flying colors, but there's just no.. "spark!" he finished his thought with a frustrated grunt. For someone who had been in the dating scene for sixteen years (yeah, since two), one would think that he had gotten everything figured out. But every time he went past the first stage, there was just no other stage to explore – no excitement, no 'je ne sais quoi', as Casey would put it.

"Ow," he cried as he accidentally knocked his knee on the edge of the bumper.

Casey. How could he even begin to explain Casey? Well, for one, she would always pop in his mind and, sometimes, in the most inappropriate situations. Like right now, there shouldn't be any Casey in his brain. But, of course, he'd justify this by saying, "She's going to open the door for me, duh? It's perfectly normal." Before he could entirely lose his sanity from overthinking, he took out his phone and tweeted her back.

| DerekVenturi: Enough with the yapping. Let me in alreadyyyy.

| LifeWithCasey: Who's the whiner now, Venturi? I don't even know why I do these nice things for you when all you do is complain about me.

| DerekVenturi: I don't think it's proper for you to share your curses, especially the curse of whining. So, I'd rather not be called a whiner. This is not whining, this is a reasonably justified form of impatience.

| LifeWithCasey: Do you want me to let you in or not? If you don't stop insulting me I'll make you climb through the window.

| DerekVenturi: Ooh, touchy. Fine, let me in.

"It's about time!" Derek pushed the door right after Casey left it ajar before heading back upstairs. Annoyed at her stepbrother's ungrateful behavior, she turned around to face him.

"Has it not come across your huge, empty head that it is not my obligation to unlock the door for you?"

"Has it not come across your huge, full-of-lame-ideas head that it is not your obligation to worry about me and/or my date?"

He was right. Casey knew he was right. It really wasn't her obligation to worry about his date or him. It wasn't her obligation to stay up at two in the morning just so she could open the door for him just in case he forgot his keys. It wasn't even her obligation to even think about these things. But, isn't her status as a caring family member credible enough to let her have the right to worry about certain stepbrothers – like Edwin? Or Derek? Not wanting to be plagued by any more unpleasant thoughts for the night, she left the kitchen and went up the stairs without saying another word.

Still staring at the empty spot where the other participant in the conversation was once standing, Derek began to wonder why she did not respond to his comment. It wasn't like he said something wrong. Right? He thought. The clinking sound of the car keys that fell from his pocket startled him and brought him back to reality. Closing the door behind, he whistled his way to the stairs, shrugging the previous incident off his system.

"Girls."