A/n: Alright, same goes for this installment. I couldn't bring myself to stop, so the dashes are back.
Disclaimer: See the previous installment…or nearly any fan fiction for that matter.
Sleeping to Dream—Jason Mraz
Was it bad that all Casey really wanted to do most of the time was sleep? Was it so bad that she preferred sleep to dinner? She wasn't depressed. In fact there were times where she was still her downright peppy self. No one but Lizzie seemed to notice exactly when she wanted to sleep most and when she was her peppiest.
Lizzie had a theory about her big sister's odd new habits, a theory that involved her older stepbrother. Derek had started dating Sally a couple of weeks before Lizzie's theory began to form. His dating Sally coincidentally coincided with the beginning of Casey's odd behavior. If Sally was at the house, it was nearly always a given that Casey would be found in her room, drifting in and out of sleep. If Derek was alone, or at least, if Sally wasn't around, Casey was in full swing being her Casey self. Things seemed nearly normal when Sally wasn't around. Of course, a lot of the time that Sally wasn't at the house that meant Derek wasn't either and Casey would go off to her room, claiming to not have slept much the night before. Lizzie wasn't stupid. It was easy enough to put two and two together. But she wanted to know one thing. Why sleep? -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Why didn't Casey just ignore the fact that the guy she liked was with another girl? Lizzie had seen her do it time and again with other guys.
"Casey?"
"Liz, I'm trying to sleep. Can whatever it is wait until later?"
"Not really. That's why I'm here. I want to know something."
"What is it, Liz?" Casey's arm was thrown over her eyes and she was stretched out across her bed. She didn't move, even when she felt the bed shift under the added weight of Lizzie.
"Why are you sleeping so much? And don't say you haven't been sleeping well. I've checked on you every night this week and your always sound asleep. I know it's got something to do with Derek, so what is it?"
Casey lay perfectly still for what seemed like forever to Lizzie. Just as she was about to tell her to forget it, Casey moved her arm and looked her little sister in the eye.
"When I sleep I can dream. And when I dream they're all about him. He's always with Sally now. This way I can have him and he can be happy, too."