"What about Chinese food?" Sally asked as she and Derek drove down a street. Derek and her had been dating for a couple months and things were good. It was Friday night, and they were deciding where to go for dinner. Derek looked at the restaurant briefly before shaking his head.

"I'm not sure that's a great idea; once Casey had some of their food and ended up getting sick for almost a week. Of course, she freaked out about her homework. It was hilarious, of course, because it's Casey, but--"

"Derek." Sally looked at him; she had a tired look on her face.

"What?" Derek asked, glancing at her.

"We've been out hardly 10 minutes, and this is the third time you've mentioned Casey." She said, crossing her arms and turning to look out the passenger window. Derek looked at her. They had this argument a couple times before; Derek didn't know where it was coming from. Sure, he liked to talk about Casey and the things she did, but it was in the purpose of laughing at her.

"What? No it isn't, and I wasn't talking about Casey, I was talking about pizza. Big difference."

"Yes, it was the third time and no, you were talking about the pizza and Casey." Sally shot, obviously annoyed. Derek pulled the car over and turned to face her.

"Oh really? What else did I say about Casey then?" Derek asked in his 'ready-prove-you-wrong-tone'. Sally looked at him and counted one her fingers as she spoke.

"One: When you picked me up the first thing that came out of your mouth was about how you locked Casey in her room this morning for half an hour and how hilarious it was listening to her yell at you through the door. Two: when we passed the football field you started going on about how Casey's dating another football player and her bad taste in guys." She sat back and Derek's form stiffened.

"Oh." He said, realizing she was right. "Sorry." Sally shrugged.

"This isn't the first time, Derek. Like last week when we went bowling? All of a sudden every time I see you or every place we go there's always something you have to say about Casey. About something you did to Casey or something Casey did or how she's such a bookworm or how her choice in boyfriends couldn't get any worse or--"

"That's a valid point, though. Every guy she dates somehow turns out to be more of an idiot than the one before-"

"You know what Derek?" Sally snapped. "Since she's obviously on your mind so much, and since you think you know what kind of guy she should date, why don't you just date her?" And with that Sally got out of the car and stormed off down the street. Derek sat there for a moment not sure how to react before he got out and followed her down the street.

"Sally, c'mon, get back in the car. We'll talk about whatever you want, I promise. We'll the Chinese Food!" Sally stopped and turned around, letting Derek catch up to her. They stood in silence for a moment.

"I want to believe that, Derek. Really, I do."

"Then why don't you?" She tilted her head slightly and looked at him.

"I don't think I can." Sally replied. Derek opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "I probably should have realized it when I first met her, or when I saw how you two are with each other, but she was trying so hard to help us get together…" She shook her head and gave Derek a small smile. "I think maybe we need a break. Just…call me when you've figured this all out, okay? I can wait." She kissed him on the cheek and then she was gone. Derek just stood there, not understanding at all what had just happened.

--

When Derek got home, George was sitting on the couch with Marti watching TV.

"Smerek!" She exclaimed, jumping down from the couch and running over to give him a hug. "Come watch TV with me." Derek smiled down at her.

"Hey Smarti. Thanks for the invite, but I'm kinda busy; can I take a rain check?" Marti shrugged.

"Sure," and with that she was back on the couch. George, who was sitting next to her, was looking at Derek.

"You're home early." Derek paused as he took his jacket off.

"It's been known to happen." He shrugged and started for the stairs.

"Everything okay?" George asked. "How's Sally?" Derek stopped in his tracks.

"Yes. Everything's fine." He said without turning around. Without waiting for an answer he went upstairs.

Derek opened the door to his room and was about to walk in when he heard an all too familiar voice.

"Hey, I thought you were out." He didn't have to look to see who it was.

"Yeah, I was. Now I'm home. It's usually what happens after you go out. You go home. Then you go to your room where people leave you alone." From the corner of his eye he saw Casey leaning against the wall, arms crossed and eyes looking right at him. She didn't look mad, more like she was…concerned? Seeing her face Derek, surprisingly, started to feel bad. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"It's fine." She started fidgeting with her hair. It was almost…cute, the way she did that. "Are you okay?" Derek turned to face her, his eyebrows raised in question. She turned a light shade of pink. "I mean…are you and Sally okay? Isn't that where you were?" Derek figured it was going to come up at some point.

"We're, um…okay." He crossed his arms. "Decided to take a break. Whatever." Casey looked up at him.

"What? Derek, what happened? You guys were doing so well."

"It's not really you're business, now is it Casey?" Derek said, trying to keep appearances. The last thing he needed was Casey finding out why he and Sally broke up or for her to think he was actually upset. Especially since he wasn't sure if Sally was right about the whole thing. It was at that moment he realized that Casey was dressed to go out. "You going somewhere?" He asked, glancing her short skirt and hoping the answer wasn't what he thought it would be.

"It's not really your business, now is it?" She smirked and went back into her room, closing the door behind her. Derek considered following her, but instead went downstairs.

"Dad, where's Casey going?" Marti was asleep, but George was still watching TV. Some cartoons to be exact. He quickly flipped channels.

"Out with that football guy, Josh. Why?" He replied, eyes still on the TV.

"Because she looks ridiculous." Derek responded, just as Casey came downstairs. "And Josh is a thoughtless moron." Derek never really liked any of Casey's boyfriends, but Josh was especially revolting. He didn't have a mind of his own, not to mention his lack of respect for girls, not to mention people in general.

"Just because you and Sally aren't together doesn't mean the rest of us can't go out and have fun." Casey shot at him.

"Wait, Derek, you and Sally broke up?" George asked, breaking away from the TV.

"That's not the point." He looked at Casey. "What fun is there is in going out with a person like Josh "the tool" Marshall, yet another blockhead from the football team?" Casey rolled her eyes, but before she could respond a car horn beeped a couple times.

"That would be for me. You guys have a nice night at home." The last part directed to Derek, Casey gave one last victorious smirk and then she was gone.