Disclaimer: I don't own the show Life With Derek, or Eve 6, or The Academy Is… and their song: The Fever, though if I did, I would totally go crazy with happiness.

A/N: I'm so glad that there are more than 600 Life With Derek stories on here now. There needs to be much more. That is why I decided that I needed to add one of my own. And here it is, the title will probably change….:

--Beautiful Oblivion--

Chapter One: lies are lies in everybody's eyes

"Well, well, well," drawled Derek Venturi lazily as he relaxed in his bed, his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms bent behind his head. "What brings the princess into my humble dwelling?" he asked.

Casey MacDonald, his stepsister of about three years, took a look around his "dwelling" and rolled her large blue eyes. She had both hands on her hips and an annoyed expression on her beautiful face. Of course, Derek was used to seeing this expression on her face, and didn't expect anything less from her. He didn't, however, expect the word 'beautiful' to come to mind when thinking about her.

"You know I don't like it when you call me 'the princess'," she said. He smirked.

"That's not true," he started.

"I'd rather have you call me 'your Highness'," she cut him off, in a surprisingly joking manner.

"Isn't that the same?"

"That isn't the point."

"What is the point, exactly?"

"The point is, it's Saturday night, our parents are out on a long deserved date, Edwin and Lizzie are both sleeping over their friends' houses and Marti is being taken care of by my grandparents." She paused, waiting for him to explain himself.

"So?" he asked. "I still don't get it." She sighed loudly in frustration.

"Ugh! You know what I'm talking about! I want to know why you're still here!"

"Are you telling me that I'm not allowed to be in my own house on a perfectly good night?"

"No, I'm wondering why on this night, this one night, when I finally get the house to myself, you have to be here. Why aren't you on a date?" Derek yawned slowly in response.

"I don't have one." Casey narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"Jeez, I don't know, Case. You're believed to be the brain in the family, what do you think it means?"

"Don't call me Case!" she said quickly. "Are you telling me that you, Derek Venturi, Mr. Cool, the most popular guy in school, couldn't get a date for a Saturday night, in this wonderfully new month of January?"

"Do you like hearing yourself talk, or do those really long sentences you like to make actually make any sense to you?"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"You didn't answer the question."

"Well, if you must know, it wasn't that Mr. Cool couldn't get a date, it was that he didn't want a date."

"Why are you referring to yourself in the third person?" she asked, taking a step closer to his bed.

"Why do you ask so many annoying questions?" He sat up, putting his hands on either side of his legs, and leaning forward.

"Maybe because I like to annoy you." She took another step closer to him, so that that she was directly in front of his bed, practically touching it.

"Well, maybe I like to annoy you," he retorted, moving closer to the end of the bed, and actually putting his feet on the floor and his hands on his thighs. Her feet were now in between his.

"You do a mighty fine job doing that, I might add."

"I do try."

"I'm sure."

That's when she stopped talking and noticed that she was close to him, really close, and that she was bending her back forward slightly, with her right hand on her hip, her face extremely close to his. He in turn had his head tilted up, and he was staring at her with a firm expression of aggravation.

Casey had to admit, it was a rather weird position for them to be in, but not because her knees were touching his legs and their faces were so close, no. It was because she was actually the one looking down at him, not the other way around. He was the one craning his head just to keep eye contact. Just as she was formulating a good line in her head to say to him, she was surprised to feel his hands on her hips.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a higher than usually pitched voice. He swiftly picked her up and stood at the same time. Then he placed her on the floor in front of him, and smirked once more.

"Sorry, I just didn't like the view as much as I enjoy this one." So, he had noticed the change in position.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"I still don't get it," she said, deciding to ignore the fact that he had just picked her up as easily as if she weighed nothing at all. "Why are you home tonight?"

"The same reason you are."

"And how do you know what my plans for the evening are?"

"It's easy. We're both teenagers, with a pretty nice house, an empty house, and it's a Saturday night. You were probably planning on having some friends over, right?" He said that, but he didn't actually think that's what she was going to do. He rather thought that she'd be staying home, studying. He noticed her blush when he said the word 'friends'. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Not exactly," she said curtly, and then turned to leave. He grabbed her arm and spun her around so that she was facing him again. She put her hand on his chest in protest, trying to pull away from him.

"Oh no, no, no. You can't just leave after that. What exactly are you plans for the night, Casey?" This time she had a smug look on her face, and smacked his hand off of her arm.

"Well, if you must know, I have a date tonight." He couldn't help it. His jaw dropped.

"You're surprised, right?" she asked, and then pushed his chin up so his mouth closed.

"Who do you have a date with?" he asked quietly.

"That's none of your business," she said and turned to leave again. He followed her.

"Au contraire. I think it is my business. You know, especially since I'm going to have to be the one to chaperone this little 'date' of yours." She walked out of his room and Derek was right on her heels. She stopped abruptly and turned around when he said 'chaperone'. He walked right into her.

"You? Chaperone?" she asked. "I don't think so." They once again didn't move from where they were and were in a very close proximity. It seemed that all of their fights ended up this way.

"Yes, well, since I'm going to be in this house, this house that we both live in, all night, dateless, I'm sure that checking up on you every now and then won't hurt anyone." He paused for effect. "Too much," he added.

"Uh uh. That's not going to happen because you are not going to be around when Sam gets here." She realized her mistake right when she said it. Derek frowned.

"So, Sam's the one that's coming over?" She ignored him and tried to walk away. When she got to her bedroom door, she opened it, stepped in and turned around to close it, but Derek was right there in the doorway. He stopped the door from closing with his arm.

"Der-ek!" she yelled at him in that way she knew irritated him.

"You do know that you and Sam might keep trying over and over to date each other, but it's never going to work, right? And how long has it been since you guys officially broke up for the last time? Almost a year?"

"Why do you care?" she asked.

"You guys will just end up breaking up again, and who's going to be the one to have to hear both of you crying about it day and night?" he continued, ignoring her question. "That's right. You guessed it: me. I'm going to have to listen to Sam obsess about it every time we hang out, and then I'm going to have to come home and cover my ears with my pillow just to drown out the sound of you complaining to Lizzie about how it didn't work out again, but you were so sure." He didn't look at her during his lecture until he stopped talking. She was grinning, evilly, in his mind.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, no reason. That was a really long rant. I thought I was the only one who ranted."

"Whatever, Casey. I don't have to explain myself to you."

"No, I guess you don't. And I don't have to explain myself to you." She closed the door in his face. He was about to knock on it, but changed his mind and trudged down the hall back to his room.

When he got there and settled down on his bed once more, he picked up his cell phone and started to dial a number.

"So, are you going to leave or not?" He looked up and then shut his phone, surprised that she was in his room once more.

"Why are you here again?"

"Why can't you just answer my question?"

"Why are you always asking me questions?" They both stared at each other, willing the other to look away first. Casey was determined not to lose. Derek finally looked away.

"Fine. I'll answer your question. No."

"No, what?"

"Another question? Come on!" He stood up from his bed once again and went to stand in front of her.

"You heard me." Derek rolled his eyes.

"No. I will not be leaving the house tonight. I will be spending my Saturday night home alone with my best friend and my favorite stepsibling." He reached out and ruffled her hair. All she did was pulled away and cry out in frustration, just like he knew she would. He just loved getting her all riled up.

"You know what, Derek?" she asked. He crossed his arms and put on his infamous smirk once more.

"Hmm?"

"You really suck!" she screeched, before turning around and stomping out of his room, slamming his door for good measure. This time he didn't go after her.

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"Hey, Sara? Yeah, it's Derek." The girl on the other end of the phone let out a little giggle.

"Hey Derek," she purred, in what she must have thought was in a sexy, seductive way. Derek almost grimaced to himself. He really did need to stop dating air headed sluts.

"Hi," he repeated. "Listen, I'm not going to be able to make it tonight."

"Why not?" He could visualize her pout in his head and it was hard for him to keep himself from laughing out loud.

"I just…something came up," he finished lamely. Damn, I should have thought of something to say before I called her, he thought.

"What is more important then our date tonight, Derek?" she asked and he couldn't help but think that he didn't like the way she said his name. He decided that he'd rather hear Casey say his name in that exaggerated way she always did when she was mad at him, and he hated when she did that (or did he?).

"It's nothing really. I'm just not feeling that well right now." He coughed fakely into the phone and hoped that Sara was stupid enough to accept it as real.

"Oh, poor Derek," she crooned. "Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting for this date?" she asked.

"Um, no?"

"Well, let's just say, a looong time. But I'll keep waiting, I guess. Tell me it's worth it to wait," she added. Derek sighed; she took it as him longing for her but he was really actually irritated with her.

"Sure, whatever. I need to go," he said, and then promptly hung up. He winced as he did it, knowing that he probably shouldn't have hung up on her like that. He also knew that he probably shouldn't have cancelled the date. He had told Casey that he was staying in for the night, thinking that she, the studious girl that she was was going to also, so he was going to stay in. He didn't exactly know why he wanted to stay home with her, but when she had asked him his plans for the night, the words had just spilled out.

"That wasn't very nice." Derek quickly whipped his head in the direction of Casey's voice. She was leaning in his doorway, this time not actually in his room. He didn't know how long she had been there and wondered how she had opened the door without him noticing.

"What wasn't very nice?" he asked, completely perplexed as to why she was bothering him again.

"Oh you know, canceling on Sara on such short notice," she said smugly, her arms crossed at her chest, her legs crossed at the ankles as she leaned in the entrance of his door. "You must have a weally bad cough," she added, putting on a voice one would use when talking to a young child.

Derek's face visibly paled. Busted.

Casey laughed and walked away. He could hear her continue to laugh as she made her way down the hall, all the way into her bedroom.

"How do I explain myself now?" he asked aloud, looking at his ceiling. He had no answer. He really didn't even know himself why he wanted to stay at home on a perfectly good date night, chaperoning his stepsister and his best friend. The one thing he did know was that it wasn't good, this weird feeling he was feeling in his stomach.

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A/N: Well, I know why he wants to stay at home. Please review!