Chapter 1

"Derek, can't we be friends now? I mean it has been an entire month since we broke up."

"Sydney, I really don't want to talk about this right now."

"Well we are going to have to talk about it sooner or later."

"No, we really don't. We are broken up, Ex's, not friends!" With that Derek shut his locker and walked away down the hall leaving Sydney, mouth hanging open, standing by his locker.

Casey stood peering around the corner, watching Derek and one of his ex-girlfriends, Sydney Ames. Casey seemed to be watching Derek a lot lately, every time she saw him with a girl she got this sick, jealous feeling and as much as she tried to ignore it, it was impossible. When she saw Derek and Sydney together it made her especially jealous, Sydney was probably the only serious girlfriend Derek has ever had.

Casey quickly turned and rushed down off to her next class when she saw Derek turn away from Sydney. She couldn't stand to watch them together anyway.

Derek had broken up with Sydney about a month ago when he walked in on her and another ex of hers in an extremely "friendly" position. Derek had honestly not seen it coming; things had been going so well for the two of them. He wanted time to sulk after the fact, but he knew he couldn't do that or else his reputation would have been shot, so he blew it off and started serial dating again. Casey had seen five different girls over at the house this past month. She felt really bad that this had happened, not just because she could see how upset Derek was, even if he didn't show it, but because it was her fault it had happened.

Casey couldn't believe what she had done. She had never felt so guilty. Everything inside of her was screaming for her to tell Derek the truth that she had schemed and planned for weeks in order to finally get Sydney and Riley (Sydney's ex-boyfriend) together and then have Derek walk in on it. It was all so out of character for Casey, that's why she knew Derek would never suspect.

Derek sat in his room looking at old pictures. He was about six in most of them; they were all of him and Sydney. They used to live next door to one another when they were kids, they had been best friends, yes that's right Derek had been just friends with a girl, but he was only six.

Then Sydney had to move in the 7th grade, her dad had started up a real estate business with some of his associates in New York and it was just starting to get going so they had decided to move in order to supervise it more. The Davis's moved into Sydney's old house, the Ames's were replaced as neighbors and Derek found a new best friend.

It turned out that Mr. Ames's business had hit a goldmine in New York and now that he had ditched his old associates and became the sole owner of the company he was making millions of dollars a year. So when Sydney asked him to move back to Ontario he just bought a house and sent her with her aunt and uncle. He couldn't leave the business and Sydney couldn't stay in New York any longer, she was miserable.

When Sydney got back to Ontario the first thing she did was go and visit the Venturi's. She was surprised to find that George had remarried and that Derek now had two new step sisters. But she got used to it. And she soon found herself hiding out there pretty often to escape the loneliness of her own house. She also couldn't help but notice how much Derek had grown into his looks, he was down right hot.

As Derek sat looking at all of the pictures his mind wondered to the day Sydney had returned from New York.

It was a typical night at the Venturi-McDonald household; Derek and Casey were fighting over the remote in the living room, Lizzie was outside practicing for soccer, Edwin was making Derek a sandwich, and George and Nora were chasing Marti around trying to convince her to put her pajamas on.

Edwin was returning from the kitchen, Derek's sandwich in hand, when the door bell rang. Casey paused for a moment at the sound and Derek quickly snatched the remote away.

"Derek! That wasn't fair!"

"Life's not fair, get over it." Derek retorted changing the channel.

The door bell rang again. Right as Edwin put down Derek's sandwich Derek ordered him to answer the door. Edwin let out a huff and headed for the door.

"Edwin!" A woman squealed as he opened the door, this was swiftly followed by a strong hug. Edwin looked at her confused, waiting for an explanation.

"Edwin! Don't tell me you don't remember me! It's only been five years! It's me, Sydney!"

"Hey! Uh..sorry..I didn't recognize you. Come on in, have a seat."

"Thanks!" Sydney slipped past Edwin into the living room, stopping abruptly at the sight in front of her.

"Derek Venturi you better get your ass over her and give me a hug!"

Derek turned to face the mysterious voice, when it clicked who it was he jumped out of his chair and ran over to her picking her up and spinning her around.

"Sydney Ames! I haven't seen you since the 7th grade!"

"I know now put me down." Derek stepped back to get a good look at her, his jaw dropped, she was gorgeous. Her skin was a perfect golden brown, her shoulder length hair was only a shade lighter, her body was perfectly proportioned, from her petite waste to her square jaw and almond eyes.

"Wow, you look great, New York has done you well."

"Well, I don't know about that, but thank you." Something behind Derek caught Sydney's eye, it was a girl, oh my gosh, does Derek have a date over? Was the first thing Sydney thought. Sydney took a step back from Derek and in almost a whisper asked who the girl was.

"Oh, that's just Casey"

"Your girlfriend?"

"NO!" Derek and Casey yelled in unison. Casey got up from the couch and walked over to introduce herself to Sydney.

"I'm Derek's stepsister, it's nice to meet you…"

"Sydney" Casey smiled and released her hand. Sydney didn't say anything, she was a little shocked when Casey said that she was Derek's stepsister. Sydney's thoughts were interrupted when Nora, and George, came down the stairs with Marti in hand and finally in her pajamas.

"George! Hey."

"Sydney…Sydney Ames! I…I haven't seen you in …5 years!"

"I know, it's been a long time."

"Hey, how is your dad doing? Is he up here with you?"

"He is doing great, he is still in New York, he needs to stay with the business you know."

"Yeah, I heard that really took off for him, huh?"

"Yeah! It's doing amazing."

"That's great. Hey I want you to meet my wife, this is Nora and that is her daughter, Casey, and her other one, Lizzie, is out back."

"Hi." Nora gave her a big smile and held out her hand.

Marti slipped out from behind George and Nora, giving Sydney an odd look. "Who are you?"

Sydney couldn't help but laugh. She bent down to her level and looked her up and down. "Wow, Marti, I haven't seen you since you were this big." Sydney raised her hand about two feet off the ground.

"You mean I know you?"

"Yeah, I used to come and visit you guys all the time."

Lizzie came in a few minutes later and met Sydney. Sydney stayed for dinner and got reacquainted with the new family. After dinner Sydney helped Nora out in the kitchen and then went up stairs to find where Derek was hiding out.

Derek was just lying on his bed with his stereo turned up, blaring Cute Is What We Aim For, when Sydney peeked her head through the door.

"Is it safe to enter, no naked girls in here?" She entered at Derek's nod and quietly shut the door behind her. "So your Dad tells me that you are quite the ladies man."

"Haven't I always been?"Derek said sitting up and adjusting himself so that there was room for Sydney to sit.

"Ok, just because you got Jamie Hughes to kiss you in the sixth grade does NOT qualify you as a ladies man!" Sydney sat down next to him on the bed and gave his shoulder a nudge.

"Oh, come on, she was the most up tight girl ever, she probably hasn't kissed any body since then! It took a lot of skill to get that kiss and you know it."

"Ok, I'll give you that one."

"Aw, Derek: 1, Sydney: 0"

"Oh this is a game, now?"

"Everything is a game Syd."

"Alright, so you're up one. So let's go make it even." With that she got up off the bed and motioned for Derek to follow.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

When they outside Derek headed towards his car.

"Derek, we'll take my car." Derek's head followed the voice, he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Whoa, how good exactly is your dad's business going? That is a sweet ride!"

"Okay, that might have been a little bit of an understatement, my dad's business is doing amazing, it's making him incredibly rich!" Sydney said this half joking half serious and before Derek could question her she jumped in the car and started the engine. Derek hurried to the other side and hopped in.

When Sydney stopped the car Derek realized they were at the hockey rink.

"No way, Syd."

"What? You scared I am gonna beat you?"

"Oh no, I just wanted to spare you the pain of loosing." Derek opened his door and got out, heading for the building.

They both got out on the floor, no pads or helmets, just there regular attire and a pair of ice skates.

"Alright Venturi, get ready to die."

"I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into, Syd."

"Bring it on! First one to five wins."

Sydney was an unbelievable hockey player, but she had never been able to beat Derek in a game of one on one yet.

Derek and Sydney had been playing for almost two hours, they were tied 4 to4. Derek went changing to the goal, all eyes focused on the net, when from the left Sydney runs to block him. She caught him off guard and unable to stop himself he pummels her. They both fall to the ground; she collapses under his weigh. With a deep sigh she rolls her eyes back into her head.

"Still as clumsy as ever I see."

"What! You ran straight into me!"

"Well how else was I supposed to block you?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have even tried, that way this game would finally be over and you could admit defeat."

"Never."

She glared straight into his eyes. Neither of them had even bothered to move yet, his face began to drop closer to hers and she could feel thin wisps of hair brushing against her forehead. Sydney's glare softened, transforming into more of a sultry stare. That was it for Derek, she was irresistible, he had to have her, now!

Derek leaned in and captured her lips, soft and caring at first. But it soon deepened into a hungry, firey, passion infused kiss. Sydney's hands lunged into Derek's soft brown hair and they both gasped for breath every time their lips let go of each other's. Derek's hands slid down Sydney's torso, searching for her thigh. He wished that this would last forever, it was simply bliss, but he reluctantly pulled away when he felt Sydney shiver underneath him. With out a word to each other Derek got up stretching a helping hand toward Sydney. She latched on the balanced herself on her skates once again.

"It's getting late. What do you say we call it a tie and head back?"

"That's probably a good idea."

When Sydney pulled up to Derek's house she bent over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Hey, we're still just friends, right?"

"Yeah, just friends" Derek replied a bit hesitantly before getting out of the car. While heading back up to the house he turned and waved goodbye.

Even though it had been almost five years, when he was with Sydney it felt as though they had never been apart