I changed a bit.

"Whoa, hottie at 10 o'clock." Trevor states, holding his arm out to block the rest of Derek's entourage from moving forward. Everyone looks in that direction and holds back a smile. Sam, however, doesn't hold back and laughs. He mutters under his breath, "Poor thing."

Derek stiffens. "Who her?" He points over to where Casey is walking with Kendra and Emily, laughing.

Trevor licks his lips. "Hells, yes."

All the guys take a step back sighing in sync. Ralph grabs Derek's shoulder and mutters. "New guy, remember? Be easy."

Derek shrugs him off and turns his attention back on Trevor. Trevor (who – maybe didn't know it, but definitely was – was getting interviewed to be a new member to Derek's entourage) turns to one of the guys and asks, "Think she'd put out?"

"Whew," Sam mumbles to the guys. "Strike two."

Derek glares at him and Trevor's smile falters. He laughs nervously, "What?"

"She's off limits."

"Oh, my bad bro," He claps Derek's shoulder. "Sister or girlfriend?"

Derek turns bright red and hears Sam mutter to the group, "And, Strike three."

Trevor nods his head in understanding. "By the look on your face I'm definitely gonna go with girlfriend."

And, everyone sighs and shakes their heads in pity. Ralph pouts; he really liked Trevor, too. His mom packed him candy for lunch.

Derek twitched nervously. "Girl-girlfriend? Um, I mean… We-we-we… We don't-don't use that word, per se."

Trevor smirked.

And, Derek knew instantly that he hated the guy.

"I mean, I would say that we're dating." He finishes. And, honestly, this is a really huge step for him - admitting that they were dating.

"Really?" Trevor says mischievously. "Exclusively?"

"I mean, it's not set in… like, she could… but, she would… I mean, it's kind of understood that we…" Derek swallows. Wasn't it like a known rule across the universe that you don't ask Derek Venturi personal questions? Especially if pertaining to Casey McDonald? What planet did this guy fall off of?

And, all he could think about was punching this kid in the face. Yeah, there was definitely zero room for him in his entourage.

"It's simple really." Trevor (boldly) folds his arms over his chest. "Are you guys dating or do you guys go on dates? 'Cause those are two very different things."

Derek purses his lips. Uh, duh. He was just very recently convincing people of the same concept only weeks earlier.

"I mean for all you know," Trevor continues, apparently not getting the telepathic messages being sent at him at the speed of light. "She's dating other people all the time, and you don't even know it."

Derek narrows his eyes and balls up his fists.

Then, Trevor adds sarcastically, "And, by that I mean, 'going on dates with'."

xxXXxx

"So, let me get this straight." Kendra says. "You've been going out for a month. You've kissed him. You've even had sex with him. And yet, you have never held his hand before?"

Casey blushes like ten different shades of red all at one time. She stops by the huge fountain and sets her bags down. "Well, technically I have not had sex with him since we started actually dating."

Emily's eyes widen while taking a bit out of her soft pretzel. "Wait, Casey McDonald had sex when she wasn't in a serious, committed relationship? Is this a world gone mad?"

"It's different with us," Casey insists. "We're not your average…well, you know,"

"Couple?" Kendra offers, leaning on the fountain as well.

Casey shrugs. "Sure, that."

"Well, you can say that again." Emily states, joining them. "Strange is more like it."

Casey purses her lips, offended. "We are not strange."

Emily exchanges a look with Kendra. "Right."

"Don't placate me." Casey says, honestly upset.

"Then, don't use big words we don't understand."

Casey rolls her eyes. She's got to get herself a new set of friends.

"If you were going out with Derek you'd understand."

Kendra scoffs. "Newsflash, Casey: We've all gone out with Derek. And, it was never this complicated."

Casey opens her mouth to refute this when she hears a huge crash to the right of them. They all look over and gasp. Some guy was lying on the floor, holding his face in pain , while Derek (who clearly caused this pain) stood over him, fixing his collar on his leather jacket. Casey looks back up at Derek just as he turns and happens to catch her glance. She shakes her head disappointedly and rolls her eyes. Derek rolls his eyes back. And, she huffs, watching him walk away, leaving the boy on the ground.

"He's so immature."

"Yeah," Kendra agrees. "But, he's hot." And then she adds, "And, so is that babe on the floor. Damn."

"I wonder if that boy's okay?" Casey wonders. "He probably didn't even do anything."

"Who cares?" Kendra picked up her bags. "Aren't you always s'posed to be on Derek's side?"

Emily replies, as Casey gets up to head over to the scene. "If there's one thing that's a definite thing Kendra, it's that Casey McDonald is never on Derek's side."

xxXXxx

"Hey," Casey touches the boy's arm. "Hey, are you okay?"

The boy groans and slowly attempts to sit up. Casey assists him. The boy opens his eyes. And, the irony of this situation is almost too funny to laugh.

"What?" Casey questions.

"You're 'Hottie at 10 o'clock'."

"I'm what?" She raises an eyebrow, grabs his face and tilts it up to look at his eye. The swelling doesn't look to bad. "Do you have a concussion?"

"Never mind." He laughs. "You're Derek's girlfriend."

She stiffens. "Girlfriend? He-he said that? He-he used… Did he – did he use that word sp-specifically?"

"Wow. You guys are exactly the same." He laughs, holding out his hand. "Trevor McClain."

She reaches out to shake his hand. "Hey, I'm a "Mc" too." She smiles a wide smile.

And, she does not miss the way Trevor's eyes seem to sparkle in the glow of the mall's fluorescent lights.

"See, I knew even from a distance that we had something in common."

And, he does not miss the way she doesn't say anything about the fact that he hasn't let go of her hand yet.

She laughs again. "You are so full of it."

"No, no. I am being totally honest." He jokes. For some reason, he wanted to keep her laughing. It was like the most beautiful sound he ever heard. "It was like some force of gravity forcefully caused my eyes to gaze upon you. Like, we were meant to be and all that Romeo jazz."

She understood now.

Casey smiles and tilts her head to the side. "Is this why he punched you?"

"Maybe," He winked. "Maybe not."

She giggled, "Well, I think –"

"Casey!"

They look over to the loud sound of their intruder and notice Derek standing there fuming, fists clenched - backed by the rest of his crew. She looks down at her and Trevor's hands and instantly lets go.

"It was nice meeting you, Trevor."

"Likewise," She stands up from her kneeling position and he adds, standing up as well, "You know, I never did find out what kind of "Mc" you were."

She laughs, placing her bags back on her wrist. "I'm a McDonald."

"Mm," Trevor says. "That's the best kind."

She rolls her eyes playfully and smiles.

"Casey!" Derek shouts at her again and she looks over at him pissed - the feminist in her oozing out of her every pore.

"Better go." Trevor suggests. "Your boyfriend beckons."

And, she purses her lips.

xxXXxx

"What the hell was that?" He yells as soon as she's within 30 feet.

"What the hell was what, Derek?" She places her hands on her hips adamantly.

"What the hell was that flirty-McGoo-fest that was going on over there?"

"Oh, please, Derek." She rolls her eyes. "I don't know who you think you are, yelling at me like this?"

"I'm you're… ugh!" Derek rubs his hands through his hair. "You're just so frustrating!"

"Why! Why am I so frustrating to you? Why is this relationship so unnecessarily complicated?" Casey cries. If they didn't have the whole mall's attention before, they definitely do now. "And, don't you ever think about interrupting one of my conversations like that again? Who do you think you are?"

Kendra and Emily had finally made their way over to where she was. They stood behind her.

"Sorry," He does look somewhat embarrassed for that. "But, what do you want me to do? Sit back and let you continue flirting with Trevor McAssFace. Um, no thanks."

"I wasn't flirting." She scoffs.

Derek waves his arms in frustration. "You were holding his hand."

He had a point there, but she wasn't backing down. "So, what, Derek? You still "mack" on all your groupies at school."

He clenches his jaw. "That's different."

"Oh yeah, how?"

"I'm not planning on doing anything with them."

"And I am?" She shrieks. Out of the corner of her eye she sees a mall cop deciding whether or not to come break up the fight. It looks as though she was too interested to.

He yells back, "I don't know, are you?"

There was this brief moment where none of them said anything.

"Look," Derek starts again, a million times calmer than seconds before. "Just... Are we exclusive?"

This caught Casey completely off guard. That was completely random. They never really talked or defined or anything them before, and to do it in the middle of the mall surrounded by all their friends wasn't the most ideal spot.

She coughs. "Do you not want to be exclusive?"

"Don't do that." Derek whines. "Don't do that whole reverse make me answer the question thing and have all the pressure forced back on me. No. I'm asking you. Are. We. Exclusive."

She swallows and looks back at Kendra and Emily and then to Derek's entire entourage and then to all the people watching them in the food court of the mall. She bites her lip.

"Yes," She nods. "I would like to think we are."

And, it's as if a million tons of weights have disappeared off Derek, because his entire spirit lifts and all the stress lines disappear and he smirks as if to not let out a huge wacky grin.

"Okay," He sighs, relieved. "Good. That's good. I mean... whatever."

She smiles at his dorky nervousness.

"See you at home?" He ruffles his hair.

She smiles. "See you at home."

He bends down, kisses her chastely, and turns to walk away.

And, all everyone else is thinking is, why do they even bother watching TV anymore when clearly this is so much better.

xxXXxx

"You know what I think?" Emily looks up from her book, from her spot on the ground, leaning against the coffee table, and watches Casey.

"What's that?" Casey asks, continuing to paint my nails, sprawled out on the couch.

"I think that Nicholas Sparks is the saddest man alive. Like, ever."

Casey laughs along with Kendra, who's sitting on the recliner reading about some celebrity's love life in her magazine. They hadn't had a girl's night like this in a long time. God knows they needed it.

"I'm serious." She turns a page in the novel The Last Song unhappily. "A very, very sad little man."

Casey can't help put giggle at her friend. She moves on to her next finger. "Just keep reading. It gets better."

"Doubt it."

And, then Derek enters through the front door and it's as if somebody pointed their magic wand, because Emily can't seem to find any other logical reason for why Casey's staring at him like he's the center of the whole freakin' universe.

He drops his coat on the ground and Emily watches as his gaze immediately finds Casey's while Casey quickly looks away and goes for a third coating.

And, she wonders why they act this way around each other. They have been going out for, like, a month.

Kendra smirks up at him. "Derek,"

And, he nods at her. "Ladies,"

It's silent for a quick second until Kendra announces, "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want your beloved chair back or something?"

"No, no. It's cool." He walks over to the couch and swats at Casey's legs. "Move it, Klutz."

"Jerk." But, she moves anyways. He sits down next to her, leaving quite a bit of space.

"So, what are you girls up to?"

Emily narrows his eyes at him. "Well, we were enjoying ourselves with a little guy-free girl's night. But, then you showed up."

"Wow, so feisty." He laughs. "When'd you jump on Casey's Anti-Derek boat of hatred? I remember when you used to worship the very ground I walked on."

We all gasped. He did not just go there. Casey slapped him really hard on the chest.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"How dare you mention that!" Casey exclaimed. "You know that was a dark period for Emily."

Derek scoffs. "Period? Try, like, entire childhood."

She smacks him again.

"Casey, what the fuck? Cut it out." He rubs at the spot on his chest, glaring at her.

"Don't tell me what to do. I can't believe you're so insensitive."

"Me insensitive? You insensitive!"

"Nice, Derek. What are you Tarzan now or is that really how good your English grammar is? And watch your language. It's not attractive."

And, as she watched them (completely sure that this fight wasn't about her anymore) she doesn't actually really see any less tension than from before. So, how exactly was their whole dating thing solving anything again?

She tunes back in and realizes they have reached a whole other topic. She looks over at Kendra. Kendra hasn't moved an inch. It's like this whole situation doesn't bother her. Like, it's normal or something. And, in a way, in a sad, unfortunate way, this was her normal.

She didn't know how she felt about that.

"Derek, you ruined my nails!"

"I didn't do anything. Maybe you shouldn't have smacked me like three times and-"

Emily clears her throat. They look at her. "I severely hope that you guys are different together when you're alone. Because this," She wags her finger at the both of them. "This is just unnatural."

xxXXxx

Derek watches his door slowly creak open and then Casey squeezing her body through it.

He smirks at her and she rolls her eyes, crawling up his bed, and leaning against his chest. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her in tighter. "Thought you guys were having your little girl's night extravaganza or some shit."

"We are. It's just that," She leans her head back onto his shoulder. "We haven't… well, for lack of better word - 'relieved tension' in about a week. And, I thought what better time than now."

"Now? At," He looks at his alarm clock. "Three o'clock in the morning?"

She nods.

"How are we supposed to," And, he makes air quotes just like she did. "'Relieve tension' at three o'clock in the morning?"

"Well, I don't know," She reaches her hand out to grab his and then thinks better of it. She places her hand back in her lap and twiddles her thumbs. "We don't actually know a lot about each other, so let's start with the basics."

"Please, Case," He flips his hair out of his face. "We've lived together for 3 years. We know everything there is to know about each other."

She raises her eyebrow, skeptically. "What's my favorite color?"

"Pink," He says immediately.

"Yeah, well." She huffs. "That one was an easy one."

He laughs grabbing her hand, and she wonders how long it'll take before he lets go. "Face it, McDonald. I know you like the back of my hand." He holds his other hand (you know, the one that's not still holding hers) and holds it up to his face and makes a face. "Oh, well, that's new."

Casey throws her head back and laughs and he smiles, proud that he made her laugh that hard. He watches her face as she laughs; how careless she is with him. Her hair was all balled up in a bun, strands everywhere, no make-up on. She was gorgeous, and she didn't even know it.

This was one of the very few times they had actually ever been openly affectionate towards one another. Most of anything they did together almost always included fighting, but sometimes, on that rare occasion, when it's late at night like this, they would just lay in each others' arms conversing.

"What?" She catches him staring at her.

"Nothing," He rubs his thumb across her hand.

Casey laughs, "Well, you know. Kendra and Emily think it's a little strange that we're 'relieving tension', and that we've even slept together and-"

"Wait, they think it's strange that we're 'relieving tension'?" He frowns. "It doesn't seem like it."

"No, they think it's strange that we've done all that and that well," She looks away. "That this is the first time that you've ever really held my hand before."

She feels his hand stiffen in hers and she wishes she hadn't said anything.

"Oh, well," He runs his tongue along his teeth – something he only does when he's out of words and is about to shutdown.

"It doesn't really matter. I was just saying." She looks up at him and sighs. "Derek, don't do it. Don't go to that Derek Place you always retreat to."

He drops her hand. "What Derek place?"

"See, you're already there!" She sits up and crosses her legs crocodile style. She smoothes out her hair ineffectively and considers leaving. "Just forget it."

"Casey, what the hell are you talking about?" He looks at her sharply.

"Your Derek Place," Casey says. "You know, that place you have? Like, you'll be totally sweet and fine one minute and then you'll be totally shut down and closed to the world the next."

Derek narrows his eyes and folds his arms. "I do not have a Derek Place."

"You do so,"

And, then she stares him down until he gives.

"Okay, so maybe I have a Derek place." He points at Case. "But, if I have a Derek Place, then you have a Casey Place."

She rolls her eyes annoyed.

"But, that's okay," He promises, crawling on top of her. "'Cause I like Casey Place."

She giggles as he brought his mouth to her neck.

"I'm serious." He mumbles against her. "It's all hot, and sexy and… hot."

"You're wide range of adjectives impresses me, Derek." Casey laughs, (fake) pushing him off of her. "Besides, you're just saying that to get in my pants."

"Of course, not." He says sarcastically, not in the least bit ashamed. His arm wraps around her waist, crushing their bodies together. "However, we have already technically slept together so, I don't understand why we have to wait now that we are actually um, 'relieving tension'. "

"Because Derek, I don't just jump into bed with anyone,"

He raises his eyebrow.

"That I'm dating, I mean." She continues. "I'm not even entirely sure that I even like you. And I'm a relationship type girl, so I know what I'm doing here. And, the next step in our relationship is definitely not sex. We are just not there yet."

Derek begins pressing his lips against her neck again, heading southward. "I think we are." He brushes his hands along the sides of her body.

She holds back a moan. "We're not."

"Then tell me, Obi-wan Kanobi, what is this next step?"

Casey replies looking down at him, "Well, logically, I think the next step would be being able to acknowledge that I'm your girlfriend."

Derek freezes right above her chest. He sits up and stops his whole seduction strategy. "Yeah, I don't think we're there yet."

Casey laughs.