Derek sat in the front seat without a shirt on running his hand through Casey's hair. She sat opposite him in the passenger seat, playing with the hem of his shirt against her thighs.

"I don't want to go back home."

"We have to Derek."

"We don't have to do anything. We're adults."

"I'm not throwing my life away over some guy."

"Some guy?" Derek looked confused and offended. Unsure how to take Casey's comments. Usually he knew when she was joking. She'd throw his smirk right back at him. But her expression was pained.

"I mean..."

Before she was even started with the love rant, the car was in drive, a pile of a clothes at her feet, and the music blasting.

Casey slowly started getting dressed as Derek drove. He keep looking back and forth between Casey and the road. When she slid her panties up her legs. And lifted off the seat to put her shorts back on. She had to take of Derek's shirt sooner or later. But he saw he without her shirt and just shorts with her hips raised. And he was shakened back towards the road. She was dressed and their pile of clothes became just his shirt and a pair of jeans. His shoes were in the back along with hers. And it wasn't worth looking for them. They'd probably not even wear them into the house.

Derek threw his shirt on at a red light amd slipped into his pants as he got out of the driver seat. "The moment of truth." He grabbed Casey's hand but she pulled away. And walked into the house with him trailing behind.

When they entered the house everything was silent, the too quiet kind of conspicuous silent. Suddenly George was infront of them. He had that look on his face, when he's trying to parent but gets flustered and confused. "The kids are gone and we need to talk."

Nora was sitting at the dinner table. The lights had been slightly dimmed and she was sitting next to an empty chair across from two more empty chairs. It was obvious how the talk was going down.

"I hope you don't mind I let the kids go out and relax to give us more privacy to talk freely." Nora smiled which was weird for a parent child punishment session. "We got some calls today. And we wanted to talk to you first before passing judgement on misinformation."

It was George's turn to reluctantly smile. "One call was from school but the rest were from concerned parents and neighbors."

"Concerned? You mean nosey!" Derek broke out and Casey took his hand under the table. He instantly calmed and Nora started again.

"We just want to hear the whole story from you okay?"

Derek cleared his throat and squeezed Casey's hand under the table. "The first day we moved here, I teased Casey mercilessly. And I still do. But from the moment I Iaid eyes on her and the first time we fought, I knew there was something about her. And then you guys went away and it was just perfect timing where we just mushed. And now we're kind of stuck together." He lifted their joint hands onto the table and kissed her hand.

Casey smiled and then looked at her mother. Both women were sporting wet eyes. But both were crying for two different reasons. Nora for her dream of a linked family lost because her daughter fell in love and Casey because Derek never said anything close to that to her alone. Derek looked at his dad, "I love her Dad. You of all people would understand the out of the ballpark grandslam world series kind of love." And finally Derek looked at Casey, who was crying at the last revelation. "I love you Case. From the moment I meant you. I knew. Something inside of you caught my attention. And I've been trying to find something close to that feeling for a long time. And nothing comes close. So will you officially date me and love me. Will you wear my jersey to games? and kiss me goodnight?" Casey sniffled and nodded.

Nora and George were moved by Derek's intense love for Casey. They knew that splitting them up probably wouldn't happen because neither would leave the other. But they knew that and decided upon rules of the house.

George squeezed Nora against his chest and she started to name off the laws. The bedroom doors closed at 11, no sleep overs. Curfew stood as is. Life would go on as normal, it wouldn't be effected by their romance. No accomindations would be made for the couple.

Derek and Casey laughed, like normal. What part of any of their lives was normal?