Authors: Rochelle Paige
“So, that was fun,” I said.
He shook his head as he strode towards me. “I hope you mean
that, baby, because I have more bad news. Sasha’s riding with us to my parents.
Her mom’s waiting there to pick her up instead of meeting us here.”
“Seriously? Gah, that really sucks. I could ignore her on the
plane because I was busy, but now I’m going to be stuck riding in the car with
her, too?”
“I wish I could say April Fools or something, but I can’t.
Promise I will do my best to make this up to you. And I will book a car for her
myself if I have to for Sunday.”
He wrapped his arms around me as he spoke. From the comfort of
his embrace, it didn’t sound that bad. It was a relatively short car ride. I
just had to survive twenty minutes with her and then I’d have time with Drake.
“I’ll add that promise to my rain check to see your ass. I’m
sure I’ll think of something you can do to make it up to me.”
He groaned in my ear. “Fuck, baby. The last thing I want is
anyone else in the car with us, let alone Sasha. I was looking forward to all
the naughty things I could talk you into doing in the back of a limo.”
“It’s good to know I won’t suffer alone then. You can picture
everything I would have let you do to me as we’re stuck behaving while she’s
with us instead.”
“Shit, don’t torture me like that,” he said as he led me back to
the limo and helped me inside. He sat next to me and pulled me close to his
body, like he was trying to place a wall around me for protection. I relaxed
against his warmth and ignored Sasha’s chattering the whole way there. She
didn’t try to draw me into the conversation, and Drake leaned over to kiss the
top of my head several times throughout the drive. Each kiss was a reminder
that he was talking to her while thinking about me.
The drive to his parents’ had seemed so short during the last
trip, but it seemed to take forever this time. Sasha just kept flirting with
Drake the entire way. It didn’t matter to her that he didn’t flirt back or that
I was practically sitting in his lap. I wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t seem
fazed one little bit by our relationship. I didn’t know if I should be
irritated or impressed by her persistence. The girl certainly had guts, even
though she had no clue that her behavior was more likely to piss Drake off than
attract him.
By the time we arrived, I had a raging headache that was most
likely caused by the combination of Sasha’s perfume and nonstop talking.
Drake got out of the car first and then helped me out. “Gonna be
okay?”
I rubbed my temples tiredly and shielded my eyes from the sun.
“Not sure. Can you grab my bag first? My migraine medicine is in my makeup
bag.”
“Sure, baby. Go sit down on the porch, and I’ll get you whatever
you need. There are some chairs in the shade,” he whispered as he pulled his
sunglasses off and gently placed them over my eyes.
Sasha had climbed out of the car while we were talking. “Drake,
can you help me with my bags?” she asked.
“No, Sasha. I need to take care of Alexa first. You don’t even
need to do anything with your stuff anyway. The driver will leave them on the
steps so they’ll be ready to load into your mom’s car.”
“Oh, but I thought we were all staying here for the weekend. It
doesn’t look like my mom is here yet. Let me text her to make sure she packed
to stay over also.”
The pounding in my head increased at the thought of spending
even more time in Sasha’s company. I raised pain-filled eyes to Drake before
turning to walk away. I couldn’t deal with her antics right now. I needed to
take some medicine and catch a nap. Anything else could wait until I felt
better.
As I climbed the steps of the main house, the front door opened
and Drea bounced out.”Alexa!” she screeched. “Yay! You guys finally made it.
I’ve been waiting forever.”
I smiled weakly as I neared her. “Hey, Drea,” I greeted Drake’s
sister.
Drea’s smile fell from her face. “Oh, no. You’re sick. Here,
come sit down.”
She helped me over to the chairs and fluffed a cushion behind my
back. “You didn’t have to come if you weren’t feeling well. We would have been
disappointed, but we would have understood.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. “I’ll be fine, Drea.
The headache just started. It hasn’t had a chance to get really bad.”
She looked down to the driveway, where Drake was rifling through
my suitcase in search of my cosmetics bag. Sasha stood there, tapping away on
her phone, presumably trying to make sure that she got to crash our weekend
plans also. “Aha! I get it. Your headache is of the blonde variety. She really
can be the biggest pain in the ass. And she’s had a crush on Drake ever since
we were little. I swear she was about to pee herself when she found out that he
was transferring to Blythe.”
Even through the pain, I laughed at Drea’s comments. “I’m sure
she did. She’s made it very clear that she’s the one who should be dating him
and not me.”
“Like that’s gonna happen. If Drake was the least bit interested
in her, it already would have. Besides, I think she’s more interested in her
mom’s fantasies of having her daughter marry her best friend’s son than
anything else.”
“And does your mom have the same dream?” I asked, feeling
disheartened by the idea of a pair of matchmaking moms.
“No, my mom’s wish would be that Drake finds the right girl to
marry. Doesn’t matter to Mom where he finds her, just that she makes him happy.
Like you seem to do. Now, let me go detach the leech from Drake so he can take
care of you. Let me know if you need anything.”
Drea made good on her word and kept Sasha busy so Drake could
focus on me. He found my Immitrex pills and brought me one along with a tall
glass of cold water. He bundled me over to the pool house so I could lie down
and take a nap. Before I knew it, I’d slept half the day away and awoke feeling
a little better. I tilted my head from side to side to make sure there wasn’t
too much pain. I felt a rush of relief upon realizing that I’d caught the
headache early enough to stop it before it exploded into a full-fledged
migraine. Hopefully I’d been fast enough that I’d be back to normal soon.
The house was quiet with no sign of Drake. Our bags were at the
top of the stairs, and he had left my cosmetics bag in the upstairs bathroom
where I’d easily find it. I brushed my teeth, feeling a bit gross after
traveling and sleeping. I was still groggy and pale, so I splashed some cold
water on my face. As I dried off with a fluffy white towel, I heard the door
close downstairs.
“Drake?” I called.
I heard footsteps on the stairs before he appeared in the
bathroom doorway. “Feeling any better?”
“I am, thanks. Sorry I conked out like that.”
“No problem. You must have needed the sleep. Hungry?” he asked.
“Yeah, I could eat. Did I miss anything while I was out?”
“Nothing good. My mom invited Sasha and her mom to stay for
dinner so I told her we were just going to eat here since you weren’t feeling
well.”
“Was she okay with that? We came here to visit your family. Not
hide out together in the pool house.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, looking uncomfortable. “She
wasn’t happy, but she was more worried about how you were doing than anything
else. She’ll probably stop by to bring over some dinner and check on you soon.”
“Look, why don’t you just eat dinner with everyone and then
bring me back some food later?”
He shook his head in response. “No way, baby. You’re my priority
here. You don’t feel good, and you need me. My mom will get over it. And
hopefully she’ll take the hint so that Sasha and her mom don’t end up staying
the whole weekend.”
“God, I hope so too. So much for our fun weekend.”
Drake walked towards me and stopped inches away. I could feel
the heat from his body as he reached up to run his fingers through my hair,
gently rubbing my scalp. “You. Me. No school. No work. No practice. Oh, we’ll
have fun all right, just as soon as you feel up to it. Count on it.”
I stepped closer, filling the small amount of space he had left
between us. My body molded to his, I relaxed into him and rested my head on his
shoulder. “You better deliver on that promise.”
He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly. “I won’t ever
make a promise to you that I won’t deliver on. You can take that to the bank,
baby. Feel up to heading downstairs and resting on the couch? We can watch a
movie. I brought some snacks.”
“Drake, go have dinner with your family. I’ll be fine.”
He swept my legs out from under me in a smooth motion and
carried me towards the door. “Already said no. It’s nice to see my family, but
this weekend was more about time for us than them. I’m not leaving you while
you’re sick to go have dinner. Drop it, Alexa.”
“Put me down. It was just a headache. I’m not really sick, and
I’m certainly not an invalid. I can walk downstairs by myself.”
“And give up my chance to show you how big and strong I am?
Settle down and hold on tight before I drop you,” he teased.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he carried me down the
stairs. Instead of putting me down once there, he crossed over to the couch and
sat down with me on his lap. He reached around me to grab extra pillows and
propped my feet onto them. Once he had us settle to his satisfaction, he turned
on the television. “Anything you really want to see?”
“Pick whatever you want.” I snuggled into his hold, getting
comfortable.
Drake turned on an older action movie I had seen before. I
enjoyed cuddling with him on the couch and could barely to keep my eyes open as
the movie played. About halfway through, there as a knock on the door right
before it opened.
Drake’s mom, Ginny,
peeked through the opening and saw us on the couch. “Oh, good. You’re awake,”
she said as she walked inside.
“Hey, Mom,” Drake greeted. I wiggled, trying to get free from
his hold so I could move away while talking to her. It was awkward to be
sprawled on Drake’s lap while talking to his mom. His arms tightened around me,
making it clear that he didn’t want me to move.
His mom saw the struggle and laughed. She lifted a picnic basket
up so we could see it. “Don’t get up on my account. I just brought over some
dinner so you guys don’t starve tonight.”
“Thank you, Ginny. I’m so sorry I ruined your plans for today,”
I apologized.
“Don’t be silly. You didn’t ruin anything. I still got to see my
son, didn’t I? As long as you guys made it here safe and sound, I’m happy. I
just hope your headache is better. Do you need anything for it?”
“No, thanks. I had some medicine with me. I’m feeling much
better and should be back to normal tomorrow morning.”
Drake piped into the conversation. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve got
it covered. Alexa has me here taking care of her.”
She patted Drake on the head and smiled down at me. “I’m sure
you’re doing a fine job of it, too. But I’m a mom. That means I can’t help but
worry over you kids.”
His mom was so sweet. She reminded me of Aubrey’s mom in many
ways. I watched her as she pulled several containers out of the basket and put
them in the fridge. “You didn’t have to go to so much effort. I would have been
fine with sandwiches. I’m usually not that hungry after a bad headache anyway.
In fact, I was trying to convince your son to join you all at the house for
dinner without me.”
Her eyes twinkled in response as she shook her head. “And I’m
sure that suggestion went over like a lead balloon. Drake made it very clear
earlier that he wasn’t excited about having dinner with our guests. He’s always
been a little uncomfortable around dear Sasha. Your headache gave him the
perfect excuse to bow out of tonight. It wouldn’t be right for him to leave you
alone here feeling unwell while we all had dinner together.”
Drake smirked at me. “See, Alexa. My mom says I should stay
here, too. Told you so.”
She shook her head at him. “Don’t give her a hard time, Drake.
This is your chance to show her what a great, supportive boyfriend you can be.”