"Welcome home, Mr. Parker!" Drake's assistant, Frank, said as he opened the door.

Drake stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway. He couldn't believe his eyes, the place was huge.

"You can go in, it's yours..."

"M-mine?"

"Yes, sir. All yours!"

"This is an apartment?!" He exclaimed as he slowly entered, "I-it's bigger than my house!"

"Well, Spin City thinks a lot of you and is going to take good care of you, sir..."

The first place Drake ran for was the balcony. Throwing the door open, he jumped out and leaned against the railing, taking in the sights of the well lit city and...

"The Hollywood sign! I have a view of the Hollywood sign?!"

"Yes, sir," Frank called from the kitchen, "You also hav-"

Drake ran passed him right for the bathroom, "A jacuzzi tub?!" He squealed.

"If you like, I can give you a tour..."

"Uh, no, no that's okay. Actually, I'm really tired," He said, heading for the bedroom, "It's been a long...oh my God!" He cried, "This bed is just for me?!" He jumped onto the double-king sized bed and flopped back, "You sure I'm not sharing with like, twelve other people?!"

"Hey, well, you know; you are a rock star," Frank said, "Girls are ganna be throwing themselves at you!"

Drake shot up as if he'd been pinched, "G-girls? Thr-"

"Groupies, sir!"

"Y-yeah, 'course... groupies... 'girl' groupies..."

"Yeah! Now, you're all set up, sir, so I'll leave ya to get some sleep!"

"T-thanks, Frank..."

"No problem, s-"

"Don't call me 'sir', okay? It's just Drake..."

"O-okay... Drake... g'night!"

"Night..."

When the sound of the door shutting echoed through the hall, Drake lay back onto the bed and sighed.

'I'm a rock star... and I'm home... home... in a huge lonely apartment...'

Stepping into the small dorm room, Josh found himself greeted with an overly cheery, "Hey there, roomy!"

"H-Hey..."

"Name's Jack Price..."

Josh set his things on what he guessed was his bed. It had been a long night and even longer morning, especially with the weight of the guilt of how he had left Drake on his shoulders.

Having waited patiently, since it seemed this new room mate was one for wearing his feelings on his sleeve, he asked "And you are...?"

"Uh? Oh, J-Josh, sorry, it's Josh Nichols," He said, taking his room mate's hand, "Long night... and morning..."

"Nichols?! Not 'the' Nichols?"

"Sorry?"

"You know a guy named Mike?"

"Y-yeah, we met a while ago at a party..."

"He's a friend of mine. Told me all about you..."

"G-great," Josh chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

"I have a meeting to get to. You just help yourself to whatever and get settled."

"Thanks, Jack."

"Anytime, man! See ya!"

Once his new room mate was gone, he took out the CD Drake had given him.

Settling onto his bed, he laid back and through painfully held back tears, stared at the label: "For my brotha".

"Drake?!" Frank bellowed from the door. After three years of being Drake's assistant, he had become Drake's closest friend, "You awake yet?!" Waiting for an answer, all he got was a low, drawn out groan. Sighing heavily, he marched toward the bedroom of his charge/friend, "Drake, wakey, wakey!"

"Oh, man, no!" Drake cried from under his blankets, "It's your all's fault!" He moaned, "You all just had to throw me a party!"

"Of course we did! Only your third CD and it sold better than your first two combined! Platinum is nothing to sneeze at..."

"Right now I don't care, Frank!"

"You didn't even drink..."

"I don't drink, you know that but you do!" Drake exclaimed, shooting up from under the covers, "Why?! Why aren't you feeling just as bad as me?!"

"I've been in the business a long time..."

"Too long..." He moaned, scooting out from his bed and trudging to the bathroom, "Tell me again what's going on worth getting out of bed for today..."

"Press conference."

"Oh, goody."

"Say, Drake, don't you ever check your mail?" Frank asked out of the blue.

"Wha- ma'l?" He asked, mouth full of toothpaste.

"Wha-... uh, snail. Your box was stuffed! And I know you check your email, you're on the laptop every-" Before he knew it, Frank was tackled, pinned to Drake's bed, "D-Drake?!"

"Why?! What came, Frank?!"

"W-well just the usual I guess..."

"What usual?! Any-... never mind, where is it?!"

"On the kitchen counter!"

Drake raced for the kitchen. Unable to stop, he swiped up the pile of envelopes as he slid through right into the wall, slamming hard and falling back onto the floor.

"Ow."

"Drake, you alri-"
"Fine, I'm fine!" He answered, staying flat on his back on the floor, he shuffled through the bills and junk, "Damn." He muttered under his breath.

"Drake? Something wrong?"

"No. No, nothing. I'll be ready in about twenty minutes." He sighed and stumbled back to get ready.

Trying to focus on the computer screen, Josh found himself drawing blanks. Every line he typed, he just as quickly deleted.

"Never going to finish this!" He growled threw clenched teeth. He was so engrossed, he hadn't noticed Jack entering the room.

"What's up, man? You look terrible!" If there two things Josh gave Jack credit for it was he possessed the most upbeat personality of anyone he had ever met and he drove him nuts.

After a year in the dorms, he, Jack and Mike had all decided to go in on renting a nearby house and if it had not been for Mike, he'd have lost his mind.

It was also about a year before Josh learned Jack was once a Jacqueline and the meetings were a support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans gendered students of which he had been dragged to numerous times.

"Ah, dude, this thesis is driving me crazy!"

"Ugh, Josh, you have a year to finish it! You're fine!"

"Says the guy who doesn't have to write one..."

Jack waved him off with a "Phe!" and headed for the bathroom, "I gotta get ready, I'm so late! I gots me a date!"

"She down with the "Frankenweenie"? Josh laughed. There was at least one other thing he gave the 'guy' credit for; his sense of humor about the whole transformation thing.

"Laugh all you want, at least I have a date!"

"Hey! Mike and I are... close, but..."

"You know he wants to be more..."

"Yeah, I just... I have other things to worry about..."

"Like that paper? Josh, you need to chillax!"

"You know, I hear that saying one more ti-"

"You've got mail!"

"I think you've got mail, dude..."

"No kidding?" Josh said, clicking the mail icon, "Oh... oh man..."

"What?" Jack ran up behind him, staring over his shoulder.

"I-it's... I..."

Leaning in, the name of the sender jumped out at Jack sending him aback, "Drake Parker?! How do you know Drake Parker?!"

"Great. You're a fan?"

"No! But the chick I'm seeing tonight is..."

"Shouldn't you be making sure 'it' isn't going to fall off when you 'meet' her..." Josh tried to change the subject.

"Hey now, I'm not after her for 'that'! She's a nice girl..."

"Sounds like you need your hormone dosage upped..."

"You really think so?"

"No guy isn't after a girl for 'that'..."

"Nice try!"

"What?!"

"Changing the subject! How do you know Drake Parker?!"

Getting up from the desk, Josh hit the save button on his thesis and walked over to the couch to flop, "Mike didn't tell you?" Jack shook his head, "He's my step-brother.", And I miss him more than anything.

TBC...