CHAPTER 3
"Josh! How do you do this?" Drake asked while trying to figure out the car seat instructions.
Josh took a look at what Drake was doing and frowned. "Its upside down. Of course you can't read it. Try it like this." He turned the directions around, and handed Drake the English side.
"Couldn't you do it?" Drake asked, giving Josh a small smile.
"No. I am not going to do something you should be doing on your own."
"Not even for a dollar?"
"You don't have a dollar,Drake!"
"I'll let you hold the baby." Drake smiled holding her at the same level of Josh's face so Josh couldn't resist.
"Fine. Do mom and dad know about this?"
Drake didn't answer at all, as Josh hooked the car seat in.
"Well, do they?"
"Kinda..They knew she was pregnant, and I'm supposedly the father, but they didn't know I could actually keep her."
"Drake..You're unemployed, twenty-one, and have a child. Your apartment rent is past due, you're about to be evicted, and don't have enough room for more than you in your apartment. How are you going to support her?"
"Sell your stuff on ebay?"
Josh sighed. "Drake, be serious. You're twenty-one. You need a job."
Drake pondered for a moment, "Yeah, not gonna happen."
"I'm not joking! If you need money, then get a job. I'm not going to be around to pay for you or her. I'm in college now. I need to spend my money on more important things."
"Like..?"
"I dunno, food? Books? My dorm room?"
"I thought that was what scholarships were for?"
"They are, but I still need spending money to buy groceries and other private needs."
Drake laughed at Josh's mention of private needs, as Josh glared at his brother who just finished buckling the baby into the car seat.
The two boys stood on the front porch of the Parker-Nichols household. With the baby in one hand, and a bag of groceries in the other, Drake waited for what seemed to be the longest minute ever existing for someone to open the door.
The door opened, and with the best luck he's had in the past three days, his mother answered.
"Drake? What's wrong? Why are you-" She stared at the tiny bundle of life being held by her son.
Drake put on his most nervous, most fake smile he's ever worn. "Surprise?!"
Audrey took a deep breath, as Walter came into the living room. "What's that, what Drake's holding?"
"A baby. In other words, Drake's baby." Megan chimed in, not wanting to miss any action, especially action dealing with her older brother getting in trouble.
"Drake, is the baby really yours?" Drake tried avoiding the question best as he could, waiting, hoping that Walter would ask a stupid question. He didn't and he knew there was no way to lie out of this one.
"Yeah, but it's not my fault. See, it's all Elizabeth-"
"Amy." Josh said, "Her name was Amy."
"Like it matters?" Drake snapped to Josh. "Anyways, if Amy didn't go into labor, and loose so much blood, than she'd of been here, and would get to keep the baby, but since she died, her last wish was for me to raise Adr-"
"Hannah. Your daughter is named Hannah, Drake."
"Right,right. So, now I have to raise Hannah by myself."
Josh nudged Drake, and announced "There's more."
Drake looked at Josh confused, "There is? Oh yeah, there is. And I kind of got kicked out of my house." Drake waited for an angry response, and was shocked as Audrey came over and pulled her first born into a hug.
"It's okay, sweetie. I know it's been hard." She stroked his hair, "Of course you can stay here for a few months, until you find a new place. I'm sure with your job at the music store-"
"I don't work there, I quit."
Audrey pulled away from hugging her son. "Why on earth would you quit? I thought you liked your job? Were the hours unfair, or was it dangerous?"
"No."
"Then why quit?"
"It cut into my Drake time."
Audrey's sincere smile turned into a frown. "Three month's maximum."
"What?! But before you said-" Audrey cut her son off, " I know what I said before. Drake, just because you don't feel like working, doesn't mean you can just leave whenever. Good looks won't get you by forever. You had bills to pay! You have a daughter now! You can stay no more than three months; we aren't going to raise her for you. You are going to have to be the one that feeds her at two o' clock in the morning. The rest of us will be here for emergencies and extra help only."
"But Mom!" Drake whined to his mother. " That's unfair!"
"Life's not fair, especially when you're an adult, Drake. My decision is final. You can go unpack in your room now."
He stomped all the way up the stairs, making each one louder than the first. Letting all anger out, he slammed his bedroom door shut awaking baby Hannah who was asleep in her carrier on Josh's bed.
He watched as her face turned red and wrinkly like a prune before she let off an ear drum breaking wail.
"Shit." Drake muttered, feeling awkward cursing in front of an infant, let alone his infant. Oh well, like she's even going to remember this moment seven years from now.
He picked her up from her carrier, her feeling slightly heavier than usual and an uncommon, yet familiar oder hit the room. Oh God, it was the oder he remembered from when Megan was little. Pinching his nose, he made his way over to the newly bought bag of diapers and pulled one out carefully trying to change the diaper with one hand, the other hand still pinching his nose. When all was done, he took a step back, waiting for her to stop crying and go back to sleep.
She closed her eyes for a good minute or two, before crying at the top of her lungs again. Drake sighed, picking her up, trying to rock her to sleep. The method continued for the next twenty minutes, and worked until Josh dragged in Megan's old crib from the attic.
"Mom told me you might need-"
"Josh!" Drake shout-whispered to his brother. "She was asleep until you dragged that in!"
Josh apologized. "Sorry, but mom told me to help you set it up before you go to bed."
"Okay,okay." Drake went over to the corner of the room they cleared out for the crib and tried to set it up. "Josh, where does this go?" He asked picking up a random piece trying to attach it to the crib. Josh snatched the piece from Drake, attaching it to where it belonged.
As soon as the two boys finished, Drake put the baby to bed, and not bothering to take off his clothes, he dived into his bed, ignoring the covers and fell asleep.
All was well, until a scream broke out. Drake looked over at Josh who was (surprisingly) still sleeping. He then looked at the time and groaned. 2:05 A.M.
Drake whined getting out of bed and getting a bottle from the mini fridge in his room. He tiredly picked Hannah up out of her crib and sat on the edge of the couch in his room, feeding her for the next thirty minutes.
When she finally fell asleep, for hat must have been the third time that night, Drake didn't even bother going to his bed, and collapsed onto the couch. Three and a half hours later, Drake re awoke to a cry again. Too tired to lift his whole body, Drake lifted his head up just enough to see that Josh already was feeding her.
Thank God for Josh Drake thought as he fell asleep for the final time that night.
