A/N: Just a quick note. Although this is set as an alternate timeline after 1x06, in this story Zoe is still dead/"has left town".

Also, once again, thanks so much to all of the reviewers that I couldn't send a PM to. (And to those that I could too) :)

Julia managed to snag Emery away from Roman for long enough to get her best friend to dance with her for a couple of songs. During this time, Roman went to go sit at the table where he saw his sister.

Teri noticed that he was away from Emery and saw it as her golden opportunity, so she gestured over to the table and told Drake, "Let's go over there."

"So do you want my present now or later?" Teri whispered in Roman's ear in a suggestive tone as she leaned against the table, so close to where he was sitting that her arm was pressed against his.

"I'm going to have to go with neither," Roman told her with a slightly amused smile.

"But you don't even know what it the present is," Teri teased into his ear.

"I have a pretty good idea actually," he told her.

"I'm sure you do," she agreed with a suggestive grin.

Taylor noticed Drake sitting back at a table with Sophia, Roman, Lucas, and, unfortunately, Teri, and saw her perfect opportunity. A grin formed on her lips as she began to stalk straight towards him.

Drake noticed Taylor approaching and turned in his chair to face her as he plastered his most charming grin across his lips.

That grin quickly fell away as she walked straight past him with zero hesitation and not even a glance his way. Drake turned and shared a look with Roman who seemed torn between being amused and feeling sorry for his friend.

Taylor stopped when she reached Lukas's seat and leaned against the table facing him, which conveniently left her back turned to Drake.

"Hey Lukas, can I borrow you for a few minutes?" She asked in her sweetest tone as she placed a hand on his arm.

The tone of her voice had Drake grinding his teeth together and her hand on Lukas was only making matters worse.

"Yeah, sure," Lukas agreed.

"Great," Taylor said with a sickening smile as she moved out of the way to let him get up.

As she led Lukas straight past Drake, she let her gaze fall upon him for just long enough to see how tensed his whole body seemed to be and to shoot him a smug look before they passed him.

"Unbelievable," Drake muttered under his breath once she was out of earshot. "…And could she have been any more obvious that she was just trying to piss me off?"

"Well good thing her plan isn't working," Roman commented sarcastically in an amused tone.

"Why do you even care? She's just some stupid human," Teri pointed out.

Sophia had heard enough of this conversation, so she stood up and began to head over to where Emery and Julia were still dancing together.

Drake knew that it was not a good idea to let Teri know that he had actual feelings for Taylor, so instead he just responded with, "True, but I figure that if we're getting rid of them anyways, why not have a little fun using them in the meantime? You know that I enjoy a good game."

"Okay, so here's the deal," Taylor told Lukas once they were far enough away that she figured it was safe to stop walking. "Drake's a jerk, so I need to make him jealous and prove that I'm over him all at once. Would you be willing to help me with that?"

Taylor would have gone after Roman, since using Drake's best friend to make him jealous would have been poetic justice after the way that he had been ignoring her for Zoe, but unlike some people she had class. She wasn't going to use Roman and mess things up between him and Emery. She also wasn't going to use an unsuspecting guy the way that Drake had used her, which was why she had decided to ask Lukas for a favour as a friend.

"Well Drake could probably come over here and snap my neck before anyone could stop him," Lukas commented. "But I feel like the consequences of doing that would probably stop him, that or Roman, so I guess that I could help you."

"Thank you," Taylor told him before pulling him into a hug.

Drake looked back over to where Lukas and Taylor were standing to watch Taylor give him a beaming smile before hugging him. Under the table, Drake's hands clenched tightly into fists that began to shake with anger.

His face must have given away just how annoyed he was, since Roman commented, "Keep in mind that if you go do something stupid, then we're all going to get less freedom."

"I'm not going to do anything stupid," Drake responded in an irritated tone.

"I know you, Drake," Roman pointed out. "You're thinking about doing something stupid."

"Okay, maybe," Drake admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I'm actually going to go do it."

Drake suffered through a few songs of Lukas and Taylor dancing closely together before Lukas finally left Taylor alone to go grab them a couple of drinks.

Taylor was standing by herself, waiting for Lukas to come back, when an irritatingly familiar voice came from behind her.

"You look good tonight."

She unenthusiastically turned around to face Drake as she cursed the goose bumps that were forming across the flesh of her arms.

"I know," she told him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Of course, you always look good," he added with a grin.

"What do you want, Drake?" She questioned.

"Why do I have to want something?" He asked her in an innocent tone.

"Because you always want something," Taylor pointed out.

"Okay, then I want you," Drake responded with a smirk. "And we both know that you want me, not Lukas."

"Maybe you want me now, but twenty minutes ago you were all over Teri. And last week you were all over Zoe," she argued. "Sorry, but I'm not stupid enough to think that I'm anything special to you. Not anymore."

"Me and Teri?" Drake asked, unable to supress a laugh as he did so.

"I saw the show that you two were putting on," Taylor pointed out in a tone that came out much more bitter than she had intended for it to. "You two would be good together. She lives on the sector too. Plus you wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment of being seen with a human."

"Teri's like an annoying sister to me," Drake told her. "One that sometimes I wish didn't even exist. And trust me; she's not into me either. The whole reason that I was drinking and dancing with her was because she was upset and jealous of Emery. She used to be with Roman and she's still not over him. I was just trying to distract her... But don't mention that jealous of Emery thing to anyone else, especially Teri, or else she will murder me in my sleep."

Taylor wanted to believe him so badly, but she wasn't sure if she could let herself. She really didn't want to be the gullible girl that consistently fell for his lies and he still hadn't explained what had been going on the rest of the time.

"Okay, then what about Zoe?" She asked warily. "What was going on between you two before she left town? Did you hook-up?"

"There was nothing going on with her," He told her honestly. "We talked a few times, but she is probably the last person that I would ever want to hook-up with. I don't want either of them, I want you."

Drake spotted Lukas, drinks in hand, coming towards them and reached out and grabbed Taylor's hand to lead her away so that their conversation wouldn't be interrupted. He was pleasantly surprised when Taylor didn't try to fight him and instead willingly followed him to an area along the wall that was practically empty of other party-goers.

She remained silent as she tried to sort through her thoughts. She desperately wanted to believe him and be able to trust him. Hell, she desperately wanted him in general, but there was still a part of her that hadn't gotten over the hurt that he had caused her that was holding her back.

When she didn't respond with anything, Drake began to start trying again, "Look, it's not like I was trying to ignore you, I've just had more important-"

"More important things?" She asked him. "We had sex in a bathroom and then you ran off and basically ignored me for two weeks because you had more important things for all that time? Do you know how that made me feel?"

"That's not what I meant," he told her. "I just meant that I've been busy… I'm sorry."

She couldn't help but form the slightest of smiles at how urgent his tone had come off there.

Drake decided to press his luck a little and lifted his hand to run it through her hair. Taylor let him, much to his relief.

"You do realize that you're impossible to ignore, right?" He asked.

Taylor's smile spread a little and she could feel herself ready to give in as the butterflies in her stomach completely took over.

"I'll pay more attention to you," he assured her. "I promise."

"Fine, I'll give you one more chance," she told him. "One."

A huge grin formed on Drake's lips at that. He brought his right hand up to cup the side of her cheek before bringing his lips down to meet hers.

Taylor smiled back against his lips as she kissed him. As she brought one hand to the back of his neck and the other to his shoulder, she wondered how she had convinced herself that she didn't need this.

Drake broke off the kiss and told her, "Hey, I'll see you later. I've just got to go deal with something."

Her jaw dropped in shock as he turned and walked away without even waiting for her to respond.

Drake got about three or four steps away before he couldn't keep up the act any longer. He began to chuckle as he turned back around and saw the look on her face.

"That was a joke by the way," He pointed out as he stepped back towards her.

"That wasn't funny," Taylor told him, although a small laugh escaped her lips.

"It was a little funny," He commented as he moved to place his right hand on her left hip.

"Okay, maybe a little," She admitted.

After Lukas had watched Taylor willingly go off with Drake, he decided to take the drinks in his hands over to Julia and Sophia.

Once he arrived at where Julia, Emery, and Sophia where standing, Julia told her best friend, "You should go back to your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," Emery corrected. "At least I don't think that he is."

"Maybe not yet, which is why you have to go back over there and make him yours," Julia told her, punctuating her sentence with a slap to Emery's ass.

Emery laughed a little and looked at her friend in shock.

"…Sorry, was the slap too much? I just thought that I'd try it out," Julia said guiltily. "Now go!"

A/N: Please read and review! Okay, so I think that the next chapter will be the last one at the party. It's also going to have more of Romery than there has been in the other chapters. I hope that you guys liked the update and thanks for reading! :)