Dudes and dudettes! We're at chapter TWENTY-FIVE! Say it with me... TWENTY-FIVE! C: This must be the proudest day of my life! ...Okay, maybe not! But it's still pretty cool! ^^

Anyway, in other news, I figured out that I really like writing Howard. He says funny things. That's all I have to say!

QUESTION: Are there any characters that you REALLY want me to include? Like, possibly make them have a bigger role then they already do in the story? (And if you say Sam... Just no. Don't say Sam.) I always love reviewer-input! It makes me smile!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own "GONE", which is by Michael Grant, and I don't own "Heaven Can Wait", the ridiculously cute song by We The Kings.

READER PRESENT!: Okay, I don't know if you guys have seen this before or not, but here it is! ... My stupid computer won't let me paste the whole link up here, so... If you want a link to the first six chapters of LIES, say so in your review or PM me! ^^

Chapter Twenty-Five: Heaven Can Wait

Drake slammed the door behind him and Alex, and they walked down the porch steps together. Alex shot Drake a questioning look.

"Where are we going, exactly?"

"Lana." His tone was clipped and strange. "Your hand needs fixing." She nodded and moved her gaze to her swollen hand, which she had presumably broken after punching Orc in the chin.

"Um..." Alex spoke up after about five minutes of walking in silence. "You know that you can talk to me about pretty much anything, right?" He sighed.

"Yeah. Yeah, Alex, I know that. And I do need to talk to you... I just don't know how to word it. I've always sucked at holding deep conversations."

"Deep?"

"Well, yeah." Drake carefully avoided looking her way. "I hate it here, Alex. There, I said it! I. Hate it. Here." Her eyebrows furrowed.

"I knew you don't like staying in Perdido Bea--"

"No. I hate staying in Perdido Beach," he said, cutting her off. "I hate being under Sam's power. I hate all of the people in this damn town that hate me. I hate not feeling like myself!" Alex exhaled loudly.

"I'm sorry that we can't go back to Coates, but--"

"I don't want to go back to Coates!" he said vehemently. "I don't know where I want to go." Alex stopped in her tracks and faced Drake head on, forcing him to stop walking and look at her.

"One, please stop cutting me off. Two, I know it's going to be hard to adjust to life here, but we can do it. And to risk sounding sappy and cliché, you'll always have me."

"They all hate me." Drake's voice sounded different then Alex had ever heard it, and she took his good hand in her good hand and began walking again.

"Since when have you ever cared what people thought of you?" she questioned, almost laughing at his incredulous expression. "I never thought I'd see the day where Drake Merwin would care if a bunch of townies liked him or not. But if you want people to like you, then you're gonna have to put in some effort."

"Good." Drake smirked. "'Cause that's the last thing I want."

Alex threw up her hands. "Gods above, Merwin, what do you want? One minute you're all bummed because they all hate you, and the next you're swaggering around, all that's the last thing I want!" Drake's smirk widened.

"I'm a mystery, what can I say?"

Alex rolled her eyes, and her hand had an involuntary spasm of pain. She grimaced. "Can we walk a little faster? I'm pretty sure that my hand's about to either fall off or explode." It was Drake's turn to roll his eyes, but they sped up their progress.

The Hilltop Resort came into view, and Alex smiled in relief as they began to ascend to the hotel.

"You okay?" Drake called back to her. She nodded in response, even though her hand was beginning to look like one big bruise.

"I feel like a pro boxer or something," she joked.

"Yeah," Drake replied sarcastically, "because pro boxers really break their hands on a daily basis."

"Well, they don't box with rock monsters," she returned, cradling her throbbing hand protectivley. "Anyway, is that all you wanted to tell me? Your little emo moment about everyone hating you?" Drake glared at her.

"I do not have little emo moments," he said in an incredulous voice. "and yes, that was pretty much it. Aside from the fact that whenever I see you with someone from that town, I want to kill them." Alex stopped in her tracks and Drake turned to face her.

He shrugged. "What?"

"Just because I'm friends with someone doesn't mean--"

"That's not what I'm talking about," he interrupted. "Okay, a little bit. But the bigger problem is that when they look at you, I can see pity in their eyes, Alex. Pity because you're attached to me."

"That's crazy, Drake," Alex sputtered.

"No, it's not. And you know it. They're never going to accept me as a person, and if they don't accept me, they most likely won't ever fully accept you, because... Well, because of the two of us."

Alex grinned. "Then they're gonna have to get over it. Because there's no one here that I care more about then I care about you, Drake." Even though Alex could tell he was trying to hold it back, Drake showed one of his rare smiles.

"Here's a song for the nights I think too much," Alex sang, linking arms with Drake as they climbed the hill. "And here's a song when I imagine us together... Here's a song for when we talk too much and I forget my words... Heaven can wait up high in the sky, it's you and I, heaven can wait deep down in your eyes, I'm yours tonight... Lay your heart next to mine, I feel so alive, tell me you want me to stay forever, 'cause heaven can wait..."

Alex forgot about the pain in her hand for a brief moment, because her mind was too preoccupied with the fingers intertwining with her own. Drake had a slightly far-off look in his eyes as they walked and she sang.

"Here's a song for the one who stole my heart and ran so far that Cupid couldn't catch him..." Alex smiled as Drake squeezed her hand. "Here's a song for the kid who aimed so high he shot her down..."

"Heaven can wait up high in the sky, it's you and I, heaven can wait deep down in your eyes, I'm yours tonight... Lay your heart next to mine, I feel so alive, tell me you want me to stay forever, 'cause heaven can wait..."

They reached the top of the hill, where Lana was busy healing the hole in Orc's cheek. Howard and Albert were standing by, Howard looking worried and Albert looking thoughtful.

"Here's a song for the nights I drink too much and spill my words..." Alex sang, and all eyes turned to them.

This is all kind of like a dramatic movie, she thought, and was about to make a snarky comment to Drake, when he dipped her like they were dancing and kissed her passionately.

In front of Lana, Orc, Albert and Howard.

A shocked silence ensued. Drake still had Alex in his firm embrace, Lana's mouth was hanging open, and Albert's eyes were bugging out of his head like he had never seen anyone kiss before.

"GET SOME!" Howard yelled enthusiastically, breaking the awkward silence. Orc burst out laughing, and Howard high-fived a startled Albert. Drake helped a blushing Alex back to her feet, and winked at a thrilled Howard.

"That's how ya do it."

Alex and Lana didn't know what to say.

"Um..." Alex mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. "My hand's sort of broken, so, uh, if you wouldn't mind..." She held out her black-and-blue hand and Lana took it in her own.

"Why doesn't Drake just kiss it and make it better?" Howard said in the background, then began laughing like a maniac. Lana rolled her eyes.

"Whatever's wrong with him, I can't heal it," she muttered. Alex shared a smile with the other girl, thankful for the female company. "There. That should do it."

"Thanks, Lana. All right, you, let's get outta here." Drake nodded goodbye to Howard from where they had been talking. Alex shook her head, amazed.

I will never understand male bonding.

XxXxX

They walked in companionable silence back to town, Drake emanating an air of smugness which Alex firmly ignored while fingering a slip of paper in her pocket which Albert had surreptitiously handed her back at the hotel. She pulled it out as the two of them approached their house, and read it with a kind of disbelief.

"Drake," she said absentmindedly, reaching her hand after his retreating back. "Listen to this."

"Alex: Thank you for helping to pick cabbage this morning.
For your contribute, please accept this free pass for Albert's McClub
tonight. Located at the McDonald's. For anyone else, please bring toilet paper
or batteries to trade.
-Albert Hillsborough

"A club?" Drake said disbelievingly, recognizing the look on Alex's face. "No. No way. I can handle Sam. I can handle kids made out of rock. I can handle killer worms. But I will not willingly set foot in a club."

"C'mon," Alex wheedled. "It'll be fun!" Drake raise an eyebrow. "Okay... Maybe not. But you won't even have to dance! We'll just go check it out tonight, my pass is only good for one day." Drake growled.

"Freakin' dance clubs. We're in the middle of a crisis, and Hillsborough makes a dance club." Alex grinned.

This will be fun, she thought, only a bit evilly. And I'm going to totally make him dance, even if it's the last thing I do. Drake must have caught a devious glint in her eyes.

"I am not dancing, Lucine."

"We'll see about that, Merwin," she replied in a sing-songy voice, running up the stairs to see if she had any clothes appropriate for a club.

Wee-hoo! Guess what the next chapter is? It's called... The Double-Song McClub Extravaganza! And yes, there's two songs in it, so it'll be extra long! And you know what you, my dear reader, has to do to get there? It's a simple thing called...

REVIEW!

Yay! Now go do it! And don't forget the question and the reader present at the top! Have a nice day...

:Hyperactive Lioness: