Chapter 2

Tomorrow May Rain

Next day-Morning at the Nichols-Parker house

Josh looked out the window at six am. It was still raining outside. He was hoping he

wouldn't have to bring his umbrella to school. People made fun of him for carrying one.

Even Drake couldn't resist the urge to rib him about his big umbrella that Josh received

from Grammy who purchased it from Oprah's web store boutique. Josh couldn't exactly

help having a harmless crush on the influential and popular talk show host. She was

amazing. She made great things happen. Plus he read all of her book club selections.

Even using some of them for his English composition papers. He got an "A+" on Ernest

Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying.

Drake got a "D" for his effort on Megan's old copy of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House

on the Prairie. Mrs. Hafer was the teacher so it explained not only Drake's choice in

books, but to prove a point that he was going to "just get barely get by" in her class. The

trouble was that he did that in all of his classes. Josh didn't really want to go to school

today.

Other than seeing Mindy he wasn't up to going.

Josh couldn't believe Drake was still sleeping. He went to get his pillow so he could

proceed to toss it at his brother.

"Hmm," Drake mumbled and went back to sleep.

"No, 'hmms'," Josh decided he was going to have to shake him awake, "Drake! It's time

to wake up!"

"J-Josh?" Drake opened up one tired eye.

"It's me."

Drake slowly put his arm up so he could put his hand over Josh's face to push him

away.

"You're not even dressed yet. Don't worry about me." Drake replied in a grumpy anti-

morning person tone.

"Fine. But when I'm done showering and getting dressed you better be up."

"Who are you, Mom? Go away."

Drake turned over to get some more sleep before the alarm clock went off at six thirty.

Josh grabbed his clothes that he liked to put out the night before on the sofa in their

bedroom and took himself to the bathroom. There were times such as these where he

felt like he was Drake's babysitter and he was quite sick of it.

Drake came downstairs at seven fifteen dressed in a red t-shirt and faded jeans. No

one else was in the kitchen except Josh who was eating Ghost Monsters crunch.

"Hey, Josh. Where is everybody?"

"Are you the same Drake? An hour ago you bit my head off."

"You bothered me while I was sleeping."

There were no waffles or pancakes today. So Drake grabbed an apple and a mini

bottle of orange juice out of the refrigerator.

"Actually---" Josh started to say when Megan opened the kitchen door to throw away her

apple core in the trash bin.

"Look who it is Boob and Boober. Leave the room, Josh, I want to talk to Drake."

"You can't make me leave the kitchen."

"Josh, I have a bag full of tricks that I can hurt you with. A big bag. So scram."

Josh stood up. He needed to brush and floss his teeth once more before he saw Mindy.

"Fine. But I'm not leaving because of you."

"Who cares?"

Megan waited for Josh to put his cereal bowl, spoon, and juice glass in the dishwasher

and leave the kitchen.

"What do you want, Megan?" Drake asked before she could speak first.

"Don't play innocent with me, Drake. Were you in my room last night?"

"Uh—No. Why would I be in your room period?"

"I thought you were looking for something."

Drake rolled his eyes, "And what was I looking for?"

"I don't need to tell you what."

"Yes you do, Megan. Because I have no idea on what you are talking about. And I don't

have time to play these games."

"Fine. But I don't have it and you of all people should know that."

Megan took Mom's calendar of picturesque lighthouses off the wall and threw it at her

brother and went into the living room. It was a good thing Mom and Dad left early to

have breakfast out because he couldn't believe what he was about to say.

Drake had an inkling. "Megan! You can't possibly know!"

Megan threw her books into her dark chocolate brown colored knapsack. "Drake, have

you ever known me to be stupid?"

"I didn't say you were dumb."

"I'm not a little baby anymore, you know."

"I know. You don't really want to talk about this do you?"

(please tell me you don't)

"No. How come you haven't told Josh?"

"What is this the—the...?"

"Spanish Inquisition."

"Yeah that. And why should I tell Josh?"

He couldn't believe he was talking about this subject for this length of time with Megan

his very own younger and "evil" sister.

"Uh, Boob! Because he's our brother and it's the right thing to do."

"Since when do you care about the right thing to do?"

At that moment a car horn beeped from outside. That was Megan's best friend and her

mom to take her to school. Megan didn't answer him she just took her knapsack and

ran out of the house.

Drake felt like the wind was knocked out of his pretty little sails as he sunk into the sofa.

There was no way he was going to school today. He couldn't. He wouldn't be able to put

up his emotional camouflage in time. He did want to see Torey though but he didn't want

to her to see him like this. He didn't even know if he could really handle the concept of

"going steady". Yes, he did like her. He liked her a lot. But he was a young man and

there were many skirts still left to chase.

He put his feet on the coffee table and grabbed the remote control.

Tell Josh! The sound of thunder made him jump out of his usually calm skin as the TV

station went off the air yet again because of the storm. Tell Josh! What was Megan

smoking where that would even be an option? He had to get this topic out of his mind. It

scared him because it was the kind of knowledge that could make a young person

reach for excessive amounts of alcohol and/or drugs and Drake didn't want that. That's

why he had his music and he didn't want to lose sight of his dreams. Then he

remembered Helen, Josh's boss from the Premiere who gave him a spare key to her

luscious condo when she went on vacation to the Bahamas.

Josh had to do all the little annoying things like water her plants and get the mail while

Drake got to lounge in the hot tub and play on her dance board with his gaggle of

friends and admirers.

Drake felt the walls closing around him and knew that there'd be a neutral place that he

could hang out in for the day. All he had to do was wait until 9 when Helen left for work.

She always complained about the mountain of paperwork that she had to do before the

Premiere opened. He'd grab a doughnut at the bakery across the street from her condo

and try to forget every single word that Megan said. He ran upstairs to get his guitar.

Tell Josh! No offense. He loved him and all, but there was no way he was going to tell

Josh. No way in "H" "E" double hockey sticks.

It wasn't the right thing to do as far as Drake was concerned and no lecture from the

younger and allegedly wiser Megan was going to change things that were better off

being pushed away for the rest of his life.

All Drake ever wanted to do was follow the sun