June 10, 2006
Before the sunriseNo more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks. At least that was how it
was going to be for Drake Parker. He sat on Torey's desk chair in her room wearing a
plain white cotton t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He was amazed at her natural beauty and
loved watching her sleep. He only got out of her bed to use the bathroom and make sure
that her mother was not home. Even though Mrs. Becker couldn't do a damn thing to
them about being together in the bedroom anymore. Still though Drake didn't want
Torey to get upset over having an argument with her mother over him being in her bed.
A double shift might have been a blessing in some ways, but to miss her only daughter's
graduation left a sour taste in Drake's mouth. He picked his red graduation cap off the
floor and stroked the tassel with the gold toned numerical '06 charm on the top with his
hand.
What was going to become of them?
"H-hey. W-hy are you sitting all the way over there?" Torey rubbed her eyes.
"No reason." Drake went over to his fiancée and kissed her on the lips as he put his cap
on her head.
"As I said last night, your parents didn't seem too thrilled about our engagement…well I
think your Dad might have been but couldn't really show it. Your Mother on the other
hand…She didn't say much to me at all in the house, on the way to graduation, after the
ceremony—she probably hates me now."
"Audrey doesn't hate you. She just thinks we're too young, which is more parent
hypocritical bullshit. When she married Spidey she was quite young herself."
"You're cute." Torey wanted to change the mood. She was worried that her and Drake
weren't going to make it. Yeah, they made it past the high school couple stage, but it
wasn't even a whole day yet.
It was a terrible feeling to let your insecurities get the better of you.
"You're cuter."
How could she not be in his black and silver t-shirt and her pink panties?
But the latter was on the floor along with the rest of their clothes.
She grabbed her yellow graduation cap to put on his head.
"We've done this all night,"
"Oh yeah, like you mind all of a sudden." Torey put her hands on Drake's shoulders as
she kissed him on the lips.
"Tassels must turn to the right and then get thrown onto the floor."
"Drake, wait." She put her hand on his chest
"What is it, babe?"
"Do you need to go to the 24-hour Smart-Aid for more---?"
He smiled as he kissed her on the nose. "Don't worry, I'm prepared."
"I love you, Drake."
"I love you too, Torey….I think I should go to the drugstore."
"Why?"
"There's only one left."
Torey put her arms back on her fiancée's shoulders. "You can go, after, we make use of
it. Right now, all I want to do is be with you."
The worry was always there, but it was always during making love that Torey wanted to
believe in the fairy tale ending that Drake and her would actually make it. A high school
romance that left the pages of a yearbook and would be respected by their parents, who
should be proud that their children were all grown up and were good people who
actually wanted the American dream to settle down and have a family. But when she
was alone clutching her pillow waiting for Drake to come back from the pharmacy she
wondered quite simply.
What was going to become of them?
She put her underwear back on and went to her desk to check her pocket planner
calendar with the pink heart over the clear vinyl cover. The Honor Society was supposed
to have a goodbye party at Eric's house next week, but she really didn't want to go.
Even if Drake went with her, she didn't want to share him. And he wouldn't have a good
time there. Geeks don't exactly throw the best parties. Eric's idea of a good time was a
night group marathon of Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit game playing. Not exactly the kind
of parties that Drake enjoyed going to. That's when she noticed the bare marks on the
page.
No. This was impossible. Surely, she must have just forgotten to put her entries in.
"Torey! You'll never guess what!" Drake burst back in her room into a good mood as
she quickly closed her calendar and pushed it off to the side. He threw the plastic drug
store bag on her bed.
"What is it, Drake?" She stood up.
"When I was in the parking lot, I got a call on my cell…guess who from?"
He could barely contain himself.
"Who—Josh?" She hoped. Before he left California she hoped that they would get back
together and be brothers and friends again.
"No. Better! Devon Malone!"
So that was the situation.
Devon Malone from the band Zero Gravity wanted Drake's
services as a session musician to help with the unnamed album that they were working
on and only in San Francisco which was only eight hours away by car and even less by
train.
Drake swirled Torey around and kissed her not realizing her preoccupied state.
He picked her up and placed her on her bed. She allowed herself to push the thoughts
away. Like how rain washes the way dirt on a car. It was clean again.
Torey wanted to enjoy this special time with her fiancée and realized it was on that first
night. It had to be. Drake's world was expanding while she was going to go to school—
away at school. A musician's life is much different than a student's. Sure it was San
Francisco today but it could be London, England tomorrow. How could they make it and
what if something happened to make him resent her? It happened all the time in so-
called strong relationships that wind up faster in divorce court than the faux couples that
you had your betting money on.
When they were done yet again proving their love to one another. Torey rested her head
on Drake's chest. They weren't kids anymore, but it was bullshit to think that they were
actual adults living in the real world. What did being eighteen mean? It was only a
number. It didn't guarantee life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
"You're shaking." Drake whispered, as he made sure that Torey had enough blanket. He
hoped that she wasn't having any flashbacks regarding her sad excuse for a father, but
he would always be there.
"Sorry."
"Don't be."
"Congratulations on your news, Drake, I bet you're happy."
"Yeah. Who knows? Maybe, they'll ask me to tour with them."
How fricking great.
"That would be a great opportunity for you."
Drake fell asleep first. Torey thought he looked handsome and rather peaceful. One
thing was for certain if their relationship was going to be together forever and all of the
fluff that little girls are promised from the media then it had to be carefully woven
together from the finest of threads. She wouldn't get in the way of his dreams. It was as
simple as that.
"I love you, Drake Parker." Torey whispered and closed her eyes as she cried herself to
sleep on the inside.
If it was so, then she knew what she needed to do. The only way to keep them together
like anything in life it was a choice.
The Soul's Expression
By Elizabeth Barret Browning
(reprise)
With stammering lips and insufficient sound
I strive and struggle to deliver right
That music of my nature, day and night
With dream and thought and feeling interwound
And inly answering all the senses round
With octaves of a mystic depth and height
Which step out grandly to the infinite
From the dark edges of the sensual ground.
This song of soul I struggle to outbear
through portals of the sense, sublime and whole,
and utter all myself into the air:
But if I did it--as the thunder-roll
Breaks its own cloud, my flesh would perish there,
before that dread apocalypse of soul.
Notes: This story is to be continued in Part III of the trilogy