Chapter Two

So where are we?

The setting afternoon sun was blinding, Drake reached over and placed his sunglasses on. Josh was sleeping in the seat next to him, Drake thought about turning on the radio to wake him up, just so he'd have someone to talk to, but the whirring of the wheels on the road was soothing.

In his four years of high school Drake Parker never once went to a school dance, went to one football game (just to see Josh play), never made a grade higher than a lone B, and never ever had a serious girlfriend. High school was a game to him, a game that he didn't intend on winning, but a game that he knew he'd have fun playing. He looked back on his highschool career with no regrets, well except for the fact that he never had a serious girlfriend.

He hated how Josh was so happy with Mindy Crenshaw. He hated how their fidelity towards one another was like something straight out of an epic love story.

The sky was turing hazy shades of pink, red, and purple as Drake entered Nevada. 6 hours in a car was enough. The next motel that they passed was where they were spending the night.

Josh wasn't really sleeping, just resting his eyes. He knew Drake wouldn't notice if he woke up completley. He was watching the landscape out the window. From the looks of it they were outside Reno, the ramshackle houses were a good indication. Nervous about having to make new friends, Josh didn't want this trip to come to an end. He'd never admit it but Drake was his only 'true friend', well if you could count Drake as a friend. If their parents had never gotten married, they'd never be in this car together, they'd have never have even talked.

"Tell me if you see a motel." Drake said, startling Josh and breaking the peacful silence.

"Sure can."

Twenty minutes and one In and Out burger later they found a cheap motel. The bright neon sign overhead told them they were infact outside of Reno. The motel was borderline crap hole. One queen size bed with disgusting sheets that hadn't been washed since maybe Regan was in office. The wallpaper peeling off the walls and cracked ceiling added to the unpleasantness of it all. Josh cringed as he pulled off the disgusting sheets and put his own on. Drake smiled, his brother was always anal and yet thoughtful like that.

"Who think's of bringing extra sheets?" Drake laughed.

"I do. I don't like using hotel things. It's just wrong." Josh retorted tucking in the flannel sheets.

Drake grabbed a can of lukewarm Dr. Fizz out of the mini fridge in the room and sat on Josh's neatly made bed. The motel didn't have cable and all that came in was the regional access news. Josh sat down next to him obviously wanting to start some sort of brotherly bonding converstation.

"You know what Drake..." Josh began. From the tone of it Drake could tell it was going to be another Josh probing him kind of night.

"What?" Drake replied.

"I've always admired you Drake. You're so popular and like every single girl likes you. You're never alone on a Saturday night and you've gone so much further than I have have." Josh confessed as his shoulder slouched a little. He knew Drake never envied him like that.

"How do you know for sure I've gone further than you ever have. For all you know I'm still a virgin." Drake retorted as he sat up more.

"It's only logical that I would assume Drake. You've never given me tips on like kissing girls and what not. Just tips on how to make them think I'm cool. Every time I try to go further with Mindy she just pushes me away."

"First off I do not want to hear about you and Mindy. Josh if you want to you know...have sex, don't date girls like Mindy." Drake stated bluntly. The truth hurt, didn't it?

"Drake I really like Mindy. I respect the fact that she wants to wait until marriage but I don't think I want to go to college never going past first base."

"Wait? You've never been past first?" Drake replied in shock. "Dude...that sucks."

"Sorry I'm not more charming like you. Sorry girls just don't take off their clothes for me."

"It's not like that Josh. Girls will never take their clothes off for you. You have to tell them it's okay too. Women are complicated." Drake explained. It hurt him that his sexual experiences hurt his brother. He never wanted it to be a competition between them, that's why he never told Josh any of it.

"Then what is it like Drake? How are women complicated for you? You seem to have them all figured out."

"Josh remember Veronica?"

"The really cute blonde that you dated for like two months?"

"That's the one. She wouldn't kiss me for the longest time. I would have dumped her but... I wanted a challenge. Without going into detail, I ended up doing her by our 2 month anniversary. All it took was a necklace from Whittmans, some chocolate, and a whole lot of champaign." Drake smiled. Veronica, the girl he dated just because Trevor bet him that he wouldn't get her in bed. Boy was Trevor wrong, which made Drake 50 bucks and also very unpopular with the girls tennis team because he dumped her three days after.

"Drake, you dumped her three days after that." Josh stated in shock. "I'd rather die a virgin that do that to a girl."

"See Josh that's why you still are one. You're too sensitive. You actually care about the girl you want to have sex with. Sex is like riding a bike, you get better the more times you ride it...woa bad analogy. But anway your frist time isn't meant to be special it's supposed to be practice. You want to wow Mindy the first time right?"

"Right...but I'd feel so dirty."

"Take a bath after...so the only way to make sure you'll wow Mindy is if you practice." Drake said patting Josh on the back. "We just need to find you a girl out here, one you'll never see again, so you can lose your virginity and have a pretty awsome sex story to tell your roomates."

"Drake what happens if she...you know." Josh stuttered. Drake read his mind perfectly and reached into his duffle bag for something. He pulled out a little black box. He threw the box at Josh.

"Apparently those are useful." Drake joked as he saw the look on Josh's face.

"How did you manage to hide these from me and Megan, let alone Mom or Dad?" Josh asked indicating that he'd have found the box of condoms.

"No one ever bothers to look in my guitar case do they?" Drake stated.

"Drake I never actually thought you weren't a virgin."

"Are you serious? Man I thought you knew all along all those nights I came home late, all the rumors that went around school. Josh I lost my virginity to Jackie Phelps, in 10th grade. I was the big man on campus for a week because of it."

"I thought that was because you were a sophomore dating a senior."

"That was only half of it. Josh I promise you I'll get you a cute, nice, willing, girl in the next two weeks. Well I'm beat, I'll see you in the AM." Drake said as he quickly changed into his pajamas. Never shy about taking anything of in front of anyone.

Drake fell asleep almost as soon as he pulled the flannel sheets over him. Josh watched as the alarm clock by the bed flashed, 11:00, 12:30, by the time 1:45 rolled around he knew sleep wouldn't come. Josh had always been that way, he'd always had a restless mind. What he wouldn't give to just be able to lie down and fall asleep. He watched as the ever perfect Drake lay there in a state of dream euphoria.

In all of his four years of high school he followed the path that he was told to and expected to. Straight A's, Honors Club, Physics Club, Spanish Club, doing community service by visiting the elderly, having a steady girlfriend and not doing anything to sexual with her. What he wouldn't have given to get at least one C, to have actually known what it was like to be in the spotlight and been popular from something other than his twitching incident on KDJY with his Dad. Josh wanted what Drake had, he wanted to be the big man on campus, know what it was like to make it to more than first base with a girl, to know what it was like for once to be respected and admired by his peers.