Chapter Seven
Blue Suede Shoes and The Pouring Rain
"What's wrong?" Taylor asked gently. This who situation was rather awkward for her, she knew it must be the same for him.
"Never mind." Drake said as he stood up. "We should get ready now; we've got a long trip ahead of us. We're trying to hit Texas today."
(Two days later)
After much pleading from Josh and Taylor, they'd finally made it to Memphis. Drake, who'd wanted to drive the 15 hours straight, was shot down by Josh and Taylor who wanted to divide it up between two days. They'd found a great deal on a hotel, only $40 a night.
"Well I'm out to look around Memphis, maybe visit the King's grave." Drake said as he put a twenty in his pocket and walked out of the hotel.
"I don't understand that boy sometimes." Josh sighed as he sat down on the bed. They'd spent the past two days not talking to each other, except for the occasional, Josh I need this or Drake would you stop that. Taylor was spent; dealing with both of them together was extremely difficult. They fought like they were an old married couple. Even in the presence of a girl they wouldn't stop going at each others throats. She assumed that if she weren't here with them right now, one of them would probably be dead. And she equally assumed that the one dead would be Josh.
"Don't worry about it. Let him be." Taylor stated as she flipped on the TV, Oprah was on. Taylor left it on because she knew that Josh would want to watch it. She pulled out her book and began to read.
"Taylor..." Josh began after twenty minutes of silence.
"Yeah?" She questioned putting down the book.
"You want to go do something?" Josh suggested. Drake had his hotel keycard with him, and Josh knew full well that he'd be out all night with some random girl.
"Sure, I guess." Taylor said as she got up off the bed, slipped on her worn blue flip-flops, and grabbed her jacket off the bed.
They walked out of the room and headed out into downtown Memphis. Taylor wanted to die. It was probably the dumbest mistake she'd ever made traveling with two boys, two boys who had their own attributes. The smart, shy, sensitive guy, who was cute in his own way, the one you knew would take care of you, but underneath it all had this wild side to him. The sexy, kind of mysterious, guitar playing guy, who with one look could make you lose your breath. Who could say all the right things at the right time, just to get you in bed with him, but underneath it all had this sweet, caring side to him, who would cry about something as ridiculous as seeing Paul McCartney in concert. She hated to admit it to herself but she was falling for both of them.
Drake walked down by Elvis' grave. Here he was in Memphis, only not wearing blue suede shoes nor was it raining, but still he was in Memphis and he didn't care. He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and shrugged his shoulders. It was getting chilly, the further east they went the colder it got. He knew that by the time he hit New Hampshire there'd be snow in the Mountains, and that a Track Jacket wouldn't be warm enough, but he didn't care. Whatever was going to happen would happen. If he didn't speak another word to Josh on this whole trip he didn't care.
He saw her from maybe 10 feet back, she was cute, brown hair, blue eyes, tall, thin, endowed elsewhere. She was standing outside the entrance to the Burger King that was across the street.
Time to turn on the Drake Parker charm. He told himself as he crossed the street.
She saw him cross the street. Here just because she was visiting her father for a week. He didn't care that she was here, he just cared about the drugs and the sex he was getting from his floozy girlfriend, Veronica.
"Hey." he said as he walked up to her. She normally didn't like guys who were that forward but, he didn't faze her. He looked familiar to her.
"Hey." She responded back. They both looked each other over.
'Brown hair, blue eyes, pretty face, low cut shirt, tight jeans, painted toenails. Nice catch.
'Brown hair, falls over his brown eyes, wow, nice eyes. Tight jeans, rocker attitude, boots, Beatles shirt. Not bad.
"Drake Parker, you are?" He asked forward once again.
"Roma." She wasn't up for the whole last name thing.
Drake Parker sounds really familiar. Don't know where I've heard it before.
Roma, interesting name. Never heard it before.
"You live here or just visiting." He asked as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Both." she responded with yet another one word answer.
"I'm visiting on my way to Massachusetts."
"Why Massachusetts?"
"My brother's going to Harvard so I'm driving him."
"Oh."
The sky which had been slowly darkening and graying suddenly opened up and a heavy rain began to fall. So now Drake was in Memphis in the pouring rain, all he needed now was his blue suede shoes. He made a mental note to buy a pair.
"You want to get out of the rain?" He half asked half suggested as he zipped up his sweat shirt more.
"Sounds like a plan. The place I'm staying at isn't far from here." She offered as she zipped up her leather jacket.
"How about we eat first then check out your place, it might stop raining this hard."
Josh and Taylor were checking out all the little shops in downtown Memphis when it started to rain.
"Here let's eat here." Josh said as he held his arm over Taylor's head to keep her dry. He only did it as a nice gesture not as something romantic.
"Okay and Josh you don't have to do that." Taylor said as she put his arm down.
They walked into the Hard Rock Memphis, only because it was the first restaurant they saw.
"Drake would be pretty angry if he found out we went here." Josh stated as they waited in line. "He loves all the Hard Rock Cafe's. I think he has a goal to visit all of them."
"He's got a lot of traveling to do, there's a hard rock in Kuwait."
They sat at a booth in one of the many fast food joints that crowded the city. According to Drake nothing beat In and Out burger, they had the best burgers and fries, anywhere. Call him a California native.
"You look so familiar to me." Roma said as she took a sip of her Coca Cola, once again, not half as good as Moca Cola.
"You watch MTV?" Drake asked, knowing full well where she probably knew him from.
"I live in New York City, its hard not too."
"I was on TRL last summer." Drake gloated. He liked the fact that he could brag about being on MTV when he hadn't even made it big yet, when his band was nothing more than a manger-less, small town band, that was much beloved in San Diego. He almost always forgot that it was Josh who had gotten him that spot, but it was also Josh who also got them taken by the bad guys, but then it was because Josh took those guy's iBot, that he was able to drive Tony Hawks viper.
"Oh yeah, I think I saw that. You were pretty good." She stated as she crumpled up her burger wrapper.
"Pretty good?" Drake questioned. He was not pretty good, he was extremely good.
"I'm not into rock-pop that much."
"It was not rock-pop, it was rock."
"Okay, so singing about a "Hollywood Girl" is rock now, whoops sorry, I always thought rock was singing about a Magic bus, or Pinball Wizard, maybe even the Dark Side of the Moon." She said as Drake sat back in the booth more.
"Well, okay but pop stars sing about love and candy, not the dark side of things. That song is about a girl who's lost because she's being told what to be. Plus you haven't heard all my songs yet." Drake said defending himself. The Beatles were rock and they were more his style. "If songs like Imagine, I Want to Hold your hand, Here Comes the Sun, and Help! Are rock then I'm rock."
"You've got a point. Sorry I mentioned pop."
"Thank you." Drake said as he finished the rest of his Sprite, nothing like Dr. Fizz. "How about we get out of here, the rain looks like it's stopped a bit."
"My place isn't far like I said."
The two threw away their trash and walked out of the Burger King. It was still raining, only not as hard as it had been before. They walked a few blocks until they came to the apartment building that Roma was staying in.
It wasn't too shabby, kind of rock and roll. There were hard wood floors, a pretty sweet den area with leather couches, a nice kitchen.
"I know it's not much but this is my Dad's place." She said as she threw her wet coat down on the back of a chair. "I'll take your coat." She said as Drake handed her his wet jacket. She noted how his wet shirt clung to his frame, highlighting the fact that he had a pretty nice body.
"Here, let's just hang out in my room, my dad might come home, not like he'd care, but I don't want his questions." Roma added as she walked towards a room in the back.
It looked like her room had withstood the test of time, pink walls, fluffy white and pink bed spread. Pictures of boy bands like Backstreet Boys and NSYNC were framed on her walls. He could tell she hadn't been here in years.
"I know it's kind of pre-teen, but I haven't been here in years." She said taking the words right out his mind.
"Doesn't matter to me." Drake said as he sat down on the bed, it was just as comfy as it looked and after spending too many nights on old, hard, uncomfortable motel beds this was like a dream.
Drake was soaked from walking in the rain and felt guilty about sitting on her bed, but he wouldn't see Roma again so he didn't care too much. He ran his hand through his wet hair, trying to dry it a bit. He took off his boots, they weren't the best choice of footwear for walking around Memphis and his feet were starting to hurt.
Roma watched as he did all this. He could have been a model for Abercrombie and Fitch if he wanted. He had the looks, but she knew he wasn't that kind of guy. He had the jock attitude, maybe some jock morals, but no way was he a jock. He was a rock star, or at least he wanted to be a rock star.
She sat next to him, both knowing what was going to happen that night. He was glad that he always kept supplies in his wallet, just incase nights like tonight came up. After about a half hour of mindless conversation, Drake kissed her. One thing led to another, like it had for Drake so many times before, and before he could register what was going on, she was in her underwear, taking off his pants.
At least half an hour had passed since he finished and she fell asleep. He looked around the room, their clothes strewn about the place. It was almost like he was back home in a cheerleaders bed, trying to figure a way to get back to his house before his parents knew he was breaking curfew again, only this time he had no curfew, except to be back at the hotel in the morning so Josh wouldn't leave him.
He had, had no idea that Roma was a virgin, the way she came on to him, the way she knew exactly what he wanted. He hadn't known until she'd told him at the very last second. It kind of sucked for her that he was going to leave her like this, that her first time meant nothing to the other person. He tried to get the careless -I Love You- he let slip out of his mind, but that moment kept playing over and over like a broken record.
He slipped out of bed, noting that the alarm clock read 12:23, he'd spent most of the night with her, Josh was probably wondering where he was.
He pulled on his clothes which were still damp and were cold against his body after his body had adjusted to the warmth of Roma. He carefully opened the door; they'd heard her father come in around eleven, when they were in the middle of their love fest. He slowly crept to the front door, grabbing his coat off the chair, only to grab it too quickly and drop a glass on the floor. He hesitated between running and picking it up, that split second he had to run was gone, Roma was wrapped in her blanket in the doorway.
"I'm sorry, I'll pick it up." He said in a hushed whisper.
"Don't bother, leave like you were going to." She stated as he turned to go towards the door. A new wave of guilt flashing over him, guilt that he'd never experienced before, except for that one time with Sammy, that guilt caused him to go back to Remedial English.
"It's not you, honestly." Drake said trying not to make it sound like the worst breaking up line. But no matter how it came out, to any girl, it would always sound like that.
"Don't say that. I never expected you to stay with me. I expected you to wait until morning to leave."
"I'm not like that, I can't. Just trust me."
"Fine, but just promise you won't do what you just did to me, to some other girl." She sighed as she walked back into her room. "It was nice getting to meet you Drake Parker, at least I can say I fucked a rock star right?" She added as she turned around to see his face.
"Yeah, I guess so. You want proof or something?" Drake asked as he felt his heart sink a little. It was almost like the part in How the Grinch Stole Christmas when the Grinches heart grows.
"No, not really." she stated. "I'm going back to bed. Maybe I'll see you sometime." She closed the door and lay back down in her bed.
Drake stood there, picked up the shards of glass and wrote her a note.
Roma,
Sorry, here's the proof that you fucked a rock star.
Drake Parker.
He left the note in her jacket pocket and walked out the front door.
Josh and Taylor arrived back at their hotel around 10:30, still no Drake.
"He must have found a girl." Josh sighed as he took off his damp jacket and sat on the bed.
"Don't worry; I'm sure he's okay. You seem to forget he's 18, he needs his space." Taylor said as she sat down next to Josh and placed her hand on his knee.
"He's 19."
"All the more reason to let him be, he'll come around in time."
It was true, Drake was 19, he was an adult, he could make his own decisions, and Josh wasn't his parent, though sometimes he wished he was.
"Sometimes he doesn't act like he's 19." Josh stated coldly. Taylor hated being the middle man in a fight that she knew went much deeper than he's off having sex with a girl and not with me against he's always on my case, I wish he'd stop. She felt like she was the mother of two fighting boys, only she wasn't. She barely knew them and here she was cross country with these two guys, finding more and more about them.
"Don't worry the trip's almost over Josh. You'll be at Harvard, close to Mindy. The next longest portion is from here to Virginia Beach, that's two more days. Then Josh it's only going to take nine more hours from Virginia Beach to Cambridge." Taylor said trying to comfort Josh. She knew he wanted Mindy. And maybe after spending the summer away from Josh she'd give him some quality time. He'd told her everything on the trip to Santa Fe, after Drake had fallen asleep in the back seat.
"That's just it. I don't want this trip to be over. Drake and I were supposed to bond. I mean as of now we're going to get there early. Mindy's already up there, hanging out with relatives and I know I'm going to have to be there with her. It's another week until school starts. Drake has no idea how much I'm going to miss him, he doesn't. I mean we shared the same room for four years and we still don't know much about each other. I just want him to know that I am sorry for taking over his room and as he's said it, ruining his high school years." Josh cried as he buried his head in his hands. Taylor put her arm around his shoulder.
"You didn't ruin his life. If you had you two wouldn't have even thought about this trip. You mean so much more to Drake than you think you do Josh."
"You really think so?"
"I do. You two just need to talk. If I weren't here I know you two would have bonded more. It's my fault for asking when he was pissed at you. Let's get off this subject Josh." Taylor said gently as she patted his hands.
The next thing that happened wasn't like Josh at all. In any normal circumstance where he wasn't so vulnerable, wasn't as depressed as he was, wasn't as angry at Drake, he wouldn't have done what he did. Josh never reacted on instinct, never really did what felt right, he always did what he knew was right to do.
That's why when he found himself lip to lip with Taylor; he didn't do anything but just kiss her. He kissed her like he'd always wanted to kiss Mindy; he kissed her the way Drake kissed girls. He wasn't expecting to find her tongue in his mouth, he wasn't expecting a kiss back. But when things started getting heavy was when he realized what he was doing, and Josh Nichols didn't care for more than one second that he was cheating on Mindy Crenshaw. The thought entered his mind, but it was gone just as fast as it came when Taylor said, "Here, put your hands like this."
Drake walked into the empty lobby of the Holiday Inn they were staying at. He never much liked hotels at night. It was creepy the way the old concierge would look at you quizzically as you walked up to the elevator. It always gave him the creeps.
Drake waked into the elevator and pressed the 5 button. They were pretty high up, nice view of the city though. Drake knew that the next 14 hours were going to have to be good. He knew he had to apologize to Josh and Taylor for making their trips pretty awful. He knew he couldn't take back the shitty thing's he'd said and done. He hated to admit the fact that Josh was leaving his life, Josh, the kid who'd helped him pass Algebra II for the second time, the kid who disobeyed parental orders to ride the Demonator with him, the kid who kept him up all night because he snored like a hobo with a sinus infection.
Drake slid his keycard through the slot in the door. It clicked open and he opened the door to find that the lights were off; he assumed that Josh and Taylor were asleep, or at least he thought that they were.
"Oh my fucking god…" Drake gasped as he saw Josh and Taylor in the middle of a make out session, nothing he'd ever seen Josh do before, and he knew this was a step up for him. Josh Nichols had actually gotten a girl to take her shirt off for him. "I think I might just be sick…"
"Drake, I…I…uh…I can explain." Josh stuttered as he tried to hide the fact that he was enjoying this.
"I can too Drake…" Taylor said as she reached for her shirt.
Drake would have felt worse if he hadn't just banged someone himself, but he hadn't wanted to admit that he kind of liked Taylor, until he and she were alone and heading back to California. The fact that she wanted Josh, who had a girlfriend that he loved who loved him back, made him want to puke.
"I don't want an explanation. I don't know what I want." Drake stated, still in shock, as he crawled into the empty bed. "You two can get back to whatever it was you were doing."
That's when it hit Josh, he'd just cheated on Mindy, and he'd just betrayed the one girl who had ever loved him for who he was, sweating problems and all.
"Oh my god…" Josh breathed. "Oh my god…"
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone along with it Josh." Taylor said as she understood what he'd just realized.
"I just cheated on Mindy. I'm the worst boyfriend ever."
"You are not the worst boyfriend. You were just confused Josh. It happens. It was both our faults."
"Would you two shut up?" Drake asked as he rolled over in bed.
"Josh, let's just get some sleep, we can talk about it in the morning." Taylor said as she pulled the covers over herself.
"I'll sleep on the floor tonight." Josh stated as he grabbed the extra sheets out of the closet.
Josh found that sleep was hard to come by. He tried all the relaxation techniques that his therapist had taught him, but nothing seemed to work. He eventually fell into a fitful sleep where he was plagued by dreams of Mindy who suddenly transformed into Taylor who wanted him to do more than what he wanted to do, but when he said no she turned back into Mindy.
Josh Nichols had pulled Drake Parker. He'd cheated on a girl; he'd done something with a girl just for his own needs. He'd used someone. Little did he know that sleep wasn't coming either for the boy in the bed across the room. That Drake Parker was finally learning what true guilt felt like, and he could thank a girl named Roma for that.
Okay, so kind of bizzare I know, Josh and Taylor, but you'll see why that had to happen. There's not much left of Drake and Josh time, considering they're not far from where they want to be. I odn't want to give away to much info, so here there you go that was Chapter seven.
-Morgan