The next few weeks were very trying on both Megan and Drake. Megan was still having a hard time dealing with life in general and Drake was making sure she was okay the whole time without arousing more suspicion from his parents. Drake even went as far as to get himself grounded so he had an excuse to give his band why he had to pass on 2 gigs and cancel practice. It was very stressful to say the very least. Megan continued to push everybody away except Drake. This caused a little trouble for the Parker/Nichols family and made a the other three snap at Megan a few times not realizing how much it hurt him.
"God Megan! What is your problem? Can't you act civil for a few minutes?" Audrey snapped when her daughter ignored Josh's attempt to cheer her up. Josh had left the room looking a little bewildered from Megan's blunt responses and Audrey had enough. She left quickly missing the hurt look that flashed across Megan's face quickly and the small tears that trickled down her cheek but Drake was there to see them both.
"Why am I doing this?" Megan exclaimed through the tears that now streaked her cheeks. Drake quickly pulled Megan into a hug and the younger girl cried into his shirt.
"Tell them. They can help you." Drake suggested as gently as he could.
"I can't. I just can't." Megan sobbed. Drake sighed silently cursing his mom and making a mental note to talk to her later. As soon as Megan had calmed down and gone off to find Josh to apologize, Drake set out to find his mother.
"Drake, not now." Audrey greeted when she saw her son. Drake scoffed in disgust and Audrey heard it. "Look, I'm not in a good mood. Could you please leave me alone!" she asked with a hint of anger in her voice.
"Like you left Megan alone?" Drake challenged.
"I will not start having my daughter be inconsiderate to others. Josh did nothing to her! Why was she acting like such a brat?" Audrey retorted.
"She's not being a brat! She's just going through some stuff right now! And you being on her back, about little things, does not help!" Drake was almost yelling now. He didn't care that it was his mother and that would probably mean being grounded even longer.
Drake was incredibly mad at his mom for hurting Megan but he also just needed to yell at someone for awhile. Audrey, on the other hand, was mad that she couldn't help Megan get out of whatever funk she was in, that she couldn't help Megan with whatever was wrong and also needed to yell at someone. Parents are supposed to keep their kids happy and healthy and Audrey felt she wasn't doing her job as a mother. She felt like a failure. The two of them didn't know it but they were acting as each other's therapy.
They continued screaming for awhile, a first for the two of them as they have never fought with each other like this before, both releasing their anger on each other.
Unbeknownst to them, Megan was just around the corner, listening to every word. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and raced upstairs to her room, curled into a ball and started sobbing uncontrollably.
Audrey and Drake were still fighting when Megan fled but it didn't last much longer. Drake felt all his anger and frustration building up, until finally he couldn't take it anymore.
"God Dammit!" he yelled letting himself explode. He turned away from his mom in anger and began punching the wall until his first went through it.
It was then Drake realized tears had begun to stream down his cheeks. Audrey saw something change in her son. He went from being angry at her to something else entirely that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It shocked Audrey to see Drake acting so violent and when Drake punched through the wall her motherly instincts took over.
"Drake! Calm down! You're going to hurt yourself!" She exclaimed pulling Drake away from the wall. Audrey saw the tears on Drake's face and felt her anger suddenly evaporate. She hadn't really been mad at Drake in the first place anyway, just mad at life and stressed out.
Drake let his mom pull him away from the wall. He then slid to the floor and buried his face in his hands as everything caught up with him. Audrey was completely shocked when Drake began to sob and had no clue what brought it on. Audrey knelt down next her son and wrapped her arms around the young man and let him cry his heart out. Drake had needed to do ever since Megan had come to his room that night. When Drake calmed down, he just sat there unsure of what to say to his mom, how to explain it. Audrey, almost sensing Drake's uneasiness, was the first to speak.
"Are you alright?" she asked gently. Drake slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm fine, but Megan isn't." Drake replied softly trying to tell his mom to lay off Megan for awhile. Drake let out a sigh and got up.
"Drake what's wrong? What's going on?" Audrey asked from where she was still sitting on the floor. Drake slowly turned to look at her.
"It...it's not my place to tell you, Mom" he answered.
"Why? Why can't you tell me? Megan is my daughter. I'm worried sick about her. I just want to help."
Drake sighed.
"I...I can't tell you, Megan has to tell you when she's ready to. But please, until then cut her a little slack. You don't know how much it hurts him when you yell at her. You don't see it but I do."
"Alright, but if anything gets really bad or out of control come to me right away." Audrey got up quickly and faced Drake.
"Please if you don't tell me promise me you'll at least tell someone. I don't know what I would do if I lost anyone of my kids."
"I promise." Drake replied. On impulse he gave his mom a hug which Audrey returned. "I love you." He told her. Audrey smiled.
"I love you too my little Drakie Bear." she teased.
