Disclaimer: All Drake & Josh characters copyright their proper owners. I just wrote this.

Chapter Six: Now What's Wrong?

Drake was almost late to class on Tuesday. He didn't really care either. Christine looked over at him. Something was wrong. She could tell.

"What?" Drake asked.

"Something's bothering you, isn't it?" Christine said.

"Why would you think something's bothering me?"

"Well, first of all, all I got was a 'what' ten seconds ago. Secondly, you know when something's bothering me. Why wouldn't I be able to do the same thing?"

"I..."

"Good morning class," Mrs. Haifer said, walking in the door.

"I'll tell you later," Drake said quickly.

Christine gave him one last glance.

"Okay," she said and turned back around to listen to Mrs. Haifer. She knew something was wrong, but she didn't know what. Something about him told her something had happened. What that was, she'd have to wait until he told her. She sighed. Life always had to be complicated.

Christine had tried to talk to Drake at lunch, but he told her he'd talk to her at the Premiere after school. It was personal, and he didn't want to risk the gossiping cheerleaders overhearing them. So now, she sat at a table at the Premiere as she waited for Drake to tell her what was wrong.

"You know how people you really hoped you wouldn't see again always show up?" Drake asked. He gave a thought to David and then back to the real reason he was talking to Christine.

"I guess so," she replied. "What happened?"

"Ford came to San Diego."

"What?"

"He came back."

"Why?"

"He said he wanted to make things right. What ever that means. He's already screwed everything up."

"I hate to say it, but you told me to listen to what my dad had to say. Why don't you..."

"Because, I've already gone to see him, and he gave me lame excuses. I don't want to deal with it anymore."

"I'm sorry," Christine responded. "But if you don't listen, he might not leave you alone. Really, would it hurt?"

"I don't know. I'm sick of hearing him talk."

"Just think about it. How long is he here?"

"I have no idea. I don't know how long he can stay. I mean, he's got a wife and a son."

"You never know. You're his son too, Drake, and Megan's his daughter."

"But..."

"Whether you like it or not, it's true, and he flew across the country for some reason. He must care at least a little to do that."

"I don't know." Drake didn't want to think about it anymore. He wanted Ford to go back to New York and stay there. He glanced up and smiled at the person who walked into the Premiere.

"Hi, Drake," Melissa said, walking over to him.

"Hey," he replied.

"Here with your little friend?" Melissa asked.

The words "little friend" bothered Christine just a bit. She was his best friend after all, well aside from Josh. She didn't mind sharing the title, but to be resorted to "little friend" bugged her.

"You know what?" Melissa said. "We should double date. The next time your boyfriend is in town."

"Sure," Christine replied. Melissa looked at Drake for his approval.

"Why not?" Drake responded. His heart wouldn't be in it, but if it made the girls happy, he'd do it.

When Drake got home, he headed up to Megan's room.

"Megan?" he called, knocking on the door. "Can I come in?"

"Fine," Megan said. She pushed a button on her remote to open the door.

"Seriously, how do you pay for all of this?" Drake asked.

"What do you want?" Megan asked, annoyed.

"Um, have you given any thought to Ford?"

"I don't know. Is it worth it?"

"I don't know. Need more time?"

"I think so."

"We should make this decision together anyway."

"Thanks, Drake," Megan said.

"No problem," Drake replied, smiling at his sister. He left the room. His mom was sitting on the sofa in the living room, and he explained to her that he and Megan wanted to talk about it together, to see if it was something they both wanted. Audrey agreed and called Ford at his hotel. He was a bit upset, but he said he had to go home. If they wanted to see him, he told her to tell him, and he'd be back.

A week later, David was in San Diego, so the four had their double date. Fortunately, Josh was working at the Premiere that night. He told Drake if it looked like he was going to attack David, he'd stop him. Josh really didn't know how Drake was dealing with this. It must have been okay since he was seeing Melissa.

Drake and David walked over to the snack counter to buy drinks. David was going on about one of the sports teams at his school. Drake didn't know which sport he was talking about because he wasn't exactly listening, mainly because he didn't want to listen. Josh looked at Drake and pulled him aside for a moment.

"Hey," Josh said. "What position does David's best friend play?"

"What sport does his best friend play?" Drake replied.

"Look, you're here with Melissa. You can't do this. You should be here for her. I can't believe I'm the one telling you what to do about girls."

"I can't either. Sodas?"

"Oh, right, here," Josh replied, handing Drake two sodas. "That'll be..." Drake had already walked away from the counter. "Why am I not surprised?" Josh went back to working while trying to keep an eye on Drake. He was growing very concerned.

When Drake and David returned to the table, Melissa was telling Christine how much she loved Orlando Bloom. Christine didn't have a problem with Orlando Bloom, but she didn't think you should like an actor completely based on looks, which seemed to be the only reason Melissa liked him.

"...which is why I thought Elizabethtown was a great movie," Melissa said.

"Well, I didn't really care for that one," Christine replied.

"No she didn't," David said, sitting down. "She walked out of that movie hating it. I guess she doesn't like Orlando Bloom or chick flicks."

Drake rolled his eyes. Christine liked chick flicks well enough, but she always said she'd rather laugh at a movie which was why they went to all the comedies together. Drake wondered about David. He didn't seem to know much about what Christine liked and didn't like. He hadn't known that she hated rap, and he just said he guessed that she didn't like Orlando Bloom. Shouldn't her boyfriend know certain things about her by now? Drake stopped himself. David was probably a better guy than Drake would ever be. He'd probably be forever faithful, and he was, well, perfect. Besides, Drake was out with Melissa. He should be focusing on her.

David leaned over and kissed Christine. Drake felt his blood start to boil.

"So, David," Drake began, "when are you going back to San Francisco?"

"Tomorrow," David replied.

"Good," Drake mumbled.

"Huh?" asked David.

"Oh, I see," Drake responded. "Yeah, that's what I said."

Christine gave Drake a funny look. What was the matter with him tonight? He wasn't exactly paying as much attention to Melissa as he probably should have been. Christine wanted to write it off as Drake freaking out because Ford had happened to be in town the previous week, but she couldn't.

David had left the next morning, so when Drake got to the Premiere that afternoon, Christine was alone.

"Hey," Drake said.

"Hi," she replied.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting down.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"You were acting kind of strange last night."

"How?"

"You really weren't paying much attention to Melissa. You seemed a little out of it. Does this have anything to do with Ford being here?"

"No," Drake replied. "I'm going to talk about it with Megan, and until we decide something, he's gone back to New York."

"Then, what's the matter?"

"Why do you always seem to think something's wrong?"

"I don't. You just weren't acting like you were very interested in what you were supposed to be doing last night, which was be out with your girlfriend."

"Well, I was."

"Could have fooled me."

"What is your deal? First you bug me about him, and then you accuse me of not wanting to be with my girlfriend."

"I didn't accuse you of anything!"

"Could have fooled me," Drake replied, throwing her own words back at her. "I'm out of here."

Drake left the Premiere in a huff. Josh glanced up from the snack counter at Christine. She looked very unhappy. Josh told Gavin he was taking a break, which Gavin didn't really care about, but Josh was supposed to tell someone, and Gavin was the only choice at the moment. He walked over to the table where Christine was sitting.

"Hi," Josh said. "You okay?"

"I don't know," Christine replied. "He's mad at me. I just wanted to know if anything was wrong."

"I know," Josh responded. "You only want what's best. Drake just takes a while to figure that out sometimes."

"I don't understand though."

Josh sighed. He considered telling Christine what Drake had planned to tell her back in April. How Drake felt. Could Josh really do that though? No. It was Drake's business, and Josh didn't want to ruin Drake's relationship with his girlfriend. But did Drake really have a relationship with Melissa? Yes, they went out on dates and kissed and did all the things couples did together, but did Drake really feel it? Josh knew that's what Drake wanted now. To actually feel like he cared about someone and have them care about him in return. Well, what did Drake have with Melissa? Josh could tell it wasn't that. He was going to talk to Drake. He was going to interfere in his brother's love life. While he hated to do it, he needed to do it. He didn't want Drake to make a mistake. Josh glanced back at Christine and shrugged.

"I don't understand either."

"Drake!" Josh yelled to his brother when he got home.

"Yeah?" asked Drake, walking into the kitchen to make a sandwich.

"We need to talk."

"About what? If this is about your rash again..."

"No," Josh said, irritated with Drake for even mentioning that. "Look, do you know how upset Christine was when you left the Premiere?"

"Hey, she started it," Drake replied, opening the fridge and taking out sandwich ingredients.

"What?"

"She started it with always asking if anything's wrong. Nothing's wrong, and even if something was, maybe I just want to drown in my own misery."

"I remember when she first came back here, you constantly asked her if anything was wrong."

"That's different. Something was wrong. Nothing's wrong with me."

"Oh, really? What do you have with Melissa?"

"She's my girlfriend," Drake responded, looking annoyed with Josh for asking such a dumb question.

"Really? Because I wouldn't call what the two of you have a romantic relationship."

"What?"

"You don't connect with her. You don't stay up for hours talking to her on the phone. You don't do anything that shows you care about her."

"You ever figure that maybe that's not me?" Drake asked, turning back to the counter to finish making his sandwich.

"You do all that with Christine though."

Drake slowly turned back around to face Josh.

"What? Are you suggesting that I haven't forgotten about my feelings for Christine? That guilt should be tearing me inside out because of what I did to her today? Well, Josh, you're wrong. I couldn't be happier." Drake took his sandwich and headed up the stairs.

"Yeah, that's what Glinda said!" Josh called after his brother. He sighed. Drake had left his sandwich stuff on the counter. Typical. Josh began to make a sandwich for himself. He might as well, everything was out anyway.

Drake got to his room and turned on the stereo. He couldn't believe Christine or Josh. Both accused him of not wanting a relationship with his girlfriend. Of course he did, otherwise he wouldn't be with her. Josh also obviously thought he still had feelings for Christine. Yeah. That was a laugh. He was just protective of her because she was his best friend. That was all. Still, maybe he shouldn't have stormed out on Christine the way he did. She only talked to him about it because she cared. Drake sighed. So maybe he did feel guilty about arguing with Christine. It wasn't her fault. Great, now he felt bad. He had to fix this, but how?