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

Chapter Eight: Christine, I Mean Melissa

Drake paced the floor of Christine's house. They had been working on the project, and Eric and Craig had just left. Christine had gone to the store to get groceries for dinner since her mom couldn't stop on the way home. Drake offered to clean up which shocked Christine, but she agreed to it. Drake thought Christine still seemed a bit upset about what he'd done the other day. Drake couldn't blame her, but he hoped what he was about to do would make things better. If only who he was waiting for would get there soon. The doorbell finally rang, and Drake checked to see who it was. He smiled and let them in the house.
Drake was up in his room reading a magazine when his cell phone rang. He checked the number to see if he knew who it was. Too many hobos had been calling him lately. The last plan of revenge on Megan completely backfired. She just had to figure out their plan and get her own alien. They'd get her someday. It was Christine's number. She was either calling to accept his apology or ask "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Drake hoped it was to accept his apology.

"Hello," Drake said, finally answering his phone.

"Hi," said Christine. "Wow, um, you sure try to make a point don't you?"

"When did you find them?"

"After dinner. I hadn't gone up to my room until then."

"So..." said Drake.

"So, what?"

"Do you forgive me? I acted like a total jerk, and I'm sorry. You were only trying to do what you thought was best for me, and..."

"Drake, I forgive you. Maybe I pressed too hard, but I get worried about you."

"Hey, I'll be alright."

"Actually," Christine began, "I'd already forgiven you the other day."

"Really?" Drake asked, feeling happy. Then he realized he'd bought twelve dozen yellow roses, placed them all around her room, and she'd already forgiven him. He felt his eye start to twitch.

"Oh?" Drake replied, trying not to sound upset. Truthfully, he was glad he did it. He wanted her to know he cared. "Want to do something this weekend?"

"Actually, I'm going to San Francisco this weekend."

Drake swallowed hard.

"I thought you were going for Thanksgiving."

"My mom and I are, but I'm going alone this weekend."

"I see," Drake responded. To do what exactly? She was going alone first. Why? Was she going to do what she'd talked about in her diary? Drake shuddered at the thought.

"Yeah. Look, I have to go. Thank you for the roses, Drake."

"Bye," he said and hung up. He stood in the middle of his room and glanced around. He opened his mouth and let out a loud yell.

Josh came pounding up the stairs and flung the door open, wielding a tennis racket.

"What's wrong? Did the theater thug come back?"

"No," Drake replied, rolling his eyes as Josh quickly scanned the room. "I just found out I bought Christine twelve dozen yellow roses to get her to forgive me, and guess what? She already had."

"You bought twelve dozen roses for a girl you aren't even dating?"

"Well, I care about her. You care about Mindy and spent a hundred dollars on ICE for her."

"Twelve dozen roses?"

"ICE!"

Christine was in San Francisco, and Drake was going insane. Was she going to talk things over with David before she allowed him to take away her innocence? Or had they done that already? Drake hated thinking about what she could possibly be doing with David.

He was actually on a date with Melissa. He knew he should be thinking about her. He had to beat himself up for everything lately. Fortunately, he'd gotten Christine to forgive him. Things had to work out with Melissa. He had to forget about his feelings for Christine because, at the moment, she was doing God knows what with David. She seemed to have no interest at all in feelings of more than friendship for Drake, which depressed him, but he still blamed himself for never doing anything about when he had the chance. He just had to get scared and not do anything.

"...Drake? Drake?" said Melissa, interrupting his thoughts.

"What is it Christine?" he asked. Then he froze. Oh. My. God. I did NOT. I DID. Damn it. "Uh, I mean...Melissa...I uh, sorry, I was um, uh..."

To say that Melissa looked pissed would have been the understatement of the year.

"Did you just call me Christine?" she asked.

"No, I mean, yes, er, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking, and it kind of slipped out..."

"That's obvious," Melissa said. She seemed to have calmed down for a moment. This frightened Drake for a second. "Drake, what do we have?"

"Huh?"

"This isn't exactly a meaningful relationship."

"Oh, come on, I mean..."

"You have feelings for Christine, don't you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You called me Christine," she said, slightly irritated. "It's kind of obvious that way."

"Is it?"

"I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner," Melissa said.

"What do you mean?"

"You do appear to have feelings for her. You hate when she's with David. I can tell."

"You can?"

"Yeah. Look, I don't think we should date anymore, Drake."

"But, it's not like I could go out with her anyway. I mean, she has a boyfriend."

"But you have these feelings for her that obviously aren't going away. I'm not what you want. I can't give you what you want. This would never work out anyway. I don't want you to be unhappy with the person you're with."

"Maybe you're right. I'd rather not hurt you by leading you on."

"Then that's it, I guess."

"Yeah," Drake replied. Never had he let go of a girl this easily, and even when he did break up with someone, this was the first time he didn't have anyone waiting for him. This was new. Drake decided though that this was for the best. After all, he didn't want to hurt any girl. He should probably thank Ford for setting the example of what not to do.

Drake lie on his bed thinking about what had happened that night. He sighed. It was for the better. Everything about Melissa, he thought was better in Christine. Besides, he knew Christine. Melissa loved chick flicks, that was quite obvious. It was all he saw with her. Drake had only gone to them before as a make out movie, but he didn't do that with Melissa. Christine didn't dislike chick flicks, but if she went to a movie with Drake, she made sure he'd like it too. How many Jon Heder or Vince Vaughn movies had they seen together? Quite a few.

Melissa was just a bit too sensitive for Drake. And her eyes. They were brown. It wasn't even like they were a chocolate brown, just brown. There was no captivating glow like Christine's green eyes. Drake knew he was in too deep, but what was he supposed to do? He heard his cell phone ring. It was Christine. She'd arrived in San Francisco the night before and she'd talked to him then. He knew nothing happened between her and David then because his parents had been around, but what about tonight? He was scared to answer the phone.

"Hello," he said, picking up.

"Hey, Drake!" said Christine on the other end.

"Where are you?"

"My hotel. I just spent the entire day with David's family."

"The entire day?" Drake asked.

"Yeah. There wasn't a time when I didn't see them, literally."

Drake relaxed a bit. If they hadn't been alone, then they couldn't have had sex. Drake knew that once they did, that was it for him. He didn't know why, but he did.

"I'm exhausted, but I'll be home tomorrow afternoon. I'll see you then?"

"Sure," Drake replied. "Goodnight."

After hanging up, Drake let out a huge sigh. He fell back on his bed. He knew it wouldn't happen on Thanksgiving. She'd be with her mom and his parents all day. One of his worries had faded. For now.

A/N: A bit short, but chapter nine is shorter. I apologize in advance, but it will begin to get things moving again even though it's short. Please review.