Summary:

Typical Drake & Josh storyline. Drake and Josh plan to go to a concert where a famous singer will be, but get sidetracked when a mysterious box addressed to Walter shows up and Meghan's pranks take over. Drake also must deal with an annoying girl (who says everything with a "w") from his class, that also shows signs she has a crush on him. When he & Josh go to the concert, something terrible happens.

Disclaimer:

Don't own anything. Nickelodeon owns everything.

Note to Readers:

Well, I kind of hate the last chapter… it was rushed. It didn't have as much emotion as I wanted. I was also distracted because the tv was blaring and my sister was screaming… so I'm not too happy with it. But, anyway, I think I like this one better. I took me a few days to get this whole chapter because I wanted it to be longer and more enthralling than the last. Hope ya'll like. Somebody please R&R!

Story: "Party in a Box"

Chapter: "It Goes Deeper Than You Think"; Five

Written By: Ginger

Extras:
Italics in "quotation marks" symbolize thoughts of Drake's.

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"Anita?" said Scottie, suddenly finding the confused girl in the gigantic crowd, as the music blared loudly from the stage that seemed miles away. "Scott, where's Drake? He was supposed to be meeting me here like almost four hours ago!" the nearly panicked girl exclaimed. "I was just about to ask you the same thing!" the dumb-struck teenager said quickly. "I've been wandering through the crowd all this time, trying to find him but I can't! I seriously don't think he's here!" Nita replied, her green-blue eyes shining in worry as they scanned the crowd as far as she could see, for Drake.

"Maybe we should try calling him." Scottie answered, not really even thinking. Anita sighed a little, and remembering the slight stupidity in her friend, she answered: "I already called his cell and his house. Neither answer." For once, Scott came up with an actual bright idea: "Why don't we try Josh's cell phone?" "Wow, I didn't think of that," Nita said, slipping her hand into her purse and drawing out her flip-cell. "I hope atleast he answers." Scottie said, watching her dial the number as they walked away toward the doors that lead away from the loud crowd. "I know. I'm worried. I pray nothing bad has happened to him." She said, holding the thin silver phone to her ear and plugging the other so she could hear, until she reached the foyer of the building, where it was quiet. Neither of them knew how much her last eight words where going to mean to them in a matter of moments.

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Josh sat alone in the spotless hospital cafeteria, eating a sandwich and a bag of chips. It was already past 6 o'clock and he hadn't eaten all day so he was very welcome to the chance to get away and go to the cafeteria. It also gave him time to think things out. His Dad, Mom and stepsister were busy visiting Drake at the moment and Audrey had insured him that they would be fine without him and that he could go ahead and get something to eat.

Suddenly he heard the polyphonic sound of the Oprah theme going off. People sitting at tables around him, started looking around with a stare of confused bewilderment. He pulled out his cell phone and walked past a woman, staring at him with her mouth open. "What? Ya' never heard of Oprah before?" he exclaimed, walking off to the hall outside of the lunch-room.

"Hello?" he said, answering it.

"Josh! Thank God you answered." said the shakily emotional girl's voice on the other end.

"Who is this?" Josh asked, not recognizing the voice right away.

"It's Anita Prescott." she replied, "Where's Drake? What's happened?"

Anita's young voice sounded urgent and worrisome. Thoughts were racing through her mind and she was pulling nervously on her shoulder-length dark blonde hair as she waited impatiently for Drake's brother's answer.

"Umm, Anita, I don't know if I should tell you." Josh said quietly after a moment. "Josh, is it another girl? Did her dump the concert because of a date?" she asked impulsively, trying to force him to tell what was going on. Josh's answer came quickly and strongly, without even a hint of suspiciousness: "No." A moment of silence flew across the airway. "Josh, please…" Anita murmured. The struck a cord in his heart. That was the second time someone had pleaded those two words to his today, in that same, helpless voice. "Josh—"

He spoke up: "Look, Anita, I don't know if Drake wants me to tell you. It's kind of a serious matter." "Josh Nichols, what has happened to Drake?" the urgent, pitiful voice said desperately into the ear of Drake's brother. "…Nita, I'll see what he wants me to tell you, first. I'll call you back in like a few minutes, okay?" Josh spoke calmly. "…Alright. But please," she added, "Don't ditch me. Promise me you'll call me back as soon as you possibly can." She asked. "Okay, I promise. I'll go ask him right away. Bye." Josh said, pressing the "end call" button. He hurried to the elevator and went up to the third floor.

After a long walk, Josh finally found Drake's room and stepped inside. The family was gone and other than the occasional nurse walking in to check all of the monitors, Josh's brother was alone. His eyes lit up the instant he saw Josh enter the room and broke his thoughts away from his harsh pain just long enough to bring a tiny, weak smile to his lips: "Hey, bro."

"Hey, yourself, man!" Josh grinned, sitting in the chair beside the hospital bed, "How are ya' feeling?" "Kind of… alright." Drake fibbed. "Alright" wasn't even close to being truth. Even "pain" didn't begin to describe it, either. "The doc says I've got two broken ribs and one bruised one. He says I have a pulled tendon in my left leg, so when I finally get home, I'll probably have to walk with crutches for a week or two." Josh frowned and looked down for a long moment, then he looked back into his brother's deep brown eyes and said in the most heartfelt tone: "I'm sorry, Drake." Drake shook his head as best as he could and murmured: "Don't do that."

After a while, he looked back at the window across the room and said: "So, why'd ya' come all the way up here, anyway?" "Oh! Gosh, I almost forgot!" Josh exclaimed, surprised at himself. "Forgot what?" Drake asked with a chuckle. "Um, actually, Anita called me. She was worried about you and wanted to know what happened really badly. I didn't really know what I should tell her—or more I didn't know what you wanted me to tell her so I just came up to ask you." Josh answered. "She did call?" Drake said, lifting up a little from the pillow: "Oh, man, Josh, I almost forgot all about Nita and the concert!" Drake said in as loud a voice as he could possibly muster—which didn't happen to be very loud at all. "Drake… would you maybe like to talk to her instead of me? I mean you know her better and it might be an extra comfort for her to actually hear your voice. I mean, if you're like too tired or something—" "Could I talk to her?" the injured brother asked, recognizably happier than before. "I don't see why not!" Josh smiled, bringing out his cell phone from his pocket.

Before he could even begin to dial the number, the phone began to ring erratically in his hand. Drake managed to laugh at the ring tone as he said: "Yep, still the same dork named Josh." with a roll of his eyes. Pressing the "talk" button on his cell, Josh held it to his ear, looking at Drake with a fake, joking look of sarcasm.

"Hello, Anita?" he smiled.

"Josh, what is talking so long? I had to call you back myself!" she exclaimed, impatiently.

"Never mind that! Do you—"

Anita interrupted: "Where's Drake? What'd he say you could tell me?"

A silent pause over the phone.

"Josh!"

Josh chuckled.

"Josh, if you don't tell me something, I'm going to have a mental breakdown and have to be—" Anita exclaimed, standing in the foyer, clenching her fist in anxiety. Suddenly another voice came over the line: "Hey, Annie." The girl gasped in a caught-off-guard kind of way: "…Drake? Is that you?" "It sure is." a weak but smiling voice floated to her ears.

Anita let out a staggered, thankfully relieved sigh. "Oh, gosh, Drake, I thought something terrible must have happened to you." she said quickly. "Well, um… actually," he paused as a wave of pain passed and he regained his composure and voice: "Actually, something terrible did kind of happen to me…"

Anita waited for a moment before speaking as an apprehensive frown spread her face: "…What kind of terrible thing, Drake?" Drake was quiet for a moment: "I…" "Please tell me. I've been so very worried about you for so long! You've no idea." she begged. "I was in a car wreck. Josh was driving and we were playing around and… well, we kind of spun out. He's okay. The car's totaled though and—" "Wreck! What about you?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"Me? Umm… well, I'm okay," Drake answered with a bit of hesitation. "Drake, please be honest with me. I'm so worried about you. I'm—I'm shaking, I'm breathing weird and I—never mind me. Please tell me what's happened to you. I have to know the truth." Drake paused and said: "Nita, I'm… in the hospital." "…Wh--at?" Nita said in a shocked, half whisper. "I have two broken ribs and a sprained leg. I'm really sorry for not getting somebody to call you and tell you… I didn't remember about the concert when I woke up, here." "You were… you're hurt? Oh, Drake—" Anita stopped speaking as a rush of emotions over-took her. "You're not angry at me… right?" Drake asked weakly, with a deep tone of worry in his voice. "Of course not." she said, tears straining in her eyes and her voice catching in her throat. "Look, don't cry, Nita. I'll be fine, I promise. Don't worry over me." Drake said. "Alright." she said after a moment, managing to stabilize her voice, "But tell me, how do you really feel? I mean… emotionally." "Well… I can't believe I missed seeing you, if that's what you mean." Drake said, looking down a little bit as a small smile found it's way to his lips. "I… I missed you too. I think it's terrible that you're hurt and that you missed everything." "Oh yeah—I almost forgot about missing Kathy perform. Man, how I wish I could have been there. I would almost give anything to be there right now."

That phrase stuck in Anita's brain. Something was special about it those words in her mind. The music from the stage in the next room was fading quickly and she knew at any moment the concert would be at an end. She broke from her thoughts just long enough to murmur a quick and excited: "Drake, I'm sorry, but I really have to go. I'll talk to you later, I promise. Bye." and hang up her phone.

Drake looked toward the cellphone he held up to his ear with a puzzled glance. "…Anita? Hello?" Finally he hung it up and gave it back to Josh. "What happened?" Josh asked with a chuckle: "Did the cell mess up?" "No, she just…said bye and hung up!" Drake frowned with a swift laugh. "Well, that's weird! I guess she might have needed a crying break." Josh said. Drake didn't know why but he found his brother's last sentence hilariously funny. He laughed as hard as he could but he soon quieted himself, figuring out that laughing hard hurt hard, too.

"Oh, man!" Josh said, suddenly looking at Drake: "I almost forgot! I wanted to talk to you about something. It kind of has been pecking at me ever since earlier." Drake shrugged with a quick glance at his ribs: "Go right ahead—I'm not going anywhere, apparently." "Well, actually, it's about that guy that I hit in the car. He… freaked me out." Josh answered slowly. "Well you probably freaked him out pretty bad, too!" Drake said with a chuckle. "No, really!" Josh said trying to deflect a laugh that was bubbling inside, "He was weird! I mean, he didn't look weird in actual appearances, but he just—he felt freaky!" Drake grinned and shook his head: "Explain." "Well… like his eyes were kind of piercing. Like in some sort of Alfred Hitchcock movie when the murderer just stares into the camera. With that—" he stopped to shudder: "Psychotic look in them. And his voice, too. When he talked, it just like sent a big shiver down my spine." Drake seemed interested now, sitting back against his pillows and bending slightly forward, with a different look on his face.

"What did he look like?" "Well… he was short. And sort of pudgy. He wasn't tall at all but he still had that look as if he could beat the heck out of ya'. He had dark hair and I think he had dark eyes, too. As best as I can remember, anyway. It's kind blurry now, I was so much in shock when it happened." Drake's brow furrowed deeply, yet his eyes were rather wide as he stared off into space. A sense of silent anxiety was laced through those deep brown eyes.

"…Why do you ask?" Josh replied, noticing the distant look of fright; "What's the matter?" Drake snapped back into reality and looked at Josh as he quickly dropped back into his pillows: "What? Nothing!" "No, really, Drake—what's wrong?" "I said 'nothing'! Nothing is the matter." Drake exclaimed, turning his head slightly from his step-brother and crossing his arms. He quickly un-crossed then when he found out how bad it hurt to do that, but wished he could do it anyway to show his annoyance of Josh's pursuit of the subject. "Well, something's wrong! Ever since I started describing that dude to you, you just—" "Look, just leave it alone, won't you, please Josh!" Drake exclaimed, looking around his uncomfortably. "Okay, okay. Fine! But if you didn't expect me to notice that when I started talking about something, you clam all up and get all defensive, then you got another thing comin', brother!" Josh said, standing up and walking to the door. "Wait, Josh! I—" Drake began, but it was too later, Josh was already gone from the tiny room.

Drake sighed and turned his head, resting his cheek against the soft pillow. He closed his eyes and hoped that if he could fall asleep that when he woke up, things would be looking up. As it was, the rib-pains were pretty intense and his current state of adrenaline was just making it all worse. Everything sucked. He had missed the concert, missed Anita, gotten in a wreck, had two broken ribs and would most likely be in the hospital for two weeks. Of course, he didn't blame Josh for the wreck at all. Though he was rather selfish, he wasn't in the slightest bit that way in this case. Josh hadn't meant to hurt Drake and after all, he had had the guts to actually come to Drake after it all happened and apologize sincerely. That took real courage and Drake knew that. Sighing once again, as these thoughts swirled quickly in his head, he tried to tune out the incessant beeping of the hospital monitors and slip into his own quiet world of dreams. Atleast nothing could hurt while he was asleep. With that thought and a struggle to block out the noises of the building, Drake finally fell asleep in his bed, completely worn out by everything.

As Josh walked to the waiting room, he felt very worried about his step-brother. He seemed to be hiding something that scared him. He had gotten a little look of fright when Josh began to describe the guy he had collided with. But Josh didn't exactly understand the importance of that. Little did he know that Drake thought that he was mad at him. Josh wasn't in the very least mad! Upset maybe. Worried about his brother. He didn't know why though. He didn't realize the significance of those little fears. He sighed out loud as he set his hand on the door-knob to the private waiting room where his family sat alone, trying to fill their time.

As he entered, his dad patted his arm and explained to him that he was going to take Meghan home. As Josh's father and sister walked through the door and closed it behind them, Josh sat beside his mother and she took his hand quickly. "How's Drake?" where the first two words to slip from her lips. "He's doing fine. He even laughed some. He'll be just great, mom." Josh dared not mention the little row the two brother's had had earlier. Audrey smiled a weary smile and patted her cheek: "With a brother like you, he'll get well a lot faster, Josh." Josh smiled and uttered the words: "Gee …thanks, Mom. I'm glad everything's working out okay."