Disclaimer: All characters, etc., belong to their owners...yep...just wrote this story here.
Chapter 2: High School Sweetheart
Thursday came and the Belleview students were anxiously awaiting Friday. It meant the end of the first school week and freedom. For now, Rob sat in calculus listening to Christine, well, Mrs. Parker during the school day, lecture on the next section in the book. His friends had teased him a few times for having Christine as his teacher. He didn't want to take it personally. She'd done a lot for him over the years and he was grateful for it, even if she wasn't his mother. A little respect toward her as his teacher was probably less than what she deserved.
After she'd given them their assignment, they began to work. There were about ten minutes left of class. Rob felt someone poke his back. He turned around to find Caitlyn.
"What?" he asked.
"Boys' weekend?" she questioned.
"Oh, yeah."
"Don't get into trouble."
"Don't worry. I learned my lesson." This was true. Rob had tried alcohol before and he regretted it. He woke up the next morning with a hangover the size of Texas, as he described it. Then he got a lecture about the dangers of alcohol abuse and was grounded for the next weekend. He felt he was lucky just to get a weekend. Of course, Drake and Christine hoped the effects of the alcohol had been enough to keep him away from it until he was legally old enough to drink it. He'd done it again because he was at a party and all his friends were. He'd gotten very sick after that and decided he better stay away from it. It just wasn't worth it. "What are you doing this weekend?"
"Oh, I have to work on some Homecoming stuff. Lucy Kramer asked me to help her with a few things, and I told her okay."
"Lucy?"
"Yes," said Caitlyn, fully aware of Rob's love interest. Caitlyn had no idea if Lucy felt the same way about him. She might. He was a senior, and she was a junior.
"Say, could you...?"
"Tell her you're a lovesick dog? Maybe."
"Don't tell her that!"
"I'm kidding. I'll get something out of her, though, okay?"
"Thanks. You're the best."
"Mommy!" said Angela, hopping off the back of the sofa. "Uncle Josh is here!"
"Okay," said Christine. "Hey, let's sit on the sofa. We don't want to ruin it by standing on it."
"Okay," said Angela. She ran to the door to greet her uncle. Christine laughed and opened the front door.
"Hello," said Josh. He walked inside and was followed by his girlfriend, Lana and her daughter, Rose. Five years ago, Lana had become pregnant, and her boyfriend decided to leave her. Lana hadn't had much luck with relationships since having her daughter. She was having a lot of trouble as a single parent. She met Josh a couple years ago when Rose was three. Josh didn't seem to mind that Lana had a child. In fact, he seemed to like children. He gave Lana the time she needed too. At first Lana thought he was too good to be true. A straight guy who watched Oprah, could cook, loved kids, and was sweet? Did that really happen? Evidently so, and they'd been together for a while now.
"Hi," said Christine. "That brother of your's is somewhere. Apparently I'm going to have to go looking for him."
"Take your time," said Josh. "If you don't find him in a few hours, we'll just send out a search party." He walked into the living room with Lana and Rose. Rob was sitting on the sofa, glancing through his junior yearbook. He looked at the pictures of the track team. There was Lucy Kramer. She was pretty and smart, not to mention athletic. Who cared that she was a year younger than he was. He just wanted to ask her to the Homecoming dance, but he didn't have the nerve at the moment. "Hey, Rob," said Josh, causing him to jump in his seat. He slammed his yearbook shut.
"Hi, Josh," Rob replied.
"What's up?"
"Nothing much."
"I hear you're camping this weekend."
"Uh, yeah. Should be fun." Rob tried to tell himself that Josh probably had no idea why he was staring at the yearbook page that intently. Drake probably wouldn't even know.
Speaking of Drake, Christine went to go find her husband who had suddenly disappeared. She went upstairs and checked their bedroom. She had no idea where he went. She looked in their bathroom and returned to the bedroom. Where had he gone?
Her answer came when someone suddenly shot out from the corner of the room and tackled her onto the bed. She let out a shriek and soon realized it was just Drake.
"Drake! What are you doing? Did you know Josh and Lana are here?"
"Well, maybe you shouldn't be screaming, then," Drake said, playfully. He kissed her.
"You just can't wait for tomorrow night, can you?" Christine asked.
"Nope," he responded.
"Well, you've still got about twenty-four hours, so let's hold off there, Tiger."
"Oh, fine," said Drake. She smiled up at him. They got off the bed, but then Drake stood there, holding her against him. "Twenty-four hours until we're completely alone. Why does it seem like such a long time?"
"Well, it is a whole day."
"Ah, yes. Much too long." He kissed her again. This time, she didn't interrupt him. "Hey," he said, suddenly. His tone became playful again. "Aren't Josh and Lana downstairs? What do you think you're doing up here, trying to seduce me?"
"Drake Parker."
"Christine Parker."
"We probably should get downstairs before they wonder where we are."
"Oh, I'm sure they'll assume. Actually, I'm okay with that," Drake said.
"I think it's time to go downstairs."
"Oh, all right."
"What were you doing, anyway?"
"I was looking for those lyrics I wrote the other day. I can't seem to find them."
"I'm sure they'll turn up."
"Yeah. I hope so."
The two went downstairs and found Josh and Lana talking to Rob in the living room.
"Oh, there you two are," said Josh. "Where were you?"
"I lost the song lyrics I wrote a couple days ago," said Drake. I've been looking for them."
"Oh," said Josh.
"They're on the top shelf of the bookcase in the den," said Rob.
"And what are they doing there?" Drake asked.
"That's where you left them," Rob replied.
"Oh," said Drake. Josh chuckled. Same old Drake.
"So then Drake decides he's going to go down to the beach and talk to all the college students," Josh was saying. "He brings back, like, seventy-five of them."
"Then they basically took over the house," Drake said.
"You were the one who got them," said Josh.
"I didn't think they'd do that! Besides, when half of them hand you two hundred dollars each, it's hard to refuse them."
"Well, yeah," Josh agreed. "But if it wasn't for Megan, I think we would have been grounded until we were thirty."
"No kidding," Drake replied.
"What exactly did you do with all that money?" Lana asked.
"Knowing those two," said Christine, "they probably spent it on something completely off the wall and unnecessary."
"Hey," said Drake.
"Actually," put in Josh. "If I remember correctly, we had to use it to get Mom and Dad out of jail for hosting an untelevised event."
"What?" asked Lana.
"Yeah...turns out, MTV didn't have a city authorized permit to film in our house."
"I thought Mom and Dad were going to find out what we did for sure," said Drake.
"How did they not find out?" Christine questioned.
"Megan used her sweet-talking, what else?" said Josh. "Sometimes, she was very useful."
"I still don't understand why you think she was a demon," said Lana. "She seems very nice."
"Of course she's nice now," said Drake. "Back when we were kids, oh, man was she a demon."
"No kidding," said Josh. "Hey," he said, turning to Rob. "You haven't said much all night. Something wrong?"
"Uh, no," Rob said quickly. His thoughts weren't focused on the conversation at the table. Instead, he'd been thinking about Homecoming and how great it would be to ask Lucy Kramer. "I'm just thinking."
Drake frowned. He'd have to talk to him later. Rob had been acting a bit strange the past couple of days. Drake didn't think he'd found that letter. In fact, Drake was so worried he would that he asked Christine to lock it in her desk at the school. She thought that it was too much to hide it from him that way, but the last thing Drake wanted was for Rob to stumble upon it with no one to question. Drake had no idea how they were going to tell Rob about the letter anyway.
Rob was packing his things for the camping trip that weekend the same night. He and his friends were going to head over as soon as school let out for the weekend.
He was excited. This weekend was going to be awesome. Even when it ended, he'd find out from Caitlyn how Lucy Kramer felt about him.
While Rob was attractive, and a lot of girls liked him, he became shy when it came to talking to one he liked. Lucy was his dream girl and the last woman he'd ever be able to speak to without making himself look like a fool. Caitlyn on the other hand was a good friend of his, and he could talk to her easily. It would be much less stress on him if she talked to Lucy about him. Of course, he had no idea how she was going to do that, but he put his trust in her that she'd avoid embarrassing him.
Rob just wanted to ask her to Homecoming. He wished he had the nerve. A lot of people had told Rob that he probably had a good shot at getting on the court. Rob could care less whether he made court or not, but he knew that there was a dance reserved for the court members and their boyfriends and girlfriends. Oh, if he got to dance with her...they'd probably play one of those super-sappy love songs, they always did. The ones along the lines of "This Is the Night" by Clay Aiken or, if they wanted to go back a few more years than that, "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago. Songs Drake would say Josh loved to listen to. However, he wouldn't care what the song was, as long as his arms were around Lucy.
His fantasy was interrupted when Drake knocked at the doorway.
"Yes?" Rob asked.
"Hey," said Drake. "I was just wondering if anything was up. You were very quiet at dinner."
"Uh, everything's fine," said Rob.
"You know, you can tell me anything," said Drake.
"I know," Rob replied. "I was just thinking about some...project tonight. That's all." It technically wasn't a lie. Asking Lucy to Homecoming would be a project.
"Oh?" said Drake. He didn't want to come right out and ask if Rob knew about the letter that had arrived. "Well, I'm going to bed. If I don't see you tomorrow, I guess I'll see you Sunday."
"Okay," said Rob. "Night."
"Goodnight." Drake headed down to his own room. He went through his drawer, looking for his pajamas.
"Anything wrong?" Christine asked.
"He said he had a project, but I worry it's something else. It's only the first week of school."
"I know," said Christine. "He'll probably say something eventually. Maybe he just needs to blow off some steam this weekend with his friends."
"I guess so," said Drake. He put his pajamas on and lie down on the bed. "I just have no idea what we're going to say to him. How do we say, 'The mother who left you with your father thirteen years ago and hasn't spoken to you in all that time wrote you a letter'?"
"We can just tell him the truth. There's really nothing else we can do. Just carefully explain. That's all we can do."
"I guess you're right. I just never thought it would come up after the first few years. Why didn't she say anything in those first few years?"
"I don't know, Drake. And if Rob wants to find out, we'll have to let him. But for now, let him enjoy his weekend, and let's enjoy ours."
"All right," said Drake. "It's the first one we've had to ourselves in a while. I'm sorry, I just worry about him."
"I know. Remember when you caught him with the candy bar from the drugstore?"
"Don't remind me."
"Well, at least after that he wanted to do soccer when you offered it. Just something constructive for him to do. An outlet."
"I just hope Angela grows up okay."
"I'm sure she will. We'll do our best."
"She's not dating until she's thirty," said Drake. "End of story."
"I think you lose the right to tell her what to do when she turns eighteen."
"Okay...when she's eighteen then. I just want to do all I can to protect her from the Drake Parker's of the world."
"I think if she ended up with a Drake Parker, that'd be wonderful," said Christine.
"No high school Drake Parker's then," said Drake.
"Okay," Christine smiled. "Just make sure you don't interrogate the boys as much as my father did."
"What?"
"Before I moved back to San Diego with my mom, Dad thought he needed to sit down and 'talk' with every guy I dated. Scared them away a little bit, which was pretty annoying because I was shy in the first place."
"How did I miss this?"
"He's known you about as long as I have. Besides, after the divorce, he stopped. He felt he had no right to judge who was a good and bad boyfriend."
"After the divorce?"
"Oh, don't worry. David got it." She knew what Drake was concerned about. "I went to Homecoming with David one year before I moved, and Dad did it then. You're the only one who's never gotten the interrogation."
"Wait...How come I didn't hear about you going to Homecoming with David before?"
"Hmm...Good night, Drake." She turned her back to him and pulled the covers over her.
"Hey, I'm still waiting for an answer."
Silence.
"So you're going to play that game?" Drake asked. "Okay. Fine." He slid under the covers and wriggled close to her without touching her. He slid his hand up her back and tickled her.
"Ah! Drake!" she yelled, laughing.
"I win."