"Drake, I need to talk to you," Dawn said as Drake picked up the phone the next morning.
"Alright, I'll be over as soon as I drop Lola off at Josh's house."
An hour later, he stood at the front door of the hotel she was staying in. After being kicked out of her only house, and most of her possessions were kept by her ex-boyfriend, she had no where to live. The door opened and Dawn motioned for Drake to step inside. They sat down on the floral patterned, rough couches.
"Drake, I think I made a mistake yesterday. My life is just so jumbled right now, and I wanted to find the right solution. The thing is, I think we're moving way too fast. We've only known each other for a couple of days, and I'm just not sure I should've told you I loved you, because I'm not sure I do," Dawn sighed.
"Oh," Drake sat back on the couch.
"I'm sorry; don't take it the wrong way. I still really like you, and I hope someday I will love you."
"I understand. It's just, I feel like we have more in common than you know. We've both suffered horrible break-ups, and I think we were just using each other to try to make up for it."
"I feel the same way."
"I don't know about you, but I've felt a lot better these past couple days. And I don't really think I love you either, but I really like you and I want you to be my girlfriend."
Dawn hopped up from the couch and scooped up Drake in a hug. "Thank you."
Drake gently pulled away and looked at Dawn. "Hey, let's do something together, you, me, and Lola."
"Yeah, I can't wait to really get to meet her. She seems so sweet and innocent," Dawn giggled.
So Dawn resumed getting ready, while Drake sat on the uncomfortable couch and watched some sports. Dawn walked out in a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops. "Are you ready?" she asked.
"Of course, let's go," Drake smiled as he squeezed her hand and escorted her out the door. They climbed down a few stories of stairs, and jumped in Drake's El Camino. As they drove up to Josh's house, Drake parked his car out front and hopped out to open Dawn's door.
Drake burst through the front door joking, "Hey, brotha!" He stopped dead in his tracks, when he saw Josh and Mindy sitting on a couch across from Marie and a strange man. Apparently the kids were playing in another room.
Josh stood up, "Hey Drake, can you and Dawn please take a seat?"
"What's going on?" Drake asked as he and Dawn shuffled over to an empty spot on the couch.
"Marie is here to discuss the legal situation of your family," Mindy explained. "As a group we plan to discuss things such as property, children, and personal belongings."
"Please don't take my daughter away from me," Drake looked up at Marie with solemn eyes.
"Drake, she's my daughter too. As far as I'm concerned, I worked harder for her," Marie stared back.
Drake stood to his feet in anger, "Then why'd you leave her? She obviously means nothing to you."
"Drake, take a seat, please," Mindy said calmly. Drake sat down and picked up a custody paper.
"She means the world to me, Drake! It's just you I can't stand," Marie said.
"Well, you can take the house, the furniture, whatever you want, because all I really need right now is my daughter and my girlfriend."
"Actually Drake, the house already belongs to Marie, since you failed to sign the deed. Most of the furniture belongs to Marie, as well since the contracts are signed out to her," Mindy clarified.
"Babe, just take the stuff. We don't need the kid, we can make a new one," the man whispered.
Marie giggled, "Drake, I hereby claim all of my belongings. But you can keep the couch because you slept on it most of the time, anyways. As for Lola, she means a lot to me, but I know you want her more. And that's less money for me to spend anyways, so you can keep full custody of her."
Drake held his hand to his forehead and sighed, thinking it over. "Fine," he said after a few minutes. "Lola means more to me than a bunch of junk anyways."
They both signed the papers, and Marie and her boyfriend stood up to leave. "Oh, I almost forgot," she said, "This is my new boyfriend, Troy. Who's your new cuddle buddy?"
Dawn's eyebrows shot up. She stood and said, "I'm sorry, I should've introduced myself. My name is Dawn."
Drake sort of chuckled, as Marie threw her purse over her shoulder and stomped out of the door, with Troy trailing close behind. "I guess she wasn't expecting you to be so nice and sweet," he smiled at Dawn.
"Drake, what are you going to do?" Josh asked. "You don't have a home anymore. We all know your job can't pay for a place to live very long, and you don't have any of your accessories or anything."
"Well, I'm gonna get some of the guys together, and we'll go move all of my clothes, personal items, and my couch out of the house. I'll ask my boss for a raise, he knows I've been working hard lately," Drake answered calmly. He hugged Dawn with one arm, "We'll get through this."