Drake's phone nearly slipped from his fingers. "Carly," he repeated dumbly, the distracting bass from the new Taylor Swift single not helping. No, he was not 'ready for it.' "Hi. How are you?"

She gave a wry smile, accepting the drink the barista handed her. She thanked them before asking, "How's your dad?"

"He's good, actually," Drake said, relieved to have something normal to talk about. "We, uh, just found him today actually."

"That's great news! I've been keeping an eye out for him. Actually, I've been trying to get in touch with you to see what I could do to help."

"You have?" Drake asked. "Wow. Thanks. That's very cool of you."

"Hey, it's your dad." She nudged him. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't try to help?"

"Drake Parker!" The barista called for him, jarring Drake to reality. He held up a hand, taking his drink.

"Thanks." He murmured, turning back to Carly. "What's going on with you? How've you been?"

"Great, actually. I got engaged." Carly's hand contained a glittering diamond Drake had somehow missed.

He felt a pang in his heart, as if that was supposed to be his ring on her hand. He shook that off, unsure of the roots. "That's great!" Drake managed to look happy, or at least, he hoped he did.

"I hear you live with my cousin now."

"Your cousin?"

Carly nodded, sipping her iced coffee. "Jade West."

Drake's jaw tightened as the pieces fell into place. The photos. The mannerisms. The drunken, hazy memory of Jade mentioning revenge on him. Everything odd about Jade suddenly snapped into a perfect impression of the games she had been playing since they met. "Your what?"

"Jade is my cousin." Carly repeated, clearly not picking up on Drake's tension. "She didn't tell you?"

"No, she was a little shy on details."

"Weird." Carly shrugged. "I don't know why she would hide it. We're pretty close, despite the age gap. She's more like a little sister than a cousin."

"Funny." Drake's hand gripped his coffee cup, pushing it to the near breaking point. "I don't know why she never would have mentioned it."

"Maybe she feels weird about it because we dated." Carly rationalized. "That's probably it."

"I'm sure she feels something about it. But that's all good now. You want to come by and say hello to her?"

Carly shook her head. Her colorful curls bounced as she did. "I can't. Eric's expecting me."

Drake's face twisted up in surprise. "Eric? Not like… Craig and Eric?"

Carly smirked. "No, not like Craig and Eric. You don't know him. He went to Hollywood Arts. He graduated a year or two ahead of us."

"I'm happy for you guys." Drake smiled, taking a sip of his too-hot coffee. He removed it front his lips immediately. "Wow. They're not kidding about the temperature."

"Yeah, let it be known that coffee is hot." Carly rolled her eyes playfully, showing Drake the family resemblance she had to Jade. "I had better head out. It was nice to see you, Drake. Tell Jade I said hello. Maybe I'll see you soon."

"Maybe you will." Drake walked out alongside her, opening the door for her. She left him with her thanks and a charming smile, and as he watched her walk away, he felt that familiar longing rise up once again in his chest.

Yet, once she turned the corner, that longing was replaced by fury.

X

Jade could hear the roar of Drake's mustang and music long before he pulled up outside the flat. She barely looked up as he entered the room, shutting the door too quietly. Controlled anger could be scarier than the explosive kind, and Drake certainly had that look on his face. She pushed herself up a little higher on the couch, her voice flat as she spoke. "What?"

All she got was a tight smile, a shake of the head, and Drake's hands up as if in surrender as he exited into his bedroom, slamming his door only to re-enter the main room. He came at her, too mad to speak, shaking his head furiously at her yet again before vanishing back into his room. His third re-entry brought a smirk to her lips.

"Are you going to say something, or are you just going to stand there and shake a finger at me?"

"JADE!"

She couldn't help but flinch a bit. Jade had never seen Drake so angry, and that said something, considering recent events. His face had darkened several shades. It was as if someone had taken the events of the past year –inflicted by her or not- and cast them all onto him at once.

He took a deep breath, desperately trying to control himself. "You've been lying to me this whole time."

"I haven't exactly been super sweet to you, either. What do you want me to say? Sorry we aren't hair braiding buddies who tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets, and talk about the cute boys in class?" She rolled her eyes, and despite the fact that it lacked Carly's playfulness, the similarities tugged at Drake's heart.

"We were making progress. Not best friends progress, but not-killing-each-other progress. And then-" There was his fury again, rising up in his features. Drake swallowed hard. "This whole time, you've been giving me hell. Are you trying to get revenge on me for cheating on Carly all those years ago?"

Jade stayed silent, wondering which card was best to play. Her lips pressed together as she stared back at him.

"I ran into her today. She told me everything. How you guys are related- apparently, you couldn't be bothered to tell me she was your cousin. What the hell, Jade?"

Without a word, Jade rose up and walked towards the door. Drake shouted after her, "This isn't going away, West. But you might be."

"Oh, so we're back to kicking me out?" Jade whirled around, her black hair whipping the air in her wake. "Just for withholding some irrelevant information?"

"Irrelevant information? That's the reason you've been making my life a living hell since you moved in!"

"Maybe that's just how I enjoy myself, ever think of that?"

"Oh, I sure do. I had THAT fun fact figured since day one!"

"Good!"

"I should have known. I saw photos of you together in your room-"

Jade's face paled with rage. "You went into my space?"

"Oh, get over it. It was months ago. I didn't touch anything."

"That's not the point! That's my space! That's my freaking life! You had no right-"

"In case you're forgetting, I own this place, and I let you stay here, so I had every right-"

"HA! You're BROKE! You need me to keep yourself on your feet. How's Bitchcraft doing, by the way? I get half the profits, remember?"

"You wish you did!" Drake scoffed. "I don't remember that being part of the deal."

The fight escalated from there. Shouts bellowed across the small space. Door slammed. Shark crept into hiding in the bathroom, shutting the door behind him, desperate for some quiet. Hours crawled by as Drake and Jade had it out. Insults hurled back and forth on both sides. Neither could stand the sight of the other, but neither wanted to back down, either. Fists slammed into tabletops, yelling increased. Ugly broke out in the house, bringing hatred and bitterness with it. The air in the room simmered with upset. Drake rubbed his temples, attempting to find some kind of calm, but Jade would not have it. She lashed out at him, her words growing more and more cruel. Finally, Drake could take no more. All of the day's emotions- finding his dad, seeing Carly, fighting with Jade- had him spent. He sagged onto the couch, an exhausted sigh escaping his lungs.

"Jade," he began, his voice tired. "Just tell me why I deserved to be treated the way you treated me. I know I hurt Carly, and I regret nothing more than that. But she's okay now, and I am, too. Everything is fine. Why now, after all these years?"

Jade's fingers hooked into claws as her eyes narrowed, her menacing eyeliner intensifying her gaze. "You weren't there, after." She said slowly, each word breaking the deadly stillness. "You don't know what you did to her. I'm the one that put her back together. I'm the one that pulled her pieces from her shattered heart and helped her be whole again. You? You left her in the dust after she found you with your face full of that bitch you were sleeping with. How could you do that to her? She's one of the few good people in this world. Growing up-" Jade snapped her mouth shut, about to reveal too much of her past. "Let's just say, she was all I could rely on as a kid. Yeah, she's okay now, but you have no damn idea what it took to get here there. You didn't deserve her. You deserved a Noel- and I am so happy that happened to you. You needed to know what it felt like to get your heart ripped out and eaten like that."

"And yet, you helped me." Drake's eyes were burning. The fire beneath his skin had reached an all new level of heat. "You threw out her stuff with me. You got me drunk. You managed, in your own way, to keep me afloat- hell! You helped me write Bitchcraft! Why would you do that if you hated me so damn much?"

"Okay, first of all, throwing out someone's stuff without their consent is always fun." Jade's eyes glimmered with mischief. "Better keep your bedroom door locked. Secondly, getting people drunk is also fun. Plus, it beat listening to you moan and complain about Noel and Blake. I live here too, buddy. You're not fun when you're heartbroken. I needed some peace."

"And I suppose helping me write the song was just so I wouldn't kick you out." Drake ran a hand through his rich hair as he came to that realization. "I can't believe I'm just realizing all of this crap now. I can't believe I was actually starting to see some good in you!"

"Don't bother." Jade snapped. "There isn't any there."

With that, she grabbed the keys to her black truck, whistled for Shark, and headed out. The German shepherd poked his head out from behind the bathroom door, bounding after her. He was ready to go wherever his beloved Jade was headed.

Drake could almost see smoke clear as Jade slammed the door behind her. He sighed heavily, settling into the couch with a haggard sigh. He was worn out beyond belief. He got up again after a moment, heading for the fridge. Finding it bare of beer, he shut the door, opening it a second time just in case. Finding nothing, he grabbed his keys, deciding to take a walk to the nearest bar.

Five drinks later, he was pressed into a blonde in the corner, hot kisses peppering her neck as her hands roamed over him. In his drunken haze, he realized that maybe that Taylor Swift song wasn't so bad after all. He was maybe even starting to like it. Two more drinks after that, he found herself in the blonde's house, losing himself and his problems in her. One drink more, and he remembered nothing else until he woke up the next morning with a throbbing hangover and no idea where he was.