Chapter Two

Nicholas POV

As soon as the doorbell rang I couldn't help but drop what I was doing to venture into the living room. I knew Lucy had a boyfriend from whispered conversations I'd "overheard" between her and Solange, but I what I didn't expect was the jealousy that came with it. I knew I had a crush on Lucy since I went through the blood change because I got through the pain by just thinking about her smile and the look on her face that she only gives me. I kept thinking the pain would be worthwhile if I could just have one more second with her. After years and years of arguments, fights and screaming, I finally realized what she meant to me. My brothers tease me endlessly but thank goodness she hasn't caught on yet. I don't know what I'd do if Lucy found out about my crush, or God if she didn't return my feelings.

"He doesn't need to hear THAT joke, Quinn!" her voice bringing me out of my trance. As my brothers cracked up, I looked at her so-called boyfriend, and glared at him. Huh, l never thought l was the jealous type but there wasn't another explanation for this pang in my gut. As fast as he came she grabbed him by the arm and with her head up high, she was gone in a blink of an eye.

An hour later, Logan, Quinn, Conner, Duncan, Solange, and I took the jeep to the party, which was a half hour drive.

"Can you be any slower Conner?" I said harshly. I was very curious as to what was going on at this party, so I was a wound up a little too tightly.

"There's this thing in the modern world, Nick, it's called a speed limit. Jeez, I know you're eager to see Lucy, seeing as how it's been an hour since you've breathed the same air, but don't take it out on us." he replied rolling his eyes.

"A word of advice little brother, when a girl breaks your nose repeatedly, it translates as no I don't want to go out with you." Duncan said trying to be serious.

"Hey since it's taken so long for you to muster up any courage to ask her out, why don't I go out with Lucy? She's everything I want in a girl, cute, sarcastic, and has a mean right hook." Logan teased. My head snapped up and I almost growled at him for even mentioning he do such a thing. While they all laughed at my expense we neared Jennifer King's house. The party was located on the edge of Violet Hill, on a huge property. The actual party was inside a large house that looked as if it came out of an interior décor magazine, the only thing it needed was a white picket fence. As soon as we parked l went in search for Lucy. I saw my brothers' head straight towards a group of girls and drinks. Solange saw a few friends from school and went in their direction. It was hard to locate Lucy, the scent of beer among other stuff made it hard for me to find her, so I continued to check every part of the house. After searching the first floor, I still hadn't seen a glimpse of Lucy anywhere, and the only place left unchecked was the second floor of the house. I prayed she wasn't up there, from either personal experience or movies, EVERYONE knows what goes on upstairs at a party. Drugs or sex. I didn't know which would be worse but if they had sex I would kill the bastard, despite whatever Lucy thought of it. Actually, I think I'd kill him regardless of what they were doing, which was probably the only thing to look forward to in this whole situation.

After the torturous climb up the stairs, I began opening doors. Door number one held a group of tipsy teens playing strip…hide and go seek? That's new. Door number two was clouded in smoke and after making sure Lucy wasn't there I bolted closing that door. I crept up to the last bedroom when I heard a soft moan. It was Julian. My vision went red as I burst through the door, the asshole was making out with a blonde, her legs wrapped around him and her back was against the wall. Wait a minute, the girl is a blonde so it can't be my Lucy! I couldn't let her see this, no matter happy it'd make me to see her dump him on the spot.

"Nick! Have you seen Julian?!" Lucy yelled across the hallway at me. This was just my luck, I thought as I shut the door quickly. She eyed my movement suspiciously, "What's behind that door Nicky?"

"Nothing." I mumbled. I shoved my hands in my pockets and I hoped I didn't look as guilty as I felt.

"Nicholas…" she warned, "you should either get out of the way, or you can take your chances and try to keep me out." I gulped. When she raised her fist I got out of the way immediately. She grabbed the brass handle and slowly opened the door. In the small amount of time I was gone, the couple had progressed quickly and were now tangled in the sheets. Lucy's eyes filled with angry tears and she ran away. I wish I could say that I didn't stop her because I was trying to give her space but truly I was terrified of her. I have only seen her cry once, last year, when her parents stood her up on her birthday and I wasn't sure how she'd react now. I scolded myself and chased her shadow, down the stairs and out of the house. I could maul Julian later, I thought as I saw Lucy, with her head resting on her knees, hidden under a large willow tree.

Lucy POV

I couldn't get that image out of my head. Julian is a lying, cheating, butt-faced loser. And a walking dead man after I get through with him. I hated the fact that I was crying and I wanted to leave and never look back. Not only did he cheat on me but he did it with Jennifer who was my supposed friend. No wonder she was so eager to invite me to the party, because then He Who Shall Not Be Named would show up and she'd get her claws on him. Right before I went upstairs I knew something was wrong when he got a little too touchy, and a little too drunk. As soon as he disappeared I tried finding Solange so we could go home, watch a movie, and eat chocolate. Then I saw Nicholas go from the angriest face I'd ever seen, to his reserved self as he saw me and closed the door quickly. More tears came as I thought about it, and I wanted nothing more than to go home. My vision was blurry and my eyelids were heavy, so I sat under a tree whose long branches held vine-like leaves that caressed the floor. Suddenly a body plopped right down next to me and sighed.

"Do you remember that time when we were kids and I shoved chocolate cake in your face?" Nicholas asked me. Well, that was unexpected. I tried to remember the events of that day. It was my eleventh birthday and having an obsession with sugar I had a fudge brownie cake with chocolate frosting, which Nicholas and Liam baked. My parents were coming to celebrate so I wore my favorite Cinderella-like dress to impress them with, when all the sudden twelve-year-old Nick shoved cake in my face and some fell on my dress.

"Yeah," I laughed thinking about what happened afterword, "then I beat the crap out of you and ran upstairs, into your room, got your favorite batman cape and smeared cake all over that too." I looked up at Nicholas and smiled thinking about all the crazy stuff we put each other through every day.

"I don't think I told you why I did it, did I? I spent that whole week trying to decide what to get you but I had no idea, so I told my Dad and he helped me bake you a cake. I also tried to tell you that it was a gift and that you should try a piece, but you continued to ignore me so I fed a piece of it to you." He confessed more to himself than to me.

"Fed it to me?! Hell, you practically shoved it down my throat!" I accused. The sky began to turn black and the wind turned bitter with the cold. I shivered and scooted closer to Nicholas' warmth. He noticed I was only wearing a dress and took off his jacket and used it to cover us both as a blanket.

Continuing with our banter he said, "I just wanted you to try a piece of the delicious cake that I spent all morning on to bake." I suddenly remembered how much he implied I tried a slice of the cake that (and he made sure to always say) he made.

"Nicholas I never thought of it like that, I am really, really sorry for my eleven-year-old self. And I'll make sure to buy you a new batman cape." I had suddenly grown interest in a lovely rock on the ground.

"Don't beat yourself up about it…if you really wanted to make it up to me, you'd join me for breakfast tomorrow morning at IHOP?" he offered. I saw he had also found his own lovely rock to admire.

"You know I can't refuse a platter of fluffy pancakes! Ohhhh can I get chocolate pancakes?! Or, holy crap, chocolate fudge pancakes?!" I ranted, excited about tomorrow. Nicholas took one look at me and started laughing uncontrollably, he even fell on his side, which caused even more fits of laughter. I glanced in his direction and smiled looking at him in wonder. My arch nemesis just helped me forget the last, worst five minutes of my life and actually made me look forward to waking up tomorrow.

"Nicholas? Thanks for everything." I said shyly. He looked at me and his gaze softened greatly.

"Anytime Lucky." he said and then changing the subject, "Don't you think it's a bit odd having a full conversation without a single argument or any yelling? I think this might be the first time."

"Nuh-uh." I said with a wicked smile. He gave me an exasperated look and shook his head at me.

"Don't start one now Lucy! We were finally having a heart felt moment, which is a first, and you're going to ruin it!" he groaned. Now it was my turn to laugh at him. By the time we stopped laughing at each other I rested my head on his shoulder for a few seconds, and in this moment the rest of the Drake's decided to show up.

"Nick? And a girl?" Logan guffawed, then he started choking.

"Is that Lucy?! Conner, Logan, you better pay up, seems like I'm going to be forty bucks richer." Quinn gaped at the both of us. He saw how close we were, and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Nick and I immediately moved away from each other and looked at them nervously.

"Jesus, Logan, choke over there. Lemme see!" Conner complained. Solange was openly staring with her chin on the floor. She quickly recuperated and hit each of them upside the head.

"Can we get home now? Mom said she'd be home tomorrow and you boys need to clean up, plus buy the exact replica of the lamp you broke." She winked at me as the boys' attitude grew serious at the mention of Helena. I loved my best friend at that moment and then we all went home.