Drake's POV
When Taylor left I looked around my Pod grinning to myself. Even though we had been interrupted I knew we were going to be ok. Earlier I had dreaded going back to school, but now I couldn't wait to go back if only to see Taylor again.
I started getting ready for bed and made a light snack since I hadn't made dinner earlier. I realize after that I'm not tired at all. I tried lying down and closing my eyes but after half an hour of lying there I decide to do something productive in the hope that I tire myself out.
I start cleaning my room and once that's done I move onto the bathroom, the kitchen and then the living room. I sit down on the couch when I'm done and look around. I'm pleased with what I was able to get done and as I glance up at the clock I notice it is just past 3 in the morning. If I fall asleep now I'll just be more tired when it's time for school so I decide to pull out my homework and make sure it's done completely. I don't want to have to spend any more time away from Taylor than I have to tomorrow, well I guess I mean today. I'm staring down at my math homework when there's a knock on my door. I wonder who it could be now as I get up to answer the door.
I open the door and a fist connects with my face. I stumble backward into my Pod and turn to face my attacker. I'm shocked to see Teri standing there in my doorway. I touch my split lip and wipe away the blood there.
"Are you an idiot?" Teri asks me stepping inside the door and closing it behind her. "I've been wondering what's making you act stupid and now I know. You're involved with a human! Worse you're involved with the ice queen."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I lie and stand up and walk to the kitchen to get the first aid kit.
"Don't play dumb with me Drake. I've known you long enough to know when you lie."
"What do you want me to say?" I ask dabbing at my lip trying to get it to stop bleeding.
"Tell me the truth," she implores
"Are you going to hit me again?" I ask having finally stopped the blood.
"No." she says stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest.
"I am seeing Taylor," I emphasize her name, "And I don't care what you have to say about it."
Teri's silent for a minute and then she explodes. "Do you have any idea what could happen to you if my mother finds out that you not only are going against the Traggs but are now with a human?"
"Maybe I don't care anymore," I say softly looking at the floor. "I don't really have anything to lose anymore. My mother's in the Crate and my dad died on Arrival Day." I say this and realize its actually true. I don't have much in the way of keeping me from doing anything reckless. I know I have my relationship with Taylor now but I don't have any family that I have to protect anymore.
"You don't really mean that," Teri says looking at me and studying my face. I look back at her steadily and she shakes her head at me walking closer. She wraps a hand around the back of my neck and kisses me before I can say anything. I'm shocked and don't react at first. It's not an unpleasant kiss but she's not Taylor. I pull away and step back from her.
"I don't feel that way about you," I say as gently as I can. Teri's my friend and I don't want to hurt her but I also want her to think that I feel that way about her. Her face crumples and she takes a step back toward the door. "Teri. I'm sorry," I say and she turns and flees out the door. I stare after her and walk to close the door.
Taylor's POV
I pulled into the school parking lot and saw Drake getting off the Sector bus. I hurried to park my car and get out to meet up with Drake. As I walked toward him I noticed people stop and stare at me. I lifted my head a little higher and continued to walk. He saw me and he smiled opening his arms wide. I walk into his embrace and bury my face in his chest. His warm arms wrap around me and hold me close. I feel him press his nose into my hair and inhale.
"Why do you do that?" I ask curiously. He's done that before and I don't understand why.
"I like the way you smell. It's like vanilla or something," He shrugs and presses his lips to my forehead. I smile at him and bump my shoulder into him as I walk toward school. He pauses once we reach the door and holds his hand out to me. I look into his eyes and see that he is waiting to see if I'm going to take his hand or not as we enter the school. I know this is exactly what I want. I want a public declaration that we are together even if all it means is that we are isolated from our friends.
"You sure you want to do this?" He asks further reinforcing my choice.
"I'm as sure of this as I am sure that I look good in dark blue." I say cryptically gesturing to my outfit I have on today.
"Yeah you do…" he says laughing and I take his hand as he holds the door open for me to enter through.
As we step through the door I feel all the eyes of Marshal High shift from our faces to our joined hands. I look at Drake's face to see how he's handling the sudden lack of privacy and he just smiles at me, twirled me around by the hand he's holding, and dips me low before kissing me quickly. He smiles at me and pulls me back up to my feet. I see that people are either still staring at us or have moved on with their lives.
Drake leads me to his locker and I lean against the locker beside his. I can't stop the smile from crossing my face at how happy I am. Things seemed to be doing well between us. Even though we had a rocky start we seemed to be doing good now.
Drake opens the door and jumps back as a ton of dirt pours out of his locker and over the floor. His face turns into a mask that I can't read and he turns to the locker on the side that I'm not standing on and punches it hard. I take his hand and look it over. He's split the skin on his knuckles and it is starting to bleed. Drake looks at me and I see pain behind his eyes. I gently pull on his arm to pull him toward the nurse's office. As I lead him away from the mess I glance back over my shoulder and see Erik and his band of friends smirking at me. I shake my head at them and continue walking.
The nurse patches Drake up and dismisses us back to class. I take his hand outside the nurse's office and as he turns to walk toward our class I pull on his hand to stop him. I smile at him and begin to walk backward toward the greenhouse and he smiles back at me knowing where I'm headed. He picks me up and spins us around and I'm laughing both at how ridiculously strong but silly he is and also how the way he picked me up has me at eye level with his butt, and he has a really cute butt. I playfully slap at him to get him to put me down and he does. I slip off my heels so we can run down the hallway together toward our place.
We reach the greenhouse just in time for the first bell to ring for class to start. I don't care though because Drake is looking at me with a fire in his eyes that I am very familiar with. I consider where we are and then throw caution to the wind since we had already had sex in a public bathroom. When he holds his arms out to me I step into them and trail my hand up and under his shirt pulling it over his head. I trace his markings and they glow blue like I had discovered that first time. He shivers under my touch and leans down to kiss me. He gently pulls my jacket off my shoulders, kissing the exposed skin there. I pull away for a second to lie down on the floor and gesture for Drake to join me. We become lost in a tangle of arms and legs and pleasure.
I lie nestled against Drake's chest with one arm across his chest and the other curled up by my cheek. I sigh contently and trace along the markings I can see from where I am.
"If you wanna go to class today I suggest you don't do that," Drake says laughing as he grabs my hand and kisses my palm.
"Maybe I don't wanna go back," I tease back and lift myself up so I can see his face.
"That sounds so tempting," Drake says cupping my face, "but I don't think you mean that."
"I don't know maybe I do…" I say straddling his waist. We both hiss in pleasure as our bodies rub against one another again. Drake rolls us over and starts kissing my neck and I know we aren't going to be leaving here for a while. As my body builds pleasure and the coil in my stomach tightens it grinds to a halt as my cell phone goes off. Drake and I both groan in frustration at the sound coming from my backpack. Drake reaches across my body and grabs my backpack and fishes the offending item out of my bag holding it out to me.
"Hello?" I answer the phone angrily.
"Taylor? Are you alright, you weren't in class?" I sigh as I realize it's Emery calling.
"I'm fine. I just didn't feel like going to class today," I say wishing she will make this a quick phone call. Apparently she doesn't get my message and she continues talking.
"I saw your car in the lot today? Where are you?"
"I'm in town shopping actually," I lie and Drake chuckles above me. I press my fingertips to his lips silencing him. He takes my fingers and presses kisses to each of them and suddenly I can't focus on anything Emery says.
"Taylor? Are you there?"
"I have to go. There's a sale on some great shoes!" I shriek into the phone as Drake pounces on me and we are lost in each other again.