Living Arrangements

Chapter Three: Detour

CHAPTER THREE: DETOUR

"No, for Christ's sakes Drake the indicator is on your other side."  Caroline growled in frustration as the windscreen wipers swiped the dry glass. Drake had of course figured out the layout of the car several minutes ago, but it was extremely enjoyable to watch Caroline get all worked up. Her teeth nibbled nervously on her lower lip, reddening the skin.

"Drake, why have we just gone past the turn-off? I mean you're obviously not a brilliant driver but you do know how to use a steering wheel, surely?"

He raised his eyebrows at the insult, narrowing his eyes at her triumphant little smile.

"Well I thought we'd take a little trip." He turned his eyes back to the road, his lips twitching at the sound of Caroline's soft little growl of frustration.

"I knew it." She muttered quietly enough that Drake could have mistaken it for her talking to herself if he hadn't been so sure he was meant to hear.

"You are so obviously not trustworthy. Why on earth did I let you drive my car? I am not going on some drugs round with you, I hope you're aware of that!"

Drake rolled his eyes as they hit the open road and pressed his foot hard against the pedal, grinning as the car spluttered in complaint and sped up.

"Oh and now you're trying to break my car, this is pleasant. Really relaxing, not to mention how deep a pile of shit I will be in when you decide to take me home. Hold on, you know what, this is my car, just pull over and give me back my k- OWW!"

Drake cut off her rant by pressing down hard on the brakes and the car jerked forward, along with Caroline's head. The seatbelt cut into her neck and a burning pain spread through the back of her neck.

"Bloody hell princess do you ever shut up?" Caroline opened and closed her mouth, unable to form words in her current state of shock. She'd been told frequently by her friend's that she had a knack for over-talking but she couldn't remember the last time someone had addressed her so rudely.

In some ways Drake's brutal say-it-like-it-is attitude was refreshing. As the sheriff's daughter, Caroline rarely received honesty from anyone other than her friends. It came in handy when avoiding the school bitches but it might also be nice if people could warn her the next time she had toilet paper in her shoe, or pastry in her teeth. Not that anything like that had happened in a long time thankfully.

The car started up again, slowly gaining speed and Drake sighed in relief at the silence. Caroline, however, appeared to prefer noise and reached forward to turn on the radio. After a moment's hesitation, Drake decided to leave it.

They were almost there anyway.

* * *

Ten minutes later he pulled into the familiar car park, groaning in what felt like physical pain. Caroline had insisted on singing along to each and every song she recognised and whilst her singing was fairly pleasant, it had also been very loud.

"Serves you right for stealing my car. I may not be half as annoying as you are naturally but I think you'll find I can manage pretty well."

She stepped out of the car, rotating her ankle with a click and leaning against the door to stretch her legs. Drake watched in amusement, admiring the short frame of her body as she lifted her arms above her head and leaned it from side to side.

"Are you planning on actually getting out of the car anytime soon or are you just gonna sit there?" Caroline snapped impatiently and Drake slipped out of the car, walking around to stand with her, keys in hand.

Her eyes flickered down to his wrist discretely and a split second later she grabbed the keys, darting around to the driver's door. With a roll of his eyes, Drake reached out his arms, wrapping his fingers around the swell of her hips and pulling her back beside him. She growled in frustration as he held her, just tightly enough to banish any hopes of escaping his grasp.

"Play nice princess, we won't stay here for long."

Out of options, Caroline sighed and looked up at the building in front of her. The walls were stone, cold, grey and uninviting. Yet windows plastered the side of the building, revealing the inside to be rather pleasant looking, with sofas lining the inside walls and sleek bar stools lined in a row.

"You brought me to a pub? Drake we're both underage. Now I'm assuming this doesn't bother you so much bu-"

Drake shut her up with a brief tug to her wrist, not in any hurry to hear another rant about his levels of irresponsibility.

 "It's not just a pub princess, downstairs is a club... that's the bit I'm interested in. My older cousin owns it and he's not gonna bust you for drinking so you don't need to worry your pretty little head about it."

Caroline crossed her arms, planting her feet firmly on the ground and stubbornly shaking her head. Drake chuckled lightly, shaking his head. It was somewhat cute how she thought she could argue with him about this... and win.

"Loosen up a little Caroline. Otherwise I'll tell 'daddy' all about this little escapade and I won't be out of your house for a long, long time!"

He grinned at the flicker of resentment and defeat that crossed Caroline's face as she uncrossed her arms and stomped ungracefully past him to the door. She stopped before it, glancing back at his triumphant smirk.

"Let's just get whatever the hell this is over with."