Finding Eve

Chapter 16: Finally, the Truth

"My sweats look much, much better on you."

I spun to my side and saw Drake, sitting on a bench with his back to the wall. Today he wore black jeans and a black sweater, and as always his hair was a disheveled mess. He must have worked some type of magic to get out of wearing the Christmas sweater from Kate.

"How do you roll out of bed at 11am and still look so hot? Like, fuck, I can't even focus. I might have to close my eyes," Drake joked as I moved to sit beside him.

"Now you know how I feel when I look at you."

He smiled at me. A bright, beautiful smile, one of his that completely immersed me in the moment, and let me feel normal.

"There's something I wanted to say to you," he blurted, his eyes turning serious. My heart dropped. Please don't say you're leaving me.

"I— well I— it's about— fuck. I knew I was going to fuck this up," he cursed. A giggle escaped my lips at his nervousness, and I placed a hand on his knee to calm him down. So far this sounded like a good something.

"Okay," he breathed. "You— you have completely changed my life. I went from an angry, self absorbed asshole, to an entirely different person, basically overnight. From the moment I first saw you, I knew there was something about you. I told you that you were going to fuck up my life. And you did. You made me open up, you made me feel like myself again, you made me smile more.

"I still don't and will probably never understand why someone as incredible as you chose someone like me. But I will never take it for granted. And there's something that I've been meaning to tell you for awhile now, but I finally have gotten the courage. I guess the point of this speech is that I lo—"

"Drake!"

My eyes fell as the sound of the door opening and Matthew's voice interrupted Drake. Drake's jaw clenched as he looked over towards Matty, trying to stay levelheaded. "Yes, Matthew?"

"You need to come in right now! It's an emergency!"

I knew from experience that his "emergencies" were never actual emergencies, but Matthew was like a child that constantly needed his every crisis to be validated. "Go on," I urged Drake, seeing his reluctance. "I'll just wait out here."

And then I was sitting by myself.

I took the time to breath the fresh air, something that I hadn't gotten the chance to do much of lately. My heart raced thinking about what Drake was about to say to me.

I lo—.

Oh well, he was going to be back any minute. I closed my eyes, peacefully listening to the sounds of birds' chirping, when I was interrupted by footsteps.

Goosebumps appeared on my arms, and my eyes shot open to identify the person.

No.

"Turns out my bail was pretty cheap, baby."

I jumped to my feet and subconsciously stepped back a few feet, my eyes wide as saucers and my lip trembling. Chad grinned at my obvious fear. "You— you can't be here. You have to leave," I said frantically. Images raced across my mind, but I didn't dare close my eyes. My entire body was suddenly doused in a layer of cold sweat, and my heart beat far too fast in my chest.