“Where are you from, anyway?” Drake asked out of the blue.
“Sorry?” I asked, silently cursing myself for not thinking of an answer for this type of thing long ago.
“Where are you from? Obviously you haven’t lived here all your life.”
“Uh,” I faltered, panicking. “Not really from anywhere, my family’s been moving around since I was little.”
“Cool,” He answered, as if he hadn’t noticed my obvious slip up.
After that we drove in silence. I shouldn’t have felt so comfortable in this car, with someone I barely knew, but there wasn’t an annoying voice telling me this wasn’t a good idea. Either my instincts’ were having a day off, or this wasn’t as bad as I’d first thought. A little while later, we arrived on a long street of quaint houses. It looked like a neighborhood out of a movie.
“Wait, I thought…” I started, confused.
“That we were going to stop somewhere on the way to your house to get something to eat? Nah, what’s the fun in that?” He smirked slightly as he hopped out of the car and swung round to my door, opening it and motioning for me to get out.
I eyed him distrustfully, but no bad feelings warned me off from getting out of the car and accepting his hand. So I did it. Bear growled lowly at the contact, but quickly understood that he was being ignored. Drake’s hand was warm, and soft on my hand as I slid out of the car to the pavement. He grinned down at me, causing me to blush slightly. I removed my hand from his after a moment and followed shyly behind him as he strode up the path to his house.
***
That stupid girl, she had to go and faint for no good reason. Alex thought as he wandered on to his next class. She’d be fine and show up in Math, just some minor thing having caused her to pass out.
‘Did you hear what that new guy said to Blaise?’
‘It serves her right for what she said to Tina and Courtney.’
‘Why is he such a loner? He could be, like, popular if he wanted to.’
The stares and mutters in the school were something Alex was used to, since he had been the new guy for most of his life. It was better that Blaise thought he was a jerk, she’d be less likely to try to talk to him, as if he really wanted her company.
“Hey,” A smooth voice came from beside him.
Alex looked at the blonde girl beside him; she just screamed cheerleader. Turning his attention away from her, he looked at the corridor stretching out ahead of him. “Hey,” He replied, shrugging his backpack a little further up his shoulder.
“I’m Courtney, you’re new here?” She smiled, a little too widely.
“Yup,”
Her eyes flashed in annoyance at his indifference to her. “Well, if you want to come hang out with us at some lunchtimes, you can, you know.”
“Alright.” Alex could feel his tolerance melting away.
“That Blaise girl is so annoying isn’t she? I mean, like please.”
At that Alex’s patience evaporated, but he played along. “Yeah, look I have to go to class.”
Tina’s fake smile faltered but she nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, okay then. See you later!”
Alex sighed and strode into the classroom, feeling a few curious stares, but most were uninterested in the boy that didn’t talk to anyone. Strangely, Blaise wasn’t there. Sliding into his seat, Alex listened to the conversation buzzing around him.
‘Didn’t you hear? The new girl fainted in English.’
‘It was so melodramatic, I mean, who randomly faints in class?’
‘She went home with Drake, I swear she like planned it.’
‘Ugh, she’s so desperate.’
Wait what? Blaise left with Drake? Alex felt himself tense as he sat through a painful math lesson, regretting not being the one to take her home.
***
Drake’s house seemed normal on the outside; a trimmed, green lawn, a well kept property- but inside, it seemed lonely and pretty barren. There weren’t any photographs of any kind, and it seemed like Drake and his family only kept the bare minimum of things in here. The now familiar scent of rain was all around me, and Bear was tense yet again.
“Wow,” I commented as I looked around his house.
Drake smiled a little. “No need to pretend, I know it’s pretty empty.”
“Did you just move here or something?” I asked, looking at him and trying not to gape.
“No, we just don’t need much.” He answered before turning and walking into what looked like the kitchen.
On second thought, I realized why this type of emptiness looked so familiar. My apartment looked like this; it was emotionally detached, ready to be abandoned at any moment. Except Drake’s home took sparsely decorated to a whole new level. Absent-mindedly I followed him into the kitchen, lingering at the white granite island in the middle.
The few things that were in Drake’s house looked clean and modern. I found myself watching as he removed ingredients from the fridge and started to cut something. I could see his muscles moving under his shirt, and couldn’t help but notice how tall he was too. For a while, I wondered about how he’d grown up and what his family was like. A bittersweet feeling filled my stomach as I thought about what my family had been like. If only I could remember them, anything about them.
“Are you going to stop staring at me and tell me what you want on your sandwich?” Drake teased, amusement dancing in his eyes as well as something like satisfaction.
I felt my cheeks burn and removed my eyes from his body. “A sandwich? I bet you always get the girls with that romantic dinner.” I retorted sarcastically, quelling my embarrassment with the comment.
“I bet you wish this was a romantic dinner. I never said I was a good cook, but it’s food- which you need.”
I glared at him. “Hardly. Fine, just ham and cheese is okay.”
Drake winked at me, deepening my blush. “If you say so.”
Shaking my head, I concentrated on making the redness in my face go away. Why was I being like this? I didn't know Drake, and there was something about him that made me edgy. So why did his words have so much effect on me? Pushing those worrisome thoughts to the back of my mind, I focused back on Drake as he slid a plate toward me and sat down.
"Why'd you move here, anyway?" He asked, concentrating on me fully.
"Oh, you know, my family just needed a change in scenery." I bit the inside of my cheek, hoping he'd buy my blatant lie.
"What do you think of that?"
"What are you? My therapist?" I raised an eyebrow.
Drake chuckled under his breath. "Alright, I'm sorry."
After a moment's silence, I sighed. "No, I should apologize. You're just trying to make conversation, and I'm kind of making it hard."
"Yeah, you are." He agreed, far too quickly.
"I take it back. You just... so far you've just gone along with whatever I've said. What's with that?"
"A guy can't be agreeable?" Drake asked, his dark eyes glinting in amusement. "If you're not comfortable with my charm, then let's watch TV. See what I did? No more conversation, if you don't want it."
"Egotistic." I muttered under my breath as I rose to follow him, untouched sandwich in hand.
"I heard that." He called over his shoulder before settling down on the couch.
"You were supposed to." I retorted and plopped down on the sofa, a safe distance away from him. Why did he make me feel like I'd known him forever, yet still cause me to feel uneasy?
For a while, we both watched the flickering pictures on the screen. It didn't last for long though and soon the odd comment on a certain movie or show turned into easy conversation. We talked for the rest of the afternoon.