Ever After Drake (8 page)

“
Flirting, of course,” he says as he raises an eyebrow and
makes his way into the dining room.

“
I told
you to cut it out or it’s war,” Drake says, placing his hand on the
small of my back.

“
I’ll
jump in on that battle,” Kale says. “You know she likes this.” He
suddenly flexes, his biceps and pectoral muscles jumping in
contrast against his well-tanned skin.

“
Put a
shirt on, fool,” Drake says, shoving his hand against Kale’s face
and pushing him away. I cover my mouth to hold in the
laugh.

“
Did he
just flex for me?” I squeak.

“
He
flexes for everyone.” Drake shakes his head.

“
Okay,
that’s enough boys!” Robin says as she wipes her hands on a towel.
“Act like human beings instead of cavemen before poor Kaylee thinks
we’re all insane. Let’s eat!”

CHAPTER
SEVEN

My ancient world history classes
continue learning about the Mesopotamians. My world history
freshmen start learning about China. In historical lit we start in
on the Grimm fairy tales.

It’s too busy of a week to do much
with Drake. School is in full swing now and we’ve both got hours of
homework to grade each night. I barely have time to think about
him.

So when there’s a knock on the door
Thursday night and I know it isn’t Drake, I’m not too happy about
it.

I get up from off the floor,
surrounded by a circle of papers and cross to the door.

“
Mom?” I say when I open
it to find her standing in the doorway.

“
Hi honey,” she says with
a small smile. Her fingers are linked and she’s squeezing them
together tight. Her eyes are too bright and her smile is twitchy.
She looks nervous.

“
Hi,” I say, trying to
recover from my shock of her being here in the flesh. It’s been at
least three months since I’ve seen her last. “Uh, come on
in.”

I step aside and let her inside. She
walks through the door, and observes my living space.

“
I’ve been here almost a
month now,” I start babbling. I scoop up the papers from the floor
and lay them on my bed. “It’s cheap and pretty close to
work.”

“
It’s nice,” she says with
a smile. She takes a seat on the couch and lets her purse slide
down to the floor. I stand next to my bed awkwardly, unsure of what
to say or do.

“
I just got back from a
business trip to Los Angeles,” she offers. “This one was a killer.
I was there for almost two weeks.”

“
Oh,” I say, giving an
awkward nod.

She gives me this look, like she is
very well aware of how uncomfortable this situation right now is.
Like she knows she’s been absent for far too long, like she knows
it’s not okay that she’s not been a part of my life now for quite
some time.

“
How’s your new teaching
job?” she asks instead of trying to give any explanations or
apologies.

“
Good,” I say with a nod
as I sink down onto my bed. “I’ve got a full-time position, so
that’s pretty great. I wasn’t sure if I’d find one or
not.”

“
Your students treating
you well?” she asks.

“
Yeah,” I say. “Except
this one that keeps flirting with me. He’s kind of
relentless.”

Mom’s brows furrow. “That’s
inappropriate. Have you spoken to the principle about it
yet?”

“
It’s really not a big
deal,” I give an awkward chuckle and laugh. “He’s
harmless.”

“
Be careful,” she says
with a small shake of her head. “Situations like that tend to get
teachers in trouble. I saw this thing on the news a week or two ago
about a teacher who got into a sexual relationship with one of his
students. The parents sued him and he’s probably going to serve
jail time.”

“
Mom,” I say in
exasperation. “It isn’t anything like that. Lake’s just being a
boy. Trust me, I’m not encouraging him.”

“
Hmm,” she says, observing
me closely. “So, how’s Alan these days? He seemed like such a nice
young man. What you told me about him, anyway.”

A startled chuckle erupts from my
chest. Mom’s brows draw together again and she gives me a harsh
look.

“
Alan broke up with me
through text message over three weeks ago,” I say with a shake of
my head. Just then my phone starts ringing. I grab it from my
nightstand and see Drake’s name on the display.

“
Just a second,” I say to
Mom. “Hey, can I call you back later?”

“
Yeah, sure,” he says. His
tone says this was obviously not the hello he expected. “Everything
okay?”

I sigh. I’m honestly not sure how
respond.

“
I take that as a no,” he
says when I take too long to reply. “Is this something I can fix
with a chocolate muffin and an extra-large coffee in the
morning?”

“
That’d be a good place to
start,” I say. A smile is already creeping onto my face.

“’
K, don’t forget to call
me back.”

“
I won’t. Talk to you
later.”

I hang up, and for just a moment, I
forget why I was in such a bad mood.

“
What’s the new man’s
name?” Mom says in a teasing way. I look up at her and see a smile
curling on her lips. “You’ve got a man grin on your face,
Kaylee.”

“
No, I don’t,” I say,
shaking my head and trying to force my lips to not curl up. “You
have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“
I may have been single
for the vast majority of my life, honey,” she says as she leans
forward and rests her arms on her knees. “But I know what kind of
smile is made by only a man.”

I shake my head and my smile goes away
for real now.

The world I have with Drake is
beautiful and surreal. It’s above reality and I don’t want anyone
to touch it. Especially not my mother, who’s only barely started to
figure out the real world as an adult in the past few years, and
forgot that she needed to be a mother at the same time.

“
I don’t really want to
talk about this,” I say, unable to look at her. I stand and fold my
arms over my chest like a high schooler throwing a fit. “Be around
more, bother to check in more than once every three months, and
maybe I’ll want to talk to you about the men in my
life.”

“
Kaylee, I—”

A quick knock at the door cuts her
off. And not a second later, Skyler comes walking in.

“
Mom?” he says, his tone
shocked. He bolts across the room and throws his arms around her.
She looks just as surprised to see him for just a moment. Finally,
she melts into his hug and gathers him tight to her
chest.

“
Karen?” Dick is just as
shocked as everyone else to see my Mom. He strides in cautiously,
hands stuffed in his pockets. “I didn’t know you were
back.”

“
I just got in an hour
ago,” she says, stroking Skyler’s hair.

“
Oh,” he says. There’s
hurt in his eyes. It’s hard for him to be around my mom. He loved
her, loved me, and she acted like she’d grown out of him. “Uh, I
was going to see if you could watch Skyler, Kaylee. I’ve got
something I have to go take care of.”

“
As much as I’d love to
spend some time with my brother, I think Mom would love some time
with him even more,” I say, my tone harsh as I look at her. She can
hear every accusation and her eyes war between anger and
hurt.

“
Of course,” she says,
hugging him tight and looking down at him. He looks up at her with
cautious adoration. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“
Missed you too, Mom,” he
says, but he doesn’t sound so certain.

Mom may not have known what the heck
she was doing with me, having popped me out just weeks after she
graduated high school, but she was at least always there, until the
very end of my high school days. But Skyler? He barely knows this
woman.

“
I’ve got some papers to
grade,” I say, my voice chilly. “I should really get back to
work.”

“
Of course,” Dick says. He
crosses my tiny apartment and gives me a quick hug. He presses a
kiss to my forehead and gives me a sad smile before looking at
Karen. She just gives him a blank look and he walks out. Finally,
Mom takes Skyler by the hand and starts for the door.

“
See you later, little
man,” I call to him. I feel bad for basically ignoring my
brother.

“
Bye,” he says quietly. I
can see on his face that he’s uncertain. But I also saw the love he
had in his eyes when he first walked in and saw Mom.

“
I’ll call you?” Mom says
as she looks over her shoulder. “Maybe we can go out to
dinner?”

“
Yeah,” I say, because I
can’t be mean to my own mother. Even when she deserves
it.

____

“
You forgot to call me
back.”

I look up from the papers I’m trying
to quickly grade before the bell for first period rings.

Drake stands in front of my desk with
a brown paper bag in one hand and an extra-large coffee in the
other.

“
Ah, I’m so sorry,” I say,
letting my face drop into my hands. I’m exhausted, my head isn’t in
the papers, and I am dreading the day that is sure to be a long and
hard one. “I just—”

“
Hey,” Drake says and I
hear him set the food and drink on my desk. His hand touches my arm
and I peek up at him. “It’s okay. It was pretty obvious you were
having a bad day.”

“
It was perfectly fine
until my mom showed up after how many months of absence? Without a
word of communication? And then Dick brought Skyler over and it was
just…” I fail to find the right words. I want to scream, or hit
something.

“
Hey,” Drake says, placing
a hand on my cheek. I put my hand over his. My eyes lock on my
desk, and the point halfway between him and me. “You survived it.
Can I make it better?”

A smile starts to form on my face, but
it’s too tired and too frustrated to make it all the way. “You
brought me food.”

“
Well, how about a date
tonight? Sort of,” he says. I finally look up at him. “Tonight’s
the homecoming football game. Lake’s starting. I wondered if you
wanted to come with me?”

At just looking into his eyes,
something in my soul lightens. I instantly feel less weighed down,
the sour taste my mother’s visit has left in the back of my throat
vanishes. “Only if we go out for Chinese after.”

A smile breaks on his face and he
gives a little huff of a laugh. “You’ve got a deal, Miss Ray.” He
leans forward and presses a kiss to my forehead just as the warning
bell rings.

I can hear the pounding feet on the
stands, the trumpeting of the marching band, and the excited voices
of students the second I climb out of my Mini. I had to park out on
the street, clear across the school and on the other side from the
stadium, the lot was so crowded.

I fight my way through students and
parents and finally see the entry way to the stadium.

Leaning against the wall to the school
waiting for me, is Drake. His hands are stuffed into his pockets,
his ankles crossed.

I smile the second I see him. And he
smiles when he sees me.

I swear my body will explode from all
these things he makes me feel. I can’t contain myself. I bound
forward, closing the space between us, and press my lips to
him.

“
So I guess we’re done
hiding this from everyone?” he chuckles against my lips as his arms
slide around me.

“
I don’t care anymore,” I
say as I shake my head. I hug myself tight to him.

“
Oh, Mr. McCain!” someone
calls from behind us. “Already snagged the new teacher!”

I turn to see some senior leering at
us. He and his buddies smile and laugh.

“
Nothing I want you to see
here,” Drake calls. “Move along gentlemen.”

They hackle for a moment longer and
finally go into the stands. It’s nice that the students respect
Drake enough to give us space, even with the teasing. It’s easy to
tell Drake is a well-loved teacher.

“
You know the crap we’re
going to get if we really do make this public,” he says, looking
down at me. Despite his cautious words, his arms around me don’t
loosen one millimeter.

“
Let them bring it on,” I
say, leaning into him again, letting my lips hover a breath away
from his. “So long as we don’t get fired, I don’t give a
damn.”

“
I don’t think I’ve ever
heard you swear before,” he chuckles.

“
That’s how much I don’t
care,” I smile.

He presses a soft kiss to my lips,
brushing my nose with his. “Okay. We should probably talk to
Principal Riker about it though. He may accept it a bit more if he
doesn’t feel like we’re going behind his back.”

“
Meet me at his office at
seven-thirty Monday morning?” I say quietly.