Me: Hey Jade, long time no see. I just wanted to let you know I saw your video and it rocked! Xoxo
That seemed good enough for me; I had tried to contact her without mentioning Drake, so hopefully she would reply back.
A few seconds later, my phone dinged with an incoming text.
Jade: Chloe! I’ve missed you, how have you been? It just started playing a few days ago, I’m so excited! We’ve been working on our first album!
Me: That’s great! I’m so proud of you guys. How is… everything?
Jade: Eh, I can’t really say much Chloe. I’m sorry, but I love you both and I don’t want to be caught in the middle.
Me: I know, and I’m sorry I asked.
Jade: It’s ok, I wish I could tell you. But I can’t so I won’t. I have to go, but I hope to see you soon!
I raised an eyebrow. She hoped to see me soon? As much as I loved Jade, I didn’t see that meeting anywhere in our future. I loved her like a sister, but I didn’t think I could stand to be around her right now. She would be just another reminder of Drake and I didn’t think I could handle it after seeing him again tonight.
“Well, what’d she say?” Amber asked.
“Uh, nothing really. She doesn’t want to be in the middle of us.”
“Well that sucks. Want me to text Adam?”
“No!” I shouted, “Just leave them out of it.”
Amber and Adam had surprised me. They hadn’t seen each other in months, but still talked occasionally. Adam wasn’t the type of guy to talk to any girl, and I had started to wonder if he wasn’t interested in Amber for more than just sex. I had mentioned this to Amber one day, but she just shrugged it off.
I had to admit that I was a bit jealous that she was still in contact with the band, but I never said anything. I didn’t want to ruin her happiness just because I had lost my own. Besides, I knew she would tell me if Adam mentioned Drake, but he never did.
Amber picked up her phone and started scrolling through her contacts.
“What are you doing?” I shrieked.
“Um, ordering pizza. I’m hungry, so sue me.”
“Oh, sorry. I thought… never mind.” I mumbled.
“Whatever freak.”
“Bitch.” I growled as I threw a pillow at her.
“Hey! I’m on the phone here!” She bellowed as she threw the pillow back at me.
I laughed as I caught it and stood up. “Get it with sausage, I’m starved.”
I waited until she started placing her order before slamming the pillow in her face and running from the room. I could hear her cursing and the mumbling apologies as I walked down the hall to my room; nothing like embarrassing your best friend to lift your spirits.
The next two weeks seemed to go in slow motion. It didn’t help that every time I turned the radio on, Drake’s song was playing. I decided that listening to my CD collection was a lot safer after the third day straight of hearing his voice coming out of the speakers in my car.
Classes were starting to get tougher and I threw myself into them with everything that I had. I was taking much harder courses this semester and they helped keep my mind off of Drake. Any distraction was welcome at this point; that stupid song had brought everything to the surface.
Amber was still breezing through with the easiest classes that she could get away with. Her mom was ready to strangle her for not taking school seriously, and the phone calls between the two of them were hilarious. Her mom called at least once a week to yell at her about applying herself to her studies and for some of the charges on that were showing up on her credit card. My personal favorite was the six-hundred dollar charge for an autographed poster of Avenged Sevenfold.
Since she had so much free time, Amber was constantly trying to drag me to parties. I hated going to parties, mainly because every guy there seemed to assume that I was there to hook up with someone. It had taken a drink to the face for the last one to take the hint; after that Amber decided to let me stay home more often.
Logan, being the overachiever that he was, was taking several of the same classes as me and we spent most evenings on the couch working on a paper or studying for a test. It felt nice to have our old connection back after all those months of awkwardness.
I still thought of my mom from time to time. Danny had given me a picture of her that my aunt had from their childhood and I kept it in the drawer beside my bed. I pulled it out once in a while and stared at the innocent child my mother had once been. I like to picture her that way, instead of the horrible person she had become. After all, everyone was innocent in the beginning and my mother had been no different.
It was Friday night again, and I had decided to spend the evening on the couch with my collection of Johnny Depp movies. I popped a bag of popcorn and grabbed the blanket from my room before putting in the first movie and settling onto the couch.
Logan had gone back to his job at the shop and was working late tonight. Amber was running around the house, trying to get ready for another party.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” She pleaded. “I bet you would find a hot guy to bring you out of your dry spell.”
“I’m perfectly happy being in a dry spell as long as Johnny Depp is here to entertain me.” I said as I stuck my tongue out at her.
“Oh come on, you haven’t had sex since Drake. You’ve got to be going nuts.”
I winced at the mention of sex. I didn’t even want to date someone, let alone get all naked and sweaty with them.
“Sex is for chumps. I have popcorn.”
She laughed as she slipped her feet into a pair of heels. “Popcorn, right. You have fun with that while I’m out finding a cute guy to get naked and sweaty with.”
“I will.” I said as I turned my attention back to the television.
Amber sighed as she turned and walked back to her room. “I give up.”
I rolled my eyes as I stuffed more popcorn in my mouth. I knew she was only looking out for me, but her constantly playing cupid was starting to drive me nuts. I did have to admit that I missed sex, but I wasn’t ready to take that leap just yet.
While I knew I could go find some random guy that I’d never have to see again for a one night stand, that wasn’t my style. Besides, sex was the only thing that I had left from my relationship with Drake and I wasn’t ready to let that go just yet. Call me crazy, but I liked knowing that Drake was the last person I had been with.
Just as the movie was starting to get good, someone knocked at the door.
“Amber!” I yelled, not wanting to pause the movie.
“What?” She yelled back.
“Someone’s at the door! Answer it!”
“I’m peeing, you get it!”
I groaned as I reached for the remote and paused Johnny. Another knock came at the door as I threw my blanket and stood.
“Hold your ass, I’m coming!” I shouted as I walked to the door.
I had no idea who would be knocking at our door, and frankly I didn’t care. They were interrupting my quality time with the closest thing I had to a boyfriend.
I threw the door open and glared at the figure standing on our porch. “Yes?”
The figure turned around and my heart stopped. My mouth hung open as I stared at Drake standing on my front porch, completely at ease.
“Hi Chloe.” He said as he gave me a small smile.
At that point, I did what any self-respecting crazy woman would do. I slammed the door in his face and ran toward my room. I nearly knocked Amber down as I ran past her when she came out of the bathroom.
“Ahhh!” She shrieked as she grabbed the wall to steady herself. “What the fuck Chloe?”
The doorbell rang again and my head snapped up to look at the door. “Don’t answer it!”
“What? Why? Who is it?”
I shook my head as I grabbed my door knob and ran inside my room. I fell onto the bed and hid my head under the pillows. There was no way that Drake could be standing at my f
ront door after over six months of nothing from him. I had no idea what he wanted and I didn’t care. Him showing up here would only end with me being hurt all over again and I couldn’t take that. My heart couldn’t take that.
I pulled the pillows off my head and strained my ears, trying to listen for Amber or Drake’s voice but I heard nothing but silence. I hoped that Amber had kicked him off the porch and shoved her four-inch spike heels up his ass to get the point across. I loved Amber; she always looked out for me in her own way.
I smiled as I pictured Amber trying to beat the crap out of Drake. Too bad I was hiding in my room; that would have been something I wanted front row tickets to see.
I jumped when someone knocked on my door. Amber swung the door open and gave me a small smile.
“You ok?” She asked as she walked across the room and sat at the foot of my bed.
“I’m fine. Did you get rid of him?”
“Yeah, I took care of it for you. I don’t want you hiding in here all night while I’m out; come back to the living room and get your Johnny on.”
I laughed as I sat up. “I wasn’t hiding.”
“Did you forget that I witnessed your mad dash down the hallway?”
“I wasn’t hiding… I was escaping.” I grumbled.
She laughed as she stood and pulled me to my feet. “Whatever, now go bond with your popcorn and Johnny before I drag you to the party with me.”
That was all it took to get my feet moving; I did not want to spend my night surrounded by drunken idiots. I let Amber drag me back down the hallway and into the living room. She stood in front of the chair as I plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote.
“Thanks for being here for me Amber. I don’t think I would have made it through these last few months without you.”
“Uh, no problem. Listen…”
“I’m serious. We both know I was a fucking wreck and you helped me get my shit together. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of this, it’s that men are total and complete dicks.” I said as I clicked play and watched Johnny start dancing across my screen.
“Well, see Chloe…” She started again but I cut her off. It felt good to just put everything out there.
“Take my word for it, men are nothing but cold-hearted bastards. Look at Drake, I loved him more than anything and he just let me go. I hope he’s enjoying the good life out in Los Angeles without me; I hope he finds some nasty groupie that gives him every STD known to man.”
“Chloe, shut up!” Amber shouted.
“No, let her finish. I’m curious as to what else she has to say about me,” a voice said from behind Amber.
I froze at the sound of Drake’s voice. Amber moved away from the chair and I started cursing when I saw him sitting there with a grin on his face. Why me?
“In my defense, I tried to warn you.” Amber said.
“I thought you said you got rid of him!” I groaned.
“I said I took care of it. There’s a difference.”
“Whatever, I’m done talking now; both of you can go jump off a bridge.”
“No keep talking, I’d love to hear what else you wish upon my poor dick. That kind of hurts you know, I’m quite fond of that certain body part.” Drake said as he smirked at me.
I couldn’t believe him; he was sitting in my house making smartass comments, pretending like the last six months never happened.
“I want him out Amber, now.” I growled. I couldn’t believe that she had done this to me. I had been praising her not five minutes ago, and here she was, stabbing me in the back.
“Just listen to him, please. If not for him, then for yourself; you deserve that much.” She pleaded.
I stared back and forth between the two of them. My mind screamed at me to make him leave before he could do any more damage, but my heart was begging me to let him stay and listen to what he had to say.
“You have five minutes, after that I’m kicking you out.” I said.
“Works for me. I’m late for my party, so I’ll catch you two later.” Amber said as she winked at me.
I glared at her. I had thought she was on my side this whole time, yet here she was, taking up for Drake.
Drake waited until she walked out the front door before he turned to me. “Did you really want me to catch a bunch of sexually transmitted diseases?”
“You’re wasting your five minutes, I’m waiting.” I said as I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Drake
I couldn’t help but smile at Chloe’s stubbornness. It was one of my favorite things about her after all. I knew coming back here was a gamble, but I couldn’t stop myself; I had to know if she still wanted me.
“I’m not going to lie, I was hoping you would welcome me back with open arms.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be out snorting cocaine and banging the groupies? I figured you were living the typical rock star life by now,” she snapped.
“Yeah, I guess I deserved that didn’t I?” I asked. She raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she waited for me to continue. “And I assumed it would be obvious why I was here. I’ve missed you.”
“You’ve missed me? If you missed me so much, why didn’t you call me even once over the past six months?”
“Because I couldn’t. After you left, things started to get worse and I started using more. Then Eric got the call about the label out in L.A. wanting us to come out and my life went crazy from there.”
“I was waiting for Jade or one of the guys to call me and tell me you were dead from an overdose Drake. All this time, I’ve secretly worried about you and you couldn’t take two seconds out of your busy life to let me know you were ok? That’s bullshit.”
“At least that means you still care.” I mumbled, feeling like the biggest ass ever. I didn’t want to stay away from Chloe, but I had wanted the drugs more than anything.
“I did care, not anymore though. I’ve seen you, so you can go now.”
“Don’t you want to hear anything that I came here to say?”
“Not really Drake, you ripped my heart out once already; I don’t need to go through that again.”
“I never meant to hurt you, honest. You’re the most important thing in the world to me, but my judgment was clouded. I just miss you so much, and I know that I fucked up.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say to that Drake. I already made myself clear back on the bus; I don’t want anything to do with you while you’re on drugs. I can’t stop you from destroying your life, but I can still save mine,” she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.
I wanted more than anything to wipe it away, but I knew she wouldn’t let me. That wall she used to keep people away was up and this time it was for me. I hated to think that I had hurt her to the point where she would never let me in again.
“I’m clean Chloe, I have been for a couple of months now.”
“What? Why didn’t you try to reach me then? Is it because you finally figured out you could do better than me?”
“You know better than that Chloe, I love you. Basically, the band and our manager threatened to fire me from the band if I didn’t get clean. I had already lost you, and they were the only thing I had left that mattered. I checked myself into a two month program and I’ve been clean since.”
“So let me get this straight; you cared enough about the band to go into rehab, but I wasn’t enough of a reason when I walked away from you?”
“No, it’s not like that Chloe. I knew I was in trouble, and it was just the final straw. I wanted to stay in the band, and I wanted to win you back.”
“How do I even know you’re telling me the truth about all of this? And if it is true, that means you’ve been out of rehab for a month without contacting me.”
I knew she wouldn’t believe me, so I had come prepared. I stood as I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket and pulled a piece of paper out.
“If you want proof, then here it is. As for why I’m just now showing up, I wanted to make sure I could handle the outside world without falling back into my old habits. I didn’t want to come back and tell you I was clean, only to disappoint you again.”
She stood up and came a few steps closer to me, but only close enough to grab the paper out of my hand. I waited while she read what I hoped was my saving grace; it was my certificate of completion from the rehab center I had stayed at in L.A.
“You really did it then?” She asked as she stared down at the paper in her hands.
“Yeah, I did. You were all I thought about while I was in there. I screwed up so bad with you Chloe, and I want to make it right; I want to make us right.”
“It’s not that simple Drake, you really hurt me. You let me walk off that bus without even trying to stop me. I’m glad that you got help, but I don’t think I can go through that again.”
“I’m so sorry for what I did Chloe, I promise you that I will never do anything like that again.”
“How can you be sure Drake? You’re just starting out in an industry that is full of drugs and sex. Can you really walk side by side with temptation on a daily basis and not give in? Drugs will be easy to get and women will be lining up for you, worse than they were when we were together. I can’t handle that kind of life. I won’t share you with them.”
“Then come with me, stay by my side every night so that you know you can trust me.” I said.
“What?”
“I said come with me. That’s why I came back Chloe; I want you back and I want you by my side through all of this.”
“You can’t just walk back into my life and expect me to drop everything for you Drake. Even if I did want to give us another chance, I have responsibilities here; school, my part of the rent for this place.”
“So stay here until you’re finished with school for the year. Then you can take online classes and come on tour with us. Thanks to me, we’re still in the studio recording tracks for our first album, and we will be for a few months. We won’t start touring until several months from now.”
“This is insane Drake!” She shouted.
Twisted (Torn Series) Page 23