Push the Envelope

by Rochelle Paige

  My dad chuckled as he walked away from me. I was glad someone was enjoying the situation because I certainly didn’t find it amusing. It wasn’t a great start to what I had hoped would be a romantic weekend.

  I let my dad handle getting our passengers settled for takeoff and just shook my head at Drake when I walked past him. We could talk about it after we’d landed and she wasn’t there listening. There was no way in hell I was going to let her know how much she irritated me because it would make her too happy.

  ****

  I wrapped up everything in the cockpit when we landed, allowing plenty of time for Drake and my dad to help Sasha and her ridiculous amount of luggage off the plane before I got off. My dad was heading farther up the coast to pick up another booking, so I gave him a hug and took some time to chat with him before heading outside.

  “Good luck with that one,” he said as we were saying our goodbyes.

  “I won’t need luck, Dad. It’s not like I’m spending the weekend with her. I just have to put up with her on the flights. That’s all.”

  “I hope you’re right, but I expect she’ll do her best to tag along as much as possible,” he warned before getting back on the plane.

  When I walked outside, Drake was standing next to the limo. Sasha wasn’t anywhere in sight, and he must have gotten our luggage into the trunk already. The car doors were closed, and I didn’t see the driver either.

  “So, that was fun,” I said.

  He shook his head as he strode towards me. “I hope you mean that, baby, because I have more bad news. Sasha’s riding with us to my parents. Her mom’s waiting there to pick her up instead of meeting us here.”

  “Seriously? Gah, that really sucks. I could ignore her on the plane because I was busy, but now I’m going to be stuck riding in the car with her, too?”

  “I wish I could say April Fools or something, but I can’t. Promise I will do my best to make this up to you. And I will book a car for her myself if I have to for Sunday.”

  He wrapped his arms around me as he spoke. From the comfort of his embrace, it didn’t sound that bad. It was a relatively short car ride. I just had to survive twenty minutes with her and then I’d have time with Drake.

  “I’ll add that promise to my rain check to see your ass. I’m sure I’ll think of something you can do to make it up to me.”

  He groaned in my ear. “Fuck, baby. The last thing I want is anyone else in the car with us, let alone Sasha. I was looking forward to all the naughty things I could talk you into doing in the back of a limo.”

  “It’s good to know I won’t suffer alone then. You can picture everything I would have let you do to me as we’re stuck behaving while she’s with us instead.”

  “Shit, don’t torture me like that,” he said as he led me back to the limo and helped me inside. He sat next to me and pulled me close to his body, like he was trying to place a wall around me for protection. I relaxed against his warmth and ignored Sasha’s chattering the whole way there. She didn’t try to draw me into the conversation, and Drake leaned over to kiss the top of my head several times throughout the drive. Each kiss was a reminder that he was talking to her while thinking about me.

  The drive to his parents’ had seemed so short during the last trip, but it seemed to take forever this time. Sasha just kept flirting with Drake the entire way. It didn’t matter to her that he didn’t flirt back or that I was practically sitting in his lap. I wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t seem fazed one little bit by our relationship. I didn’t know if I should be irritated or impressed by her persistence. The girl certainly had guts, even though she had no clue that her behavior was more likely to piss Drake off than attract him.

  By the time we arrived, I had a raging headache that was most likely caused by the combination of Sasha’s perfume and nonstop talking.

  Drake got out of the car first and then helped me out. “Gonna be okay?”

  I rubbed my temples tiredly and shielded my eyes from the sun. “Not sure. Can you grab my bag first? My migraine medicine is in my makeup bag.”

  “Sure, baby. Go sit down on the porch, and I’ll get you whatever you need. There are some chairs in the shade,” he whispered as he pulled his sunglasses off and gently placed them over my eyes.

  Sasha had climbed out of the car while we were talking. “Drake, can you help me with my bags?” she asked.

  “No, Sasha. I need to take care of Alexa first. You don’t even need to do anything with your stuff anyway. The driver will leave them on the steps so they’ll be ready to load into your mom’s car.”

  “Oh, but I thought we were all staying here for the weekend. It doesn’t look like my mom is here yet. Let me text her to make sure she packed to stay over also.”

  The pounding in my head increased at the thought of spending even more time in Sasha’s company. I raised pain-filled eyes to Drake before turning to walk away. I couldn’t deal with her antics right now. I needed to take some medicine and catch a nap. Anything else could wait until I felt better.

  As I climbed the steps of the main house, the front door opened and Drea bounced out.”Alexa!” she screeched. “Yay! You guys finally made it. I’ve been waiting forever.”

  I smiled weakly as I neared her. “Hey, Drea,” I greeted Drake’s sister.

  Drea’s smile fell from her face. “Oh, no. You’re sick. Here, come sit down.”

  She helped me over to the chairs and fluffed a cushion behind my back. “You didn’t have to come if you weren’t feeling well. We would have been disappointed, but we would have understood.”

  I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. “I’ll be fine, Drea. The headache just started. It hasn’t had a chance to get really bad.”

  She looked down to the driveway, where Drake was rifling through my suitcase in search of my cosmetics bag. Sasha stood there, tapping away on her phone, presumably trying to make sure that she got to crash our weekend plans also. “Aha! I get it. Your headache is of the blonde variety. She really can be the biggest pain in the ass. And she’s had a crush on Drake ever since we were little. I swear she was about to pee herself when she found out that he was transferring to Blythe.”

  Even through the pain, I laughed at Drea’s comments. “I’m sure she did. She’s made it very clear that she’s the one who should be dating him and not me.”

  “Like that’s gonna happen. If Drake was the least bit interested in her, it already would have. Besides, I think she’s more interested in her mom’s fantasies of having her daughter marry her best friend’s son than anything else.”

  “And does your mom have the same dream?” I asked, feeling disheartened by the idea of a pair of matchmaking moms.

  “No, my mom’s wish would be that Drake finds the right girl to marry. Doesn’t matter to Mom where he finds her, just that she makes him happy. Like you seem to do. Now, let me go detach the leech from Drake so he can take care of you. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Drea made good on her word and kept Sasha busy so Drake could focus on me. He found my Immitrex pills and brought me one along with a tall glass of cold water. He bundled me over to the pool house so I could lie down and take a nap. Before I knew it, I’d slept half the day away and awoke feeling a little better. I tilted my head from side to side to make sure there wasn’t too much pain. I felt a rush of relief upon realizing that I’d caught the headache early enough to stop it before it exploded into a full-fledged migraine. Hopefully I’d been fast enough that I’d be back to normal soon.

  The house was quiet with no sign of Drake. Our bags were at the top of the stairs, and he had left my cosmetics bag in the upstairs bathroom where I’d easily find it. I brushed my teeth, feeling a bit gross after traveling and sleeping. I was still groggy and pale, so I splashed some cold water on my face. As I dried off with a fluffy white towel, I heard the door close downstairs.

  “Drake?” I called.

  I heard footsteps on the stairs before he appeared in the bathroom doorway. “Feeling
any better?”

  “I am, thanks. Sorry I conked out like that.”

  “No problem. You must have needed the sleep. Hungry?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I could eat. Did I miss anything while I was out?”

  “Nothing good. My mom invited Sasha and her mom to stay for dinner so I told her we were just going to eat here since you weren’t feeling well.”

  “Was she okay with that? We came here to visit your family. Not hide out together in the pool house.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, looking uncomfortable. “She wasn’t happy, but she was more worried about how you were doing than anything else. She’ll probably stop by to bring over some dinner and check on you soon.”

  “Look, why don’t you just eat dinner with everyone and then bring me back some food later?”

  He shook his head in response. “No way, baby. You’re my priority here. You don’t feel good, and you need me. My mom will get over it. And hopefully she’ll take the hint so that Sasha and her mom don’t end up staying the whole weekend.”

  “God, I hope so too. So much for our fun weekend.”

  Drake walked towards me and stopped inches away. I could feel the heat from his body as he reached up to run his fingers through my hair, gently rubbing my scalp. “You. Me. No school. No work. No practice. Oh, we’ll have fun all right, just as soon as you feel up to it. Count on it.”

  I stepped closer, filling the small amount of space he had left between us. My body molded to his, I relaxed into him and rested my head on his shoulder. “You better deliver on that promise.”

  He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly. “I won’t ever make a promise to you that I won’t deliver on. You can take that to the bank, baby. Feel up to heading downstairs and resting on the couch? We can watch a movie. I brought some snacks.”

  “Drake, go have dinner with your family. I’ll be fine.”

  He swept my legs out from under me in a smooth motion and carried me towards the door. “Already said no. It’s nice to see my family, but this weekend was more about time for us than them. I’m not leaving you while you’re sick to go have dinner. Drop it, Alexa.”

  “Put me down. It was just a headache. I’m not really sick, and I’m certainly not an invalid. I can walk downstairs by myself.”

  “And give up my chance to show you how big and strong I am? Settle down and hold on tight before I drop you,” he teased.

  I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he carried me down the stairs. Instead of putting me down once there, he crossed over to the couch and sat down with me on his lap. He reached around me to grab extra pillows and propped my feet onto them. Once he had us settle to his satisfaction, he turned on the television. “Anything you really want to see?”

  “Pick whatever you want.” I snuggled into his hold, getting comfortable.

  Drake turned on an older action movie I had seen before. I enjoyed cuddling with him on the couch and could barely to keep my eyes open as the movie played. About halfway through, there as a knock on the door right before it opened. Drake’s mom, Ginny, peeked through the opening and saw us on the couch. “Oh, good. You’re awake,” she said as she walked inside.

  “Hey, Mom,” Drake greeted. I wiggled, trying to get free from his hold so I could move away while talking to her. It was awkward to be sprawled on Drake’s lap while talking to his mom. His arms tightened around me, making it clear that he didn’t want me to move.

  His mom saw the struggle and laughed. She lifted a picnic basket up so we could see it. “Don’t get up on my account. I just brought over some dinner so you guys don’t starve tonight.”

  “Thank you, Ginny. I’m so sorry I ruined your plans for today,” I apologized.

  “Don’t be silly. You didn’t ruin anything. I still got to see my son, didn’t I? As long as you guys made it here safe and sound, I’m happy. I just hope your headache is better. Do you need anything for it?”

  “No, thanks. I had some medicine with me. I’m feeling much better and should be back to normal tomorrow morning.”

  Drake piped into the conversation. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve got it covered. Alexa has me here taking care of her.”

  She patted Drake on the head and smiled down at me. “I’m sure you’re doing a fine job of it, too. But I’m a mom. That means I can’t help but worry over you kids.”

  His mom was so sweet. She reminded me of Aubrey’s mom in many ways. I watched her as she pulled several containers out of the basket and put them in the fridge. “You didn’t have to go to so much effort. I would have been fine with sandwiches. I’m usually not that hungry after a bad headache anyway. In fact, I was trying to convince your son to join you all at the house for dinner without me.”

  Her eyes twinkled in response as she shook her head. “And I’m sure that suggestion went over like a lead balloon. Drake made it very clear earlier that he wasn’t excited about having dinner with our guests. He’s always been a little uncomfortable around dear Sasha. Your headache gave him the perfect excuse to bow out of tonight. It wouldn’t be right for him to leave you alone here feeling unwell while we all had dinner together.”

  Drake smirked at me. “See, Alexa. My mom says I should stay here, too. Told you so.”

  She shook her head at him. “Don’t give her a hard time, Drake. This is your chance to show her what a great, supportive boyfriend you can be.”

  I grinned up at him. “Yeah, Drake. Be a good boy and cater to my every whim since I don’t feel good.”

  “And that’s different from any other day how?” he teased.

  I rested my head on his chest and shrugged my shoulders at his mom. What could I say? He really did treat me well.

  “All right, kids. I better get back up to the house and get ready for dinner. Drake, you behave,” she said as she wagged her finger at him. “Alexa, get some rest and we’ll see you in the morning at breakfast.”

  She left and I looked up at Drake. “Your mom is pretty awesome.”

  “Of course she is. She’d have to be for me to be her son, right?” he asked as he flexed his arm, showing off.

  “Put those muscles to good use,” I said as I pulled his arms around me.

  He squeezed me once and started the movie back up. Snuggling with him was so comfortable, and my headaches always wore me out. The first time I had a migraine, it totally freaked my dad out when I slept for almost two days straight, only getting up to drink something and go to the bathroom. Hopefully I’d caught this one early enough that I wouldn’t miss out on Thanksgiving tomorrow. Even with the long nap earlier, I drifted back off to sleep pretty quickly.

  ****

  When I woke up, sunlight was streaming through the windows. I rolled over and realized that Drake had carried me upstairs at some point while I was sleeping. I must have been totally out of it to not wake up while he’d moved me. And apparently while he’d undressed me since I was only wearing one of his shirts and my panties. There was no sign of Drake other than the indentation on the pillow next to me where he must have slept last night.

  I spotted my phone on the bedside table and grabbed it. I was surprised to see that it was already after eight in the morning. I’d missed our entire first day here because of that stupid headache. Not exactly the best way to start our trip, but I felt so much better after all that rest.

  I hopped out of bed and saw my suitcase in the corner of the room. I opened it and found it empty except for a note inside. I unfolded the note and found Drake’s scrawl on it.

  Unpacked your stuff. It’s in the dresser.

  Want to give me something to be thankful for today?

  Wear the white!

  The last sentence was underlined twice for emphasis. Oh, God! He’d unpacked my bag and found all the lingerie Aubrey had talked me into bringing. Talk about embarrassing. And now my surprise for tonight was ruined. I was pretty sure he’d figured out that I had brought all that stuff for his benefit. Eeek!

  I pulled open one of the dr
esser drawers and found my white panty and bra set at the top of the pile with the matching thigh-highs outside of the package, resting on top. I glanced back at his note and decided to go for it. I might not be able to surprise him anymore, but at least I could drive him wild all day long with him knowing what he’d find under my dress tonight.

  I brought my clothes into the bathroom with me and took a quick shower. I was fully recovered from my headache and looking forward to the day ahead. I felt incredibly sexy as I put on my clothes and couldn’t wait to torture Drake since he’d know right away that I’d followed his instructions.

  I headed downstairs and found Drake fixing coffee in the kitchen. I snuck up behind him on tiptoes and placed my hands over his eyes.

  “Guess who?” I whispered into his ear.