Choices

Chapter 16: Madison Evans, Is That Jealousy?

It's been exactly four months since I've been over to visit Mr Harper. When I first got here and Drake fetched me from the airport the first thing we did was go visit his father. I hadn't seen Mr Harper since him and Drake's mom got divorced back in the seventh grade. Imagine my surprise when I walked in to find that he had been remarried to a women named Lorie and had two step kids. I never questioned Drake as to why he didn't tell me about his father's new wife and kids because I could see it written on his face that it wasn't something he was okay with. Brooke on the other hand was perfectly fine with Mr Harper and his new wife, she was more closer to her father than her mother so it was understandable.

When we walk in Drake's step siblings are lounging on the couch. Ashley is the girl who is sixteen and she's sitting on the couch with her phone in front of her. David is the older brother, he's eighteen and sitting in front of the television playing video games. Both of them don't even acknowledge our presence and Drake doesn't bother making it known. I can understand where Drake's bitterness comes from, his father practically abandoned both him and Brooke and came all the way across the country to raise kids that weren't his.

"Dad." Drake announces his presence as he walks into the kitchen. His father is a typical country club dad, he's always wearing polo shirts and playing golf. He sits at the table in the kitchen reading the newspaper when both Drake and I walk in. Lorie is behind the counter preparing lunch and the smell of roast chicken makes my stomach grumble.

"Son." He says as he puts down the paper and stands to his feet. He pulls Drake in for a hug and his deep brown eyes meet mine. "Ah, you've brought me a visitor. My favourite one also, Madison dear. How are you?" He releases Drake and grabs a hold of me before giving me a tight squeeze. Even before him and Drake's mother split up he's always been welcoming and full of love.

"I'm good thanks and you Mr Harper?" He pulls back and offers me a smile.

"I'm well my dear." He says. I greet Lorie with a hug and Drake just takes a seat at the table without even looking in her direction.

"Brooke says that there's some paperwork that you have for her." Drake cuts to the chase and I try my hardest to not throw him a glare. He said we were having lunch at his dad's place and I've already smelt the roast chicken in the oven but he sounds like he want to leave.

"Speaking of your sister." His father takes a seat across from him and pauses for a second as I take a seat at the counter and watch Lorie whip up a salad. "Who's this boy she's been hanging around?"

"Ethan Rodgers, him and his father are partners at this law firm downtown." I didn't even know that Drake knew anything about Ethan, let alone his last name. "He's been over to the apartment a few times." He informs his father.

"Just watch him, the other day they came over for dinner and they were having a screaming match on the driveway." Drake is the wrong person to give this information to. He acts first and asks questions later, I've known him long enough to know this about him.

"I will." His voice seems much calmer than I expected.

"Thank you for lunch Mr Harper." I say as he pulls me in for a hug at the door. David and Ashley have retired to their rooms and something tells me that they just didn't want to be here when Drake and I left.

"You're always welcome." I say my goodbyes to Lorie and both Drake and I find ourselves driving out the driveway with both his father and Lorie waving us goodbye.

"What's up with those kids?" I finally ask when I take a turn onto the freeway.

"They don't talk much." He shrugs as he looks out the window and I decide to drop it. Clearly, he doesn't want to talk about it and I shouldn't push it if he doesn't want to.

When we arrive back home at around two in the afternoon Brooke is lounging on the couch with Ethan. Drake drops the file onto the table in front of them and goes to his room without saying a single word.

I give them both a smile and find myself longing for my bed. I grab my dress from last night from off the desk and dump it into the basket in my room. I grab the basket and decide to head down to the laundry room in the basement to do my weeks laundry. I pass Drake's room and hear the soft music coming from behind the closed door, he just wants to be left alone for a while and I need to give him some space.

"Hey guys." I say as I walk into the laundry room to see two familiar faces. Nicolas and Daniel. Daniel is seated on the bench reading a comic book while one of the washing machines are used and Nicolas is taking his clothes out the dryer and folding it.

"Hey Madison." They both say in sync as I use the machines across from them. I toss a few coins into the first one before throwing in my clothes and offer them both a smile. "It's your weekend off?" Nicolas asks with a smile and I nod.

"Something like that." Daniel sits up and his eyes meet mine.

"Want to join us for movie night? We have Disney movies." He offers with a smile and I shake my head.

"I have better things to do with my life than sitting around and watching Disney movies with two grown ass men." I tease and Nicolas rolls his eyes at my words as Daniel gives me a wounded look.

"Is Brooke's boyfriend still around?" Daniel asks with a curious look.

"Yeah, he's around." I switch the machine on and take a seat on the machine next to it.

"The other morning when I was leaving for work he was yelling at her in the lobby." Nicolas says and I frown. He's not the first person who's mentioned this Ethan guy and Brooke having a yelling match and I begin to wonder if it's not some sort of emotional abuse going on. "You know our boy Daniel here had the biggest crush on her when she first got here with Drake." Nicolas teases and Daniel's cheeks turn bright red.

Daniel and Nicolas leave ten minutes before, Drake texted me to say that he is going to hang out with the two of them next door and when I walk back into the apartment I hear yelling coming from Brooke's room. Even when I close my door behind me and begin to fold my clothes I can still hear the screaming match going on between those two next door. "You don't have to go. You want to go, every time she needs something you're always running off." Brooke yells and my eyes widen in shock. I shouldn't be listening to this.

"What do you expect me to do? She's my friend, I can't just say no to her." He snaps back and my phone buzzes on the bed.

"Hello." I swipe right and bring the phone to my ear instantly, without checking the caller ID because I'm more interested in what Brooke has to say to that.

"I'm out front, open the door for me." Lucas voice comes from the other end and I smile to myself before abandoning my clothes on my bed and slipping on my sneakers and racing off to the front door.

"I expect you to man the f**k up and tell her no. You need to chose, it's her or me." She yells and my eyes widen in shock as I pull open the front door to see Lucas standing there with a smile on his face. His smile drops when I spin him around and close the door behind me before pushing him down the hall.

"What's up?" He asks as he stops and turns around to face me. He's wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt, I don't thinking I've ever seen him wear blue jeans before. He looks incredibly sexy with his hair pulled back and a smile on his face.

"Brooke and Ethan are having a yelling match. I just didn't want them to know that anybody was around and listening." I say as he reaches out and wraps his arms around me. I tilt my head back and his lips brush against mine when Nicholas' door is pulled open. At the same time our front door is pulled open and both Lucas and I stand in the middle of both apartment's as Ethan comes storming out.

"Yeah that's right, run off like a little b***h. Tell her I said hello and do yourself a favour and don't come back." Brooke yells as she pokes her head though the door just as Drake steps out Nicolas' apartment.

"Brooke." He snaps and she slams the door. "Hey man." He says to Lucas and Lucas gives him a curt nod.

"Want me to fix that?" Lucas asks and I tilt my head back to give him a confused look.

"No, I'll have a word with him myself." Drake says with a laugh and Lucas nods. "See you around man." He says before disappearing into our apartment.

"Brooke isn't your problem, you don't have to fix anything." I snap and he gives me a surprised look.

"Madison Evans, is that jealousy I hear in your voice?" He says with wide eyes and I roll mine.

"Don't worry baby, I only have eyes for you." He brings his mouth to mine and captures my lips with his before I can say anything else. Just like that I am on cloud nine in the middle of our hallway.

"I'm going to New Zealand tomorrow." Lucas breaks the silence as we lay on my bed, with him on his back and my head on his shoulder.

"When will you be back?" I pick my head up to meet his hazel brown eyes.

"Three weeks." He says with a small smile and my eyes widen.

"Three weeks? That's a long time." I sit up and cross my legs beside him as he places his hand on my leg.

"It will be over before you know it." It's evident that he needs to leave for work and I understand that but he just got back and now he's going to leave again. "I've come to give this to you." He pulls out a key from his back pocket and places it on my leg. "The spear key to my apartment." I take it in my hand and take his hand in my other before putting the key back into his hand.

"No, I don't want that." He gives me a confused look. "I know you don't know how most things work in a relationship but it's been a month and that's too soon. Give this to me in six months again and I may have a different answer." I say before closing his hand and pushing it away.

"Six months hey?" He teases and I shrug my shoulders.

"I mean you never know what could happen in these three weeks with you being gone. I could find someone else." I tease and he's already up and pushing me back before his body hovers over mine.

"You wouldn't dare." He places his lips over mine and he is right. I wouldn't even think about it because right now I've realized that I really like Lucas and there's nothing out there at this point that could sway my decision.