The Genius Freak and The Bad Boy

Chapter 6

"Drake.." I drawled out and by the look on his face, he knew what I was trying to imply on.

"So.. Ryder seems like a nice kid," he joked with a silly grin that seems to be too much to be a natural grin and I gave him a pointed look.

"Stop digressing, Drake." I told him and he pouted at me as a final attempt to plead with me to drop the topic, which may I add, didn't help his case.

He sighed and turned his back towards me, walking to the couch and sat on the edge of it, resting his head against the palms of his hand. Just then, I knew it was bad.

"I did something, Luce, and I don't want to see your face when you finally find out. But I want to be the one to tell you, no matter how bad it is." He kept on talking and even though he couldn't see me, I nodded silently and hung onto his every word.

I sat beside him on the couch and rubbed his back soothingly. "It's going to be okay, bro. It's you and me against the world, remember? Always been and always will be, right?" I told him softly, trying my best to calm him down before he loses it. It's not the first time he looked down and beaten but no matter how bad he felt, he always told me what it was and I've always listened to him and tried to understand.

He has never kept anything from me, no matter how big and horrible it was. "You don't understand, Luce. It's bad this time. It's really really bad and I don't know how to cope with it. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, Luce," and for the first time ever, I saw my brother cry as his shoulders shook and trembled as sobs wrecked his being and I felt tears prick my eyes. My brother has never let himself break down in front of me. I've seen him tear up a couple of times but he would always get up and walk away to hide from me before the tears would fall from his eyes.

It had to be really bad because it had always been me who would cry and seek comfort and protection from my brother. I've always been the one to whine and wail, complain endlessly. But even in my most annoying state, my brother would never bail on me, he had never gotten up and left in the middle of any single one of my tantrums. He wasn't like the other kids, he was different. He wouldn't leave me to hang out with his friends. He would treat me like a princess, he would treat me like how a father was supposed to treat his daughter. He does it for me because my father was never around to do so and I was blessed to have him as my brother.

So seeing him now, in such a vulnerable state, I couldn't help but feel tears streaming own my cheeks too. I hugged him and rested my cheek on his hunched shoulder. I guess he felt my tears because he looked up and made a futile attempt in wiping his tears before a new set of tears replaced the ones he just wiped away.

"Hey, Luce, why are you crying?" Puzzlement was written all over his face and I sniffed, smiling slightly.

"I'm sorry, I probably look stupid. I just can't help seeing you so much like.. me." I told him softly and he pulled me in for a hug. He shushed me as rocked back and forth in each other's arms like that.

"What about some hot chocolate huh?" He offered once we both have calmed down. I nodded silently as he lets me go, kissing the crown of my head before getting up and heading to the kitchen, leaving me in the living room with my mind clouded with my own thoughts.

What is he going through? Why is it eating him up so badly?

My brother has always been strong. Any situation was never a factor that could bring him down. Drake has always been the happier one between the two of us, his good mood alone would always be enough to cheer me up during my darkest days. He was my rock. I smiled at that thought just as he came back into the living room, holding two mugs.

His eyes were still puffy and red from crying but his cheeks were dry. He handed me my mug and I thanked him quietly, blowing on the steaming and thick liquid.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" I pushed. If it was eating him alive this badly, I want to help him, and to be able to do that, I needed to know what the problem was first. A look crossed his face and I narrowed my eyes at him, recognizing it to be his 'backing out' look.

"Drake, don't you even think about it." I scolded him, probably sounding like our mother, and he sighed.

"I'm sorry, it's just.. Where should I start?" His shoulders slumped again. For once, my mighty big brother looked defeated. I kept my quiet, letting him gather his thoughts. There were a couple minutes of silence before he spoke up.

"It was raining that night. It was raining so heavily that I couldn't hear my friends entering the dorm," he started and I couldn't help but notice how bitter he sounded when he mentioned his 'friends'. He suddenly turned to me, took my mug and set both of our mugs down on top of the coffee table in front of us and kneeled in front of me, between the coffee table and my legs, on what little space there is.

He grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. "I swear on everything that's holy, Luce. I tried. I tried so damn hard. I swear I tried. I just didn't know. If only I.." I cut him off with a sharp look.

"Don't you dare blame yourself, Drake. You've been taking care of me for a hell of a long time and you pushed through. So don't you dare blame yourself," I chided him.

"But you don't know what I did, Luce. You wouldn't forgive me. I know you wouldn't." He shook his head as tears started to fall from his eyes once more. My gaze softened and I reached out to touch my brother's cheek and wipe his tears away.

"Drake, you know I would. You gave me so much already, I wouldn't blame you for anything. Not a thing. Now, tell me what happened?" I told him softly before trying to push him to spit it out.

"I- I," he took a deep breath before opening his mouth to start speaking again. "That night, the guys snuck in my dorm and I didn't know it at first but when they took the things out from their bags, I recognized it immediately," He looked up into my eyes and I saw the guilt flooding them and this time I knew for sure that it was bad.

"Luce, I haven't been honest with you. I didn't get the money from working in a store. Josh, a guy from campus offered me a job to sell his drugs and he paid me half of what I sold. That night, they were there to give me a new supply of stock but I told them I wanted out because the money I had was enough. I went along because I wanted to buy you something this year. I wanted to take you out somewhere fancy and spoil you just for one night. I just didn't think that when I wanted out, they would start targeting you." I felt my heart drop at the last thing Drake said and it must've have shown through my eyes because almost immediately after, Drake pulled me close and hugged me by my waist and rested his head on my lap.

"I'm sorry Luce. I thought it was going to be a one-time thing. I was gonna get some quick money and be able to buy you some fancy dinner and quit. I came home not to just check up on you but I wanted to warn you as well. I'm so sorry, Luce. I'm so so sorry. I promise I'll make sure they don't get anywhere near you. I didn't know-" He choked on his own words and I snapped out of it.

As much as I knew that it was wrong of him, I couldn't be mad at him; not when his intention was to make me happier. Drake has never done anything that without my best interest in his heart. I knew that this was just a lapse in his judgment. I brought my hands around him and hugged him tight.

"Oh, Drake," I whispered to myself as I felt tears fall from my eyes and hit my cheeks. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared.

Scratch that, I was terrified.

But I knew that Drake wouldn't have put me in any kind of danger intentionally.

"I'm sorry, Lucy. Please forgive me. I didn't know," he cried harder as he hugged me tight and his sobs got even worse. I cried with him. It was my turn to shush him, telling him that it's gonna be okay and that I forgive him. But truth to be told, I didn't know if everything was going to be fine. No one did.

I could only hope that it will be okay soon enough.

Boy was I wrong.