Chapter 10

“Drake! Come on, you were supposed to be touring the military base an hour ago! Just go down, get in the car, and have Heru drive you there. Didn’t you read the memo they gave you on your first day?”

Rynn was getting rather impatient having to plan Drake’s daily activities. She seemed to be the only one interested in his job as prime minister. Okay, so he got to do some pretty cool things, but he also had to serve the city. “Stop thinking about the other day and start taking care of your duties to the city.”

Drake opened his door, dressed in his finest outfit. “I didn’t know about any memo. Well, anyway, you said it was a surprise inspection? Probably more of a surprise if I come late then isn’t it? They’ll think I forgot, maybe didn’t want to come. There’s the surprise part.”

“Whatever boss. Just get going already, we’ll talk more when you get back.”

Once Drake was out the door, Rynn was left with Crimson. Not for long though, she had a date with Zarek. Crimson was always so happy lately. Well, she never seemed to stop smiling but still. Since she met him it was smiles, laughs, everything cheerful.

“Ya know Crimson, if I had my dream guy I’d probably be able to smile like that. Then again my dream guy’s famous and I’ve never been able to get near him. Except in the audience at one of his concerts. Crimson? CRIMSON!”

Crimson was daydreaming about Zarek at that very moment, finally hearing Rynn’s yell. She couldn’t help it, she was in love. “Oh, hehe, sorry. Uh… yeah. Well, it’s great to be in love. What can I say, it’s magical. You and Drake should try finding someone special to share your days with. Well, I‘m off to see my boyfriend. Hope you‘ll be okay here at home alone.”

Rynn would be fine. She didn’t have any real plans, but Crimson made a good point. Drake could use someone to keep him company. Of course she wished she could get a boyfriend, but Drake would probably be easier to hook up with someone. Maik wasn’t exactly going to be easy to try and date. Then again… who would be good for Drake? There had to be plenty of eligible ladies out there, someone he might like.

Everyone else was having something interesting in their life, Rynn was stuck being the same old fan girl she’d always been. Speaking of which, she hadn’t read her latest issue of a certain magazine. And with everyone gone, she ran up to her room, pulled out said magazine, dashed downstairs, turned on the news, and practically dove down onto the couch looking through immediately for a picture of Maik. “Awwwwww, James got the center fold. Well… can’t complain too much really.”

After… almost an hour Rynn stopped staring at the picture of James, and started actually reading a few of the articles. More of James, something on Ace, an article of Denis, the usual. A few fan questions submitted and answered by the bands, then finally a section that really caught her eye. And for once, it didn’t have Sargasso or the Appendages as the main topic. It was a part of the magazine devoted just to the family members of the bands. Ads for a flower shop run by Ace’s mom. Another little issue on Kia’s dad, nothing too drastically interesting. Then there was a picture of Tiffany Rance, Pik’s mother.

“Wow, she looks nice enough. Maybe I can try and get Drake to like her. Heh, and if I can manage that then maybe I can work on getting the attention of someone who probably doesn’t know I even exist.”

Rynn set down her favorite magazine, of course leaving it open to a page with Maik’s picture. Blake was at his office right about now. Maybe he could get some more information on Mrs. Rance. Or maybe he’d just yell at her for taking up his time for no good reason. Drake probably wouldn’t even bother dating Tiffany if he knew Rynn wanted him to. Not that she could do anything about it at the moment, Rynn didn’t have a number or anything to find her. And it would be pretty strange if she called Mrs. Rance like that trying to get her to go out with the prime minister. She’d just have to try and bring up the idea with Drake. Until then, she’d admire more pictures of the hottest band members she knew.

Drake arrived home a few hours later complaining to Heru about the whole trip to the base. Apparently things hadn’t gone as well as he had thought they would. “I don’t get it, I know I was a little late but they were treating me like a child. If I asked something they’d give me an explanation as simple as possible, like I couldn’t understand anything.”

“Well you were almost two hours late to get there, and they probably liked the last guy. You’re new, they don’t know how to react to their new prime minister. Military guys like that always want things their way. Don’t worry, next time you’ll go there and they’ll probably all be happy for the visit.” Heru reassured him.

Rynn heard Drake come in and opened her magazine to the page with Tiffany’s picture on it. She walked down, smiled, and held it right up in front of his face. “See this person Drake? Do you think she looks nice? Go ahead and read a little about her.”

Drake calmly pushed the magazine out of his face and stared at Rynn. “What’s this about? You don’t normally show me pictures of a random citizen and ask if she looks nice. Normally you’re flaunting a poster of your favorite musicians and telling me I can’t have it. You’ve covered the walls in your room with those posters.”

Rynn grinned, glancing briefly over at Heru. She still didn’t like him, or his unhealthy obsession with her boss and best friend. “Oh, nothing. I just saw how happy Crimson was with Zarek and thought maybe it’s time you started looking for someone to go out with. Why, do you see something wrong with her? Or are you just planning on taking your driver there out on some romantic trip?”

Heru knew Rynn was just trying to get Drake away from him, but he couldn’t complain at the moment. Drake was barely even keeping him employed after that kiss the other night. All he could do was sit back and watch as Drake took the magazine again and read everything over about Tiffany. Heru knew Drake wasn’t enthusiastic about dating him or anything, he was just waiting until the poor prime minister got rejected by some girl before he might have a chance.

“It doesn’t have her number or anything here. Well… I guess if I can find her number it’s worth a try. Never hurts to just ask someone on a very simple date.”

“GREAT! If you need any help figuring out what to say or how to act I’ll be glad to help Drake. And if you do get to go out with her maybe I’ll get to meet Pik at the same time. Shame he’s already with someone though, but I can still meet him.”

It seemed like a stupid thing to do, asking her out without ever meeting Mrs. Rance. The name Pik was familiar though. He was the one that picked up the heart medicine a few months ago. That was right before Drake figured out Regulus and blackmailed him into leaving the city. Maybe he’d have a contact number in his pharmacy’s records. Then he could just say he was checking up on her, or something like that. Anything was better than dating Heru really. He just wasn’t interested in guys. Then again, he hadn’t been interested in anyone really.

“If all goes well with this Heru, I’d like you to drive me to her home. Probably not today, maybe tomorrow. Maybe not at all if she doesn’t want to see me. I’ll be in my room, just give me some privacy for a while okay?”

Most business owners would keep all their records at their place of work. Drake normally did keep records at the pharmacy, but he made a few copies of lists and hid them at home just in case. Just contact numbers, basic medical information, nothing like a stock record of what was on the shelves at his store. “Why do I have to have so many papers in this box?” he muttered, searching for the name Rance, Tiffany, or Pik. Long before he could find the number, Rynn slid a piece of paper under his door and gave a little knock. “Drake, she was listed in the phone book. Thought I’d save you a bit of trouble.”

He looked at the paper, muttering his thanks to Rynn as he picked up the phone. Five minutes he sat there on his bed, just looking at the numbers. Taking a deep breath, swallowing all his fears and anxiety, Drake dialed the number. Ring… ring… ring… ring… rin… click… “Hello? Who’s this?” a clearly masculine voice asked on the other end.

“It’s Drake, from the pharmacy. I was hoping to speak to Mrs. Rance, just wanted to check up and see if everything’s alright. Is the medicine working for her?”

“Hang on, I’ll get her for you. Mom, phone!”