Chapter 11

The whole conversation Drake had with Tiffany on the phone was a blur. He could only remember a few things actually. Of course, Rynn remembered every last word. She’d never admit it but she had been listening in the whole time.

“Hello? Mr. Drake? You called asking for me.”

Oh great. Now she was on the line, and Drake had no idea what to say. “Yes. I was wondering how that heart medicine was working for you. And I hope you’re feeling a little better.”

Rynn quietly smacked her forehead. Drake was terrible on the phone. No wonder he liked doing all his business in person. “Well, I’m feeling as well as can be expected sir. I still have to have the operations, but it was very kind of you to give the medicine away. And… pardon my asking but are you Drake, the prime minister?”

“Yes actually. Recently elected into office. And um… wow this is hard to actually say over the phone to someone I’ve never even met…”

Rynn somehow managed to remain silent as Drake made a complete idiot out of himself. What was he thinking? Was he just going to randomly ask her out? No, surely he wasn’t that stupid on the phone was he?

“Mr. Drake? Is something wrong? You sound a little nervous. Someone as important as you shouldn’t be nervous talking to me. Really, I should be the one at a loss for words.”

“This is going to sound stupid, but, one of my friends saw a little article about you in her magazine. She and I both really enjoy your son’s music and she persuaded me to look up your number. She thought since I was single and it said in the little article you were single, she wanted me to call and ask you out. And I know it’s terribly odd, but I’d really like to meet you. When I talked to your son he seemed nice, and I just thought if he’s so well mannered, maybe…”

Rynn so desperately wanted to just smack Drake right now. Shock him, beat him up, hang up the phone, and go and publicly apologize to Tiffany. He was absolutely the WORST person on a phone, and now she wished she had never even suggested this crazy idea. There was a reason Drake couldn’t find anyone, he had no idea how to even ask someone out. Then something rather surprising happened.

“I’d love to meet you Drake.”

“Really? Great. Um… is today alright for you? I’m not actually as busy as it seems. Everyone thinks the prime minister does nothing but work all day long. So far they won’t even let me near any real paperwork though. Any time you’re free.”

Rynn wasn’t the only one feeling extremely embarrassed. Pik was in pretty much the same situation as Rynn right now. He couldn’t believe his mom had actually accepted perhaps the worst invitation to a date ever. “I’d love to meet you today if possible. Maybe in an hour?”

“Great. I’ll be over there in an hour. I’m already looking forward to it.”

“Okay. When you get here you’ll have to tell me how you found my number, and my address.”

Click. Finally, Drake came out of his room, and almost ran right into Rynn, who was still holding a phone on the same line Drake had been using. He was too stunned to notice. “I… I got a date. In… in an hour. Rynn… what the heck am I supposed to do?”

Rynn hung up the phone in her hands and dragged Drake back into his room, shoving him toward the closet. “Go and get changed into something else. Make it nice, but don’t overdress. You’re trying to look fancy and respectable but not over the top. Your outfit can’t be nicer than she’d be able to afford in a month’s worth of hard work. Shouldn’t be more than she can afford in a week, but I don’t know if you have anything like that. Just… just pick something decent okay? I have to go and get you some flowers and chocolates. You’re not showing up empty handed to the first date you’ve ever had.”

Well it wasn’t actually Drake’s first date, but Rynn didn’t know that. He had one before, way back when he was in school. And it wasn’t exactly a fond memory, he got dumped before it was even over. As Rynn hurried downstairs Drake looked hopelessly at his rather large wardrobe. Nice but not too nice? How was he supposed to know the difference?

Heru saw Rynn dash downstairs and already knew what had happened from the look on her face. Drake had a date. He didn’t know what kind of date, where, or when, he just knew it had happened. Slowly, and rather solemnly, he walked up and saw Drake staring at all his clothes. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this but, if there’s any way I can help boss, just let me know.”

No matter how much he wanted Drake for himself, Heru didn’t want him to be unhappy. Even if he managed to score with the prime minister, the young tornado knew it wouldn’t be because Drake loved him. Not now anyway. Maybe if he did everything right for this date and got shot down… no, Heru didn’t want a pity date from him either. It was tough. He was so close to the man he desired but Drake was always just barely out of reach. “You’ll owe me a little favor for this though.”

“I need something nice… but not too nice. At least that’s what Rynn said. And I have no clue what she means by that. If you can help me pick out an appropriate outfit, I’ll really owe you a big favor Heru. And NO you may NOT watch me change.”

“What if I make that the favor?” Drake shook his head. “Alright, fine. Come on, I’ll help you find the right suit. How long until your date?”

“An hour. Good thing is she’s less than fifteen minutes away if you’re going to drive me.”

Half an hour later Rynn had a dozen flowers picked out and ready for Drake to take with him. Blake walked in the door, home early from work. “What’s all this? Is my little brother throwing a party or something? Birthday gift? What?”

She sat Blake down and slowly explained the whole situation. Of course Blake listened politely, and nodded in response occasionally, but when her little speech was over Blake stood up. “Nope, no thanks. The moment you said the words Drake and Date in the same sentence, you lost me. I won’t be part of this train wreck. Forget it, I’m not helping one bit. In fact, I suddenly feel the urge to go out to a bar and drink myself silly until midnight.”

“You don’t drink Blake.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything. And I don’t think I’ll want to remember ever hearing anything about my little brother going on a date. Especially after that phone call you told me about. Bye.”

Try as she might, Rynn couldn’t persuade him to stay. She did finally get him to promise he wouldn’t go to a bar and get drunk though. Just as Drake came down Blake took one look at him, broke out into laughter, and walked back out the front door. “Good luck wearing that. Hah! You’ll set a new record for the shortest date ever on the island.”

“Better than never even having a date!” Drake shouted after his older brother, straightening out his outfit. Nice but not too nice wound up as a rather expensive blue shirt with a white collar. Matching slacks, or as close to matching as possible, and a pair of shiny black dress shoes. It was actually the same pair he wore to that ball Regulus threw a couple months ago, the night Blake was shot. Maybe that was why he didn’t like the outfit. Regardless, the prime minister picked up his flowers for Tiffany, was handed a box of chocolates, and followed Heru out to his car. “Good luck Drake! Don’t screw this up, please?”

“I’ll try not to Rynn. I’ll call when I’m on my way home.”