Starting Over (RiRiishtar)

Although she was slightly nervous in his car, not feeling as safe as she does in her truck she was still more relaxed then she thought she would be. Looking at him as he spoke she nodded. "I used to come here in the summers, but then for a few years I stopped, not sure why, it was always peaceful here."

She let out a low whistle "Since the civil war, wow that is history" She smiled. If she what she thought to be true was true she knew that it wasnt past, dead acsestors instead it was would be the family that was here now.

Drake says after thinking about things, "Sometimes people just cannot handle small towns." He smiles at her response to his family's history with this town. "You could say something in this keeps drawing us back here." He pulls in the parking lot of the craft store. He parks the car and comes around again to open the car door for her. He offers her his hand.

Smiling Brook looked at Drake “I didn’t think I would like a small town, but this one seems a bit different I could see why your family keeps getting drawn here” She realized that around him she was smiling a lot. He had a strange effect on her but it was for the good. He was helping her come out of her shell and she didn’t even fully realize it was happening.

When they pulled in to the parking lot of the craft store. She watched as he walked around to open her door. She handed him her hand and stepped out then closed the door behind her. “Lead the way”

Drake helps her out of his car and leads her into the craft store with a smile. He knew he was opening her up without realizing it and that made him happy. He shows her to the aisles of paints. He says, "I might take a bit getting more sketchbook and pens. The canvases and stands are two rows down." He smiles and goes down to the canvases where also the sketchbooks were at. He looks at Brook and says, "I'll be down here if you need me." He also had to get a cart for their things.

Walking into the craft store with Drake her hands in his Brook looked up at him. She wondered how he had found her, and why he was risking his family because of her. She pushed such thoughts out of her head though she wanted to enjoy this time.

When she saw all the paint colour she gasped "Wow so many this is great" At the canvases aisle she picked up quite a few and put them the cart he had. "Take your time I am going need to pick some more colours and paint brushes"

She took a basket and started adding paints she wanted more tools so she grabbed them too. She was staring at all the colours wishing she could take them all but she didnt have enough money for them all she would have to chose.

Drake looks at the sketchbooks a moment before picking up ten of them. He then looks though the pen sets before picking up twenty of them. He goes to Brook's side seeing her having trouble choosing. He says, "Get as many as you like. I will pay for the ones you don't have enough for." He looks at her curiously as he waits for her response.

Still looking at all the colours trying to figure out what ones she would need for the next little while. She would need blues and greens but other as well. She almost had it numbered down when Drake came up to her. She looked at him

"Ohh Drake I couldnt" She sighed and looked at the paints then back to him "Are you sure?" She added a few more of the colours, still not all of them. Her eyes lingered for a few moments over the ones she still didnt get and handed the four she had chosen to him "Thank you so much Drake, the colors around here are just so beautiful" She smiled and took the 10 that she had chosen with her easels and paintbrushes, and scraper tools and went to check out.

Drake smiles and says, "I am sure. I have pently of money." He waits for her to head to the check out before grabbing the other ones that she wanted but did not pick up. When he comes up to the check out, the cashier smiles at him. She says, "Welcome back Drake. Filled up the sketchbook already?" He says, "Yep you know me." He picks up the whole total of Brook's stuff and his. That gave him a total of 123.98 and he paid it all. He carries the bags to his car with a calm smile.

When he paid Brook stood there with her mouth open wide. She was shocked on how much he was willing to spend. She blinked and then smiled to Drake.

“Drake I thank you so much” She had seen the other colours that she had wanted but did not take she wondered how he knew, she walked with him back to the car and gently touched his shoulder. “I will have to paint you another picture what would you like” She smiled and then leaned on his car.

“So what would you like to do now?” She shrugged “We could go home, or out for lunch” She looked up at him with a raised brow. “Or hike in the woods” She added the last suggestion to see his reaction. She knew that neither him or her father wanted her in the woods and she wanted to test him.

Drake looks at Brook and says, "I don't think it would be a good idea for us to go in the woods. Your dad would hate me for going against his wishes. As for lunch, we can go wherever you like." He puts their stuff in the back seat of his car. He says, "I would like anything you paint for me." He stays completely calm.

Chuckiling softly Brook shook her head "I just wanted to see what your reaction would be Drake I wouldnt really" She smiled at the sound of lunch "Well I do not know what is good around here she looked around "What do you think is good" She watched as he put the stuff in the back of the car and cocked her head to the side he seemed a little more calm then before.

She took a step back and rubbed her arms against the sudden wind that picked up blowing her hair around her. "Drake are you okay you seem a bit more calm"

Drake sees her rubbing her arms and puts his jacket around her upper body so she would stay warm. He says, "How do you feel about Italian food?" He looks at her and thinks a moment. "I just seem to be more myself around you so I am calmer." He spoke the truth he was calm cause he didn't have to keep himself hidden.

As Drake put the Jacket on her she turned to him “Thank you, but aren’t you going to be cold? I should have brought a jacket I am just not used to the cooler temperature” She hugged herself though feeling much warmer now.

“Italian food sounds great Drake” She smiled as he explained himself “Well that makes two of us, I feel calmer around you as well” She sighed and looked around “So where is this Italian place?” She looked up at him again staring in to his eyes searching for a hint of what she thought he was.

Drake smiles as she looks a bit warmer with his jacket on. He says calmly, "You're welcome. No I won't get cold." He smiles some and says looking in her eyes, "It is not far from here. About five minutes." He could see that she was slowly figuring him out. He gets closer to her and kisses her softly on her forehead before he opens her door for her.

Still grateful for the jacket Brook smiled and spoke "I guess that is the manly thing, letting the stupid woman wear the coat, when she should have been smart enough to wear one in the first place" She winked at him. "But again thank you, I will eventually get used to living by the ocean"

When he kissed her forhead she looked up at him with soft eyes but a bit confused at the same time. When he opened the door she slipped in and waited for Drake to drive them.

She called her dad "Yeah dad we are just going out for a bit to eat" She then hung up "The answering machine" She explained.

Drake gets in the driver's seat and says as he drives to the resturant, "I don't think you are at fualt for not bringing a jacket just in case it got cold again." He waits calmly as she leaves a message for her dad. He thought that was kind of her to let her father know what she is up to so he does not worry about her. Not that it would probably help. Her dad was protective and was not going to change.

Smiling at his comment Brook shrugged "I am just used to triple digits so coming to the cold is going to take some time to get used too" She relaxed in the car as they drove. She knew it was strange for her to be comfortable in a small car, so low to the ground but everything was different with Drake.

"My father probably wont be home until late, he is behind in his paper work, he spent a lot of time with me in the hospital" She licked her lips and looked out the window waiting to see where they Itailan place would be"

Drake smiles as he parks his car in a fancy resturant parking lot. He gets out of the car and opens the door for Brook. He says as he helps her out of the car, "I hope this okay. I was just thihking it would be a nice lunch." He walks with her to the the enterance and is greeted by the staff out of habit. A waitress walks them their private table.

Once they parked she looked at the restaurant and then down at what she was wearing. She felt very underdressed but it seemed that Drake was fine with it. So she tried to relax and let Drake take her hand. “This is a prefect place Drake” She smiled slightly as they walked up to the entrance. It seemed that these people knew him too.

As they sat down she grinned at him “So the woman in the craft store knows you and this woman too” She winked teasing him. She leaned back in the chair “So where does your family think you are today?” She knew that his family didn’t like her and that there was something that he could tell her that could make it worse.

So either he was with witness protection or something else. But witness protection wouldn’t explain how he stopped the van. She looked up at him trying to figure out who or what he was. Then sighed it wasn’t really any of her business. So she changed thoughts “So tell me what is good here”

Drake sits at the table with a smile. "My family is well off and that brings you to people's attention. The woman at the crafts store knows me so well because I go there at least two times a week. I use up my sketchbooks rather quickly. I don't sleep much so I draw a lot." He smiles some and says, "My family knows that I was going to spend my day out on the town."

So his family was well off that would explain on why he was so willing to pay for her painting stuff. She had to wonderthough why he was doing it. Why was he talking to her, taking her places and being nice What was his agenda. And why the only night that she slept since metting him did she dream of him?

"So you like to draw?" She smiled "What do you draw?" She did notice that he had not told her what was good here but she just looked over the Menu to see if anything popped out at her.

Drake smiles inwardly as he could sense she was figuring him out little by little. He wanted her to figure out what he was. Then he wouldn't be in trouble with his family and he could be with her. He says, "I draw a lot of things and yes I like to draw. It puts my mind at ease." He watches her look over the menu.

Nodding to him as he spoke of course he would draw a lot, if he didn’t sleep like she didn’t there was very little to do she painted and he drew. So they were somewhat alike. She looked over the menu, wishing that there was just a salad she could order she didn’t want to seem like a pig in front of him. But finally hunger took over and she singled to the waitress

“I would like the spaghetti with Caesar salad and a root beer to drink please” She then turned to Drake “What would you like?” She had read that vampires never at or drank anything but blood but she wasn’t sure that he was a vampire

Drake smiles as Brook orders her meal. When the waitress asked what he wanted, he shook his head. "I am not hungry at the moment." The waitress was going pester him about it but the look he gave her made her back off. He goes back to paying attention to Brook. He asks, "Why were you at the cliffs? There are a lot more safer places to paint."

Raising an eyebrow as Drake did not order anything. It was another piece of the puzzle. She did feel a bit odd having something though when he wasn’t ordering anything. She was about to comment on it when he asked her the question. She leaned back and thought for a moment, she was torn she could lie to him and risk him being able to read her mind which she was beginning to suspect or should she tell the truth and risk him being mad at her. Either way he would more then likely find out so she sighed.

“To tell the truth I went to see what the big hype was, and to see if I could cliff jump” She took a sip of her root beer. “But I got too caught up in all the colours I had brought my paints to paint but I think there was a part of me that wanted to jump”

She looked at him a little worried that he would be angry, she hadn’t wanted to die, at least not like that but to see what it would be like to try something new.