Smile for the Camera

Chapter Two

Amber's POV

   After I had showered and dried off, I walked out of the bathroom and decided to poke around for a few minutes. I gently trod along a dark corridor and, as I went to open a door, Drake came up behind me. "What'cha doooin'?" He asked, his head almost resting on my shoulder.

"Nosin'." I answered truthfully.

"Come on, I'll give you the grand tour." He said, smiling lightly and steering me away from the door. He showed me just about every room in his house but two. When I asked what they were, he just said he was storing things in there from when he had moved here.

   After, we went downstairs and sat in his lounge sipping on hot drinks. "So, what happened earlier, then," Drake asked me, "if you don't mind my asking?"

"Not at all. I mean, you saved me; the least I can do is tell you what happened." I replied, wrapping my hands around the warm mug. "Well, I'd just come out of the bar from singing karaoke - I mean, I'd been singing for, like, twenty minutes, and I was getting really hot and a bit dizzy - so, I went outside for some air. I was just leaning against the wall at the mouth of the alley and singing lightly to myself. These guys came up to me and just... cornered me. And then they tried to... they-" I then broke down crying again. Drake moved closer to me and wrapped his arms around me, rocking me gently and telling me that it was all over now.

   When I had stopped crying, Drake passed me some tissues and I wiped my eyes, looking at the time on the wall clock after. It was one forty five. Crap. I stood up and said "Thanks, for everything, but I have to go now." I headed for the door but felt a hand lock around my wrist gently.

"No. You're not going now. Two reasons: one, your family will probably be asleep; two, It's dark and I'm not having you going home at this time." Drake said this with such authority that it scared me a little, actually. I pulled my wrist away from his hand and looked down at the floor. "Come on, I'll get you settled in upstairs." He said.

   When we got upstairs, he showed me to one of the spare rooms and told me to make myself cosy. I smiled at him and sat down on the huge double bed, getting my mobile from my purse and calling my mum's phone. When she answered, she sounded groggy as hell. "Hey, Mum, it's me. I just wanted to tell you that I'm over at Vicky's house as it was late when I left." I said, my voice not too loud.

"Mhmm." She moaned in to the phone.

"Okay, bye. Love you."

"Mhmm." The phone then went dead. I climbed under the duvet, after I had gone in to the ensuite, used some mouthwash and stripped down to my bra and knickers, and then fell off in to the Land of Nod.

Drake's POV

   After I had taken Amber up to the guest room nearest to mine, I walked in to my ensuite and washed my face, wiping away all of the grief that I felt when Amber told me what those guys were doing to her, all of the pain and fear I saw in her face as I walked her to my car and drove her here, the terror that highlighted her face when I stitched up her cuts - though, I have a feeling it wasn't because of the needle, but the memory of how she'd gotten the cuts that stuck within her mind. I think that this was hurting her more mentally than physically. I know that if I was a girl and that had happened to me, I would feel a little scared about going out on my own for a fear that it may happen again.

   As I lay on my bed, the duvet covering from my waist downwards, I spread my arms out wide and hoped for sleep to lull me in to a gentle dream land. By the time I fell to sleep, it was half five and I had been staring at the clock for about three hours. 

Thinking.

About Amber.