Lost in Technicolor

Play Your Role

 She must have fallen asleep and time traveled asleep, because she woke up to Drake gently taking the music box out of her hands and sitting on the bed beside her, putting it back into its pocket.

"I'm sorry," she gasped with a start, expecting him to begin yelling at her, "I know, I know I was prying."

He blinked at her, seeming surprised at her reaction, "It's fine, dear. How did the time traveling go?"

She saw Erik hanging his coat by the door out of the corner of her eye and understood why Drake wasn't bursting with anger. He was hiding it.

I'm not angry. He thought to her. It's just an old piece of junk that Damien freaks out when he sees and goes into hysterics if it's played.

"I slept through it," Jade muttered.

Drake's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he laughed nervously, "You did?"

She nodded with a yawn as he put his hand on the small of her back and kissed her. Would you stop?

What? Erik's suspicious and I'm doing more than my share to keep him off our backs, while you, dear, are doing absolutely nothing!

Ha! I'm the one doing nothing? You're the one who was acting like an asshole this morning!

"Love," he said, stroking stray strands of hair out of her face, "I'm sorry for being an asshole this morning. Will you forgive me?"

No, absolutely not! "Yes, dear," she muttered, glumly. She rolled her eyes as he stood. She couldn't help it. She was more than tired of playing this role. It made her feel as if she were chained to Drake more than she already was.

"Jade," Erik said from the kitchen, "do you wanna come with me to see them light the tree tonight?"

Jade smiled to herself remembering the many times when she went with him to see the lighting. Tears came to her eyes as she realized that she hadn't even thought that she'd ever have the opportunity to see it again yet alone with him.

"Yes, of course!" She answered. Drake gave a loud sigh from where he stood. "Um, how was your day?"

He rolled his eyes, clearly not satisfied with her attempts, and laid down on the couch, sending up a thick cloud of dust into the air.

"Well, everyone remembers Drake that's for sure," Erik laughed.

"What do you mean," She asked, eyeing Drake who wasn't giving her any clues.

"Well, for the most part they all still hate him," Erik responded, beginning to walk towards her as he gave the couch a disgusted look.

"Does it really bother you that much?" She asked Drake curiously. She knew that it didn't, but according to him she needed to play her role better and that meant being more sympathetic.

"No, of course not," he said peering over the stained, minty green cushions of the couch and through the dust suspended air. "I just don't appreciate being judged for where I'm from and for whom I'm related to."

Jade gave him a sarcastic pouty look, which sparked a small fire of anger in him as he glared at her. Bored, she let her eyes scroll across the room to the closed window. Sighing, she knew it would be an hour or two before the sun set and she and Erik could go to the town square.

"So what day are you two leaving, exactly?" Erik muttered casually, trying to keep a conversation in the air so that a heavy silence wouldn't fall over the three of them.