Off the Rails

Chapter Twenty One

Dakota

11 days later

Everyone rushed out of school as the bell rang on the last day. Some kids cheered, some threw their papers in the air like confetti, and some couples made out on the front lawn.

I ran out of the building, giggling like a little kid, Drake's hand in mine. We reached the front lawn when he turned towards me and seized my lips with a long, passionate kiss. I fell into him, breathless, as the fun atmosphere fueled my own attitude.

Drake pulled away, looking at me with those gorgeous eyes, and smiled. Really smiled. I could see the faint dimples on his cheek.

"You know what this means?" He asked.

"What?"

"We can start the summer of our lives together," he replied.

I tried to smile, knowing that was how I was supposed to react. But the pang in my chest reminded me of the truth.

Tonight, I would be telling Drake that I had to go, and the next day, I'd be driving to New York City, leaving Blackden Ridge behind.

Poor Drake. He had no idea what was going to hit him. He thought we were out of the woods. I felt terrible. But I needed to leave him, get his life back on track. He was better off without me. This was for his own good.

I did the paperwork to drop out of Blackden Ridge High in secret. I insisted we hung out at Drake's hour for the past week, since my home was now full of boxes. He didn't even think anything was wrong.

I just had to pretend those past two weeks, but it wasn't easy. That was the selfish part. I didn't wanna loose him just yet, so I lead him on.

Luckily, Drake didn't seem to notice my fake enthusiasm, as he was too caught up in his own bliss. Any other day, I would have found it adorable.

"So, what do you wanna do tonight? There's a..." he kept talking, but I no longer heard him.

Instead, I found myself focusing on his features. It was my last day with him. I wanted to take it all in. If I was going to have to live off of memories of Drake Summers for the rest of my life, I needed his image engraved in my mind. I didn't want to forget a thing.

His full lips, ones that I spent hours admiring with my own. His light, gentle freckles that made him look slightly sweeter. Since he recently shaved, they were more visible than ever. I noticed his nose and cheekbones, all the things that made him look like him.

I admired the way his hair fell, in it's own unruly way by the end of the day. When he grew it out, curls formed on the ends of the strands. God, I loved running my hand through that hair.

I took in the faint smell of his cologne. It had become familiar to me in the past eight months. It wasn't very strong, but it definitely had a masculine touch. Drake himself, though, smelled like the forest, or rain on the concrete. He smelled like a fresh breath of air.

Finally, I took in those beautiful damn blue eyes. The eyes that had annoyed me the first day I met him, because they were just so noticeable and perfect. Little did I know how kind those eyes could be, how much compassion and loyalty they could show. I never could have thought that those eyes would offer me so much understanding, so much support. I never realized that I would fall in love with the soul behind them.

His eyes were entrancing, consuming. They were a bright blue, like the ocean on a clear day, but had stormy specks to them. I could sit with him on the couch, running my hand through Drake's hair, and stare into those eyes for hours.