So I guess at this point, I'm kind of the George R.R. Martin of chaptered fanfiction, updating every now and then. It's been over a decade since I started this story, and I'm just now uploading the 6th chapter. If I'm being completely honest, a lot of it came down to writer's block, and muse. I was just writing. I had no idea where I wanted the story to go. But today, as I was writing this, I came up with the resolution. I know how the story will end. It's just a matter of getting there. I thank all of you who still support me, despite how terrible I am at uploading this. It is my goal to finish the story before the end of the year, but obviously, I don't think anyone will hold me to that.

For those who messaged me and wrote in the reviews, the song in the last chapter is called "Poison" and I wrote it 4 years ago. If you'd like to listen to the recorded version, you can find it at on picosong. Just google picosong, go the the homepage and add /msRR to the end of it, since this site isn't good with links. I didn't want to put my real name on there, so I put Amber's. You can pretend it's her singing it instead me.

Thank you for your continued support. I'll do my best to make you proud.

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Weeks had passed since Drake and Amber had spoken, nearly months. Despite being in the same classes together, Amber managed to always give him the cold shoulder, not speaking a word to him at all even when she absolutely had to. Group work was a time where she simply talked to everyone around her, always letting someone else answer his questions, or waiting until someone else repeated it to answer. He hadn't even been on a date since the moment he first talked to Amber, though it wasn't for a lack of trying on other girls' parts. He was being pursued by a number of females both at school and around the city. None of them mattered when he was still so focused on this stupid amazing woman. There was a huge part of him that couldn't be sure why she was doing this, whether it be for his own benefit - something she'd repeated often during their short time together - or if she was mad at him. If it was the latter, he didn't think there was anything he could do about it, but if it was the former, he was still bound and determined to fix it. Text message after text message had gone unanswered, and it upset him to no end that she could just ignore him like that. Josh accidentally engaged him after a particularly thoughtful text had gone unanswered for more than twenty minutes.

"I just don't know where the she gets off telling me she likes me and then refuses to date me. 'Let's just be friends,' she says, and then immediately drops me from her life as soon as the project is over. She said she liked me, Josh. When you like someone, you want to be with them, and she won't even respond to a text message anymore!" he huffed, tossing his pear phone onto the couch like he never wanted to see it again. His body followed suit, collapsing onto the seat like a cat flops onto the sunny spot on the floor. "Why doesn't she want to be with me? Why doesn't she even want to talk to me?" he asked, his voice nearly a whine, but mostly just a pitiable whimper.

Josh - who was privy to the whole situation while it was happening - gave a shrug. "I mean, it could be that you kept kissing her when she said she didn't want to date you. That could be a thing. I feel like most women aren't okay with that."

Drake shook his head. "That's not it. She likes me, she just won't be with me. And I don't know why."

This situation was completely new and alien for Josh. The roles had been reversed a number of time in their life, with Josh pleading for any sort of advice to win over a lady's heart while Drake had parades of women and tons of experience and wisdom to share. Except for the part where none of it was really wisdom, and a lot of his advice just came down to "be really really ridiculously good-looking." The boy let out a sigh as he shook his head. "I don't know what to tell you. Have you tried being really good looking?"

"For months now! It's not working. I don't know what to do."

Josh pursed his lips for a moment before deciding to try and be serious to help his brother out. "Why did she say she didn't want to date you?"

Drake's chest rose as he let out a loud huff of air. "She doesn't want to date me because I've dated a lot of girls and I haven't committed to any of them, and I spend a week tops with them before moving onto the next pretty girl."

"Is she wrong?"

Drake rolled off the couch, catching himself on his hands and feet before springing up and beginning to pace. "No, but, that's not really fair, is it? I mean, I've liked her longer than anyone else. That alone should prove that I'm not trying to date and ditch."

"Well," Josh started, "do you think your continued interest in her is because she's shut you down so hard? Is the fact that she's unattainable the deciding factor in your affection for her?"

"I'm not following."

"Is it because she's playing hard to get!?" Josh shouted.

That caused Drake to pause. Was it because of that? No other girl had resisted him this long, even after he did his little tricks to get their attention. There were random girls at movies and malls who walked away from him, but never seeing them again made it hard to really pursue them. Amber was different. She acknowledged her feelings for him with no hesitation and yet wanted nothing to do with him. She was a mystery and Drake would be lying if he said it didn't frustrate him that she wouldn't even give him the time of day anymore. He gave a mournful look to Josh. "I don't know. It wouldn't last this long, would it?"

Josh shrugged. "You got me. Pretty much everyone's always been unattainable to me. I couldn't tell you the difference." He watched as Drake's face fell and the older boy's form sunk back into the couch. Josh knew he had to do something to help. "You know, you've never really said much to me about Amber, other than your frustrations now. What's she like? What do you like about her?"

Drake was silent for a moment, still frowning, but a smile slowly crept up his face as he thought about it. "She's really funny. She just has this sarcastic, deadpan sort of way of talking and it just makes her really funny. She's a really talented musician, and her songs make me feel things, though I don't know if that's because they're about me. Her band is kind of generic pop rock, but it all really comes together and I dig it. She calls me out, and even though I don't like to hear it, she's made me think about the kind of person I've been. She's smart and actually cares about things, and even though she's signed to a label, she still wants to do well in school because she's got that future-seeing thing-"

"Foresight."

"Bless you. And she just wants to have all her bases covered." He paused as he turned to Josh, his melancholy fading as he spoke about Amber, his hands moved animatedly. "And she has this way of looking at you when you've said something stupid, where her eyebrows go down, and her nose scrunches up, and you just start saying stupid things to see it. She's got a freckle on her ear and a little curl of hair that frames it no matter what she does with her hair. She uses a weird fingering for a C chord, but it still works, and I think that's the simplest way to explain her. She does so much between working and school and music that when she got to our house, she'd end up passing out for fifteen minutes on the couch, and when she woke up, she would pretend that she'd been awake the whole time. She doesn't snore, but she does this thing that kind of sounds like she's whisper-singing, just a little tune under her breath every now and then. She has a cat named Ozzy that she loves and she's always got at least one little strand of cat hair on her. She does this thing where she'll make a joke to herself and then absolutely lose it because she thinks she's that funny, and her eyes have this scary way of turning dark whenever I've done something to really upset her. I haven't seen her eyes go dark in ages. I can't tell if that means she's done with me or not. I didn't think I would miss that of all things."

He and Josh sat in silence for a moment, Drake still dwelling on his long-gone lady. "I really thought maybe it was just the challenge aspect of it. But I think you might be in love with her."

Their eyes connected for a moment before Drake's flicked off to some unknown point in the the distance and he gave his brother a small nod. "That's what I was afraid of."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know. What's that saying? 'If you love something, let it go?' If I do care about her, I should probably stop harassing her, right? She's made it obvious she doesn't want me."

Josh hated to see his brother so upset. He was right, he supposed, but there had to be some way to fix this. "No, no. She's saying no to the old you. It's not fair to either of you if you don't at least offer her the new you."

Drake was unconvinced. He stared at the ceiling, wallowing in misery until an idea struck him and a giant grin appeared on his face. "I'm going to ask her to go to prom with me," he said, bolting out of the room, leaving Josh with his jaw agape.

"That's not what I m-ohhhh Drake!" he shouted, running after his stepbrother.

xxx

The past few months had been tortuous to Amber. It was absolute misery forcing herself to ignore Drake, especially when he was still so terribly insistent that she give him so much as glance. She couldn't though. She was doing this for him, and she was doing it for herself. She couldn't date him. She wouldn't allow herself to be hurt like that. And if he was going to continue trying to date her, she couldn't keep continue being friends with him because he wasn't respecting her, and he was just drawing out the inevitable and making life worse for himself. She kept encouraging girls to pursue him, to hopefully steer his attention away, but nothing was working. People were starting to talk, wondering what happened to the Drake Parker everyone was so used to seeing. Her own name got dropped in as well. People noticed this all started once he became obsessed with her. There were moments that she wished she had just dated him for the week and let him go, because at least this would have all been over for him ages ago. Maybe she was being selfish by not letting him have her so he could move on.

But apparently that wasn't necessary. Today had been a hard day. She knew that Drake would end up moving on eventually, but it didn't make it any easier for her to see him chatting animatedly with a gaggle of girls by his locker. It hurt, and she wasn't nearly as prepared for it as she wanted to be. She quickly ducked into the girls' bathroom to avoid having a front row seat to it, dropping her stuff and quickly moving to the nearest sink to clutch for support. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, betraying the stoic facade she'd been using for weeks. Even if her initial attraction to him had been because of his looks and his band, getting to know him just solidified everything for her. She was in love with him, and that was why she could never have him.

The door creaked with a new occupant and she quickly turned her head away from it, doing her best to quell the choking sobs that has been pouring from her only moments before. They made no sound except for their shoes, which came closer and closer until they stopped right next to her. "Amber?"

The girl jumped, not expecting to hear a male voice as she turned to see who it was, heart sinking when she realized it was Drake, "Jesus Horatio Christ, Drake, what are you doing in the girls' room?"

He gave a shrug, his brow furrowed as his eyes looked at her in concern. "I saw you come in here, and I heard crying when I walked by. What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. Seriously, you need to get out of here, right now."

He stepped closer to her, putting his hand on her cheek, still streaked with tears. She'd been here before, his hand on her cheek in the calm silence before the storm of passion that was their first kiss. Instead, he gently rubbed his thumb across it, trying to wipe them away. "You're lying."

"So what if I am? Maybe it's none of your business."

"Maybe it is my business," he replied, letting his hand fall.

She gave him a deep sigh. "Don't you have a fan club to attend to?"

"What, those girls? They were just listening to this super great story I have about this super great girl who won't give me the time of day anymore. You're not... you're not jealous, are you?" He asked, almost amused.

She rolled her eyes. "As if. I'm just not sure why you're bothering being in the girl's bathroom right now."

"Because," he said, reaching out for her and pulling her close to him, his arms wrapping around her. "I needed to corner you. Because I'm asking you to go to prom with me."

She was silent for a moment, chewing the inside of her lip. He seemed so sincere. but what good could come from this? Pushing away from him, she shook her head. "I'm not even going to prom, Drake."

His face fell immediately. "You have to! It's our senior year. How could you not want to?"

"It's not my scene. I'm not big on watching teenagers awkwardly grind against each other, or sit awkwardly at tables hoping someone asks to awkwardly grind against them."

"Amber, please. You have to. Everything is- You just really have to. Please."

She looked around, various parts of her body shaking in utter frustration. "Why? Why should I go?"

His eyes looked ready to match hers if she said no. "Because... I'm asking you to. Nicely. Because it's the least you could do for me before you go off to be famous, and leave me here, before we never see each other again. Because if you do this one thing for me, I won't bother you ever again."

Amber was silent for a long time, staring at the floor. She wasn't that keen on the idea that they would never see each other again, but she knew it was for the best. And if not bothering her meant that he could forget her and move on, how could she say no? "Fine, I'll go," she said, but quickly held up her hand to keep him from getting too excited. "But I'm not going with you. I'm going by myself. I guess I'll see you there."

He was still excited. Before she knew it, his arms were wrapped around her in a tight hug. "Perfect!" he exclaimed before letting her go. "Just be sure to let me know what color you're wearing so I can match."

"We're not going together, Drake."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, we're meeting there, but we should still match."

There was a moment where she contemplated strangling him. "I already have my dress. I bought it for Monteblanca's prom with my band. I can just reuse it. It's a dark purple."

"Perfect," he said, shooting finger guns at her. "It's going to be fun. I promise you." With that, he turned and left the bathroom, though Amber could still hear voices from the hallway.

"Mr. Parker, just what were you doing in the girls' bathroom?"

"Would you believe me if I said I thought it was chemistry?"

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Aaaaaaaand that is chapter 6. I hope you liked it, and I hope you stick around for Chapter 7.