Chapter 11: Orange Chicken

As Erika and Drake made their way to Erika's house, Drake had the recurring feeling that they were being watched. Not only watched, but followed. He kept glancing back every minute or so, but there was never anyone within view. "I hope I'm just paranoid..." Drake thought.

After a nice walk, they reached their destination and Erika peeped inside before letting Drake in. "Just wanted to be sure my sister was gone...hehe." she said.
"Am I not allowed to meet her or something?" asked Drake
"No, it's not that...it's just that she's...not very nice. I know she wouldn't leave us alone the whole time you're here. You'll meet her eventually, if you keep coming over."
"Okay...and what about your mom, she's out of town, right?" asked Drake, hoping he didn't sound like he was trying to take advantage of her empty house or anything.
"Yup, but she'll be back in a couple days...then my sister will be a little nicer too." she smiled back

They both scrounged around a while and couldn't find anything to put together an actual meal from. Erika pulled out a Chinese restaurant menu and asked if he liked Chinese. "You bet I do!" he answered. "But let me buy...from the looks of your food situation here, you might need the extra cash to survive until your mom gets back." Drake said, smiling.
"But I can," she started
"Please, it's my treat..." he pleaded.
"Fine, but next time I buy." she said, a playful grin spreading across her face.
Drake smiled. "So, what do you usually get?" he asked
"Well, I typically get a Pint of Orange Chicken, with some White Rice and an egg roll. But I'm not picky...look and see what you want, and I'll have that." she answered.
"Actually, that's what I always get too, haha. How about a Quart of each and a couple egg rolls?"
"Sounds good! I'll order for ya." she said. "They deliver, so we don't have to worry about going after it."
Erika picked up the phone, dialed the number and winked at Drake before leaving the room. Drake plopped down on the couch in the living room and relaxed a minute.

"Is this...turning into a date?" he thought. "I don't wanna do something dumb here and ruin my chances later on...better play this slow and see if she's thinking the same way."h

Erika came back in the room a minute later and grabbed the remote, turning on the TV. "Go ahead and flip through and find something you wanna watch, anything's fine with me." she said. "Oh! Do you want something to drink? We've got water, milk, Coke, Sprite, Apple Juice and Mountain Dew." she said, ticking them off on her fingers.
"Um, only if you're already getting yourself something...if not, don't bother, I'm good for a while." he said
"Oh, it's no trouble, and yeah, I'm getting me a drink."
"Alright then...a Sprite sounds good. Thanks." he said, beaming.

Erika hurried into the kitchen and brought back two cans of sprite, handing one to Drake and then laying down on the couch, resting against him. Drake's eyes widened for a second, he was surprised by what she had done. He caught himself and looked down at her. She was looking up at him, smiling. "What is it, Sprite cold?" she asked.
"Nah, it's nothing." he said, smiling back at her.

They sat and watched an episode of Scrubs, and right after the credits ran, the doorbell rang. It was the delivery girl from the restaurant with the food. Drake answered the door and paid the girl, but noticed a flirty grin on her face. "Thanks for the food." he said, beginning to close the door.
"My name's Misty," she said. "What's yours."
"Uh, Drake..."
"Do you think you might wanna-" she started. She saw Erika standing behind him with a menacing look on her face. "Umm, nevermind. bye!" she turned and scuffled back to her car.
Drake turned around to see what she had been looking at and saw Erika there, smiling.
"What were you doing to her?" he asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all." she said, beaming. "She just saw me here with you and decided she was out of luck, I guess."
"Mhmm, I'm sure that's it." he said, making a mental note to roll his eyes when she wasn't looking at him.

They got their food all set up and went back to the couch to eat. "Mmm, I haven't had Orange Chicken this good in a long time!" said Drake
"Yeah, there's something different. Maybe they changed the recipe or something." Erika said.

Outside, a hooded figure stood outside the window behind Drake and Erika. They had seen the Delivery girl walk up and had high-tailed it for the back of the house.

"Hmm, I guess they really are getting along pretty well, huh. I guess I'll have to do something about that. Drake's going to be mine, and mine alone." said the figure

The figure slowly walked away from the window and then took off running toward the street, then ran down the street, into the darkness.

END Ch. 11