The truth was somehow far simpler and far more complicated than Drake could even begin to understand. The simple part was that he and Claudia hadn’t planned any of it. They’d fallen into an easy pattern, comforting one another as they adapted to life without Conner tucked into the middle of them, making their days better. The complicated part was, of course, the fact that Claudia had seemingly liked Drake the entire time. He’d been oblivious, pouring all of his attention into his other best friend, even after he was gone. Conner had been out of sight, but never out of mind. Claudia had practically needed to spell it out to Drake how she’d been feeling, and he’d been so flustered and embarrassed that he’d provided several months of kissing to make it up to her.
It was confusing to be suddenly dating one of your best friends, and so soon after your other best friend had been arrested and snatched away from you. There’d been days when Drake had doubted his relationship with Claudia, fretting over the suddenness of their newfound attraction to each other. Some nights, he’d laid awake wondering if he was even into her at all, even as she slept beside him, naked and all wrung out. He’d wondered, selfishly, stupidly, if the two of them had trauma bonded over the loss of Conner. Maybe they were both just missing him, finding pieces of their best friend in one another and clinging on for dear life? He couldn’t make sense of it.
“No, that’s not what I –” he sighed, cutting himself off. Raking a hand through his hair uncomfortably, trying to make sense of the thoughts whirring around in his mind.
Conner was still refusing to join Drake on the sofa and it was agonising. All he wanted was to be able to pull his best friend into a warm hug, feel the distant yet oh-so familiar comfort of their bodies pressed together. He thought it might just be the only thing that could relax him right now. Instead, he simply leaned forward, his hands coming to rest against Conner’s thighs as he looked up at him.
“There’s no finally about it, man. Claudia– I don’t know, she was into me and I didn’t even... I missed all the signs, spent weeks, months, talking about how much I missed you,” he laughed, feeling embarrassed.
Maybe if Conner could see it from his perspective, all the humiliating details, he might find the funny side in it. Maybe he’d be a little less pissed if he realised that there was nothing calculated about their arrangement, and that it was actually just an example of Drake being a dumbass. Again.
"I swear, man. It’s not as romantic or messy as you think,” he flushed. “She told me I needed to get my shit together, and that you’d hate to see me moping around worrying about you. She gave me this big speech about how, like, you’d root for us and how you’d want me to be happy.”
It felt stupid, recounting it back to him now. The facts were as simple as that, and Claudia had drilled it into Drake that he was sabotaging his own happiness by missing all the signs with her in favour of worrying about Conner. He’s not getting out any time soon, that’s what she’d told him. You can’t keep waiting around for him, and we should still get to be happy, baby.
Drake was a sucker for pet names, and he’d always been no good at turning down a pretty girl with a compelling argument. There was a reason he’d had such an embarrassing crush on Austen for so long, their lust-induced hook ups just a desperate, horny excuse to get off on her end, while Drake had been moon-eyed and awestruck by her ability to boss him around and call him handsome while she rode him.
“I guess, in like... A weird way, you kinda brought us together? Y’know, all my missing you was what drove her so crazy she actually told me how she felt,” Drake flushed, hearing his own words back and how ridiculous they sounded.
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