Summary: Part 1 of a 4 part series chronicling the months before Drake left for college and his relationship with Liam.
Drake Walker couldn’t wait to graduate and get out of Cordonia. He was so tired of it all. He never liked growing up in the shadow of all the high and mighty nobles, but he had a reason to be there when his father was heading up the King’s Guard. But now? Now that his father was dead and his mom left the country, nothing was holding him back.
Okay, so there were a couple reasons – a couple people – that gave him pause about leaving. First there was his younger sister Savannah. She still had two years of high school to go, and he was the only family she had left. But she was always more social and well-liked than Drake was. She fit in like he never could and had a busy social life. It’s not like she would spend time with her big brother anyway, and he would still come back to see her on his breaks. She also had Bastien to look out for her. Bastien was not only second in command to their father in The Guard, taking over when he died, but he was like family to Drake and Savannah. He had been close to the family when their father Jackson was still alive, but he really stepped up and was there for them when their mother wasn’t. If it wasn’t for Bastien’s guidance and the generosity of Liam’s family, Drake didn’t know how he and Savannah would have coped.
Liam was the other part of Cordonia that Drake would miss. It would be logical for Drake to hate him, growing up in his shadow all these years. Liam should have been like all the other spoiled, conceited nobles, or worse, as he was the younger son of Cordonia’s King Constantine. But unlike all the other nobles, Liam didn’t care what Drake had or didn’t have. He only cared about who Drake was. Liam was kind and optimistic, balancing out Drake’s cynicism, while Drake challenged Liam to test his limits and experience things he never would have on his own.
However, as much as Drake loved Liam and Savannah, he had to get out of Cordonia and live his own life, or he’d never be more than Liam’s commoner friend. And the football scholarship, or soccer as they called it where he was going, was the best chance he would ever get to do so. There is no way he could afford to go to a School like Hartfeld University in New York without a scholarship. The United States was a long way from Cordonia, but that’s what Drake needed, and he was half American on his mother’s side after all. Maybe that is where he belonged.
So here Drake was with only one month left off school to endure. Liam’s family had paid for Drake and Savannah to go to Liam’s highbrow preparatory school, and Liam was just about the only one in his class he could stand. Most of the other guys on the football team were tolerable, probably because they knew they needed Drake on the team, but he wasn’t really close to any of them. Nevertheless, the team was the only place within the school he felt like he did fit in, and he was more than happy to spend most of his free time practicing. Like this May evening, where he and Liam stayed after practice to get some extra time in.
They were getting ready to go to the national tournament, and needed all the practice they could get. Although they both wanted to do well, Drake was more serious about football. He figured Liam mostly cared to put in the extra time to avoid the stresses of being at home at the palace. Being a prince wasn’t always as great as it sounded.
Liam placed the ball on the ground and dribbled forward, he tried to fake moving in one direction around Drake and then going the other, but Drake was too fast and stole the ball with little effort.
“Liam, are you even trying to score?” Drake teased. “Maybe I should ask Savannah to come practice with me. It might be more of a challenge.” Drake was the better player, but Liam could hold his own. Sometimes he just needed a little provoking to make him want give it his all.
“I’m just trying to go easy on you. I wouldn’t want to rough up the star defensive midfielder…or give him a bruised ego.” Liam bantered back.
Drake loved that he could talk to Liam like they were just two regular guys, and not a commoner having to properly address a prince. “I don’t think you could get past me if you tried.”
Liam moved forward with more determination this time. He checked his hip into Drake’s while trying to shield the ball and started to pivot around Drake, but Drake kicked the ball away.
“Seriously, Liam, is that all you have? Don’t be afraid to rough me up. I can handle it.”
It was an uncharacteristically warm night and both of them had discarded their shirts by this point. Drake’s chestnut brown hair was matted to his forhead with sweat. Despite the heat and physical exertion, Liam’s shorter black hair was perfectly coiffed as usual.
Liam glared at Drake and dribbled with the ball at full speed. He made a move to get around Drake, but Drake lunged sideways to cut him off. Liam’s momentum carried him forward and he collided with Drake. Drake landed with a thud and Liam came down on top of him, bare chest to bare chest.
They stared at each other, other, both too stunned to move at first. As Drake looked into Liam’s eyes, the thought crossed his mind that he didn’t want Liam to move. The weight of Liam’s body on his felt good in a way he didn’t understand. Drake liked having sex with females, he was sure of that. He never thought of guy in that way before, and of course he loved Liam, but only as a friend. So why did he feel the urge to kiss him? Drake tried to push the thought out of his mind as fast as it came. It was probably just the adrenaline mixed with the physical contact. It hat to be just a fluke and wouldn’t have mattered who it was.
“So are you going to get off of me are are you going to keep me here all night?” Shit, Drake was not trying to make it come off that way, but it could definitely sound like a come-on if one was in that frame of mind. Liam wouldn’t notice though would he? This was all in Drake’s head.
Liam looked like he had just been caught in a day dream. His cheeks flushed bright red. “Oh…um…sorry.” Drake noticed a slight tenting in Liam’s athletic shorts as he got up and started back to the locker room. “I think we’ve had enough practice. Time to call it a night.”
Fuck, Drake thought. Hopefully they would both forget about this by the morning.