Chapter 35: 34- Can't I Just Take It Off?

Dedicated to @AngelicaOnofre1 for the awesome cover at the side.

34

“Are you sure we’re not lost?” I asked again for the third time looking around, at the bare roads, the forest-liker areas surrounding us. “Are you sure you know where you’re going? I won’t get mad if you admit we’re lost in the middle of nowhere.”

“We’re not lost Bethany.” Blake rolled his eyes at me. “I told you, I’ve been here before, lots of times actually. I know where we’re going.”

“Sure.”  I said, dragging the word along. I wasn’t sure if he really did know where we were headed, or he was just saying he did until we get really, really lost.

“Don’t sound so skeptical.” He told me, flicking my forehead.

“Eyes on the road!” I scolded him, swatting his hand away.

He laughed. “The road’s empty.” He said. “We’re the only ones here.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to murder me and sell my kidneys and dump me here to rot.”

I heard him sigh. “Sometimes, I wonder what’s going on in that pretty head of yours.”

“Please tell me we’re not lost.” I ignored his last comment. “I really don’t want to spend my weekend trying to find my way home.”

“Even with me?”

“Even with you.”

“Well then, I guess that’s what we’re doing tonight.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “By the time we get home, you’ll want to stay fifty countries away from me.”

“And yet I’m only five inches away from you.”

I smiled at the empty road in front of us. We’ve been on the road for an hour and a half already and we still haven’t reached our destination which Blake still chose to keep a secret. However I did manage to force him to make a sudden drive thru order in Dunkin’ Donuts. At first, he said no, and he really stood by his word. So I made tons of deals with him just to make the quick stop.  I told him that I’d pay (a ‘no’ from him), I’d pay for two gallons worth of gas (still a ‘no’), and I’d bake a cake or something for him (another ‘no’). So I went to my last option.

Apparently, threatening to not kiss him worked wonders. I should use that more often.

“I want to a burger” I announced. “And some coleslaw.”

“You just ate three donuts.” Blake pointed out.

“But I want a burger.” I whined.

He rolled his eyes. “If we find a store that sells burger then we’ll go get some.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere!”

“We’re in a small town Bethany.”

I remained silent for the next few minutes, feeling bad about two things. One, I called a town where people live ‘nowhere’. Two, if Blake was willing to take me this far, someplace I didn’t know of, then this must’ve meant something for him.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be.” Blake said and placed his hand over my leg, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “You’re my beautiful girlfriend who hates surprises. It’s natural reaction.”

“You make me sound like some wild animal.” I made a face.

“Nobody said you weren’t.” He deadpanned.

I smiled smugly. “Then you’re insane for loving a wild creature.”

“Maybe it’s the love potion you made me drink working.”

“Hey!” I poked his arm making him laugh.

He flicked my nose in reply. “I’m insanely in love with you.”

“Well I’m just in love with you.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

Blake opened his mouth to respond to me when something else caught his attention. I turned my head to where he was looking at. On the right side of the road, a metal fence started to show but I couldn’t really see what was inside it because there were trees and bushes.

“We’re here.” He announced.

Confused and curious, I planted my face against the window to get a better look at where we were.

“Is this some sort of hidden beach?” I asked absentmindedly. “I didn’t bring any swimming attire. In fact, I didn’t bring any change of clothes at all!”

“I won’t tell you anything about this place.” He stated and handed me a strip of black cloth. “Blindfold yourself.”

“What? No!”

“Come on, please?” He pouted, thrusting the cloth towards me. “You’ll ruin the surprise.”

“You are not going to tie me there and leave me.”

“I’m not going to.” He rolled his eyes, his tone showing he was getting annoyed at my stubbornness but tried to hide it. “Please? I promise I won’t do anything to you while you’re at a disadvantage. I’m not kinky.”

“Nobody said you were.” I wanted to say but decided not to.

“Please?” he asked one more time and I sighed, giving in to his request.

I took the cloth from his hand and placed it over my eyes, tying the excess at the back to keep it from falling. Being me, I made sure I could still a little bit by tweaking the cloth a bit.

“Can you see anything?”

“No.” I lied. I couldn’t see everything but I do see something.

“Right.” He sounded skeptical and the next thing I knew he was adjusting the blindfold over me, tightening the straps and adjusting the cloth so now I couldn’t see anything.

“No I know you can’t see anything.”

I crossed my arms over my chest at the blackness and huffed out some air. “I can’t believe you thought I was lying.”

“Oh I didn’t think. I knew.” He snorted. “I know you Bethany.”

I felt the car pull to a stop and Blake cutting the engine. I started patting the door for the handle and when I did, I slowly stepped out, as if I was stepping on an unstable floor.

“Ow!” I cried, my hand immediately retracting to my head where I just the car. So this must what being blind feels like. Not trying to be mean, this sucks.

“Christ, stop moving Bethany. By the time we get there I’m afraid you’ll end up covered in bruises.”

“I can’t see!” I replied, exasperated. “Can’t I just take it off?”

“No. Now hold my hand.”

I had my arms spread front as I began my frantic search for his hand. I swear I know that Blake must be suppressing the urge to laugh at me right now.

When I finally located his hand, I held it tightly. There was no way I was letting go now that one of my senses was blocked.

The ground was uneven and there were times I stepped on a rock causing me to almost fall down. Then I did hit my forehead on a tree branch. Blake did tell me to duck but apparently I was low enough and it hit me.

It was quiet, except for the occasional birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees. I’m not sure how long we’ve been trekking through this place.

“Now stop.” Blake told me but it was kind of too late since I already hit my shin on something really hard. I winced in pain. “I said stop. I told you you’d end up with bruises. We’re here.”

“Thank god!” I exclaimed, rubbing my throbbing shin form the pain. “Can I remove this blindfold already? I don’t want to bump in to more things.”

“Go ahead.”

I undid the tie on the blindfold and slowly removed the cloth, the paranoid side of me silently hoping he wasn’t here to scare me or to murder me or to push me down a grave and bury me alive while the not so paranoid side of me silently hoped that the blindfold didn’t destroy my make-up.

The sudden brightness made me squint my eyes and after a few seconds, I finally adjusted to living with light again. It was then I realized where we were. My hand immediately covered my mouth as my heart stopped for a second, and took a sharp intake of breathe as I stopped breathing altogether.

We were in a cemetery and in front of me was a headstone with words engraved on it.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

STEPHANIE GREENE

BELOVED DAUGHTER, WIFE, AND MOTHER

“Blake…” was the only word I managed to say.

He didn’t say anything as he let me take the time to register the fact that we were standing in front of Stephanie, the mother of his child, his late wife’s grave.

“I figured that you needed to meet her and she needed to meet you.” He muttered in a quiet voice, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“Why didn’t you tell me we were coming here?” I asked. “I would’ve brought flowers if I knew.”

“I’ve got that covered.” He told me with an unsure smile, raising a bouquet of multi colored flowers arranged beautifully.

That was when I started to feel the panic rise up in me.

Holy crap what should I do now? Boyfriends taking their girlfriends to visit his late wife was not something that happened to every relationship. I looked around as if waiting for an answer to appear. What do I do? Apologize? Say thanks? No, that’d be terrible.

What. Do. I. Do.

“Talk to her.” Blake finally said, pulling me out of my misery.

“About what?” I asked.

He shrugged and smiled. “Anything.” He placed the bouquet on the headstone and turned around to leave.

“Wait,” I grabbed on to his hand, halting his tracks. “Where are you going?”

“You two should have some privacy.” He said. “I’ll just be over there. And if she responds, just scream.”

I stared at him wide eyed in pure horror. And he laughed. He laughed!

“You should’ve seen your face!” He gasped for air. “Priceless!”

“Now you’re just being mean.” I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest.

He messed up my hair and gave me a quick kiss on my lips. “Talk to her, okay?”

I nodded and stuffed my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. I’m not so sure this was a good idea. Before I could take it back, Blake was already standing by the tree looking out at the lake. He sure walked fast.

I bit my cheeks and turned around to face the grave. I didn’t say anything for the first few minutes as I formulated what I wanted to say in my head- nothing.

“Uh…. Hi.” I finally said, my voice sounding like a mouse on helium. My face heated up at the embarrassment of what I had just said. I should picked something better to say. “So…my name’s Bethany. And I, uh, own a bakery…and…”

I sighed, ready to give up. I can’t do this.

“I’m sorry, I’m really bad at these kind of things and I just don’t know what to say.” I shifted from one foot to the other.

I was about to turn around and go tell Blake that I couldn’t do this when his words from weeks ago rang back in my head.

Have you ever stopped to think that I’m scared too?

He lost his wife and now I’m on her grave talking to her. This must’ve took Blake a long time to think over, on how many ways this could go wrong.

And he took the risk. That must’ve took a lot of courage.

So with a deep breath of air, I decided to stay and talk with her. Mustering all of my courage which wasn’t much to begin with, I plucked myself out of my fear corner and spoke up.

“I don’t know what I should say.” I admitted. “I don’t think I fully understood the reason why he’s doing this, but right now I’m glad he did.

Blake’s and amazing guy. I went to him to return his jacket the other day and he opened the door in a tutu and fairy wings on his back. He looked ridiculous. But he did that for Allie. He loves her so much. Speaking of her, Allie’s a gorgeous little girl. I saw your wedding picture in Blake’s room and she looks just like you.”

I smiled to myself. I guess this wasn’t as hard as I first thought it would be.

“Blake still loves you. He took me here so that I could meet you. That’s not something a person does every day. He doesn’t talk much about you to me but I think it’s because it’ll be weird and awkward. He did.

The first time I met him was in a birthday party. My sister called me saying that she couldn’t pick his son, Liam- Liam, he’s an adorable kid. Allie and Liam got really close. Sometimes I think Liam’s in love with her, but they’re still four. They look so cute together.

Wait, I’m off topic. So my sister told me that she couldn’t pick Liam up from the party because she had to work overtime and asked if I could do it. I adore little children. So when I went there, Blake was sitting in one of those small plastic kiddie chairs that was too small for him.

The next time we met was in a grocery store. Odd place to meet someone, I know. I reminded myself to stop thinking of him because he has a child and therefore he must be married. But he told me what happened. I didn’t jump with joy. I felt…sad, awful.

I think I brought back whatever he felt when he knew you were gone when I told him that we should stop seeing each other a few weeks back. It was dreadful. I felt dreadful like I was sucking out all of the happiness form everyone. We weren’t together yet we acted like we did.”

I inhaled deeply as I continued on with my story.

“You see, my father cheated on my mother and I knew about it for years. I just didn’t have the heart to tell my mother. I knew I should’ve. Then my boyfriend cheated on me a few years later. I was scared of loving someone again. But Blake….”

I couldn’t help the smile on my face.

“He broke down everything I put up, fought through everything.”

“Are you done with your girl talk?” Blake asked from the distance.

“No!” I replied.

“Jesus, you two are taking longer than I thought.”

I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to the headstone.

“I’m not sure how you found Blake. All he told me was that you two were high school lovers, to university, and until death did you part. But I wanted to tell you how lucky you were, how blessed. I know that if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have met him. I’m not saying I’m thankful you died. No, of course not. But things…things happen.

And I know that if you didn’t approve of our relationship, you would’ve probably scared me or something to keep me away from him. I’m glad you didn’t.”

I found nothing else to say for a few minutes and that’s when I knew I said what I wanted to say. I told Blake we were done chatting. But before he could reach us, I gave a final smile to her.

“Thank you.” I said quietly.

Blake walked over with a huge smile on his face. “How was it?”

“I’m not sure but I guess it went alright.” I shrugged.

He nodded and faced her.

“Hey Steph.” He smiled sadly on the headstone. “How are you? I’ve been doing fine as you can see. I also found someone and I brought her here. She just talked to you. I don’t know what she said but you have got to believe me that’s she’s an amazing person so please don’t go haunting on her. Allie’s been great. She’s so big now, and so energetic. I don’t know where she stores all of that energy in a body like hers.”

I smiled to myself as I saw this scene unfold in front of me. He’s so sweet.

“I miss you, Allie does too.” He said quietly, like he was afraid that I might hear him. “But we’ve got to go now. I’ll come back soon. I love you.”  He turned to face me and grabbed my elbow. “Let’s go.”

I followed him out of the cemetery. Fortunately, I didn’t hit any more rocks or branches.

“I’m sorry.” He said suddenly, unlocking the car doors. “I know I should’ve asked you before bringing you here…I thought you might say no and…”

“Blake.” I smiled at him. “Don’t be sorry. I would say no but I’m thankful you didn’t ask me.”

“You liked it?” he asked, uncertain.

I nodded my head.

He leaned in and kissed me. "I’m glad you did this. It means a lot to me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I smiled and kissed him back. “You can get me a burger and some coleslaw on the way home.”

“Who said we’re going back?” he smirked.

“What?” I did a double take on him. “What do you mean? Are you sacrificing me? Oh my god! Am I the virgin sacrifice you need to bring back Stephanie? Were you just-”

“Stop talking Bethany.” He swiftly placed his hand over my mouth. “I don’t know where you get those ideas from and I don’t want to know either. And no, you’re not a virgin sacrifice.”

He removed his hand from my mouth. “If we aren’t going back, then where are we going?”

“That’s another surprise.” He said and turned the engine on. “We won’t take long though. Just a half an hour drive.”

“Can we at least stop for burgers and coleslaw? Oh, and some Coke too.”

“Alright.”

___________________________

I'm going to get mixed feelings about what Blake did. I just know it. But I bet none of you guessed that he was taking Beth to Stephanie's grave.

I have deadline for this story if I want to enter the wattys. I didn't rush this, just to be clear. I just really became motivated to write, and I have 3 exams tomorrow. Such a bad timing.

This is like my 12 Days of Christmas gifts you guys.

One more chapter to go!

And just purely out of curiousity, how old are you guys? I just turned seventeen last October.

AND! Listen to the song. This played in my cousin's wedding last October and I just found it. It's like about Sugar Rush hahahaha