“Don’t be,” he says as he backs away from me. “Ten minutes.”
I take a deep breath and nod, then shut the door. My brain is whirring with thoughts of what he could have planned, but none of them seem realistic.
And here was me thinking I’d got to nine p.m. without a big fuss. I should be so lucky.
I change from my ballet clothes into my normal ones and pack all my things away. A quick glance around the dressing room reveals I have everything, so I run down the stairs to the back door. Blake’s waiting there, two bags in hand – his ballet bag, and another one.
“What’s that?” I point to the bag. “Hey, is that mine?”
He smirks. “Come on.”
My eyes narrow as I follow him out toward a silver Ford. “You don’t have a car,” I state.
“Correct. I hired this.”
“You hired a car? What are you? A car employer?”
“Uh… Do you say rented? ‘Cause this is a hire car to me.”
“Yep. We say rented.” I smirk. He’s so cute. “Freakin’ British.”
Blake’s fingers brush mine as he takes my dance bag from me, his lips curved on one side. “Bloody Americans,” he whispers, his eyes boring into mine. He takes the bag and throws it in the trunk, slamming the top down. “Are you getting in?” he asks, walking to the passenger side.
I swallow my smile, fighting my complete and utter amusement, and cross my arms over my chest. “I’d love to, but I don’t have the keys.”
“You don’t need the keys. I’m driving.”
“Not from the passenger side you’re not.”
He looks down, pausing for a moment, and drops his forehead onto the roof of the car. I giggle into my hands.
“Goddamn it. You’re all backwards over here!” he cries, walking round the front of the car.
I climb in the passenger side and turn my face toward him. “Just, for God sake, don’t forget we drive on the other side of the road to you guys, too.”
“Why did I ever think this was a good idea?”
I grin. “I told you not to worry.”
He grunts and starts the car up. He eyes the space where a gear stick would be. “Now I’m really glad Maddie made me go for an automatic. I don’t think I could use a gear stick with my right hand.”
“All our rentals are automatic.”
He looks at me. “You know how confusing you guys are, right?”
“Yep. Are you sure you can drive this and get us wherever the hell we’re going in one piece?”
“I’m sure. Now, do me a favor and go to sleep or something.”
I put my belt on and settle back in my chair as he backs out of the parking lot. “When I’ve made sure you’re on the right side of the road.”
“Or the wrong side,” he mutters. “Depends how you look at it.”
I cover my smile with my hand. “You know where we’re going, right?”
He nods. “Google maps. Works every time. Go to sleep, Abbi.”
~
The soft brush of Blake’s lips across mine wakes me. I smile, stretching out in my seat.
“Are we here?” I flop my head to the side and look at him through sleepy eyes.
He leans over and brushes some hair from my face. “Yes, we’re here.”
“Um… Where is here?”
His grin is lopsided, and he gets out of the car. I unclip my belt as he opens the door for me and climb out.
“We’re in the Poconos Mountains,” Blake says quietly.
“We’re not even in New York state?” My eyebrows shoot up.
“No. But before you say anything else, I want you to do one thing.”
If it’s possible, my eyebrows go even higher.
“Look up.”
I do. I tilt my head back, and in the darkness, the complete and utter consuming darkness that surrounds us, the night sky is bright with lights of its own creation. The stars are brighter and bigger than I’ve ever seen them, hundreds of thousands of lights breaking through the darkness.
“Oh,” I breathe out, spinning around. They’re everywhere, twinkling even through the leaves of the tallest trees. “They’re beautiful… But why here?”
Blake takes my hands in his. “You can hide in plain sight here. It’s a giant, never-ending Prospect Park. And the stars? Well… The stars, the things you never see in Brooklyn, they’re the things everyone never sees about you. And more importantly, they’re the tiny specks of light you hold onto inside, just outside. The sky is your depression and the stars are the things that keep you going when you feel the darkness closing in on you. I wanted to give you a visual, something you can keep forever and look at whenever it gets hard.”
He drops my hands and reaches into the back seat of the car.
“What are you…” I stop talking when I see the camera in his hands. “Something I can keep forever,” I repeat in quiet awe. My tear-filled eyes meet his as he places it in my shaky hand.
“And look at whenever it gets hard. That’s my present for you.”
“Hope.” The tears creep out of the corners of my eyes. “You’re giving me hope.”
Blake wipes away the wetness falling down my cheeks. “I’m giving you another reason to live.”
I turn my cheek into his palm and close my hand over his. “You gave me that the day you walked into Bianca’s studio. I just didn’t know it then.”
Chapter Twenty-Two – Blake
“You have to remember,” Tori had said. “To relax. Let yourself fall into the dance, Blake. No, no. Your shoulders are too tight!”
She batted my hands away and walked behind me. She smacked me between my shoulder blades. Hard.
“Ouch! What did you do that for?” I awkwardly tried to reach for the spot.
“Have your shoulders relaxed?”
I rolled them. “Yes.”
“Then I did it to relax your shoulders,” she huffed. “You won’t be able to do it right if you’re tensed up. It’ll be like dancing with a plank of wood!”
“I don’t even have to know this yet!”
“But I do, Blake. I have to get this routine right or I won’t be able to dance in the Christmas production. Please help me. Please,” she whined, dragging the last word out. Her green eyes blinked at me innocently, and I sighed helplessly.
Of course I would help her. I would learn dance steps four years above my level because she needed me to. She knew I’d do anything for her.