Chapter 31: 30- Wait For It

30

Staring at the full length mirror in front of me, I finally decided that this was what I was going to wear after trying on at the least twenty outfits. I settled with a pair of skinny jeans, a plain white shirt and just threw a blazer over it and some flats. Hopefully Blake doesn’t show up wearing a suit and tie, then I’d just have to rush and change, again.

The sound of the doorbell ringing told me to just bolt for the door, and I did. I didn’t even bother to check to see who it was.

“Blake.”

“Bethany.”

Shamelessly, I checked my boyfriend out- I loved saying that word. My boyfriend. Thankfully, he was just as casual as I was in jeans, a white shirt and an unbuttoned button down shirt over it.

He looked so handsome. And he was mine.

“You’re so beautiful.” He murmured, engulfing me in a hug. “My girlfriend’s so gorgeous.”

“My boyfriend’s not far behind.” I said. He was way ahead of me.

“Let’s go!” he said excitedly and grabbed my hand. “We’re going to be late.”

Twenty minutes of driving later, we found ourselves driving along an empty highway. It was very dark, and there were many trees surrounding us. It was like the road to the middle of nowhere. Like a perfect spot for murder or something where no one could hear screams.

Slowly, I turned my attention to Blake who was still smiling, tapping his fingers on the wheel. “Uh, Blake? Are we lost?”

“Lost? Oh no.” he shook his head.

“Are you sure?” I asked again.

“A hundred and one percent.” He nodded, clicking his tongue.

Before I could stop it, I blurted out, “Are you going to murder me?”

He looked at me incredulously before bursting out laughing.

“Hey eye on the road Blake!” I cried. “Pay attention!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Blake chuckled. “I mean out of all the things going through your pretty little mind, I couldn’t believe murdering you was one of them. Out of all the options.”

My face flushed in embarrassment. That was really stupid of me think. “I’m sorry. I guess I’ve been watching way too many horror movies for the past week.”

“You like horror films?”

I shrugged. “It’s fine, just not the first genre that I would choose.”

“Why’d you watch so much then?”

“Uh,” I hesitated. “I needed to…distract myself from…what I did and from…you.”

Keeping his left hand on the wheel, he took my hand with his right, clenching tightly as if to tell me that he will never let me go.

“Don’t worry.” He said to me with a small smile. “That won’t happen again.”

I gripped his hand in response, unable to form any coherent answer.

A small house started to appear on the sides of the road. It was well lit but not too bright to overpower the stars. We were on a dark, maybe deserted highway so the stars on the night sky were breathtaking.

As we drove closer to the house, I realized how large it actually was, and how vast the land it occupied on. The house wasn’t mansion large or anything, it was just large. Blake turned to enter the lot and parked there.

“This is it.” He announced and started removing his seat belt and I followed.

There were a few cars parked outside, around three, and I started to wonder if this was where his parents lived. But as we got closer to the house, I realized it was one of those farm like restaurants. There were signs pointing to different directions. There was a lake, a tree house, the ‘grand’ fountain, horse riding, butterfly sanctuary, and the garden.

There were plants everywhere. The ground had cement stepping stones to prevent from sinking to the grass. It had small lights on the sides to give proper lighting. The landscape was just beautiful.

“Whoa.” I breathed out, unable to say anything else.

“I know.” Blake sighed and took my hand, leading the way to the house- which was actually designed as a hut but in this case, it was one very large hut.

“How did you find this place? It’s gorgeous!” I said in awe as I took out my phone and started snapping pictures. “This place is incredible!”

Before I could take my third shot, Blake pulled my phone out of my hands.

“Hey!” I said. “I was using that”

“If there’s anything you’re taking a picture of tonight,” he started as he stretched his out and took a picture of us. “It’s going to be of us. The teens call it a selfie nowadays but who cares.”

First, we had dinner. With so much facilities I expected the food to be way expensive but it wasn’t as much as I thought it would. We both shared a platter of ribs and steak with mashed potatoes on the side and then for dessert we thought we’d go for the lava cake.

Blake said my version of the lava cake or any food for the matter was way better. I figured he was obligated to say that being my boyfriend and that he was totally being biased but I let it go.

We were now on the tree house which luckily was empty. I didn’t want to share my romantic alone time with an audience.

“This place is amazing.” I breathed out. “Like really beautiful.”

“You’ve mentioned that about a million times Bethany.” Blake chuckled as he pulled me against him. He wrapped his arm around me and I leaned my head against his chest.

“I can’t help it.” I smiled. “It’s not every day you get to see something as magnificently beautiful and stunning as this.”

“I do.”

“Really now?” I asked in an amused tone as I pulled up to look at him. “Do you have some kind of paradise on the other side of your fence you’re not telling me about?”

“Is the beach really that obvious in my house?” he asked sucking in a breath.

Lightly, I punched his arm as we both laughed.

“Okay, I don’t have a paradise beyond my property.” He said and pulled me back against him. He kissed my head and rested his head on it. “But I get to see you every day.”

Butterflies started around my stomach as I blushed. “You’re so cheesy Blake.”

“I know.” He laughed, pulling me away from him and turning me around to make me face him. “But you love me.”

I smiled at the gorgeous man in front of me. “I know.”

Blake smiled back at me before glancing at his watch. When he saw what time it was, he looked excited.

“Huh,” I commented sounding more amused than I meant to. “I didn’t know you were so fascinated with the time on your watch.”

“Ha-ha.” Blake said in a mocking tone and grabbed my hand and started tugging me to the door. “Let’s go! If we go now, we can see the whole thing.”

“Whoa there.” I said catching up with him. “Slow down there Usain Bolt. What exactly are we going to watch?”

He stopped on his tracks and turned around, giving me a smirk. “You’ll see.”

Blake ended up dragging me all the way to the lake. He didn’t stop there though. He rented one of the row boats and forced me to go in. Now I know why he said not to wear heels. Climbing up a tree house in heels is possible with the stairs the place provided but on a rocking boat? I don’t think even supermodels could do it.

“Here.” He said and handed me on of the oars that came on the boat. “Let’s do this.”

I snorted at him. “And I thought you were going to be a gentleman and do all the rowing.”

“Uh, no.” he grinned back. “Everything’s more worth it when you do the work. Now start rowing Bethany.”

“Okay, okay.” I responded and did what I was told. “I really don’t know what you’re in a hurry for. It’s not like zombies are chasing us and the only way to get rid of them was to leave on a boat.”

“Row, not talk.” He ordered, but the excitement in his tone failed to let me believe the seriousness he wanted to convey. “Hurry or we’ll miss out.”

“Miss out on what?” I asked him curiously, looking back where he was busy pushing the waters away. “I mean, this place is gorgeous but I know that if we took our time, the scenery’s not going to pack up and leave.”

“Just trust me, okay?”

A few more rows later, we stopped what we were doing. We were floating in the middle of the lifeless lake. We were the only boat around.

I was leaning against Blake, his arms around me.

“I don’t know what you were in a rush for.” I whispered, loving the moment.

“Look.” He whispered back and placed his hand over mine, directing me to point at the horizon in front of us. Since there wasn’t much light to compete with the sky, there were millions of stars, just tiny flecks of light scattered all over the dark sky.

“Wow.” I breathed out, speechless. I’ve been in the city for the past few years, and never have I seen such a perfect night sky.

“Wait for it.” Blake said from behind me.

I did, although the waiting felt really useless since I was already looking at a masterpiece. I nuzzled myself comfy with Blake, and he did the same.

“I love you Bethany.” He said in a quiet voice. “I really do.”

“I love you too.” I responded, still couldn’t tear my eyes away from the distance. A sudden thought came into my mind. “But, why me?”

Blake released his arms from me, and placed his hand on my shoulders to force me to look at him. “What are you talking about Bethany? Why are you asking this? Are doubting yourself? If you are, stop it. I love you and -“

“Blake.” I interrupted him, a small smile crawling to my face. “I’m not doubting anyone. I’m just genuinely curious. I mean, why me? I’m not exactly Miss Universe, and I’m not the best with relationships. Why?”

“I think the better question here is, why not?” he smiled. “And for the record, you are doubting yourself. And I don’t want to hear it again. Let’s not talk about this again.”

I was about to say something about it, contradictory to his want, but the sound of something exploding in the sky and the accompanying light took the attention from what we were talking about.

The tiny flecks of light that was there a few second ago was now overpowered by the fireworks decorating the sky.

“This…”

“Is why I was in a rush to get you here.” Blake finished my sentence for me, pulling me in closer if humanly possible. “I wanted you to see this.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s nothing to thank for Bethany.”

“Is this an everyday thing? The firework?” I asked.

“No.” he replied, taking a lock of my short hair. “There’s a festival a few blocks from here and they’re starting it off with some firework display. Would you like to go?”

“Maybe. But let us enjoy the view.”

“I’ve been looking at you the entire night. I’ve been enjoying myself since.”

I turned around to face him. “You really need to stop all the cheesiness.”

“Maybe I should.” He said slowly and hoarsely, leaning in closer to my face until only a couple of inches were left in between us. He stopped moving before he could close the gap between us. He warned, “I’m going to kiss you, okay?”

“You don’t need to ask me.” I whispered in reply, savoring the moment that I was going to kiss Blake.

We didn’t end up going to the festival after the lake.

We didn’t end up kissing.

However, we did end up soaked in lake water because the boat got imbalanced and tipped us over, soaking us.

We’re going to need new phones after this.