Float

Original Edition: Chapter Ten

Maybe I should play dead.

I closed my eyes and let my tongue loll. 

"Waverly?"

My eyes snapped open. I had to blink a few times before I was able to make out the tall, dark, familiar figure standing over me.

Nope, not a murderer. Just a douche.

"Blake?" I asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing?" he asked, his eyebrows shooting up. "You're the one sitting on Alissa's front lawn."

Alissa's lawn? I turned to look over my shoulder at the ostentatiously hideous house behind me. It seemed at least three times as large as Rachel's house and looked like the residence of a Miami gangster.

"I thought you were going home," Blake said.

My cheeks warmed in embarrassment.

"I got lost," I admitted in a mumble.

"What?"

He was going to make me say it again. The bastard.

"I got lost, okay? Happy?"

Blake clenched his teeth together, his square jaw flexing as he did so, and glanced up at the dark night sky above us. I looked back down at my feet, waiting for him to say something. To rub it all in my face.

Instead, he sighed and said, "C'mon. I'll drive you home."

What, no joke? No rude remarks?

I didn't waste time questioning it. I jumped up to my feet, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my buttocks, and jogged towards the car. I slipped into the passenger's seat and clicked my seatbelt over my chest before Blake had even reached the driver's side door. Despite the fact that he was wearing a sweatshirt, and that this must be what he considered cold weather now that the sun was down, Blake turned on the air conditioning.

"Aren't you cold?" I blurted.

Here we go again. Why did I always speak so impulsively around Blake?

"I'm fine," Blake shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road as he pulled away from the sidewalk in front of Alissa Hastings' big purple house. "I just thought you might be warm. You practically live in the snow, right?"

Blake was being considerate.

Maybe I had really fallen asleep on the lawn and this was all a dream.

"Right," I mumbled.

For a few painfully long moments, it was quiet in the car except for the occasional clicking of Blake's turn signal and the rattle of a few unidentified objects in the trunk.

"Sorry about your... er, butt," Blake said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"My what? Oh! It's fine. I'm fine."

Blake nodded and said nothing further.

In the faint glow of the lights on the dashboard, I thought I saw his cheeks go pink. But I was probably just seeing things. Just as I decided it would be safe for me to let my eyes roam over Blake's face, he turned to look at me.

I turned my head, trying to hide my imminent blushing and pretend to be looking out through the car window. But it was dark outside. I couldn't see anything. I looked like an idiot. I dropped my gaze down at my hands, fiddling with my thumbs as I resisted the urge to look back up and see if Blake was still watching me.

"Looks like the awkward fairy decided to grace us with her presence today," I mumbled under my breath.

I hadn't meant for Blake to hear me, but he did.

And he let out a laugh.

It was a harmonious sound, and it seemed to make both of us slouch back in our car seats with relief. I hadn't noticed how tense both of us were until I was able to unclench my fists and lean my head back against the cool leather headrest.

"Thanks, by the way," he said.

"For what?" I asked, trying to remember if I had done him any favors recently.

Or, for that matter, ever.

"For not telling Lena and Jesse about me going over to Alissa's house."

I was about to mention that I had only kept my mouth shut because he was holding the fact that I couldn't swim against me, but instead I decided to bring up something else.

"Alissa told Lena anyways," I said.

"She what?" Blake asked, gripping the steering wheel a little bit tighter.

"Well," I continued, unable to shut my big mouth, "Alissa came by after you left and told Lena that you wouldn't take her back. And then she said you had a rebound girl already. And then she tried to call Ethan."

Oh, God.

It was like word vomit that I couldn't stop spewing.

"She told you I had a rebound girl?"

I had no right to go rubbing my nose into his business. It shouldn't matter to me if Blake had decided to start dating another girl. Why did I have to have such a big mouth? This never happened to me. Only around Blake did I find myself talking so much.

"Did she tell you a name?" he pressed.

Blake's knuckles were practically white on the steering wheel.

"No," I told him truthfully, resisting the urge to press further and ask the name of this mysterious rebound girl, and where she lived, and how mad on a scale of one to ten he would be if I punched his new girlfriend in the face.

Blake seemed to relax a little at this, but his dark eyebrows were still pinched. Neither of us spoke another word to each other. After several minutes, we finally pulled up in front of our houses. I wasn't sure whether I should thank Blake for the ride or not, so I just sat there for a moment silently debating.

"We're here," he said.

"Right. Um, thanks for the ride."

"No problem."

I jumped out of the car before it could get any more awkward. I heard Blake get out of his car right as I started waddling up the steps.

"Hey, Waverly!"

I turned. He was already halfway to his porch. "Yeah?"

"Be at the public pool tomorrow afternoon. Three o'clock. I'm teaching you how to tread," Blake informed me. Before I could argue, he pushed open the front door and slipped inside his house, leaving me to stare after him with my mouth agape.

He couldn't be serious.

Could he?

I turned and was about to start climbing the porch steps again when the front door flew open. I let out a little gasp as I spotted Rachel standing in the doorway, her lips pursed and her hands on her hips. Her tangled brown hair was pulled up into a knot and she was wearing pajamas. She also looked pissed, which meant that I was so dead.

"Where have you been?" Rachel demanded. The bun on top of her head bounced as she spoke.

"I can explain," I told her. "But first, I'm going to need some ice. I think I sprained my butt."