How did she know I was here?
God, I hope he didn't go and tell her. Blake has no business getting involved in my personal life. I try to think about the best possible escape route.
There is no way to go.
If I try to make a run to the front door, they will see me. If I go back to the bedroom and sneak out the window, there is nowhere for me to go. I'm stuck. The only way out is straight through the eye of the hurricane.
Hopefully, my mom will keep herself in check, considering we are around other people. Knowing her, she's probably worried and upset with me. She is most likely going to try to take me to the hospital.
Great.
Now, what do I do?
Just as I turn around to get my phone from the room, I run into Blake who is standing right behind me.
"Hey stranger," I joke.
He looks me up and down until he finally meets my gaze.
There's not much to look at, so I don't know what he's doing.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes," I respond.
"Good," He grumbles.
His eyebrows furrow and he walks towards the kitchen. There's that bad attitude I was waiting for.
I can never catch a break. Can I?
He doesn't want me here, and I don't want to be here. I might as well leave with my mom and deal with her lectures later. I go back to the room to get my phone and wallet. I hope she isn't too upset with me. Then again, it's kind of her fault since she and dad didn't even notice I was missing. They didn't even notice that Grant left the room.
I walk down the hallway fast. I'm ready to get out of here. As I'm about to step into the kitchen, I feel a pull on my shoulder. I groan in pain from the pull it has on my back. I look behind me and see Blake with his hand planted on my shoulder. The same spot where it was last night.
"What do you want?"
He grunts as he removes his hand and places it in the pocket of his grey sweatpants.
"What's your mom doing here?"
Why does he care?
"She's here to pick me up," I say reluctantly.
I don't want him to think I'm some little junior who's mom drives her places.
"How did you even get here?"
"By car."
"Where is it then?" He points, through the window, at the driveway.
Why is he so curious?
"My mom dropped me off," I say defeated.
"Why are you here?"
What the hell has gotten into this guy?
"I wanted to bring something by for your mom, and she insisted that I stay the night after I hurt my back. Don't worry, I'll be out of your hair in no time. You will never have to see me again," I say as I walk away from him and into the kitchen.
Before I can greet my mom, Blake pulls me back into the hallway.
"What the actual hell Blake. What in the world is wrong with you?" I scold him.
He lifts his head and clenches his jaw, revealing his jawline. He does that a lot.
"What about your school project?" He whispers faintly.
I pretend like I can't hear him.
"Huh?" I ask.
His neck grows tense as he grabs a handful of his hair.
"Your psychology project?"
"What about it?" I continue to play dumb.
He lets out an exasperated breath and begins, "God, do you need me to spell it out for you, Brynne? Do you still need help with your project or not?" He growls.
"Yes, that would be nice," I calmly respond, "Maybe you could ask me with a somewhat nicer tone."
He gives me a death stare. Walking towards his room, he makes it known that he's the boss. He shifts through the hallway. For every step he takes, I have to take three. When we finally get to the room, I can see it better now that it is light outside. I see a wooden desk in the middle of the room and notice the papers sprawled everywhere. It reminds me of my desk at home. Scattered with assignments and worksheets that I have to complete.
I'm never graduating. I find myself stressing about school even when I'm not there.
Graduating is important to me. Even if I die from cancer, I want to have accomplished at least one good thing in my life. But it's getting hard, especially when I'm so tired all the time. Blake bluntly sits in his chair and spreads his knees. Looking around, I notice that his bedroom is almost completely black and brown. There is barely any color or pattern. It's almost depressing.
I walk over to the mantle above his fireplace. There are a couple of picture frames. I recognize one of Blake and Grant at an amusement park. I remember that day because I wanted to go with them but couldn't because I had a dance recital. They had a lot of fun together. They always did.
Grant and Blake were the kinds of friends that never got bored of each other. They always found something to do with one another. Whether it was painting the shed hot pink, or building a ramp for their bikes out of old tires and a hunk of metal, the boys were always entertained.
As I examine the picture, I feel Blake's eyes burn a hole into my back. I act like I don't see him.
"You don't have much decoration in here," I remark.
"Don't need it."
"I think it adds personality to a room. Makes it your own."
He shifts in his chair and clears his throat.
"Okay, Brynne, enough of this stalling. Tell me what you need help with so we can get on with it."
I'm shocked.
I try not to show it, but his words hurt me.
Wasn't he being sweet to me a few days ago?
Didn't he let down his guard and tell me about his crisis?
Doesn't he owe me a favor?
Maybe I was looking at this the wrong way. Maybe he doesn't care about me at all and wants me to get out of his life. I can't even get mad because he technically wasn't leading me on. He was being friendly.
I'm so stupid.
As I open my mouth to tell him that I don't need any help anymore, his phone starts to buzz. He glances at the contact and immediately picks it up.
"Yeah, what do you want?"
Rude much.
"Yes, I told him that yesterday," He says impatiently.
I look around, avoiding eye contact with him. He starts to tap his foot.
"Incompetent idiots, that's what you all are," He yells into the phone before he slams it on his desk.
He gets up and pushes all the papers off his desk in frustration. Then, he meets my gaze and looks a bit embarrassed. As if he forgot I was here.
"Just some family troubles," He explains.
"Yeah, I get it."
Even though, I've never spoken to my family that way.
Maybe I'm just crazy.
"Do you want to get out of here?" He asks.
"Sure," I respond while picking up all the papers off the ground.
While I'm placing them back on his desk, I notice the word 'heroin' written on one of them. He immediately grabs it from me and crumples it up. I play dumb and act like I didn't see it. Blake is not what he seems. He is hiding things from me.
"Come on," He says.
He gets up from his desk and opens the door of his room. He gestures for me to walk through.
"Wait"
He turns back and asks, "What?"
"My mom can't see me."
"Why?"
He seems interested by the way he crosses his arms on his chest.
"She's not going to let me drive away with you," I say embarrassed.
In different circumstances, she probably would. But after missing almost two days' worth of medicine, she's going to want to drive me straight to the hospital.
Honestly, I feel fine.
I don't feel as light-headed as I usually do on the painkillers, and I seem to have more energy. Blake looks down as he thinks. Abruptly, he lifts his head and locks me in a gaze.
"I have an idea."
I stare back into his blue eyes.
"Do you trust me?"
How could anyone not trust those eyes?
I nod. He gently grabs my hand and leads me to the window in the corner of his room. He turns the latch and lifts the window. Almost immediately after, a quick breeze rushes into the room.
"It's only a couple of feet down."
I stick my head out the window and look around. The drop looks to be about six to seven feet. Luckily, there is a soft landing of grass right below us, so we won't break our tailbones. I chuckle internally. That's the last thing I need right now; a broken bone.
"You should go first," Blake suggests, "That way, I can close the window on my way out."
I anxiously look down at the potential plunge.
"Brynne," Blake catches my attention.
I look up to him.
"We've done much harder things than this. Remember that one time when we used a rope to zip line from your roof to the trees?"
"Yeah," I laugh, "That was fun."
"Just think of it as a game."
"Okay," I breathe.
I climb out of the window so that I'm facing the inside of his room. My feet are planted on the windowsill as I try to figure out the best way to fall. Then I let go of the house and jump backward landing on my feet. Not even a scratch. Blake smirks as he climbs out of the window himself and closes it behind him.
He jumps down with his back towards the house and barely makes a sound. We start walking to his car.
"See now, that wasn't that hard," He brags.
"Oh yeah, piece of cake," I sarcastically agree.
He brings me to his driveway, where his BMW SUV is parked. Most of the guys in his grade drive a Jeep or a Ford, but Blake is special. On his sixteenth birthday, he bought himself this car with the money that he had saved up from a 'side hustle', whatever that means. The day that Grant found out, he wouldn't stop complaining to me; "Why does he have to be such a spoiled brat?", "Why can't he just have a normal car like everyone else."
Now Grant is not the jealous type, but whenever it comes to Blake, he can't help but resent him. It's always a competition between the two. It never ends, and I'm usually stuck in the middle of it.
He fishes for the keys in the pocket of his grey sweatpants. When he finds them, he unlocks the car and gets in. I follow, unsure of what I am getting myself into. Blake starts the engine and grabs the back of my seat to see where he is going to back up.
I look at him and admire his focus. His eyebrows are serious, and his lips pressed together. He's not as big and bad as people may think. I simply don't understand why he is so rude to one day and nice to me the next. It doesn't make any sense.
He meets my eyes and studies me.
"Seatbelt," He says.
I grab the belt and tighten it across my body.
"So much for being a daredevil."
"Safety first always," His strong voice fills the car.
This man never ceases to surprise me.
"So, where are we going?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
I look out the window and hope that wherever it is, it's somewhere far away from this town.