The girl around my age stared at Blake and me expectantly as we stood in front of the counter
"I'll have a foot long club on Italian," I told her.
"What kind of cheese?"
"None, please."
"Toasted?" she asked me.
"Yes, please."
Blake wrapped his arm around my waist and whispered into my ear, "No cheese?"
"I don't like cheese."
The girl stared at Blake, a little too eagerly, to get his order.
"Tuna, please. Foot long, Italian." The girl began to make his order and the oven beeped, signaling my sandwich was done toasting. A guy around my age stepped out from the back and asked me what I'd like.
"Lettuce, cucumbers and black olives, please," I told the worker. He quickly placed the ingredients into the sandwich, asked me if that was all, and wrapped the sandwich up in a way that I'd always admired.
Blake's sandwich was wrapped next to mine and he payed for the two sandwiches.
"I get the next meal." Blake just laughed in my face and finished the last half of his tuna sandwich.
"Ready?" I nodded and forced my dry mouth to swallow the last chunk of bread and stood up.
Blake and I walked outside and I walked over to the passenger side.
"Do you want me to drive for a while?"
"No, you still look tired. Let's just get some rest."
"Okay, I'll look for a hotel or something," I told Blake, pulling out my phone to look for the closest place to sleep.
"Acutally, Raelene. I brought a whole bunch of blankets and pillows. We could just sleep in the back of the car?" Blake suggested and I smiled.
"Alright."
Blake grinned and started driving to a place we could spend the night. We pulled into a rest stop and Blake got out of the car to start setting blankets and pillows down in the back.
"Fold those seats back, would you?" I nodded and pulled the handle, causing the row of seats to fold into the bottom of the car. Blake threw a blanket at me and I spread it over the ground.
Please start playing 'Clarity' by Andrew Garcia and Andy Lange for the rest of the chapter. :)
About ten minutes and ten blankets later, the floor of the car was softer and I laid down on my back. Blake crawled into the backseat too, shutting the trunk door behind him. He spread himself out beside me and I rolled my head to the side to look at him.
"It's raining," Blake told me, shaking the little moisture from his hair.
"Do you want to read Mildred's letter now?" I asked him, knowing that he would say yes.
"Of course."
I sat up and crawled over the console of the car. I reached into the glove box and pulled out the three letters. I leaned my back against the side of the car, Blake sitting across from me.
"For when you tell each other," I read aloud. I slid my finger underneath the seal and pulled it across the letter, opening it.
Blake and I both took in a big breath, the only sound was the rain pattering on the window.
I read the letter to Blake, word for word.
"Well, it's about time. I knew that it would take Raelene a bit longer than my Blakie. I could tell that stuff had happened to you, Raelene, that made it hard for you to say 'I love you'. I'm so thankful that you finally did, though. I knew my Blakie had let it slip earlier than he should have, but that's just who he is.
I had a plan of what I was going to write when I began, but those thoughts seemed to have slipped my mind. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear, writing down the first thoughts that come into my mind.
While I stood behind the counter the first day you two came into the diner, I could tell that you were high off of each other. Anyone could see it, whether they caught a glimpse of you two while driving by or if they were in the booth right beside you. You two tried to deny it as long as you could, but anyone could tell you gave each other something the other was missing.
I could tell that you were high off of each other by the way you each stole glances at the other when you knew they weren't looking. The way you laughed together. It was like two best friends completely in love. It was so obvious although you were both blind to it.
It was such a sad sight to see two young people infatuated with each other unknowing of their feelings.
When I was growing up, love was courting the other. Learning to love them. I never thought that I'd see the day where two people met and they didn't have to develop feelings, they were already there. In my day, roses were the fad. I've had so many young girls come into the diner talking about how they wanted to have relationships like they did in the old days.
You two, Blake and Rae, are just like Ed and I were. We never had to learn to love the other, it was natural. As soon as we saw each other, we hated each other. There was teasing, rude comments, jealousy, fights, other people, but in the end, Ed and I ended up together. Now, I'm not saying that everything is going to come easily, but there's a possibility.
I guess that real love, is sitting in the car in comfortable silence. It's calling the other at three in the morning to meet where no one could ever find you and spilling out your deepest darkest secrets. I guess that real love, is never losing the magic, never leaving when you hit rough waters. You two, your love is better than anything you could ever learn.
In the beginning, you two wanted the other to chase you. You wanted them to love you.
But now you need it, you need the other to chase you. You need them to love you.
Please, know that I'm looking down on you two. I love you both so much and I miss you two terribly. I hope you miss me, too.
Yours truly, Millie."
I wiped the tears from my cheeks and caught Blake doing the same. I slid over to his side of the car and let him wrap his arms around me.
"I do miss her, a lot."
I closed my eyes and leaned my head into Blake, nodding. I missed her too.
Blake shifted so we were laying down on the blankets and I draped my arm over his rib cage, head still resting on his chest. I must have fallen asleep while we were sitting because I opened my eyes and it was dark out. I still heard the rain pattering on the windows, but I couldn't see it anymore.
"I love you," I whispered to Blake. I heard his heartbeat speed up and I smiled.
"I love you too, Raelene. So much." He ran his fingers through my hair repeatedly and I fell asleep just as he pulled a blanket over me.
* * * * * *
I woke up to the sunrise, but Blake was still sleeping beside me. I saw the three letters sitting underneath the window and I picked up the one written for Blake. I gently pulled the letter out from the envelope. Blake stirred, his hands reaching out beside him. His eyes shot open and he looked around the car. As soon as his eyes met mine, his head fell back onto the pillow.
"I thought you left," his raspy voice said. I moved back beside him, my body molding to his like it was meant to. Maybe it was.
"I wanted to read your letter." I told him. His eyes were closed again, his breathing even. I assumed he was asleep again because he didn't respond. His fingers were still tight around mine, though.
I smiled to myself, unfolded the letter, and began to read.
To my dearest Blakie,
Don't read any further than this because she has to read her own letter from me first.
This must've been why he told me to read my letter before he did.
She makes you so happy. I know it. I've seen the way you looked at her when you two were in the diner. It's the happiest I have ever seen you and it makes me so happy to know that even after everything in your life, she still wants to be in it. Even when she makes you miserable, you are still insanely happy.
I make him 'insanely happy'? I smiled, ecstatic that Millie caught the way Blake looked at me, because I never would've have seen it.
Stop flaunting so many girls in front of her, it kills her just as much as it kills you seeing her with another guy. Don't mess this up, okay dear? I know you and you can't let your pride and ego get in the way of this one.
She's got that right. My thoughts flickered back to the five girls Blake introduced my friends to. He never told them my name, and it hurt so badly. Does seeing me with another guy really hurt Blake just as much as it hurts me?
You give up on things much too easily. You need to work with her. You need to study her. Please, take the time to memorize how she walks and how she always flips her hair to the other side once it starts to scratch her neck.
I smiled at the memory of when Blake ran out after reading his letter. He held my face in his hands and told me he wasn't done when I asked him what he was doing. I guess he was trying to memorize me.
Try to put in the time to find out how she gets cranky when she needs her sleep or how she hates the taste of coffee even though she drinks it all the time. Put in the time for this one because even after she found out about all of your secrets, she still stuck around.
Well, I don't know anyone who wouldn't stick around. Maybe him constantly telling me to get some rest was him making sure I wasn't grumpy. When he wakes up, he was probably going to ask me if I wanted to get some coffee.
When you're with her, I know you want to tell her you love her. I also know that you won't say those three words because she is scared out of her mind when it comes to them. Just tell her, okay? I know you are afraid of what's going to happen, but it'll be worth it. She loves you too, dear. Even though she acts like she doesn't, she loves you more than you could ever imagine. I've seen it in her eyes.
Mildred was the smartest woman I had ever met. I never even realized that I loved Blake until my coma. She knew all of this way before I did. If Blake had never told me he loved me when he did, I probably wouldn't be here, in the back of his car at sunrise, in Australia. I wouldn't be with him.
When you talked about her, her name would just fall off of your tongue and I could tell that it was the best thing you had ever tasted. That's when I knew that she was the one for you. You always had to say her full name to fulfill some selfish desire to stretch out the time her name was on your tongue.
Everyone always called me Rae, except for Blake. Was this true? He said my name because he liked how it sounded when it rolled off of his tongue? A selfish part of me hoped that it was true. I've always hated my full name, except when Blake said it.
* * * * * *
OVER SEVEN THOUSAND VIEWS! This is truly unreal. Thank you so much for reading FFTGB! I know it's been a while since my last update and I'm so sorry. I hope this makes up for it. :)