"Drive in movie? Those still exist?" I ask raising my eyebrow.
"Yeah! Not many people come in the winter so they always give great deals to those who do, plus they've been able to sync the movie audio with a empty radio frequency, so we can hear it without having to get cold by rolling down the windows." He says.
"Seems innovative." I say with a small smile.
"Definitely innovative." He confirms.
He starts humming to the Christmas music playing in the car. I feel a vibration in my pocket before I pull out my phone.
My face goes hot and my breath catches in my throat when I read the first line of the email I just received.
My stomach drops when I open the email and see that it's legit.
Teal,
Yes, I am Blake's sister.
Thank you so much for reaching out. Truth is, I haven't been in touch with my family for a much different reason.
Yes, I was very upset with my brother, and for a while didn't want anything to do with him. Then I heard he turned his life around and how sorry he was. He's not perfect, but he's my little brother and nothing can ever change that.
I've wanted to reach out for years now, but after the whole incident, I confronted some of the people the girl, Eliza, was associated with. I ended up getting myself into more trouble than I had realized.
For my families safety, I had to keep minimal contact with them. The people who I confronted were bad people and I was put into witness protection and even had to change my name.
This is the only social media I have under my real name so that the people don't suspect that I changed my name. I miss my family more than anything.
I just don't know how to get out of this situation.
If it's not too much to ask, do you mind telling me how my family is doing? Thanks.
-Hope.
My mind reels as I read the message. Witness protection?
How bad was Eliza? Who was she hanging out with that's so bad witness protection had to get involved?
Wouldn't Blake know weather or not his sister was in witness protection since he's in the FBI? What the hell is happening?
Suddenly, the movie isn't a priority. Honestly when I reached out to her, I didn't think I would get any kind of response.
I wonder if I can get her to come to Christmas dinner... how can I work around the witness protection program?
I look over at Blake before I carefully go over how I'm going to approach this situation.
"Hey Blake. This whole... bodyguard thing. Is it a fairly new program?" I ask him.
He raises his eyebrow "Yeah, I think it was created about a year after I became an agent." He says.
"Why?"
"Could people in witness protection come out of witness protection and be assigned an agent?" I ask.
He shrugs "Depends on the case. In your case, the criminal is a highly wanted one that is classified as highly dangerous. Witness protection wouldn't be as effective for your case, therefore you were assigned a different form of protection. Me." He says.
"So if someone where to get mixed up with a bad group of people, but they weren't high priority criminals... they would just get put into witness protection?" I ask.
He nods "Correct. If the criminals have a past of violence and if they are smart enough to know the system, more extreme measures are put into place." He says.
I nod, thankful that his attention is half on the conversation and half on the movie.
Blake is smart, so I have to be really careful of what I'm going to ask next.
"What if someone were to request a personal agent in place of witness protection?" I ask. "Like... say they knew the system." I add.
He nods "Yeah, it's possible, they'd just need to have connections in the FBI or a strong case."
I feel my whole body tingle at his words.
Connections in the FBI?
"Why?" He asks.
I shrug "Just wondering. It's a complicated system, so I was just curious as to why I wasn't just put into witness protection." I half lie.
He smiles toward me slightly "You trying to get rid of me?" He asks.
I shake my head. "The opposite. I'm wondering how I got so lucky." I reply.
He just chuckles "I wouldn't call your situation lucky." He says.
"Depends on how you look at it." I tell him with a small smile.
He takes my hand in his and laces his long fingers through mine. I smile and squeeze his hand softly before we turn our attention back toward the movie.
Yet, the movie is the absolute furthest thing from my mind right now.
With my other hand, I instantly press reply to her email and frantically begin to type as I try and remain as normal as possible for Blake.
....
No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to act as if nothing has just changed within the last two hours, because it has.
Hope didn't lose touch by choice.
She's in a situation similar to me.
Blake watches the movie contently and I can't help but smile.
He is the only man I know who would take his girlfriend to a drive-in movie and actually pay full attention to the movie.
It's actually pretty cute. I can't help but giggle.
He looks over at me. "Huh?" He asks.
"Nothing." I say with a smile as I look down. "You're just cute." I tell him.
"Cute?" He asks.
"Yeah." I respond.
He rolls his eyes and I nudge him. "I don't know, I just appreciate you, okay?"
"I appreciate you too." He says. "You're really not focused on the movie, are you?" He asks with a chuckle.
I full on laugh at his observation "To be fair, I've seen this movie before." I defend.
"Everyone has seen this movie, it's a classic Christmas film." He says.
"I can literally quote it word for word." I add.
He just laughs "Why does that not surprise me?"
I smile and I look forward after we go back to comfortable silence to watch the movie. I sigh and try to clear my mind of all things sibling as we watch the movie.
"Something is bothering you." He says. He doesn't even take his eyes off of the movie when he says this.
I raise my eyebrow as I look over at him. "What?" I ask.
He looks over at me with one eyebrow raised. "Okay! Okay!" I say with a giggle.
"I'm nervous." I tell him.
At least I'm not lying. I'm totally nervous about meeting his family. Our flight leaves tomorrow night.
His Dad is picking us up, and I'm okay with that since I've talked to his Dad over the phone before, but I'm still incredibly nervous to actually meet him in person.
With that being said, I'm even more nervous to meet the rest of the family. From what I understand, his family is very close with him.
He snaps me out of my thoughts with his calming but deep voice.
"For?" He asks.
"What do you think?"
He smiles and just shakes his head. "You have nothing to be nervous about."
"Nothing? What if your family hates me? What if I'm not what they expect? What if-" But I'm cut off as he quickly leans over and kisses me to shut me up.
I just groan into the kiss and he pulls back with a smile on his face.
"That's so not fair." I complain.
He smiles before his hand gently cups the side of my face.
He looks into my eyes and just whispers "You have nothing to be worried about." He assures me.
I frown gently as I look into his mesmerizing eyes.
Fuck. This is so not fair.
He knows exactly how to get me to forget everything and anything I'm worried about when I'm around him.
I just hum in agreement as I nod softly. He carefully leads my lips up towards his again as he slowly takes my lower lip between his lips.
He kisses me lovingly and softly, as if to tell me not to worry about anything. But I can't help it.
I've packed and unpacked multiple times and put way too much thought into meeting his family.
Even kissing him now, I'm distracted by my own fear. I've never been this worried about a first impression.
Maybe it's because of how we met, maybe it's because of the circumstances of his job that makes me extra nervous... or maybe it's because this is an impression I truly want to go well.
Maybe it's because I see more than just a future with Blake.
When his lips leave mine, the worry and doubts of before come rushing back.
Am I just going to be that girl they meet one time and never see again? Just that girl Blake brought back for Christmas once before they had to be forced never to see each other again?
I push the thoughts out of my head and lean my head against Blake's shoulder.
He just laughs at me and I can't help but smile as well. He can tell how stressed I am about everything, weather or not he knows the real reason behind it, he knows at the very least I'm stressed.
"You need to live in the moment right now, forget about the trip for now, okay?" He asks,
I nod and groan into his shoulder.
He just laughs and gently ushers my chin up with his thumb and index finger so I'm looking into his eyes.
"Look at me." He says softly. "You're here with me right now. We are in a drive in, watching Elf, a classic Christmas movie, and we are having a great time." He says.
I giggle and can't help but smile.
Once my eyes are locked on his, it's hard to think about anything else but him.
He's right. I need to stop worrying and just enjoy the fact that I'm with him right now.
I nod and take in a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sure I'll make a decent impression at worst." I say with a smile.
He just shakes his head "You're so weird." He jokes before kissing me again, this time the kiss is more passionate, making my skin tingle.
Damn, he really knows how to take a girl's mind off of things.
My hand instinctively goes to the side of his face as his arm snakes around my waist. He pulls me closer to him and I hum in satisfaction.
The kiss is amazing and I'm totally in my own little world with him up until my favorite quote comes through the speakers.
At the same time, we both pull away, look each other dead in the eye as we yell "Santa!! I know him!"
We both bust out in uncontrollable laughter as we do so. We laugh so hard tears come out of both of our eyes as we continue to laugh.
Of course we would both love that quote.
He just looks at me with a smile after we have caught our breath from laughing and sighs "What did I do to deserve you?" He asks.
I just smile and wipe away the tears of laughter "I ask myself the same thing."
He smiles and I gesture toward the movie "Maybe we should watch for once." I tease.
He smiles "Sounds like a plan." He says. "Or we can keep making out until the beef and cheese quote comes up." He jokes.
I laugh. "I would totally say that one too, regardless of what's happening around me." I tell him.
"Don't worry, I would too." He says.
I just smile as he turns his attention back to the movie. He grabs my hand once more and I lean against his shoulder until the movie is over.
There's one more movie left in the Christmas movie marathon, but we both decide to head back home.
It was a great date, and I'm always down for a unique adventure.
Then again, anything with Blake is a unique adventure.