Page 29 of When Fate Breaks
I raise an eyebrow. “Well, now it’s your turn.” He looks back at me. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Blake blows a breath out of his nose. “Do you believe in fate?”
“Fate?”
“Yeah, fate,” he confirms. “You know, destiny? Kismet?”
“I know what fate is,” I say. “That’s just the last thing I expected you to say.” I feel my brows pinch. “But to answer your question, no, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” he asks.
“Because…” I purse my lips, thinking. “I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.”
Blake snorts.
“What?” I ask.
He rubs a hand down his face. “Okay,Neo. Did you just quoteThe Matrix?”
I laugh, realizing that I totally, unintentionally, did. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I deadpan.
“Uh huh.”
“But fate, really,” I say, seeing Blake’s attention return to me. “I just feel that…someone can only show you a door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”
Blake’s face drops at my secondMatrixquote, his eyes rolling. “Evangeline.”
“Follow the white rabbit, Blake.”
“Evangeline.”
“Okay, I’m done, really.” I say, putting my hands up. “Sorry, I took a red pill before we got here.”
Blake stares at me, expressionless. “Just forget it,” he says, looking out at the lake.
“No, okay, seriously,” I insist. “I don’t think I believe in fate, but why do you ask? Doyou?”
His eyes find mine again. “Yeah, I do.”
My head tilts, a smile coming to my lips. “Why?”
“I just feel like there’s a plan for everything. That there’s a set path we’re all on and no matter what small decisions we may make along the way to fight against it, whatever is meant to happen always will.” Blake pauses. “You don’t agree, clearly.”
I hadn’t realized that I had been shaking my head. “Oh,” I blurt. “Um, I don’t know. I just don’t think I’m...willing to accept that? I mean…don’t you have dreams? Aspirations?”
“Sure I do,” Blake says. “But I think that they'll either happen or they won’t. Obviously I’ll have to put effort in on my part, but…I don’t know. I just don’t see a point in trying to plan out every minute of my life. It just seems kind of exhausting. And like it’ll inevitably lead to disappointment.”
“Maybe,” I say. “I guess I just don’t like the idea of leaving my life up to some magical force I can’t see.”
Blake chuckles. “No one said anything about magic, Evangeline.”
“I know,” I shake my head. “I guess I would just like to know that if something doesn’t happen for me or if I end up unhappy...it’s only my fault. That there was nothing else I could have done.”
Blake studies me for several seconds and then sighs, reaching under his bench to pull out two cans of Dr. Pepper I hadn’t seen before, tossing one to me. My fingers curl around it, the cold of the aluminum passing right through the barrier of my glove and making me shiver.
“Well, here’s to things happening,” he says, holding out the can to toast me. I clink my can with his and start to pull it away but stop, noticing Blake hesitating. “And maybe to a little magic to help us along the way,” he adds.
“To fate,” I declare. Blake’s eyes flick up to mine, a crooked smile breaking out on his face as we both pop open our cans.
