Page 9 of When Fate Breaks
“As good as a 6 a.m. flight with two little kids can be,” Mom laughs.
“Heeeey!” Steph squeaks. “We’re not little!”
“Sorry,” Mom corrects, “twovery bigfour and nine year old adults,” she says, winking at me and Emily. “But, we made it! Thank you so much for making the drive to meet us.”
“Oh, of course!” Emily says. “Kyle and I haven’t made it out to the city in years. And I knew Blake would be excited to have a friend his age to hang out with.”
I glance back at Blake. He’s taking a drink of his soda, but otherwise, his position hasn’t changed nor has he looked in this direction.
Yeah, he seemssoexcited.
“Oh, honey, why don’t you go say hi to him,” my mom says, nudging me forwards. I look up at her and she makes a flicking motion with her head, telling me it’s not an option.
“Okay,” I say, dropping Steph’s hand and walking over to where Blake lays.
When my shadow casts across him, he glances up at me. His eyes are exactly the same, but the rest of his face has finally caught up, making them appear just over average size now. Though most of it is covered by his beanie, I can tell his hair has gotten a few shades darker over the years, the curls sticking out in all directions. His olive-tone skin is still tanner than mine will ever be, despite it being the middle of winter.
“Hi,” I say, plopping down next to him, sitting cross-legged.
“Hey,” he responds, continuing to write. I see now that the book in his hand is a worn out copy ofThe Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobeand that he’s not actually writing in the book, but on a piece of folded notebook paper shoved inside of it.
I lean back on my hands, looking around the park and breathing in the crisp air. After a few moments, I glance back towards Blake. “You must feel really at home here,” I say.
His pencil pauses and he looks up at me, confusion twisting his features. “Why?”
“You know,” I say, my fingers running across the ground and a smirk pulling at my lips. “All the grass.”
The confusion melts into stifled laughter and he rolls his eyes. “Shut up,” he says, slamming the book shut as he pushes up to his knees and shifts to sitting on his bottom.
“I’m sorry, I had to,” I tease. My eyes drift down to where a few inches of the notebook paper are sticking out of the top of the book, its entire edge covered in doodles of plants and leaves. “You really do love plants, don’t you?” I ask, nodding towards the paper.
He shrugs, looking away.
“Why?” I push.
Blake’s head snaps back in my direction, his eyes serious. “Well, they don’t make fun of me, for one.”
My lips part, my throat feeling tight. “I’m sorry,” I blurt out. “I wasn’t trying to–”
His intense expression falls suddenly and he breaks into laughter. “I’m just messing with you,” he says. I feel the breath reenter my lungs, shoving at his shoulder.
“Sorry,” he chuckles. “I had to.”
“Uh huh.”
Blake’s laughter fades out and there’s a few moments of quiet before he speaks again. “I don’t know why I like plants,” he says. “I just think they’re cool. I like watching them grow. It gives me something to look forward to, I guess. Seeing how they change.”
Huh.“That…that actually makes a lot of sense,” I say.
My mouth feeling dry, I shrug my backpack off my back and set it down on the ground in front of me, unzipping the largest pocket and digging around until I find my bag of Jolly Ranchers I got at the airport, pulling them out. “Want one?” I ask Blake, holding the bag out to him.
He shakes his head in response, but his eyes are still focused on where I just pulled the candy from. “Annie?” he says, catching me off guard.
“Yeah?”
“Why does your backpack say this?” he says, reaching out and grabbing the airport baggage tag hanging from the right strap. He squints his eyes at the white paper tag. “Eh– Ehvan-gel-”
“Ee-van-juh-leen,” I correct his pronunciation.
