Inevitable (11 page)

Christ, I was
pathetic.

Lori was
staying late for dance practice so she gave me the keys to her Mini
and told me to wait in her car for her to finish. As I reached out
to unlock the doors I dropped the keys when someone bumped my
shoulder, startling the living shit out of me.

“
Hey, Dora,” Blaine’s friend Jason beamed with a mischievous
wink. I didn’t correct my name like I usually would; I’d given up
on him taking a blind bit of notice about three days
ago.

“
Hey?” I said it like a question, unsure what he wanted. I’d
only ever spoken to him when surrounded by other people – people he
knew. He didn’t know me.

“
Have you seen Blaine?”

Why the fuck
would I have?

“
No. I’m not his damn receptionist, Jason,” I snapped
caustically. “Sorry. Tough day,” I tacked on when I realised I
couldn’t hold him responsible for the fact Blaine hated my
guts.

“
Hmm.” He squeezed his stubbly chin between his thumb and
forefinger like a master villain. “He fucked off hours ago and he’s
not answering my texts. We’ve got practice in an hour. He
never
misses
practice.”

And I care because?

Who are you
trying to kid? You know full well you care.

“
He really likes you, you know?” An involuntary
laugh/snort/choking sound erupted from my throat. “I know he’s
being a complete jackass about it, but I’m telling you it’s because
you’re fucking with his head, Dora.”

“
What?
I haven’t done anything!” I snapped, offended.

“
Hell no, I didn’t mean you’d
done
anything. You’re just in his head and he doesn’t
like it. He’s not used to all this feelings shit.” My mouth dropped
open and I was stunned into silence.

Blaine has…
feelings
for me?

I shook my
head at Jason. He’d clearly misinterpreted something somewhere
along the line.

“
Don’t give up on him, Dora. He’s a good guy. He’d never
admit it but he needs someone to get inside that stupid fucking
head of his. He needs
you.
” If I didn’t know better I’d have sworn there was a giant
pot of glue wafting under my nose. Jason’s words made me dizzy and
nauseous and I was pretty sure my heart had leapt from my chest
about five minutes ago. “And don’t you dare tell him we had this
conversation.”

“
What conversation?” I was more than willing to play his game.
I think Jason may have just become my new best friend.

“
Good girl,” he teased and flashed me another one of his
playful winks. “Catch you later, Dora.”

I waited in
Lori’s car for just over an hour. I think I may have even briefly
fallen asleep. She met me with her familiar sweet smile when she
slid into the driver’s seat. Aside from a slight pink glow she
looked as pretty as ever to say she’d just been dancing for an
hour.

“
Miss Knowles asked when you were planning to show,” she said
with a wicked grin.

Shit.
I’d faked an ankle injury to get out of the two classes I
was supposed to attend this week but after running into her in the
halls without a limp in sight I think she got a good whiff of my
bullshit.

“
I said you’d be there Wednesday. Don’t worry, girl, I’ll
hold your hand.”

“
Gee, thanks,” I replied, summoning as much sarcasm as I could
possibly find.

“
I don’t know if I should really tell you this but I’m going to
anyway,” Lori said ominously. I shifted in my seat so I was facing
her, intrigued ears at the ready. “I just ran into Scott Gilbert,
you know the linebacker?”

“
No. But, go on…” I knew Blaine was some kind of ‘back’ or
‘backer’ so I assumed they were the same thing.

“
Well, his nose is busted up real good. There’s all dried
blood sticking out and he’s got three steri-strips holding it
together. I swear it’s like totally gross.”

“
Lori, how is this anything to do with me?” I urged, growing
impatient.

“
Right, yeah, well… I asked him what happened and he said I
should go ask Blaine and then walked off. So-”

“
Wait, Blaine hit him?”

“
Hold on I was just getting to the good part…”
Is there a good
part to someone getting the crap beaten out of them?
“So anyway, Blaine’s
been MIA all day apparently and Jason wouldn’t give anything up so
I asked around and that’s when Mia Waldeck told me Blaine had
caught him sticking something on your locker and started kicking
the living shit out of him!”

I threw my
head in my hands, exasperated and confused as hell.

“
So?
”
Lori pressed, elongating the word. “What gives, Maddie?”

“
You know what, Lori? I have absolutely no idea. But I’m going
to find out.”

My mum mentioned that Treacle, Mitch and Blaine’s sister
Kara were holidaying in Hawaii for a couple of weeks so knowing
Blaine was home alone I decided to go and have it out with him. I
asked Lori to give me a lift to his house and I called my mum on
the way to make sure she sounded…
sane
. She seemed calm – not too happy and not too sad
– so I figured she’d be okay on her own for a couple of hours
longer.

“
It doesn’t look like he’s home,” Lori said after getting no
response from the buzzer in front of the huge gates guarding
Blaine’s house for the third time. “I’d wait but my mom’s expecting
me home. My Aunt Meredith is staying with us. She thinks it’s rude
when I disappear.”

“
Of course, you go. I’ll be fine on my own,” I assured
her.

“
You’re not coming?”

“
No. I need to see him. If he doesn’t show I’m pretty sure I’ve
got enough money on me to cover a taxi.”

“
Oh, I don’t know, Maddie. I don’t like leaving you here on
your own. Why don’t we just come back tomorrow?”

“
I’ll be fine honestly. I’m a big girl, Lori. I’ll give him
half an hour then I’ll go home. I’ll text when I get
there.”

“
Pinky promise?”

Seriously?

“
I promise,” I said, entwining my pinky with hers. Lori is
adorable sometimes - like my own little cute and fluffy puppy
dog.

Lori’s tyres had barely reached the end of the road when I
started to panic. Originally I was worried in case Blaine didn’t
come home and I was left standing out here all alone with only
trees and bushes for company – the jackpot prize for the rapists
and murderers of the world. But then I started to wonder what if
Blaine
was
home and the reason he ignored the intercom was because he
was too busy ‘entertaining’ some dumb slut.

I’d been loitering outside the huge iron gates for only
five minutes when I started to regret letting Lori drive away
without me. I was fine until my stupid brain started decided to
think about rapists and murderers and now I was shitting myself. I
knew I’d be pissed off with myself if I just gave up and went home
though – the balls I seem
ed to have grown this past hour might not come
back again so I needed to seize my opportunity to confront him
whilst I was still mad.

I
weighed up the gates as I wondered if there was a way to squeeze
through them. On closer inspection I was pretty sure a squirrel
would be hard pressed to fit through the bars so I definitely held
no chance. The gates were fixed onto high brick walls on either
side – too high to jump, get a good a good grip and pull myself up.
So I walked further down the road looking for a way in and then
noticing the imposing wall ran all the way around.

Damn.

After walking in a large half circle to where I assumed the
back of the house would rest, I came across a cluster of maple leaf
trees which I was pretty sure if I
scaled high enough I would be able to
swing myself onto the top of the wall. The idea was ridiculous and
irrational so I threaded my arms through my rucksack and started
climbing before I had chance to change my mind.

I heaved myself up the branches, choking on my heart when
one of the branches snapped and I had to save myself on the thicker
one above leaving me
hanging like Jungle Jane. When I figured out how to breathe
again I regained my footing and pulled myself high enough to see
over the wall.

Bingo.

I saw the
figure of eight pool ahead and the French doors to the dining room
that we ate in during our first visit here were open. He was home.
Before I allowed my mind to run away with images of Blaine
‘accommodating’ any potential guests, I took a deep breath and
jumped forwards onto the wall, my midsection landing with a painful
thud on the top of the bricks.

Shit. Now
what?

I hitched myself up onto the ledge and swung my legs over
the edge so I was sitting. I really hadn’t thought this one
through.
I’d
channelled all my efforts into working out how to get
up
the wall but like an
utter dumbfuck I’d not even thought about getting back down. I
stared down, eyeing up the severity of the drop. I was almost sure
it wasn’t far enough to kill me, but there was a high probability I
could break a limb if I didn’t land properly.

I was so
screwed.

The way I saw it I had two options. I could jump and risk
spending two months in traction, or I could call for help and alert
the world to what a dumb fucking idiot I was. Deciding I was fairly
partial to my legs, I pulled out my phone
and tapped Lori’s name into the
recipient bar.

Don’t suppose
you’ve got Blaine’s number? X

No but I can get it.
I’ll forward it to u. Everything ok? X

I’ll fill u in later. Let’s just say I’m on top of
the
freakin’
world! X

I giggled as I hit send.
You know you’re pathetic when you laugh at
your own attempts at humour. Lori text Blaine’s number through a
few minutes later and I huffed as I forced myself to type a message
to him. I just knew he was going to laugh at me. I also knew I was
going to punch him in the face if he dared.

It’s Maddie. I
need your help.

I deliberately didn’t put a kiss at the end. I
always
ended texts with
kisses no matter who they were to but at that moment in time I was
too angry with him. At least a minute must have passed when I
started to worry he wasn’t going to reply. But then just as I
weighed up the width of the wall, examining my new bed for the
night, my phone started to ring.

Crap.
It was Blaine and I was suddenly nervous about talking to
him. How I thought he’d be able to save my arse
without
talking to me I’d never know.
Grudgingly, I hit the answer button.

“
Maddie? Where are you? Are you hurt or something?” he asked
in a fluster before I even had chance to say hello. How was I
supposed to be mad with something that could produce a voice as
utterly delicious as that?

“
I’m fine. Kind of. Look, Blaine, I really do need your help
but I have some rules for how this is going to go,
okay?”

“
What the hell, Maddie?” He was getting frustrated with me and
I was glad because it made it easier to be pissed off with him
again.

“
Are you at home?” I asked, praying to whoever was listening up
there in the sky that nobody else was going to come running to my
aid out of those open doors. I wouldn’t need to jump – I would die
of embarrassment right there on the wall.

“
Yeah…
”

“
Are you alone?”

“
Yes! Maddie, what the hell’s going on?”

“
Right the rules… first, you laugh at me you die. Second, you
tell anyone about this you die. Third, look out of your dining room
window.”

My cheeks set
alight when I caught sight of Blaine’s silhouette emerging in the
dining room. He stepped out of the double doors onto the patio with
his phone still pressed against his ear.

“
Remember the rules,” I said into my phone. Blaine literally
doubled over as if he was in pain. If it wasn’t for the fact I
could hear his roaring laughter down the phone I’d have thought he
was dying – which he soon would be. He cut the call and slid his
phone into the back of his tight fitting jeans as he raced around
the edges of the pool to rescue me.

“
You’re a bastard!
” I yelled. Again, the condescending twat just
laughed at me.

“
I’ve come to help you and yet
I’m
a bastard?” He was barely decipherable
through his howling. “What the hell are you even doing up there?
Are you stuck?” He couldn’t have been any more amused if he
tried.

I
hated
him.

“
No, I’m waiting for fucking summer. Of course I’m stuck!
And I wouldn’t even be here if you’d have answered your goddamn
buzzer. This is all your fault!”

“
In my defence, usually if I don’t answer people just go
away. You know, go back home or something? I can honestly say
you’re the first person I’ve c
aught trying to break and enter.”