~~~~~~~~~~
Nova's POV
Blake left shortly after that. He didn't contact me the rest of the day or after that so I decided to take Taylor up on another racing opportunity for tonight.
I saved my spot and started getting ready, a lot of preparation goes into races.
The doorbell rings and I go to get it. From what I can see in the distorted glass of the front door, it isn't one of the twins.
It's Blake.
I open the door and he comes in, "pack your things, Nova. We're going on a trip!" He says as I look to his truck and see bags in the back.
"Come again?" I ask, utterly confused. He's so spontaneous; though it mostly intrigues me.
"You, me, the road and a starry surprise," he states in wonder with his arm around me, looking to the heavens with an arm outstretched as if painting a picture of the image in his head.
I remove his arm from around me, "I'm racing tonight, actually," I mumble.
As much as I'd love to go with him, that prom dress isn't gonna pay for itself. Blake informed me that the theme was a formal masquerade. I knew exactly what I was looking for in a dress, but I don't know if anything would meet my expectations.
"So? I'll go with you and then we'll leave right after," he says almost immediately.
I shrug, "okay. It beats coming home to nothing," I say and now pack for overnight at least. He didn't give me a lot of detail.
In the meantime, he makes himself comfortable in the windowsill I was sitting in before he got here. Great minds think alike, I suppose. Apparently, he planned to wait with me until tonight when we leave together.
As you would expect and dread, the whole family came back home some time later. In the midst of the yelling from Susan for having a boy here without her present (even though her girls do it all the time) and the two miscreants were flirting with him.
You could tell they were jealous. I'm surprised they both don't just take on permanent hues of green if they insist on being so envious of anything and everything.
There was really nothing to be jealous of, he just preferred my company.
*******************
Blake's POV
I could tell she was excited for the race that came soon. I was looking forward to watching her race again.
When we got done, she asked if we could drive to my house and leave her bike there as it wouldn't fit in the truck.
We drove separate, I followed her to the race track and parked, going to find her. I found her talking to her friend from before what looked to be in a quiet tone. He handed her an envelope which she stowed away in her jacket.
~~~
The race went well, she made it first as expected and went to speak with the guy from before and got another envelope. I could only assume that there was money in it.
She later came to me without her bike, ready to leave.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" I asked.
"Taylor noticed something wrong with my bike and told me he'd fix it. He's gonna bring it back to me in a few days," she said back and looked around for him.
We get to my car and get in, "close your eyes," I say which she does without hesitation. I blindfold her and start driving away.
"Am I missing something?" she squeaks in a worried tone.
"Relax. You'll like this, I promise," I smile and put my hand on hers. She jumps at my touch, I stroke the back of her hand with my thumb and she seems to relax.
"So about prom, the colors are black, gold, red and dark purple. My tux will be black and red but I'm okay with changing that if your dress is different," I say as she nods and feels around for her drink.
"I haven't even gone shopping yet. I plan to with the money I just got," she says after taking a sip and giving the drink to me to put back.
With how prepared she is for everything, I would have thought she'd have some idea by now. I guess not.
~~~
"Are we there yet?" she whines, still blindfolded.
"No, not yet," I chuckle and squeeze her hand.
"How about now?" She asks again and perks up.
"Nope. You'll just have to be patient," I smirk and laugh at her annoyance.
"I'm not good at that," she huffs and withdraws her hand, crossing her arms.
"I could tell," I say, turning into our spot and driving a bit more to a clearing I go to be alone. I get out and leave her in the car while I prepare some stuff. I lead her out and take the blindfold off. She gasps and covers her gaping jaw with her hands.
Nova's POV
This boy... filled the bed of his truck with pillows and blankets and set up a picnic for us.
What am I going to do with him?
"Hungry?" he asks, pulling food out of a bag and placing it on a blanket.
I realize how hungry I am when he asks and sit down beside him, reaching for a sandwich.
"Did you make all this?" I ask, trying to eat slowly. He did a good job.. and he said he couldn't cook.
"Yep. Is it okay?" he asks, uncertainty creeps into his tone.
"Okay? It's amazing. No one has ever done anything like this for me before," I put my sandwich down and jump into his arms to hug him, "thank you."
He wraps his arms around me, "anytime."
After we eat, I look up to countless dots of light in the black sky. I marvel at how far the sky extends.
I've always had a thing for stars, but it is so populated where we live that even in the depths of night, it is too bright to see anything.
"It's beautiful," I say quietly still looking up.
"I know," he whispers and lays back.
In my trance, Blake switched to fur and came to put his head under my hand, giving me a fright. I smirk and change as well and sprint off. He manages to get ahead of me and urges me to follow him.
After running for a while we reach another clearing with a waterfall hidden in some rocks and behind some trees. We follow the sound of water and find more light. What's the word for that? Bioluminescent.
He jumps into the water immediately and pulls me in with him. The water is surprisingly warm.
He swims behind the waterfall itself and we find a cave that is pitch black until he touches a wall and it lights up with soft blue light.
He explains that the light comes from algae and they remain luminous as long as something else touches it. He leans on one of the walls and turns back to flesh form, I follow suit. Even though there is light, only silhouettes can be made out along with vague features.
You should splash him.
And ruin this moment?
I don't know. You just should.
Why not?
I wait for a less sensitive moment and soak him with water I throw at him.
"Oh, you want to play dirty?" He says in a lower, more devious tone.
"Technically, I'm playing clean!" I laugh and smirk at him. That was a bad joke, even for me.
I'm in trouble now. I duck under the water which is more clear than I'd prefer for a situation like this. He sits up and starts to walk around. Making as few waves or ripples as I can, I swim around him and grab his ankles. He pulls me up and starts tickling me. I kick and try desperately to escape begging him to stop.
"That depends. Are you going to splash me again?" he asks without stopping.
"No! No! I'll stop, I promise!" I lie. I had a plan.
He lets me go and I catch my breath before putting a purely devilish expression on my face and reach to splash him again, he raises an eyebrow and notices what I'm fixing to do almost in slow motion. He reaches to stop me but is too late. I swim for my life and get back onto solid ground, turning back into my wolf as I run. Before long, I hear heavy paws pounding into the ground behind me meaning that he is catching up. I put the rest of my energy into my legs and speed up just enough to miss his attempt to jump on me.
I make it back to the car before he does but not by a lot. By the time he gets back, I'm changed into pajama-like clothes and wrapped up in the blankets.
He changes, gets into a t shirt and basketball shorts and comes to join me.
"You win this round," he says still out of breath.
I just smile wide and make myself comfortable.
"Why did you bring us out here?" I asked and turned my head to him.
"I was hoping we could talk about our travel plans and stuff.. it looks like that isn't gonna happen," he chuckles and pulls a blanket over himself. "And who doesn't like camping?"
~~~The next morning~~
I wake up first as expected and poke him until he too opens his eyes and we both change into more appropriate clothes for the day and clean up before we leave.
On the way home, we see a sign for fruit picking and follow it to a huge orchard where a sweet old lady welcomed us.
"It's five dollars per person to get in but then you can have all the fruit you can carry," she gives us a toothy grin as Blake hands her ten dollars for the two of us. He drives in, parks and we get out hit with the lovely smell of fresh fruit everywhere.
There are apple and peach trees everywhere, strawberries are planted throughout.
I go immediately to one of the apple trees and climb, picking an apple in the process. I polish it on my shirt and put it in my mouth as I climb higher.
"Nova! You're gonna fall," I hear Blake yell from the ground.
"Don't worry! I'm a professional!" I yell down at him, taking one of the baskets he got and filling it with fruit.
I eat about three apples and I lost count of strawberries. The peaches make my hands sticky, so I didn't have any.
There was also some fruit pelting that occurred, but no one was hurt. Not seriously anyway...
Blake had his fill too and once each of us had two baskets each, we put the baskets in the back, put seatbelts on them to keep them secure and drove home.
I was hoping to find nobody home, but I was mistaken. The whole gang was here.
The atmosphere as soon as I walked in was toxic, to say the least. Hostility hung in the air, but you couldn't get past it. Even when I went to set my things down in my room there was still an overwhelming sense of impending doom. Blake went into protective mode and insisted on being near me as much as he could. I think he could sense my upset.
"Blake, you can stop faking now. Everyone knows she's paying you to be with her," Sandra says and Evelyn nods.
"Faking what? Why is it so surprising to you that somebody can like her? If you would step out of your makeup and public image for a second you would see that she is a great person, better than either of you could wish to be," Blake states, progressively getting more and more impatient.
They look surprised, "wow, she has him brainwashed," Sandra sneers and they burst out laughing. I slam the door in both their faces and lock it.
I'm fuming. Blake gets to my level and puts his hands on my shoulders to ground me and Evelyn says from the other side of the door, "mom said you're not allowed to go to prom!" which only fuels my frustration. I clench my fists and dig my nails into my palms.
"Nova, look at me," he says softly. I don't listen until he lifts my chin to look at him. Hot tears prick the sides of my eyes.
"We're going to the prom," he smiles and strokes my cheekbone with his thumb.
"I know we are. But the fact that she has the audacity to tell me-" I start, but he cuts me off.
"I know that she upsets you, but she doesn't control you. The best revenge is not giving a shit. She is a bully, they both are and they only want a rise out of you," he looks for my soul behind my eyes to know that I'm listening.
He has a point.
"The best thing you can do is to kill them with kindness," he continues.
"I need to get a sword then," I mumble and look away again.
"Why?" he asks, confusion comes over his face.
"I can name the sword Kindness and kill them with Kindness," a smile manages to break through and he rolls his eyes.
"You're silly," he says and crashes on my bed.
"You love it," I say teasingly.
"It's amusing," he says back in a 'meh' way.
Damn right it's amusing.
~~~~~~~~~