Where the Road Takes Me (24 page)

When Jasmine said she was hosting the prom in her barn, I had imagined a run-down shack. What this was was the Hollywood mansion of barns. At least a hundred kids filled the barn, more than half of whom were dancing to a song I’d never heard before. Chloe froze next to me, her grip on my arm tightening. I watched as her eyes widened and she looked at me. “Wow,” she said. “It’s just like in the movies.”

“You made it!” We both turned to see Jasmine approaching us, dragging a guy behind her. She stopped when she got to us and looked me up and down. “You clean up nice.”

I chuckled as her boyfriend threw his hand out. “I’m Chase.”

I shook his hand. “Blake.” I jerked my head toward Chloe. “This is my girlfriend, Chloe.”

They barely had time to shake hands before Jasmine had a hold of Chloe. “You boys have fun,” she shouted over her shoulder. “I’m showing off Chloe.”

Chloe looked back at me with a grimace.

“Have fun,” I mouthed.

“So this is really her first prom?” Chase asked, now standing next to me, watching our girls walk away.

“Yup.”

“Kind of hard to believe, considering she looks like that.” He paused for a moment, then added, “That came out wrong. I apologize. I was just trying to pay your girl a compliment.”

My shoulders relaxed. “It’s fine. She wasn’t really all that social in high school.”

Awkward silence filled the space between us. “So you wanna dance?” he asked. “I do a mean Hammer dance.”

I laughed.

“Come on, I’ll take you to meet the others.”

He led me to a table far enough away from the speakers that I could actually hear conversation. He introduced me to three other guys with beers in their hands. Chase pointed at a chair and positioned it so it faced the dance floor, then pointed to Chloe, who was standing with the girls from earlier that day. I sat on the chair and watched as they huddled in a circle as they spoke to each other. Chloe threw her head back and laughed at something someone must have said, then Jasmine started to Hammer dance.

“Dammit!” Chase said. “She always mocks my dancing.”

I laughed and turned away from the girls. Leaning my elbows on the table, I said, “So you’re in college now?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m at The Citadel—”

“That military school?”

“Yeah,” he said slowly, as if he was surprised I knew what it was. “How did you—?”

“Do you like it there?”

He nodded again. “It’s perfect for me, but it’s not for everyone.” He paused for a beat. “You just graduated, right? What are your plans?”

I looked over at Chloe, who was watching me with a hint of a smile on her face. “Have fun,” she mouthed.

I turned my attention back to Chase. “Right now? My plans are Chloe.”

He just smiled and leaned back in his chair.

After an hour of talking ball with the boys, I heard the music stop for a moment, and the atmosphere changed. The lights lowered, and the music started again. The song was slower, and half the people left the dance floor. The boys moaned, knowing too well what their fate was. Me—I’d been waiting for this moment all night.

I stood and made my way over to Chloe, whose back was to me. I straightened up before tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around and smiled when she saw me. “Girlfriend,” I greeted her, and her smile widened. “Dance with me?”

She nodded and gave me her hand. I led her to the middle of the floor and held her close to me. “I don’t know how to dance,” I whispered in her ear.

She giggled into my chest. “I don’t, either.” She threw her arms over my shoulders. “So it’s kind of perfect.”

I don’t know how many songs we danced to while I held her. She didn’t speak, and neither did I. But she was right; it was kind of perfect. We spent the next couple of hours sitting and talking with Jasmine and Chase and their friends. They were good people. The type of people I wish I’d had around me in high school. I told them about school, about Josh and Tommy, and about Duke and the army. Chloe listened to everyone intently and spoke only when asked questions. Jasmine asked her how we’d met, and she smiled and laughed as she retold the events of that night. When Chase asked her what the hell she was doing in a park in the middle of the night, she just shrugged and looked at me. “Maybe fate knew that I needed saving,” she said.

It was close to two in the morning when the party died down and people started to leave.

Chase stood up and dramatically pointed at Jasmine. “Hungry. Feed me, woman,” he bellowed.

Everyone laughed.

“Diner?” she asked him.

Everyone got up and started to pack their stuff.

“You guys coming?” Chase asked us.

Chloe turned to me. “Can we?” she asked shyly.

“Of course, babe.”

Time flew as we all ate and talked shit. By the time conversation had slowed down, Chloe was in my jacket, snoring lightly under my arm. “She’s out,” Chase said, motioning to her.

Jasmine giggled. “She looks so peaceful when she’s asleep.”

“I know,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “It’s one of my favorite things about her—when she’s sleeping.”

Chase chuckled. “Because she’s not talking?”

I laughed but then turned serious when I glanced down at her sleeping form. “No, because it’s the only time she doesn’t carry the weight of the world.”

Silence descended on the table, but they didn’t ask questions. Jasmine sighed. “The sun will be up soon,” she mumbled.

I looked at the time. “Shit. We gotta go.”

Chase pulled me aside as Chloe was saying her good-byes. He gave me his number and told me to call him if I ever needed advice about my Duke vs. army dilemma. I thanked him and told him that I’d like to keep in touch either way.

I told her that we’d be a while and that she could sleep in the limo. She was too tired to question me. She just lay across the seat with her head on my lap and slept the entire forty-five-minute drive to the field.

I woke her when we got there, and told her to look out the window.

“We’re not at the hotel?”

I shook my head, my eyes never leaving her. Then she gasped so loud, it made me laugh. “Blake!”

Our driver opened the door, and I stepped out, hand out to help her do the same. We walked hand in hand over to the hot air balloon. Well, I walked. She skipped.

“You did this?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement. “Why?”

“Because prom should be a night you’ll never forget, and I wanted to make sure this was memorable for you.”

She stood in front of me with her head against my chest as we watched the sun rise from almost two thousand feet in the air. “This is so beautiful, Blake,” she said, and I could hear her holding back her sob. She inhaled deeply and tilted her face up, soaking in the morning light, her eyes closed.

“It reminds me of the day we met.”

She smiled, but kept her eyes closed.

“I remember you doing the same thing. Do you remember what you said?”

She nodded. “I said it was perfect, and you agreed.”

“Yeah. But I wasn’t looking at the sun rise, Chloe, I was looking at you.”

Her eyes snapped open. “Liar,” she whispered.

I shook my head. “It’s the truth.”

Tears instantly welled in her eyes.

She blinked.

They fell.

I wiped them away and inhaled a shaky breath. Then I let out the words I’d been holding on to for weeks. “I’ve fallen so hard in love with you, Chloe.”

She gasped, her eyes wide.

I continued, “And I don’t know how to express it. I don’t know what to do to show you how much I’ve come to love you.”

“You’re already doing it.”

She didn’t tell me she loved me back. But she kissed me in a way that reminded me that she didn’t need to say in words how she felt. I already knew.

After a while, she pulled back from the kiss, her tears still flowing.

“You okay?” I asked.

She laughed once, but it was sad. “It’s just moments like this—you make me not want to miss out on anything. You make me want to live forever, Blake.”

I’d walked her to her hotel room door and told her that I’d booked the room next door for the night. When she’d pouted and asked why, I’d told her that I hadn’t wanted to be presumptuous in believing that we’d spend the night together, considering it was kind of our first date. She’d laughed but she hadn’t argued.

That was a half hour ago.

I opened the bathroom door after showering and heard a knock on the door. It was only eight in the morning, too early for housekeeping.

I smiled when I opened up and she was on the other side, her hair wet from her own shower. She wore the white Duke jersey, which reached midthigh. “I don’t like sleeping without you.” She exaggerated a pout.

I laughed and opened the door wider for her.

She waited until I was settled in bed before scooting in next to me and resting her head in the crook of my arm. “Thank you, Blake.”

“What for?”

“For giving me this night. For giving me this memory.”

Chloe

I leaned up on my elbow so I could look down on him.

He sighed and looked me right in the eyes. “Thank you for giving me
you
, Chloe.”

I moved in and kissed him, softly, gently, the way he always did with me. He moaned and positioned me until I was on top of him, straddling his waist. His hand flattened on my back as he sat us up, and drew me closer to him. Then his hands skimmed up my thighs, shifting my shirt up, and rested on my waist a moment before moving higher and higher. His kisses travelled lower and lower, down my collarbone and to my chest. The heat of his mouth warmed my skin. My hips pushed forward; my body arched, ready, waiting.