on ahead,” Blake tells him, still glued to my side. “And hey, I’ve got a yearbook meeting after school, so tell Mom I’ll be home late.”
Garrett pauses, then nods warily and walks inside.
“Baby, I can’t stand to see you so upset,” Blake coos, pressing me into a hug.
“I’m okay, really,” I say, trying to extricate myself as discreetly as possible. “I just need a little air, a little space … ”
“Baby, you and I need some time to get away from all this insanity and clear our heads. Let me take you to the beach after school.”
My eyes narrow. “I thought you had a yearbook meeting.”
“I just need to be alone with you,” he says, caressing my cheek. “Please? Just the two of us?”
I hesitate.
“There are a few things I’d like to ask you about,” I tell him, my voice slightly trembling.
“Of course,” he says, leaning into my face. “You can ask me anything. I know the rumors have been flying since I made a scene at the locker. That was so stupid of me. I’m so sorry, babe; I just couldn’t hide my anger when I caught Natalie red-handed. Knowing how much those notes upset you and Jamie … I just blew my top. Genius move, right? I couldn’t have gotten tongues wagging any more if I’d shown up to school in the buff. I’m sorry.”
I study his face for a moment, then ask, “Do you have any idea what other girl Natalie might have been talking about this morning? I really got the feeling there was more to the story than … ”
“Natalie is full of crap,” he says. “She’s been obsessed with me since middle school. This is just her latest strategy for glomming onto my life. Plus, I heard she took off right after getting caught planting the note. She was loving the drama as long as she could skulk behind the scenes to do her dirty work. Once everything was out in the open, she turned tail like a sniveling coward.”
I cringe a little. I don’t know why it bothers me to hear Blake talk so harshly about Natalie; he certainly has every reason to be bitter. But she’s so clearly fragile that his anger seems outsized, disproportionate, almost cruel, like swatting at a moth that doesn’t have enough sense to give you a wider berth.
“Did Natalie know Cara?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I think they met once or twice. She’s always trying to run in the same circles as me. I think she managed to crash a couple of parties. But Natalie was nothing to Cara, just like she’s nothing to me.”
Blake catches my eye, then leans in closer.
“I’m sorry, baby … did I upset you?”
I shrug. “Natalie only has as much power as you give her. The fact that she gets such a rise out of you … it just seems like a waste of energy and kinda … mean, you know? It’s like I told Melanie: Natalie’s insecure, not vicious.”
He runs his fingers through my hair. “I don’t ever want you to think I’m mean, baby,” he says, lowering his head until his eyes are level with mine. “It’s just … the way she talked to you that night at the bonfire, then the stupid notes. That’s not okay.”
I nod. “I know, I know … It’s just hard not to feel a little sorry for her.”
“It’s not hard for me. But you know what? I’m not wasting another second thinking or talking about that girl. After what happened this morning, I’ve got a strong feeling she’ll be a non-issue from now on. But even if she writes a goddamn unauthorized biography about me, I’ll just take a cleansing breath and let it roll right off my back. Just for you.”
He flicks his index finger across my nose, and I smile.
“Hey, if I’m taking that kind of a bullet for you, I’ll need a bigger smile than that,” he says playfully, and I force a wider smile.
He leans in and kisses me.
“We’ll drive to the beach right after school,” he says. “We’ll get away from all this craziness and have a chance to catch our breath. And you know you can ask me anything. Anything you like.”
My eyes flicker in his direction. “You’re okay with going to the beach?” I ask gingerly.
He ponders my question, then sets his jaw stoically. “I can’t stay away from the beach for the rest of my life,” he says. “And I know I can handle anything with you