Love is Blind (13 page)

I let out a sigh. “Blake, there’s nothing you
can do for me. I always get like this when I have to use this
stupid chair.”

“Well, why don’t you tell me why you need to use
it today?”

“Why?” I asked snippily.

“Come on Hailey, I’m just trying to be here for
you. This isn’t easy for me either, you know.”

I closed my eyes and took a few calming breaths.
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” I rolled over to the bed. “At least come
and sit on the bed so I don’t have to look up at you so much. I
hate feeling short.”

He smirked a little as he moved to the bed. “But
you are short,” he replied.

“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically. “Not everyone can
be over six feet tall, you know.”

“I guess not.” He sat down. “Now, tell me what
happened.”

So I did. I told him about Marcus calling a few
weeks ago, about the text last night, the nightmare, and then the
pain when I woke up. “I hate having to use this chair,” I said
after I finished my story.

“I know how you feel.”

“I think you’re the only one who actually would
know why I hate this thing so much,” I told him.

“It makes you feel helpless, right?”

“Yeah. You know how that feels.”

“All too well.” He got off of the bed and felt
around until he found the handles of the chair.

“Um, what are you doing?” I asked.

He grinned down at me. “Having some fun. How
often do you think we’ll crash into walls with you giving me
directions while I try to steer this thing?”

“Probably about a hundred?”

“Perfect. That’s what we’ll aim for then,” he
replied. And with that, he started pushing me forward.

“Wait! The door isn’t-” Thud. “Open,” I finished
with a laugh after we’d run into the it.

“Oops, my bad. Can you open it for us?”

I chuckled and reached for the rope that was
attached. The rope was to allow Tonto to tug the door open when I
needed him to, and it also helped me when I was in the wheelchair.
I pulled the door open and managed to direct Blake enough to get us
into the hallway. A few moments later though, he took a corner too
sharply and we crashed again. “I said go right!”

“You did not! You said go left!”

“I said right!”

“Left!”

“What the hell are you two doing?”

My head snapped around to see Jared standing in
the hallway. “Um, teaching Blake to drive?”

Blake snorted. “Like I’d get you to teach me
anything,” he retorted.

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you can’t follow
directions.”

“I can follow directions; you just suck at
giving them.”

“I do not. When I say go right, I mean go
right!”

“That’s fine, but you said go left!”

“I said right!”

“Left!”

“Right!”

“Children, stop arguing,” Jared said in
amusement. “I’ll leave you two to whatever you were doing. Try not
to break anything.” He disappeared back down the hall.

Ten minutes later, Blake and I were both
laughing hysterically as he tried to get us out of a corner. “No,
you need to back up and go right a little. No, your other right!” I
screeched just before he thudded into the wall again.

Blake was leaning heavily on the wheelchair,
struggling to stay upright because he was laughing so hard. “We
suck at this,” he finally managed to say.

“No you suck at this. If you’d listened to me,
we would’ve been in the music room ten minutes ago.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just tell me how to get
us out of this stupid corner.”

When we finally made it to the music room, we
were both breathless from laughing. “Finally, we made it!” I crowed
happily. “Now just follow me as I roll to the piano. I don’t want
you to crash us into it.”

He agreed and held onto the handles as I
maneuvered the chair towards the piano. He pushed the bench to the
side a little when I asked him to and then sat on it while I
positioned myself in front of the instrument. I ran my fingers over
the keys lightly, loosening up. Then I started playing. It wasn’t a
vocal piece, so I just concentrated on the melody. My eyes drifted
close as the music enveloped me and the familiar feeling of peace
settled over me.

When the song was over, I looked at Blake. He
had a small smile on his face and his eyes were closed as well.
“So, what did you think?”

His eyes opened. “You’re pretty good. But can
you sing?”

“For that, you’ll have to wait. I’m not in the
mood to sing right now, but maybe next time you’re here I’ll let
you hear me.”

“Fair enough.”

Jared appeared in the doorway. “Hailey, I want
to give you a massage now. Hopefully your back won’t be as inflamed
and I’ll actually be able to work with the muscles.”

“I should get going anyways,” Blake said.

“No, I want to show you what to do,” Jared told
him.

We both turned to him in surprise. “You do?” I
asked.

“Yeah. You two spend a lot of time together, and
I’d feel better if he knew the basics of what to do in case your
back acts up when I’m not around.”

I looked at Blake. “You don’t have to if you
don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay. I wouldn’t mind knowing what to
do. It’ll make me feel… useful,” he responded.

I smiled. “Well in that case, I’m all for
it.”

“Great,” Jared said. “I’ll take you to the room
Hailey. I don’t want to get old while I wait for you and Blake to
argue while he attempts to follow your directions.”

I scowled. “If he would just listen, there would
be no problems.”

“And if you just gave better directions, we
wouldn’t have crashed so many times,” he retorted.

“Behave you two,” Jared said as he started
steering me out of the room. Blake followed right behind him so he
didn’t get lost.

When we got to the therapy room, Jared put the
brake on the chair. “Okay Blake, come and pick her up out of the
chair.”

I was about to protest, but the look Jared gave
me caused me to shut my mouth. He obviously wanted Blake to do as
much as possible. Blake hesitantly reached for me and managed to
get one arm under my legs and the other around my body. “You’d
better not drop me,” I warned him.

He smirked a little before straightening up,
lifting me as if I weighed nothing. “Good,” Jared said. “Now walk
forward two steps and set her down on the table.”

Blake obeyed him and put me on the table gently.
Then he followed Jared’s directions so that he got me lying on my
stomach. “Why can you follow his directions so well?” I
muttered.

“Because this time I knew if I didn’t listen,
I’d really hurt you.”

“Ha! So you admit that you just weren’t
listening earlier.”

“Just let it go, Hailey,” he said in
exasperation.

“I will, because we both know that I was
right.”

I heard Jared chuckle from beside me. “You two
are like an old married couple.” He ignored both of our protests as
he grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it up so that my back was
exposed. “Blake, give me your hands.”

Blake must have obeyed, because a moment later,
I felt his hands on my back. Tingles raced through my body, but I
stubbornly pushed them away. This was definitely not the time for
that.

I listened as Jared instructed Blake on what to
do. Blake’s fingers worked my muscles and I flinched a few times,
but it wasn’t too bad. I gradually felt my muscles start to relax
and I let out a breath of relief.

After they were done, I tried moving my legs and
I nearly cried in happiness when I was able to move them properly
with no pain. My back was still sore, but at least it no longer
hurt to move around. I slowly sat up and then just as slowly, I
stood. My legs were a little shaky, but they held.

“How do you feel, Hales?” Jared asked.

“Much better. My back is still sore, but I can
walk again,” I said happily. I turned to Blake and put my arms
around him, hugging him tightly. “Thanks.”

He wrapped his arms around me and laid his cheek
on top of my head. “I’m glad I could help.”

“You helped in more ways than one, Blake. This
is the first time I’ve ever laughed on a day that I was stuck in
that chair.”

“Well, today was the first time I really let
loose and have fun, so thanks for letting me crash you into the
walls.”

I smiled as I pulled back a little so I could
look up at him. “No problem.”

Chapter fifteen

My back was pretty sore for the rest of the
week, but not as bad as that first day. I was able to go to school,
but I had to be very careful. Blake helped me as much as he could,
but there was only so much he could do.

By the time the weekend rolled around, I was
physically exhausted. I spent Saturday morning lazing around,
watching TV and generally doing nothing. When Blake came over in
the afternoon I still had no energy, but I made the effort to
entertain him.

We were sitting in my room, listening to some
music, when he suddenly stood up and pulled me to my feet. I
groaned as I stood up. “Why are you making me move?”

“Because you’re being boring. So you’re going to
sing something for me.”

“I am?”

“Yes, you are. I want to hear what you sound
like.”

I grumbled a little, but agreed anyways. We
walked to the music room and I had him sit down on the bench beside
me. “What should I play?”

He shrugged. “Whatever you want to.”

I thought back over the last
few days, and how the pain in my back had all started due to a text
from Marcus. A smile played over my lips as I started playing Pray
For You by Jaron and the Long Road to Love
.

Blake started chuckling when he recognized the
song, and he joined in the singing when I started the chorus.

When the song was done, Blake turned to me.
“What brought that song on?”

“I was thinking about what happened this week,
and it was all triggered by Marcus. This song just sort of portrays
what I feel about him now.”

Blake nodded. “I can understand that.”

“People suck, don’t they?” I asked.

“A lot of them do. But not us. We rock.”

I laughed and then stood up from the bench. “You
hungry?”

He stood up as well, but instead of answering me
he grabbed my arm. “How are you feeling?”

I sighed. How was I feeling? Angry, frustrated,
confused. “You want the truth?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know. Physically, I’m tired and my back
is still bothering me more than usual. Emotionally, I’m just as
tired and I keep dreaming about the accident.”

He pulled me into his arms and held me gently.
“It’s just been a bad week, hasn’t it?”

I nodded. “It really has.”

Blake brushed a hand over my hair lightly,
and I leaned into him. So many emotions were running through me
that I couldn’t make any sense of them. The only thing I was sure
of at that moment was that I wanted more from him. I hadn’t felt
this since I first met Marcus, and that paled in comparison to
these feelings.

“What are you thinking about?” Blake asked.

I chewed on my lip. “Nothing,” I lied.

He sighed. “Hailey, I know you’re thinking about
something, so don’t lie to me.”

I debated on what to say for a few moments. “Why
haven’t you kissed me?” I finally asked quietly.

He tensed. “What?”

I blew out a breath. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have
asked you that. I mean, if that’s not what you want from me then
you can just tell me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, I just didn’t
think you wanted that.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, considering what your last boyfriend was
like, I figured you weren’t looking for anything romance wise.”

“I’m not stupid enough to think that all guys
are cheating assholes, Blake. It’s true that I haven’t been with
anyone since Marcus, but that’s because until I met you, I wasn’t
interested in anyone.”

He laid his cheek on top of my head. “I’m sorry.
I didn’t realize that you wanted anything more from me. I’m not
exactly the kind of guy girls go after anymore.”

I couldn’t prevent the snort that escaped me.
“You’re joking, right?”

“No. Why would you think I am?”

“Well, there was the waitress at the restaurant
that was checking you out, and the girls at the park.” I pulled
away a little so I could look up into his face. “Plus, some of the
girls at school check you out sometimes too. They’re just too
scared to come up to you.”

His lips pulled up into a smile. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of annoying, actually,” I
muttered.

His smile widened. “Are you jealous?”

“What? Of course not,” I scoffed.

He chuckled. “Oh, you’re jealous alright. It’s
kind of cute.” His face turned serious and he raised a hand to
stroke my face. “You have nothing to be jealous about, you know,”
he murmured.

I shivered slightly. “I don’t?”

“No,” he replied as he slowly lowered his face
to mine. “You’re the only one I’m interested in.”

A smile tugged on my lips. “Are you going to
kiss me now?”

“If you’ll shut up long enough, then yes.”

I moved my hands up to his neck and he lowered
his head the last few inches until our lips brushed together. A
current raced through me at the contact and I stretched onto my
tiptoes so I could press my lips to his fully.

His reaction was immediate and his arms
tightened around me, pulling my body flush against his. He tilted
his head slightly so he could change the angle and deepen the kiss.
When his tongue swept across my bottom lip, I didn’t hesitate to
part my lips and give him access.

Tremors raced through my body as his tongue
explored my mouth. One of his hands left my waist to trail up my
side and over my arm, stopping once he reached my face. He slid his
hand around to cup the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my
hair.