Love is Blind (22 page)

I snuggled into Blake’s side as the show
started. “This turned out to be an interesting weekend,” I told
him.

“It did,” he agreed. “How are you feeling
now?”

“Still a little shocked. I can’t believe he’s
actually awake. I always hoped one day he would come out of the
coma, but I never actually expected it to happen.”

“He’s still got a lot of hard work ahead of
him.”

“I know, but he has all of us to help him
through it.”

“Am I included in the ‘us’?” he asked.

“Of course you are. We haven’t been an actual
couple for very long, but I already know that I don’t want to be
with anyone else. It’s a little scary how intense my feelings are
for you.”

“I feel the same way. Some people probably think
we moved too fast, but our relationship is anything but
normal.”

“I don’t really care what other people think.
They aren’t us.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

We sat in silence for the rest of the episode
and then we practiced the song for the talent show. At ten o’
clock, I reluctantly went home. I wanted to talk to Jared and Liam,
but neither of them were home so I went to bed. I wore Blake’s
shirt as I curled under my blankets, and the scent helped me drift
off into a peaceful sleep.

Chapter twenty-four

For the next two weeks, I spent every day after
school at the hospital with Jake. Blake came with me more often
than not, and then we would go to his place and work on the song
for the talent show. Jake’s speaking improved a little and he was
now able to string three or four words together, though he had to
speak slowly and concentrate more than he liked. I knew he often
became frustrated, but he persevered and the progress he had
already made had astounded the doctors.

Amanda was also now a regular visitor, and it
seemed that their relationship might start up again, though Jake
refused to say anything about it. I had a feeling he wouldn’t ask
her out again until he was able to walk and talk properly again. He
was gaining strength in all his muscles again, and we were hoping
that within the next few weeks he’d be able to walk without
assistance. Everyone’s moods were buoyant now that he was awake,
even though it was still hard to see him struggling.

The day before the talent show I was sitting
in Jake’s hospital room alone with him. “So are you going to be
able to come to the show?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’ll be in wheelchair,” he replied with a
grimace.

“I know how you feel. Being in a wheelchair
sucks, no matter how long it’s for,” I told him. “But at least
you’ll be there, so that’s good.”

“It is.”

“And you’ll get better with time, so it’s not
like you’ll be in a wheelchair forever. That’s something to be
grateful for.”

“I am. I got lucky.”

I fidgeted in my chair a little, trying to get
more comfortable. My back was a little sore today and I was praying
that it wouldn’t act up too much tomorrow. “Has the doctor told you
when you’ll be released permanently yet?”

“Maybe few weeks.”

“That’s great!” When he just grunted, I raised
an eyebrow. “It’s not great?”

He shrugged. “Not on my own.”

“You mean you’re upset because you’ll have to
live with us for a while?” He nodded and I sighed. “I can
understand that I guess; you’re used to being on your own. But I’m
glad you’ll be with us. For ten months I thought you’d never wake
up, so I’m selfishly happy that you’ll be in the same house as I am
all the time.”

He reached for my hand and gripped it tightly.
“I know.”

“And you’ll be out on your own in no time. Then
you can stop being an idiot and get back together with Amanda
properly,” I told him.

He grinned boyishly and nodded. “I want.”

I glanced at my watch and saw that it was time
for me to head out. “I need to head home. Blake’s coming over
shortly so we can rehearse one more time before the show
tomorrow.”

Jake nodded and squeezed my hand once more.
“See tomorrow.”

I left the hospital and drove home, thinking
about the talent show the next day. When I got home I went directly
to the music room and started playing around on the piano. Blake
found me there half an hour later and joined me on the bench. After
kissing me hello, he dove right into the song.

By the time we finished practicing, it was
pretty late so I invited him to stay the night. He was more than
happy to agree, and I fell asleep wrapped in his arms after making
a mental note to thank my uncle for being so cool about me spending
the night with Blake.

When I woke up the next morning, I was
relieved that my back didn’t hurt too badly. It was a little sore,
but nothing unbearable. I woke Blake up and he grudgingly got out
of bed and joined me for breakfast. We ate and then drove to his
house to drop Abby off and pick up Sophie so we could go to
school.

The talent show wasn’t until after school, so
I was fidgeting the whole day. When the last bell finally rang, I
hurried to find Blake and Sophie. Sophie was the only other student
in the school who knew about us performing, so she was coming to my
place with us and then to the show afterwards.

The three of us went directly to my room when we
got to the house. Blake had brought his clothes for the show over
the night before, so he went into the bathroom to change. I grabbed
my clothes and peeled my shirt off to change it.

Sophie’s gasp caught my attention and I looked
over my shoulder to see her looking at my back. I silently cursed
myself as I tugged my fresh shirt over my head before turning to
face her. I’d told her about the accident after Jake woke up, but
she hadn’t seen my back yet.

“I knew that you’d had a few surgeries done on
your back, but I never realized how much damage there really was,”
she said.

“Yeah, it’s not that pretty to look at,” I
replied.

“That’s not what I meant. You obviously went
through a lot of pain because of your back, but you never let it
show.”

I sat on the edge of my bed. “That’s because on
the days where it’s noticeable, I tend to hide from people. I know
that if a lot of people knew about what had happened to me I’d get
a lot of sympathy from everyone, and I couldn’t handle that. I
don’t like talking about the accident as it is.”

Blake came out of the bathroom, dressed in clean
jeans and a black dress shirt. “You ready?” he asked me.

“Almost. Sophie just saw the scars on my back
for the first time, so I got a little sidetracked.”

“Oh. Well hurry up, we need to get back to the
school soon.”

I rolled my eyes and stood up so I could
change into my black jeans. I was wearing a purple short-sleeved
blouse over a white tank top, so it went well with the jeans. I had
debated on getting all dressed up for this but then decided that
going semi-casual would be more comfortable.

Once we were all ready, I hunted down my uncle
and Jared. I found them both in the living room, watching TV.
“We’re heading out now. We’ll see you after the show, okay?” There
was going to be a kind of Christmas party after the show in the
school gym, and family and friends of students were invited as
well.

They both glanced up at me. “Sure thing, good
luck,” Jared said.

“We’ll be the ones cheering like idiots and
embarrassing you,” Liam added cheekily.

I just shook my head and walked away, joining
Blake and Sophie by the front door. We bundled into our jackets and
got back into my car to drive to the school. Once there, Sophie
veered off to find a seat while Blake and I made our way backstage,
finding a corner to sit in out of sight of everyone else. Blake had
his guitar with him and he set it beside him once we were
seated.

The show ran fairly smoothly and before I knew
it, it was time for us to go on. I took in a shaky breath and
grabbed Blake’s hand, clutching it tightly as we walked onto the
stage.

I led Blake to the bench and he sat down facing
away from the piano, settling his guitar on his lap. I adjusted the
microphones so that they were sitting properly and then took my
place beside him facing the piano.

I moved my own microphone a little and then blew
out a breath before speaking into it. “Hey everyone, I’m Hailey and
this is Blake, we’re going to perform a song for you and we hope
you like it.”

Blake scoffed a little. “I don’t care if they
like it,” he stated.

That caused a few people to laugh and I rolled
my eyes. “Please excuse him, he has no manners.” I inhaled a deep
breath and then started playing.

Blake joined in with his guitar
and a moment later, he started singing. After a couple of lines, I
joined in and our voices blended together perfectly throughout the
entire song. There had been other music acts throughout the show,
but Blake and I were the only ones to do a duet. I closed my eyes
as the music flowed through me, enjoying the peace that always
accompanied playing the piano.
As the final notes died away,
Blake leaned over to kiss me softly. There was a moment of silence
in the audience and then applause and cheers thundered out. I
looked over and blinked a couple of times at the sight that greeted
me. “They’re giving us a standing ovation,” I murmured to him.

“It’s because we kick ass,” Blake said with a
grin.

I laughed at that. “We really do,” I agreed. I
got to my feet and he stood up as well, taking my hand as I came
around the bench to stand beside him.

The cheers increased when he bent his head to
brush his lips over my cheek. “I think my cockiness is rubbing off
on you,” he said teasingly.

I shrugged a little. “I just know that we nailed
that song, that’s all,” I replied. I scanned the crowd and spotted
Rachel and David, both of them staring at us with open mouths. I
smiled at them and that seemed to shake them out of their stupor
and they started cheering as well. Then I found the group
containing my family and I had to bite back a laugh when I saw that
Liam was holding up a sign that said Hailey and Blake Rock. I gave
them a quick wave and then Blake and I left the stage.

Once we were backstage, Blake pulled me into his
arms and lowered his head to give me a long kiss. “Thanks for
suggesting that we do this,” he said after he pulled back a little.
“It felt really good being out there.”

“It did, didn’t it? Even though there were close
to two thousand people watching us, it still felt like it was just
you and me when we were singing.”

“Yeah it did. Are you ready to go face the
masses now?”

I shrugged. “I’d rather just stay here where
it’s quiet with you. But I know that everyone will want to talk to
us, so we probably should go out there.”

He nodded and took a step back, taking my hand
in his. “Lead the way then. Try not to run me into anything back
here.”

“I should run you into something, just for
saying that.”

“Nah, you love me too much to do something like
that,” he responded.

We started walking towards the exit door and I
was careful to avoid all the cables running across the ground. “I
guess that’s true,” I said. “And you love me enough to give me a
massage later, right?”

“Always. Is your back bothering you?”

“A little, but nothing too serious. It’s more of
an annoyance than anything and I think it only hurts because I was
nervous about the show tonight. It made me a little tenser than
usual, and that always affects my back.” We exited the backstage
area and headed towards the gym, where I could hear a lot of
voices.

“I’ll give you a good massage tonight then so
that you can get a good night’s sleep. Sound good?”

“Yeah it sounds really good,” I replied as we
walked into the gym. My family spotted us immediately and they came
over to us with Amanda pushing Jake in his wheelchair. Jared had
brought Laurel with him as well, so there was a group of five
coming towards us.

“You did good,” Jake said when they reached
us.

I bent down a little so I could give him a hug.
“Thanks. It was a lot of fun.”

“You both have amazing voices,” Amanda stated.
“I think a lot of people were moved by the song.”

“We thought it kind of suited us,” Blake
said.

“It does,” Jared agreed. “I’ve heard you two
rehearsing for the past few weeks, but it was nothing compared to
tonight. You had everyone captivated, which is no easy feat when it
comes to a bunch of teenagers. I think you chose the perfect
song.”

“I didn’t know you could sing like that,
Hailey,” Laurel said. Her light brown hair was pulled back in a
messy bun and her hazel eyes were sparkling happily.

I grinned at her. I’d met her a few weeks ago
and immediately decided that I liked her. “Yeah, not many people
know about that. I’ve never performed in front of anyone
before.”

I heard someone calling our names, so I turned
my head and spotted Sophie coming towards us. She gave me a quick
hug and then did the same to Blake, much to his dismay. “You guys
were awesome!” she exclaimed. “Who knew my cousin could actually
sing like that?”

Blake scowled at her. “You’ve heard me sing
plenty of times.”

“Yeah, but this was different. You actually
showed some emotion this time, which you don’t normally do.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “Whatever,”
he mumbled.

I nudged him lightly. “Are you embarrassed?” I
asked.

“No.”

I smiled a little. “Yes you are. Don’t worry; I
think it’s kind of cute.”

He tilted his head in my direction. “Men aren’t
cute, Hailey. They’re hot, or sexy, or even handsome. But not
cute.”

I reached up and patted his cheek. “Sorry. But
it’s still kind of cute,” I replied with a cheeky grin.

He rolled his eyes and uncrossed his arms to put
one around my waist. “You’re such a brat sometimes.”