Chapter 11

The lake that Blaine had driven to early in the morning was filled with people. When we first arrived, at around seven in the morning, it had only been him and me. About two hours later, families, couples, and some single people started filling up the place.

We were a few hours away from San Antonio, but the temperature was very much the same. Blaine had made a pit stop at a store, where he bought everything for the trip to the lake we were in.

Seeing Blaine at the lake felt more normal than when we’d been strolling around the city. He was only wearing a pair of navy blue swimming trunks. Even though he had a white shirt to slip on each time he got out of the water, he didn’t stand out as much.

He’d caught the eye of several girls, and even older women, but he wasn’t the only hunky guy there. I was glad for that.

I was wearing a dark purple tank top with some short black shorts. Most of the other girls around were wearing bathing suits, even older ladies. Blaine had made fun of me when I decided not to buy a bathing suit, but stopped after he realized I was getting cranky and my insults were turning mean.

While I spent most of the morning lounging over the blanket Blaine had set up for us, I had been admiring him as well.

He and I had barely spoken at all, and neither one of us had brought up the kiss we’d shared the night before.

That bothered me.

I had yet to get a clear answer from Blaine. He had mentioned how he didn’t do the ‘serious girlfriend’ thing. He was dragging me across the country, and he couldn’t talk about us. To me, there had been no ‘us’, and no chances of ever being.

But then Blaine would try to hold my hand, or he would embrace and sweet talk me. The kisses we’d shared meant something— at least they did to me. Yet Blaine didn’t speak a word about it. It was like it hadn’t happened, or he thought we had some kind of casual relationship going on.

My pride was keeping me from bringing up the subject, but I had sent him as many hints and signals to start up the subject as I could think of. Blaine never took the bait, and he continued to confuse me.

I had a magazine in my lap, which I’d been leafing through. It wasn’t the type of magazine I usually read, a business magazine. The only reason I’d picked it up in the store was because I had seen Blaine’s brother’s name on the cover. I had read both pages of what had been covered about Alexander Hale. It was mainly about Hale Industries, and what he and Blaine were going to do now that they were taking over.

As soon as I had finished reading the report, I looked towards Blaine. If anyone saw him there, with me, no one would have really thought he was a powerful tycoon.

“You’re not getting in the water?” Blaine asked, coming over to me.

He took a seat beside me, closer than I would’ve liked, and grabbed the towel I had been using as a pillow. I had already sat up, and was listening to the music he had on his phone.

So far, I’d already discovered a few bands and singers I wanted to check out that I hadn’t heard of before. Not of all his music was in English, but most of it was really cool.

“Nope,” I replied, putting on the sunglasses I’d snatched from him earlier.

“Why not?”

“It’s hot.”

“The water would help with that. It’s fresh,” Blaine shrugged.

I shrugged as well, and ignored the way he was looking between me and the lake, like if he wanted me to decide to get in.

“How’s your life?”

I hadn’t meant to blurt out that question, but it had slipped out before I could stop myself. I looked away from Blaine, glad that the sunglasses hid some part of me. I could feel my face heating up, especially because Blaine was staring at me.

“Busy,” he answered.

I hesitated before speaking. “Your brother, having him there, doesn’t that make it easier?”

“Sure,” he said, and when I looked up at him, I realized he was facing the lake, seeming deep in thought. “I like the control and power I have.”

“I can see that,” I said, in a flat voice. “That doesn’t say much about you. You’re just telling me things I know for myself.”

Blaine looked at me curiously. I couldn’t help but smile as well when I noticed a grin creeping on his lips.

“I never get to do things like this,” Blaine said, motioning around us.

“What? Come to the lake?”

Blake chuckled, shook his head, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders to push me closer to his damp self. I shoved him away, and that only made him laugh harder.

“No, not coming to the lake, Madeline,” he replied, talking to me like if I was a little girl. “I meant, I don’t get free time to do regular things,” he shrugged.

He had seemed more relaxed, even more than when we’d been at the hotel. In the hotel, he hadn’t been in his office, but he was still wearing a suit, answering calls, and checking his laptop. At the lake, he only had his phone and he kept ignoring calls.

“Well, we haven’t exactly been doing ‘regular’ things,” I said, using air quotes.

“Of course we have.”

“No, we haven’t. We’ve been on a road trip, sort of vacation, slash semi-kidnapping on your part,” I countered.

“I thought we had already settled that,” Blaine said, smiling.

“Nope, I will keep on reminding you. Although I’m not really against my will, even if I am slightly confused on what this is. Is it because you don’t want to take a vacation in a nice beachy island?”

“I own an island,” Blaine replied, casually.

“You… you own an island…” I slowly said, letting his words sink in.

I was shocked for a full minute, just staring at Blaine, while he pretended like owning an island was just something everybody did.

“Okay, you have just officially surpassed the regular rich person line.”

“It was a good investment.”

“It belongs to your family?”

“I don’t share my things with my family,” Blaine replied in a serious voice. It felt like I’d reached a touchy subject.

“Just your company?”

“My brother has his share and I have mine. It is divided equally.”

“Uh huh,” I said, even though I had no clue where he was going with that. “Anyways, you proved my point by confessing that you own your own island.”

“How?”

“This,” I said, drawing a circle with my finger, motioning around the area, “feels somewhat like a vacation.”

“No,” Blaine argued. “This is ordinary life.”

“You think ordinary life for us common people is driving around in a fancy car, staying in luxurious hotels, and having an assistant a phone call away?”

“It is, compared to what I usually live like. I guess, you’re right— this is some sort of vacation.”

“Blaine,” I sighed, resting my head against his shoulders. Blaine took the opportunity to wrap his arm tighter around me.

There he went again with his mixed signals. I simply let it go.

“When was the last time you went to the movies?”

“I don’t watch movies or TV for that matter.”

“Wow… if it weren’t for your good taste in music, you’d really be a lost cause,” I said, getting up from the ground. 

“Where are we going?” He asked, looking dubiously at the hand I was offering him.

“I thought you wanted to get in the water?”

At my question, Blaine offered me a smile, actually looking exciting about going in once again. Even though he took my hand, he didn’t pull on it or used it to get himself up.

Once he was up and walking towards the water, I pulled my hand away from his.

“I can’t swim, so I’m going to stay here at the edge.”

“You can’t swim,” Blaine said in a teasing tone. “Why does that not surprise me?”

“Shut up,” I told him, slapping his chest playfully. “Not everyone is a freaky fish in the water.”

I had seen how deep he had gone. He was the only one who had actually ventured farther away into the lake. Most of the people stayed by the shore, in the shallow areas.

“Come on, you can go a little deeper,” Blaine said, pulling on my hand to drag me into the water.

Where I was standing, the water reached my waist. I was perfectly happy with staying there, but Blaine kept insisting for me to get more in the water.

There were kids playing and splashing around me, enjoying the fresh water in a hot sunny day. I enjoyed seeing them happy, because it was a big picker upper. But despite seeing kids shorter than me deeper into the lake, I was not tempted.

“You, go away,” I said, shooing Blaine and slapping his arm away when he tried to wrap it around me.

“Madeline,” Blaine insisted.

He managed to wrap both of his arms around my waist. I splashed water while I tried to get out of his arms. A group of boys, who were about ten to twelve years old, were standing near us. When Blaine picked me up over his shoulder, they started cheering him on, which only made Blaine laugh.

I slapped his shoulder when I felt him tap my bottom. “What are you doing?” I cried, slapping him again.

“Don’t fight and I’ll stop,” he said, coolly.

“I can’t swim!”

“You already said that.”

Thankfully, he dragged me to an area where there were still other people around. I figured if I was drowning, one of them was prone to want to save me.

“There, this isn’t so bad,” Blaine said, slowly sliding me down from his shoulders.

Unfortunately, the way he was putting me down made me rub completely against his body.

The small waves created by the people around us pushed me closer to him while I tried to get myself steady on the ground.

“I have to be on my toes! Yeah, it isn’t so bad,” I said, sarcastically.

“Madeline, the water reaches your shoulders,” Blaine told me, flatly, although I could see some humor in his features. He was enjoying that too much.

“Yeah, well, I might trip on a rock and end up drowning.”

“I’m right here.”

As if to prove his point, his slid his arms around my waist once again. While the water was fresh, if not slightly cold, against my body— Blaine’s arms were pure warmth.

I couldn’t say the feeling was unpleasant, because it wasn’t. I really liked how close we were standing to each other, and the tingly sensation I felt being in his arms. But that didn’t exactly make me feel any better. Those sort or moments between Blaine and me, I’d realized, were not good for my sanity.

We left the lake late in the afternoon. Blaine had gone to get us lunch in a diner down the road. He had wanted me to accompany him, but I’d decided to stay and enjoy a few moments on my own.

By the time the sun started setting down, most of the families had already left. The only people around were other couples, and a few single people who were still swimming or simply staring off at the lake.

“I’ve never had a day like today,” Blaine said on the drive to our next stop.

Blaine was going to continue going for about four hours. He had already made reservations in the next hotel, which happened to be in a city as well.

“It was fun,” I admitted. “And you are sun burned,” I laughed.

Blaine turned from the road for a second to grin at me. “It’s your fault.”

“No, it’s not,” I defended myself, but I was still laughing.

He wasn’t that burned, but his nose and cheeks had slightly tinted to a nice pinkish color. In all honestly, it only made him look more boyishly cute. His shoulders had taken up that same color. But other than that, a nice tan coated most of his body.

“You hid the sunblock,” Blaine said.

“I didn’t hide it… hide it. I just put it away, safely.”

“Ha, funny.”

“I did. It’s not my fault your blind and couldn’t find it.”

“It was in your bag.”

“I know.”

“You hid your bag from me.”

“It wasn’t on purpose!” But it had been. He had been making fun of my paranoia with water, so I’d hidden the sunblock. It had been on good fun, and truly, the joke was on me.

Blaine looked amazing. A little sun had done nothing to distract from his good looks.

When we arrived at the hotel, I was ready to pass out. Blaine had offered to carry me to the room. As if I was going to let him do that. I pulled through by repeating in my mind that soon, I’d be sleeping in a comfortable bed.

I had to give it to Blaine. Luxury life was sweet. I would have given everything to have a bed like the ones they did at the hotels we’d been staying in. It was like sleeping in a heavenly mattress that was molded for my needs and body.

I should have taken a bath before jumping into bed. I’d gotten in the lake, and it was just the right thing to do. But I was too tired. While Blaine was in the main area, in the other room, I went off to the bathroom. All I did was change out of my clothes, slip on one of Blaine’s larger and more comfortable white undershirts, and jump into bed.

It was not until the morning that my mind registered that Blaine had only gotten one suite, with one single king sized bed, which we shared.

At first, when I was barely waking up, I was slightly disoriented. When my eyes focused on my surroundings, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn’t alone in bed.

“Blaine!” I whisper-yelled, and then proceeded to slap my hand over my mouth.

“You’re awake,” Blaine answered in a husky, sleepy voice.

I had woken him up, I could easily tell. His eyes were still half closed. He was looking at me with squinted eyes, while trying to sit up on the bed.

“We slept together!” I continued to whisper loudly for some reason.

“Slept together, yes,” he nodded.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” It was starting to freak me out how calm he was being.

“For what? You were tired. You fell asleep as soon as your head touched the pillows.”

“But you slept here, with me, on the same bed!”

“It isn’t the first time we’ve done this, as I remember.” Blaine cocked an eyebrow, sighed loudly, and finally got up from the bed.

He was only wearing a pair of boxers. That almost gave me a heart attack.

“You’re half-naked…”

“So are you,” Blaine said, shrugging casually.

When I looked down, I realized that I was indeed, only wearing Blaine’s shirt. I quickly grabbed the sheets to cover my legs, but Blaine was already walking away towards the restroom.

I groaned, threw myself back on the bed, and brought the sheets over my head. Blaine was impossible!

“Are you going to be like this all morning?” Blaine asked during breakfast.

Just like the day before, Blaine found a nice place where we could eat. I had asked him if we could order room service, but Blaine wasn’t having it.

We ended up walking to a small café down the block.

The hotel where we’d stayed was buzzing with people, and as soon as we stepped outside, I realized that the entire area was the same.

There were shops on either side of the road, and Blaine told me a small park was about five blocks away. I was definitely excited about that city, and Blaine had been able to tell.

We were sitting outside of the café, with people coming and going beside us. I appreciated buzz of noise the people and cars created. It helped to distract me from my cranky mood.

“Like what?” I asked, grumpily.

“Mad over last night.”

“I just don’t get it.”

“What don’t you get?” Blaine asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

“This,” I said, motioning between him and me.

“Again with that,” Blaine said. I couldn’t tell whether he was uncomfortable or upset.

“Do you know what I’m asking from you?” I shook my head at him, trying to show my disapproval in the situation.

“No, I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Ha. Ha ha ha. Sarcasm not appreciated.”

“Isn’t that your motto in life?” Blaine asked, again in that humorless tone, that made me want to slap him really hard.

“You don’t have to be a jerk. I’m not one of your little girl toys that you-”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Blaine said, holding his hand up. In just a matter of seconds, Blaine went from looking irritated, to looking almost threatening.

I gritted my teeth, and closed my eyes. It was a way to show him that I was annoyed too, but mainly to try to control how fast my heart was pounding.

“I don’t do casual relationships,” I stated. Instead of bringing up his exes, or whatever it was that he called them, I figured I’d focus on what I wanted to say about me.

Blaine was simply looking at me, with that impassive expression I knew he mastered so well. It was like his way of hiding his emotions, by not showing any at all. It seriously bothered me.

“Actually, I don’t do any kind of relationship. I’ve never had a boyfriend before. So you-”

“Never?” Blaine interrupted, looking extremely shocked.

“I know, I know, I’m getting old. Yada yada… I’m about to go to college. I’ve heard it all,” I shrugged.

“You’ve never had a boyfriend?” Blaine asked again.

“Nope, and I-”

“Why?”

I shrugged, “I wasn’t interested?”

“You weren’t interested in having a boyfriend…” Blaine repeated, more to himself than to me.

“Have you seen my grades? I’m a freaken genius,” I stated, cheekily.

Blaine cocked an eyebrow, questioningly. “I was the only recipient to the Hale Scholarship. Do you have any idea what I had to do to get that?”

“Get kidnapped?” Blaine joked, smiling at me playfully.

Just like that, in a matter of minutes, Blaine went from serious, to surprised, to joking around.

“Yeah, and I blame that on you. If only someone hadn’t kicked me out of their office…”

“There you go again,” he said, but this time, he was smiling. “So you’ve never had a boyfriend. I never would have thought that, but now I see it.”

“What do you see?”

“I can’t imagine you with another guy.”

“Eh,” I said, carelessly.

“But Vitally…” Blaine said, his forehead suddenly creasing, and I noticed the distaste in his voice at mentioning Vitaly’s name.

“I’d hardly consider him a boyfriend,” I stated, flatly.

I was rather offended that Blaine had even brought Vitaly up like that. It made me feel like Blaine thought I’d been with Vitaly willingly.

“Yes, but you were still with him…” For some reason, it sounded like if he was fishing for something, but I couldn’t tell what.

“We were together for days. He had me locked up.”

“You slept with him?” Blaine asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“No, he had his own room.”

“You know what I mean!” His rise in tone and how harsh he’d spoken caught me off guard.

“What?” I shook my head at him.

Blaine continued to glare at me, waiting for my answer. Too late it clicked what he actually meant, and when it did, I couldn’t stop my reaction.

“Eww… Blaine, seriously! What is wrong with you? And why are you asking me those questions?” I yelled, cringing away from him.

“You’re still not answering my question,” Blaine pressed, even though I was making it more than obvious how uncomfortable and unhappy I was with his current line of questioning.

“No, I did not sleep with him. He didn’t even try to get me to bed. You are gross!”

I shook my head one last time, feeling a shiver run through my body, before getting up from my seat and walking off.

I walked down the sidewalk— with people passing on either side of me— for about five seconds when Blaine finally caught up to me.

“You are eighteen years old. You’re acting like if my questions are uncommon.”

“It’s uncommon that you ask, yes it is.”

“You are old enough to know about sex,” Blaine stated.

I placed my hands over my ears, and walked ahead of him.

“Madeline, you’re acting childish,” Blaine said, coming over to me.

He grabbed my hand by the wrist, and tugged on it so that I would stop. He was right, I was acting childish. But something about his serious manner and the way he kept looking at me made me feel weird.

“It isn’t childish to feel uncomfortable with those questions. I haven’t even had sex before. That makes your questions even worse!”

Blaine stared at me for minutes, just looking shocked. I waited for him to say something, to make fun of me. But he simply continued to stare. I tugged my hand out of his hold and continued walking off.

It took him a bit longer, but he eventually caught up to me.

“Why haven’t you had sex?” Blaine bluntly asked.

“Wow… I can’t believe you just threw that question out there so casually,” I told him.

With how fast we were walking, it didn’t take us that long to reach the park Blaine had talked about. It was larger than I’d assumed, and I liked that. There were people everywhere, vendors selling things on the sidewalk, and kids running around.

I had to admit that the day was nice out. The sun was in the sky, but it wasn’t burning hot. I could see why all the people were out and about enjoying their day.

“Madeline!” Blaine called my name, trying to get my attention.

“Why are you asking me these things?” I asked, ignoring whatever he’d been saying before.

“I, I…” Blaine started his sentence with a lot of conviction, and then he quieted down.

“Seriously, you asked me about sex? And you asked me if I’d had it with Vitaly?” I said, shaking my head.

“I thought you had slept with him,” Blaine replied, in a quiet voice.

I hurriedly walked over to a bench an older couple had emptied out. It was near a guy selling goodies. Blaine offered to buy me something, but I shook my head, and simply took a seat on the bench.

Blaine walked over to me, taking his time, suddenly looking shy. He should have been embarrassed. His questions were embarrassing to me.

“I didn’t. Vitaly was really respectful,” I admitted, feeling my face heating up.

I would’ve been lying if I said I’d had a bad experience with Vitaly. Had I feared for my life? Not exactly. Vitaly had made me feel safe. Did I like being locked inside a room and then an apartment, against my will? Nope, not at all. I had hated the little power I’d had with Vitaly. But even I could admit to myself that if I’d met him properly, in a different situation, I would have liked him a lot more.

“He’s a kidnapper and a killer,” Blaine scoffed.

“Yeah well, I never saw him kill anyone and he was actually nice to me.” I felt like I’d said that to Blaine purposely, to get to him. I hadn’t really thought much about it when I blurted it out. But when I turned to look at Blaine, I could tell he was pissed off.

I suddenly felt bad for saying that to him. The way Blaine was clenching his jaw, and looking angrily ahead only made me feel worse. I wasn’t sure if he noticed, but he slightly— maybe unintentionally— scooted further away from me in the bench.

“I’ve never had a boyfriend before, Blaine. I wasn’t interested in dating or sex and I doubt I was much fun during high school. I had fun, doing what I did. But I can’t say others thought I was fun when I was around them,” I finally replied.

I had answered with honesty, even if it made me look kinda bad. I thought Blaine deserved that I told him the truth after what I’d said about Vitaly. He was right though, Vitaly was a kidnapper, and his own sister had warned me that he was also a killer.

“So you really are a good girl?” Blaine asked after a while.

I giggled when I noticed that he was smiling down at me. He wasn’t mad, and I was happy for that. At least my lousy confession about my pacific, uninteresting life had cheered him up.

“What are you talking about? I’m a rebel!”

“A rebel?” Blaine smirked, and cocked an eyebrow. I could tell he was going to laugh at me, but I didn’t give him a chance.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I got kidnapped?” I asked, and Blaine chuckled at my words.

“I think I heard something about that somewhere…” He said, playing along.

After we patched things up, and we were walking down the street filled with shops, I realized something. Blaine had once again managed to distract me, and not answer the question that had started our argument in the first place.

What was happening between us… what did it mean to him?

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