49. Veronica
CHAPTER 49
Veronica
He wasn’t kidding when he said it was a bit of a drive. It was an hour and a half drive, and I thought it would never end. But then, Leo slowed the car and pulled into a small opening to our left. It was so obscure that I’m not sure I would have even noticed it in the daylight.
By the time we reached our destination, the sky had been blanketed by darkness. As we drove down the dirt road, we could only see the path in front of us, which was illuminated by the headlights. Trees surrounded us, but with how dark it was and without the headlights hitting them, they were almost non-existent.
After some time passed, we pulled up to an opening of either grass or dirt. I’m not quite sure because the moon isn’t bright tonight. Which I guess makes it the perfect time to stargaze.
His car stops, and Leo shifts the gears into park. As I go to open my door, he grabs my hand. When I look at him, he shakes his head and then releases me. Getting out of his seat, I watch him round the front of the car and realize what is happening.
He opens the door for me. I smile like a schoolgirl with a crush, my cheeks burning pink as his hand reaches for me. I take his hand in mine, allowing him to help me out of the car.
‘What a gentleman,” I say playfully.
“Just because I’m mad at you doesn’t mean I can’t do nice things for you.” He smiles, dropping my hand to shut the passenger door.
“What is this place?”
“It’s a lookout.” He stares off into the distance with me. “My mother would bring me out here when I was feeling sad. We would pack a picnic and look at the stars until it got too cold out.”
As he looks out at the spot of land, my head tilts back to stare up at the stars. I’ve never seen this many shining so brightly in the sky.
“Wow,” I whisper.
“Amazing, isn’t it?”
I dip my head in response as he leaves my side to walk toward the back of the car. “I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more people here.”
The trunk opens, and Leo pulls out two baskets. One with food and the other with blankets. The latter he holds out for me to take.
“It isn’t well known. I’m not even sure how my mom found it.”
With the baskets in our hands, Leo walks to the spot where he wants to set everything up. He lays a blanket on the floor from my basket and then sets the food out nicely.
While he gets everything situated, I walk away from him and to the cliff's edge.
The sound of the waves crashing below might have been calming if we were on a beach, but with how high up we are, it does nothing to ease the nerves in my body. I sense a presence behind me and feel the warmth of Leo’s arms wrap around my body.
“Afraid of heights?”
“I’m not too fond of them if I’m being honest.” Peering over the edge, I notice the rocks lining the bottom of the cliff. My body shivers, but not because it is chilly. “How far of a drop do you think that is?”
“Mmm, a good 300 feet.” Kissing my cheek, Leo reassures me, “You’ll be fine. Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
Nodding, I allow him to pull me back from the edge and take me to the blanket. As I sit down, he hands me a blanket, which I drape over my lap.
In front of us are two types of pasta, garlic bread, and an unopened bottle of wine. Leo takes two glasses out of the picnic basket as well as a wine opener.
“That mine.” I point to it.
He examines the object in his hands and smiles. “It is. Sorry, I never gave it back to you.”
“It’s fine.” I sigh. “Just had to buy a new one.”
He laughs while twisting the handle on the opener, which makes the metal worm sink into the cork. The little arms raise fully, and then he pushes them down—a soft popping sound echoes through the silence around us.
Pouring two glasses, he hands me one and then dishes the food. The containers he packed everything in kept the pasta hot. Thank goodness, because although the gesture is sweet, it would have sucked to eat cold pasta on a cold night.
As we ate, he asked me more about Eliza and how she was doing. He says he wasn’t surprised that she was released. I told him about my lunch plans with her, and he agreed that it might be good for me to have another friend.
Other than his sister.
He didn’t say that, but it was implied. After bumping into Stephanie at the store while I was with Chloe, I think Leo is wary of me being friends with his sister. That’s too bad. I like Chloe and wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.
The entire dinner was full of casual conversation and felt easy. When we finished, and he cleared everything out of the way, we lay on our backs, staring at the stars. His hand found mine and intertwined our fingers. The warmth from his touch coursed up through my arm and flooded my entire body. I feel like I don’t need this blanket anymore.
“What’s the story with stargazing? When did you get into it?” I ask with my eyes still on the sky. It is too pretty to look away.
“When I was younger, I got picked on at school. I told my mother because I told her everything, and she wanted to take my mind off it. She would pack a basket full of my favorite foods and snacks, and we would sit in the backyard.”
My head falls to the side to look at him. A sad smile forms on his lips.
“She would make me laugh, telling jokes or stories to take my mind off everything, but still somehow told me how special I was. That the kids picking on me didn’t matter because I was the smartest and kindest kid she had ever met.”
I squeeze his hand tighter as he takes a moment to collect himself.
“She told me they were jealous of that. About how smart I was. And that they hated how kind I was because they didn’t know how to be. She said their parents must not be kind to them because of the way the kids treated others. Since I was young, I didn’t understand what she said because I thought they were just being mean. It wasn’t until I got older that I understood.”
“What made you understand?”
“In high school, I had a group of friends, and one of them was a bully. One day, he invited me over, and I saw how his dad acted towards him. The things his father would say were a copy of what he would say to taunt the kids at school.” He sighs. “I tried helping him, but he didn’t want it. He got angry and pushed me away. I never spoke to him again.”
“Is that when you knew you wanted to be a doctor? Because you wanted to help him?”
I hadn’t noticed his thumb had been caressing the back of my hand until it stopped.
“I always knew I wanted to help people in some way. Seeing how his home life mentally affected him made me steer more toward the psychology of it all.”
A career he wanted his whole life, ripped away by my stupid decision.
“Thank you for tonight.” I change the subject since it’s getting too sad for a date. “You didn’t have to do all this, especially with being angry at me.”
His head drops to the side, eyes practically staring into my soul.
“I’m trying, Vee,” he tells me before smiling and sitting up.“But the night isn’t over! We still need to dance.”
“Dance? Don’t you remember at the wedding? I stepped on your feet like ten times in thirty seconds.” My hands meet the blanket beneath me, and I push myself up to sit.
“It’s just us out here. What, you think the trees are going to judge you?” He chuckles as he stands up. Leaving me for the car, he turns the key in the ignition and blasts the radio.
A slow song begins to play, one that I’ve never heard before. The doors remain open as he walks back to me. Leo holds his hand out for me to take. I stare at it for a moment before losing the battle.
I grab his hand, and he pulls me up, pressing my body to his. We sway for a few minutes, but then he gets fancy and twirls me. I laugh as I spin, and I don’t miss the grin plastered on his face.
“You’re not as bad as you think you are.” He laughs with me, twirling me back into him.
He catches me with ease, my body molding against his perfectly. I lay my head on his chest while we sway as the song rolls into the next. A content feeling takes over my body until I misstep, and my foot lands on his toes.
“Sorry.” My face scrunches.
“It’s fine,” he reassures me with an unreassuring tone.
Pulling my head back, I glance up at him. “Maybe we can have dance lessons where you can teach me how to get better.”
He hums while staring over my head and dropping his hand from my waist. “That won’t happen.”
“And why not? You won’t want to take the time to teach me? I promise I won’t be a bad student,” I joke.
Leo laughs, but it isn’t because he thought what I said was funny. No, his laugh is humorless, and I go still when his eyes flick down to me. Those green eyes that have been soft and playful the whole night have now turned as dark as the night sky.
“Because this is our last dance.”
Confusion lines my face. What does he mean? Am I that bad of a dancer that he doesn’t want to do this again? I go to laugh, but then I feel something sharp press against my stomach. And when I look down, there is a knife between us.
“Leo?” His name comes out as a question as I stare at the knife.
He doesn’t respond, so I lift my eyes to him. There is no expression on his face. It is blank, void of emotion.
I step out of his hold, and he lets me. Dropping my eyes to the knife, I breathe heavily as I try to piece together what is happening. Where the hell was he keeping that knife, and why did he have it?
When I lift my eyes again, it isn’t to look at Leo but at the woods surrounding us.
“Go ahead.” His deep voice, full of wickedness, has my head snapping in his direction. “You love to run, Vee, so go ahead. But know when I catch you, you’ll wish I hadn’t.” He gestures to the woods with the tip of the knife, his eyes growing darker with each passing second as he steps forward. “Run.”