Finding Elise

Chapter Thirty-Two

    "Elise?"

    I froze, the blood rushing out of my face. I hadn't heard that voice in over two weeks. Every night I fell asleep to Gilmore Girls because the show kept me from crying all night. Lorelai and Rory had become my lifeline-giving me drama to concentrate on that wasn't my own. Jackie had convinced me to come with her and Dale to a pool party at his apartment complex. I hadn't wanted to go, but she had said that it would be good for me to get out of the house.

    And it was. Dale's friends were really nice and I found myself genuinely laughing and enjoying myself. Until now.

    "Are you okay?" Ryan, the guy I had been talking to about Psych, asked.

    I wondered how I must have looked to him. "I'm fine, I just realized that I have to go do something. Excuse me." I mumbled. Clearly Blaine had spotted me and I did not want to see or talk to him. Unfortunately he must have been closer than I thought because he appeared before I could get away.

    "Elise, what are you doing here? Who's this?" Blaine said, shooting Ryan a suspicious look.

    Ryan gave him a weird look, shook his head and moved on to talk to someone else.

    That ticked me off and my anger surged over the pain at seeing him for the first time since he broke up with me. "What the hell Blaine?"

    "I didn't like the way that guy was looking at you."

    "Who cares. You're not my boyfriend anymore, you made that perfectly clear." I turned around, wanting to get away. Righteous anger can only carry a broken heart so far and I desperately did not want to cry in front of him.

    "Elise." Blaine caught me by the hand. "I want to talk to you."

    "Well I don't want to talk to you." I snapped, trying to yank my hand out of his.

    "Come on, just hear me out. Please." Blaine said, not releasing me.

    I glared at him. "Fine."

    Blaine grinned and led me away from the party all the way to his car. "I wanted some privacy." He said when I gave him a suspicious look.

    I got into the cab, but made sure to sit as far away from him as possible. "Okay." I said when he climbed in. "Talk."

    Blaine slid into the driver's seat. I jolted in surprise when the engine rumbled to life. "I thought we were talking here?"

    "I told you, I wanted privacy." Blaine shrugged as he pulled out of the parking lot.

    Even though I was so angry with him, I loved him and being near him after so long apart was wreaking havoc on my feelings. He somehow looked even better than I remembered and I hated that he looked so normal while I felt like I looked like crap.

    Clearly he wasn't suffering. And that made me feel even worse.

    We drove in silence for a little while as Blaine drove out town and into the empty country side. He took a few turns and we ended up parked in an empty field. He turned to face me, while I stoically remained looking out the window.

    "Elise, will you look at me please?"

    I begrudgingly gave him a quick look. "You wanted to talk, so talk."

    Blaine sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I- I've missed you. These past couple of weeks have been hell for me." He glanced my way, but when I continued to stay silent, he continued. "I thought I was doing you a favor, but just seeing you talking with another guy had me seeing red."