Learning to Breathe (31 page)

“You look beautiful Gilmore.” Danny grinned as I got into the car.

“Do you always call your date by their surname?” I enquired with a smirk.

Danny shook his head.
“Nah, only my girlfriend. Think of it as a term of endearment.”

He winked at me and I let out a laugh.

“Okay then
Fletcher
. Where are we going?” I asked, deliberately putting heavy emphasis on the use of his surname.

He smirked.
“You’ll see
Gilmore.
You’ll see.”

I shook my head but gave him a small smile.
Danny returned it with that adorable grin of his and then started the car.

It took me about five minutes to realise that we were heading in the direction of the spring. I threw Danny a curious look but he merely smiled and remained silent.

When he parked the car, Danny opened my door for me and then opened the boot of his car. A few seconds later and he was armed with a picnic basket and a blanket.

“A picnic?” I said, quite impressed with this idea.

Danny nodded. “Oh, this is only the beginning. There is more to come.”

I nodded slowly, curious at what else he had planned but I didn’t ask. Instead, I looped my arm through his and we set off towards the bank. I watched Danny throw down the blanket and then set up the picnic.

There turned out to be a lot of food in the basket: chicken salad, a crunchy baguette, pasta salad, potato salad, breadsticks and dips. And it didn’t stop there. No, there were strawberries, apples, grapes, chocolate mousses and finally, homemade lemonade to drink.

I stared in amazement at the spread of food before me. It was then that I glanced at Danny suspiciously.

“Impressive.” I commented. “Did you do this all yourself?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Danny s
hook his head and looked guilty. “No. I admit it, okay? I told my mum about the idea and she helped me out a little.”

I raised an eyebrow, sceptical at his reply.

Danny grinned sheepishly. “Okay, she helped
a lot
.”

“That’s more like it.” I told him with a small smirk.

He laughed. “Well, I get some credit for coming up with the idea, don’t I?”

I laughed.
“I guess you do.”

Danny smiled and then leaned over to give me a kiss. As soon as our lips met, any of my earlier doubts that were still lingering about, instantly vanished.

We ate the picnic leisurely, talking about different things, and generally just relaxing. When we finished eating, we just lay on the blanket, looking at the sky in silence.

However, Danny broke the sleepy silence when he announced that we would have to go soon.

“Part two wil
l be commencing in half an hour.” he told me while he packed up the remaining food. “So, we’ll have to get going.”

I nodded and then helped him
to pack up before we headed back to the car.

“So, what’s part two?” I asked
as Danny drove us into town.

He tapped his nose and remained silent as we pulled into the local theatre’s car park.

I glanced at him, intrigued. “The Theatre?”

With a sly smile, he nodded and then got out of the car. He opened my door and held onto my hand as we made our way through the double doors.

Danny handed over two tickets and we then made our way into the auditorium. Once we settled into our seats, I turned to him.

“What play is it?” I asked curiously.

He threw me a killer grin. “Watch and you’ll see.”

Ten minutes later, and the opening scene began. It was my favourite play – Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

Two hours later and ‘the star-crossed lovers’ had taken their lives.
I turned in my seat to face Danny.

“How’d you know?”

Danny frowned. “Know what?”

“That this was my favourite play.” I explained.

He smiled. “You told me one day in passing. I remembered.”

I was impressed at this and grinned at him. “Thanks.” I said.

“For what?”

“For doing all of this. I’ve had a great time.”

Danny grinned. “Well it’s not over yet.”

I frowned.
“There’s more?”

He nodded but didn’t elaborate. Instead, he took my hand and we left the auditorium.

A short drive later and Danny parked outside a little café called ‘Sweet Treats’ and ushered me inside.

“This is part three – the last part of our date. This place does the best desserts!” he explained excitedly as we sat at one of the empty tables.

A waitress came over, gave us some menus, took an order for our drinks and then left us to decide what dessert to get.

“So, what’s good here?
” I asked, quite amused at how Danny flipped through the menu enthusiastically.

He grinned at me.
“Everything! Just close your eyes and point randomly to something.”

I smiled, closed my eyes, and dragged my finger down the page. When I opened them, my finger had landed on the ‘Death by Chocolate Cake’.

Danny laughed. “Good choice. I think I’ll get the ‘Deluxe Hot Fudge Sundae’ – you’ve gotta try it!”

I laughed and took a sip of the hot chocolate that the waitress had just set down. She then took our order, citing that we had made ‘awesome’ choices and then left again.

Our desserts were set down ten minutes later. I looked at mine and decided it was the biggest piece of chocolate cake that I had ever seen. As for Danny’s sundae – well, I had never seen so much ice cream and fudge packed into what looked to be a rather large glass vase.

“I hope you’re hungry.” Danny remarked. “B
ecause I’m not eating this all by myself!”

I laughed and tucked into my cake; it was absolute heaven.

An hour later and I was fit to burst. I felt as if I had eaten my entire body weight in ice cream!

“So,” Danny began, taking hold of my hand as we left the café. “Do you wanna go for a walk?”

I no
dded. “Sure, where d’you wanna go?”

“How about the park?” Danny suggested.

I agreed and we slowly walked to the local park. It was just after midnight and the place was deserted. We took a seat on one of the wooden benches and stared up at the stars.

Gazing at the stars, I felt a rush of gratitude towards Danny. Everything about tonight had been perfect and I was grateful to him for it.
Since he had barged into my life, everything had changed for the better. Suddenly, I felt the bizarre urge to tell him so. I had the strangest feeling that this was the right moment to do so. 

“Thanks.”
I said abruptly, breaking the silence between us.

He shifted his gaze to my face.
“You keep doing that – thanking me – but I really don’t know why.”

I gave him a half smile. “Just for coming into my life when I
needed somebody the most.”

He grinned.
“You didn’t make it easy though. As I recall, you were quite adamant that you didn’t want to date me.”

I let out a low chuckle.
“Hey, I’d only just moved here and didn’t even know you!”

Danny smirked.
“Yeah, still, eventually you succumbed to my charms!”

I rolled my eyes.
“If only you weren’t so cocky!”

“You love me really.” Danny grinned.

“Sometimes.” I told him with a smirk.

“Well is now one of those times?” His hazel eyes twinkled in the moonlight.

“Maybe.” I replied before giving him a quick kiss.

“Yeah,” Danny said smugly. “Y
ou definitely love me right now.”

I shook my head and gave him a pla
yful punch on the arm. “Come on.” I ordered, pulling him up from the bench. “Let’s go before your head gets any bigger.”

He laughed
and linked our fingers together. “And I love you too.”

I glanced up at him and
smiled. “I know.”

Sunday was a blur and suddenly, it was Monday. I was a bag of nerves. The competition was finally here and I couldn’t back out now. The week ahead was going to be the longest week of my life and I found myself wondering why I had entered in the first place.

I sighed heavily as I lay in my bed, looking at the ceiling.
This is it – now or never.

I groaned and sat up, thankful that I wouldn’t have to go to school all week. Danny had informed me that Ms Greenly always let the competitors take the week off and that she even cut the school days short so that the rest of the school could support those who were taking part in the competition.

The competition didn’t kick off until noon and would last right through until Friday. However, all the competitors had to be at the leisure centre at 10am to be registered. I glanced at the clock – 8.30am. Sucking in a deep breath, I forced myself to stand up.

My leg felt a bit stiff so I stretched it out before I headed to the shower. I tried not to think about the week ahead but doubts kept invading my thoughts.
What if I freaked out? What if I had flashbacks?

Rinsing my hair, I tried to convince myself that I would be fine – after all, Danny would be there. I stepped out of the shower and found my mother waiting outside the bathroom door. She had insisted on taking the week off work so that she could support me.

“Hey honey!” She beamed at me, full of enthusiasm. “You ready for today?”

I nodded my head in spite of how I truly felt. My mother seemed to sense my unease.

“Get dressed and I’ll take you out for a nice breakfast before we go to the pool.” She grinned at me and ushered me into my room.

I quickly changed and packed my swim kit while I was at it. Suddenly, my phone buzzed. It was a message from Harriet:

‘Gud luk 2day. C u l8r.’

I smiled and made my way downstairs where my mother was patiently waiting.

My phone buzzed again.

This time it was a message from Danny:

‘D Day is here! C u @ 10. x’

I smiled and hit ‘reply’.

‘Dnt remind me. C u then. X’

I then followed my mother out the door and forced myself not to think about the competition for the duration of breakfast. If I could do that, I could do anything!

Breakfast was a quiet affair and pretty soon, it was ti
me to go to the leisure centre. Sick with nerves, I forced my feet to walk through the glass doors. The faint smell of chlorine hit me and I nearly bolted. My mother, oblivious to my inner turmoil, smiled at me and then disappeared, citing something about getting a good seat.

So, totally abandoned, I considered leaving when,
at the last second, I spotted Danny waiting with his parents and made my way over to him.

“Morning Gilmore!” he said with a wink. “You feeling okay?”

I merely nodded, not trusting myself to speak in case I vomited. He chuckled at my expression and leaned over to give me a quick kiss.

“You’re gonna be fine.” he whispered in my ear.
“I’m here with you every step of the way.”

I sucked in a deep breath, calmed by his words. “I know.” I told him.

He threw me that killer lopsided grin and I laughed, feeling a bit better.

Danny smiled and then pointed to his pa
rents who were looking at me curiously. “Darcie, these are my parents – Miranda and Carl. Mum, Dad – this is Darcie.”

I smile
d at them and shook their hands. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Danny’s mother smiled warmly.
“So you’re the Darcie we’ve been hearing so much about?”

I nodded unsurely and Danny’s father laughed.

“It’s alright dear, we’ve heard nothing but good things about you.”

I sighed in relief and his mother chuckled.

She then turned to her son. “Danny, why didn’t we meet this girl sooner?” she asked sternly.

Danny shrugged, looking embarrassed and mumbled something about being nosy.

Miranda rolled her eyes and nudged her husband. “Come on dear, let’s leave them to it. We need to find a seat anyway.”

They quickly left and Danny grinned at me.
“Okay tiger, let’s go and register.”

I glanced up at him.
“Tiger?”

Danny frowned.
“What? You still look nervous. It felt like a ‘tiger’ moment.”

I laughed and linked my arm through his as we made our way over to the registering station.

Once we’d registered, we made our way to the canteen where all of the other competitors were waiting. It was still an hour
and a half before the first race and we had been told to stay there and relax. The organisers were still waiting on competitors to register before they could sort out who was in which group.