Page 151 of Rule Breakers Fall Hardest

I reach to take the blindfold off, but he grabs my hands and stops me.

“Not yet.”

“Daire,” I groan, dropping my head back against the seat.

“Not much longer,” he assures.

I jolt when his lips press against mine.

He hops out of the vehicle, and the back hatch beeps and lifts.

What is he doing?

He’s back there for at least five minutes. Then, finally, the passenger door opens and he reaches over me to undo my seat belt.

He takes both of my hands, probably to keep me from ripping the blindfold off, and guides me out of the car.

When we come to a stop, he says, “All right, now you can take it off.”

Quickly, so he doesn’t have a chance to change his mind, I whip the blindfold off and drop it to the ground.

My jaw drops, and my heart rate kicks up in speed. The outdoor screen is large, spanning a wide-open space. There are no other cars around, only us. I turn to Daire, astonishment making it hard to form words.

Finally, I ask, “How did you do this? How did you even remember?”

He shrugs like it’s not a big deal, when, to me, it means everything. When I was little, I talked about wanting to go to a drive-in all the time. It was a dream of mine. I thought it looked so cool, but my parents never would’ve dreamed of sitting in the car to watch a movie.

“I found the location and set it all up.”

“But aren’t these places usually closed in the winter?”

“Yeah.” He puts his hands into the pouch of his hoodie. “But if you offer enough money, you can get people to do things they wouldn’t normally.”

I shake my head. God, I don’t even want to know how much he spent to make this happen for me.

The thoughtfulness, though?

You can’t put a price on that.

He cuffs my upper arms and slowly turns me. As the van comes into view, I gasp, and I swear my heart floats rightout of my body. The cargo area of the minivan is set up like a bed, complete with fluffy blankets and pillows. There’s a basket sitting in the middle too, like he packed a picnic dinner.

I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry.

It’s single-handedly the kindest thing someone has ever done for me.

I throw my arms around Daire’s neck with so much force he stumbles. Quickly, though, he rights himself and squeezes me tight.

“Thank you,” I murmur into the skin of his neck.

“You’re welcome.”

I step away and crawl into the back of the car, excitement bubbling inside me.

“What did you bring?” I point to the basket.

He opens it up, revealing sandwiches from one of my favorite little shops back home. I stare in wonder. “How did you pull offthis?”

“They put it on ice and overnighted it.”

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