Now he really did it… Blake straightened himself up and looked his father in the face as he was walking closer to him, maintaining that straight face, his grey eyes looking colder than usual. "H-Hello, Father. W-What are you doing up at this hour?" Blake asked nervously as he folded his arms behind him, resulting in a puddle collecting in his palms from the dripping water off his rain coat. He hastily took it off and putting it on the staircase railing for now, since the coat closet was on the other side of the room and he was stuck in place under the cold, judging glare of Prescott Gripling.
"I say.. I must be asking you that exact same question, Son." He said rather calmly with a raised eyebrow. "No appearance at dinner. I figure you must be studying in your room so I go to check myself and you are nowhere to be found. Not even in your old treehouse. So, where could you have possibly disappeared to, pray tell?" He asked as he slid a hand into a pocket of his tartan bath robe.
"Well… I-I just visited a friend of mine and I stayed a little longer than I had anticipated-" Blake started but his father raised a hand in front of him, stopping Blake mid-excuse. Blake gulped at the motion. He had never gotten lectured by his father before so he didn't know what to expect from him.
Prescott pursed his lips as he stared at Blake, "That car… It's Carl Foutley's. Am I correct?"
"Yes, sir." Blake answered clearly on the inside he was sweating pretty hard, what if he saw something..?
"He was the friend you were paying a late visit." He stated as he turned is back to Blake. "…He's a charming young man. I'm glad he is the one you are going to be living with in New York. He has a good head on his shoulders." Blake wasn't sure as to what was going on here. Was he going to get yelled at? "I must express my concerns, Blake… All these four years, I have seen a lot of Carl Foutley around here. It's an excellent thing to have a loyal colleague but I foresaw you having much more than just two little friends. Look at your sister for instance, she had many peers around her and now she is simply thriving in her industry. I always had my fair share of devotees at your age before going into college."
"Father..?" Blake asked as he grew more and more confused.
"How will you succeed if you have no followers?" He asked as he looked at him.
Blake checked his posture and felt himself fill with that familiar feeling of shame he usually felt when his Father asked him these types of things, "I-I have never liked being the center of attention amongst my peers, I found that I'm better if I have a very few good friends around to support me, sir. I'm sure I will gain 'devotees' when I put my art out on a gallery. I don't need everyone following me around to know I'm exceptional at what I do or know who I am…" Blake started to feel that shame turn into anger slowly consuming him. "And frankly, the people at school are a great bore to me except Carl and Robert Joseph… They actually care about me and I need that in my life unlike you and Courtney. If I'm not going to be cared about by my own family than I had to find someone who did or who knows how I might have ended up like! Carl keeps me on track, He cares about me and I care about him the same…" He ranted in an elevated tone of voice. He huffed and found himself only talking about Carl at this point. "And Robert as well, of course…" He recovered swiftly. "But my point is, I'm not like you or Courtney. I am Blake Sofia Gripling! I will not apologize for not being the way you saw me as. It took me years to figure out how different I was in this family and thanks to my friends, I now understand that it isn't a terrible thing at all! So I suggest you stop making me feel like it is such a horrible thing to be different and just accept me the way I am, Father… Or else you may not hear from me at all once the move is complete." A sense of independence flowed through his veins right then as Prescott silently stared at him with a surprised expression. "I bid you a good night. I am rather fatigued and I need sleep in order to function tomorrow." He just turned and stomped up the staircase.
"Well..!" Prescott huffed. "You get back down here, Young man! …Blake Sofia!" Bake just ignored his protests and locked himself inside his room for the night, leaving his flabbergasted father downstairs alone. Blake grinned to himself at how he handled himself against his Father. Years ago, he would have just taken it and stress himself out about it but now he truly is ready to face the world if he can dare to hold himself up against his own father.
"We are all clear, Hoods." Carl said happily as Hoodsey walked into the house that next morning.
"Clear for what…?" Hoodsey asked in a sleepy haze. He looked like he had barely slept at all.
"Uh, duh! Blake agreed to help us plan our pre-college trip! Isn't this great?" Carl asked, repeating the happiness in his voice.
Hoodsey looked at him and yawned loudly before sitting on the couch in the living room, "Yeah? That's great. Can't wait."
Carl raised a brow at his best friend's not-so-normal attitude, "What's going on with you, Hoods? You're usually a morning person."
"Oh… I just spent most of the night on the phone… didn't get much sleep." Hoodsey said as he held his head in his hands with his eyes closed.
Carl furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before taking a seat in the armchair next to the couch. They sat quietly and thought about it for a second before he saw it was so plainly obvious as to who he was talking to so late into the night. "On the phone, huh? Who would you talk to for hours at a time, I wonder." Carl teased with a knowing smirk.
Hoodsey looked at him and frowned a little before sighing, "Cut it out, Carl. I just want to shut my eyes before we have to leave to get Blake." Hoodsey whined. "You can pick on me later…" He yawned once more. "…Just not right now."
After a minute or two, Carl went into the kitchen to make some toast for breakfast. He still had ten minutes before he had to leave. When he plopped the bread in the toaster he heard the front door open and shut. Curious, he peeked through the doorway to find Blake walking into the house.
"What are you doing here, Blake?" He asked, slightly surprised.
"Oh.. I just needed to leave the house early. You don't mind, do you?" He answered seeming a little skittish.
"No. Make yourself at home. We leave soon though." Carl said with a light shrug before disappearing in the kitchen to retrieve his toasted slices. "Would you like some tea?" He asked from the table.
"I've already had my fill, thank you." He heard Blake's soft voice say from the living room.
"Alright, Just give me a few minutes."
Carl devoured his food quickly and by the time he had finished, Blake and Hoodsey were chatting at the door, waiting to leave. He grabbed his bag and opened the door for everyone.
"Let's roll." He said after he locked up and got into the car.
Everything was great during the day. Hoodsey had woken up enough to focus and Blake was his normal self but when lunch period rolled around, it all took a downward slide. As they were all finishing their meal and bantering back and forth about the test they had all taken that day, Blake's phone started to vibrate on the table. Before he picked it up, he had a slight frown on his face as he noticed the caller ID. Hoosey gave Carl a questioning look only to receive a silent shrug for an answer.
"This is Blake Gripling." He greeted officially as he placed the phone to his ear. "Ah, Chris.. How may I help you?" Carl made eye contact with Blake as his frown grew and his face flushed considerably from its normal state. He remembered that Chris was the head of the construction team as Blake had explained weeks ago when he had first hired him and his team for the remodeling job. "How? How could that have possibly happened?" Carl had never seen Blake so mad in a very long time so this was kind of a shock as to how intimidating he seemed at this moment. "No.. My order was rather precise! …. Are you mad? You waited this long to inform me?! …No! Say no more. I will be there in a few hours, you may give me the full report when I arrive at the apartment. And I mean the full report. I will not accept any more problems slipping between the cracks." He angrily snapped his phone shut and got up from the table with his lips pursed tightly in aggravation. He looked at Carl, "We are going to have to cut the school day short, Carl. We have an emergency that requires our immediate attention." Carl furrowed his brows in slight confusion as he hurriedly grabbed his bag and got up from the table.
"Sorry Hoods, See you later okay?" Carl said as he lagged behind Blake as he hurried out of the lunch room doors like there was this imaginary rope connecting them together, dragging him behind with every step Blake made.
"Yeah, Go. Fill me in when you get back." Hoodsey said with an urgent wave of his hand. Carl rushed out of the lunch room to catch up with the fuming blond.
They didn't say a word once they had gotten out of the school campus. Actually, it was a good few miles of silence before Carl's curiosity got the best of him.
"Sooo… What kind of emergency are we looking at here? …. Shattered beam?…. Shorted out light?…. Someone crushed to death by a marble slab?" Carl questioned calmly as Blake stared out the passenger side window with his arms crossed tightly. He thought that last guess would get at least a small smile from him but Blake wasn't even cracking like he normally would. He just stared out the window without a blink. "Hey, seriously… what's going on?"
Blake took in a deep inhale and glanced at Carl before looking straight ahead of them, "It's just… always one thing after another. When one thing goes horribly wrong, another follows in suit." He explained very vaguely. Carl didn't know what that meant at all so all he could do was give him a very confused look as he drove out of the town limits.
"I think everything has been going along pretty well.. Construction jobs almost always have problems before being completed… It's really not that big of a deal." Carl said.
"It's not just the construction… It's everything. My life. This always happens without fail! I cannot get a break no matter how hard I try to avoid it." Blake exclaimed. Carl glanced over at him, seeming even more confused. Blake obviously noticed this. He just sighed and rubbed his temple, "My father…. He saw us, Carl… Last night in the driveway… Now, I don't know what he saw exactly. I never gave him the chance to say…" Carl was shocked at this but it did explain why Blake made an appearance this morning. "Now our apartment is having problems… It's just too much…"
"Your father…" Carl repeated slowly as he felt a little bit of panic touch him. "Wait.. Is that why you showed up this morning?"
"I avoided him and Mother this morning, yes." Blake stated softly. "My point is, this always has a tendency to happen. It's rather nerve-wracking."
"Yeah, I can get how it would be. Are you okay? You know, with your dad potentially finding out about us?"
"I honestly don't know… I don't think he saw anything since he chose to lecture me about not having a large following. So senseless… The only possible thing he is worried about is my popularity status in school. Should I be insulted…? or concerned, rather?"
"I think that you should be thankful. I mean.. If that's what he chose to talk about then maybe he didn't see anything. You already know that you don't need a large following. You're smart enough to know that popularity isn't all that important." Carl explained calmly. "When it comes down to it, all you need are people who actually have your back."
"And I told him that. He just doesn't understand. I'm just hoping that whatever is going with our apartment, it doesn't set the date back for us. I don't know how much longer I can stand being around my parents."
Carl tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he allowed himself to absorb the possible scenarios. "Well… We will just cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm sure it isn't as big of a deal as you think."
When the two of them arrived at the building, they were met in the lobby by a rugged looking man with dark brown hair. He was about Carl's height and was wearing a denim shirt about two shades lighter than his jeans. He had slim framed glasses and was holding a clipboard filled to the brim with a thick pile of papers. Carl assumed that this was Chris.
"Mr. Gripling, I just have to apologize about not letting you know of the mixed orders sooner. I did tell my assistant to email you about it as soon as the supplies came in but he obviously didn't. I should have just done it myself." Chris said as soon as he approached them.
"Yes, well.. What's done is done." Blake said in a tight tone as he led the way to the elevator. Chris and Carl followed him and they were soon lifted up to the top floor where the apartment was. "Did you contact the company and let them know of this mishap?"
"Yes, but like I said earlier on the phone, they won't be able to send the right supplies for another three weeks at least. We did finish all the walls in the bathrooms and the office area is all set. It's just those supplies were for the bathroom tiles and the kitchen flooring and countertops. That's what were are waiting on."
"So everything else is on schedule then?" Blake questioned as they exited the elevator and walked into the apartment.
"Absolutely. Everything else is pretty much finished. We just need to lay down the carpets. You really didn't need to come all this way just for this. Sadly, there really isn't much to do other than wait."
"I needed to see for myself…" Blake said as he looked around the large living room area. The walls were all painted, it seems like it was just finished since the tarp was still on the ground and the fumes were heavy even with the windows opened. "Another three weeks, you said?"
"Yeah, at least. Could be longer. I really won't know until they tell me the stuff has been shipped out."
"How long will it take to finish when the supplies arrive?"
"Two to three days… maybe four depending on how early we start. Sadly, I believe that this place won't be ready to move into until August."
"Really?" Carl asked. Chris nodded but Blake held up a finger at him as he walked up to Carl.
"We shall see about that. I will see what I can do to move this back on track. I refuse to accept that we will have to live in a hotel when school commences." Blake looked at Chris with the most serious of expressions. "The dateline remains as it was until further notice… Understand?"
Chris looked a little surprised but he eventually nodded as Blake stared him down until he agreed, "Uh.. Yes.. Yeah, of course."
"Very good." Blake said with satisfaction evident in his voice. "Let's take our leave then.. These paint fumes are getting to me."
Carl and Blake left Chris in the lobby and silently stood by the car for a few minutes. It was pretty evident that they were a little worried about the status of their home.
"It's going to be okay." Carl finally said after minutes passed. "Everything is going to be okay."
"I am aware." Blake said with a long, drawn out sigh. Carl never liked seeing Blake so stressed out like he was right now. The only time he saw him this worked up was when he was frustrated at Carl for stealing his baby blanket back in the day. "I'm going to be up all night making calls, but eventually… It's all going to be back on track.. its just so hectic right now…"
"You can do the phone calls this weekend." Carl hurriedly dismissed. "How about for now, since we're here and school is done for the week, we take the evening and chill out. Just not think about anything that might cause stress. Hell, refuse to think at all." He lazily draped an arm over Blake's shoulders. "What do ya say, Blakey boy? Dinner. Walk through central park. Catch a Broadway show..."
Blake was silent for a second just looking at Carl, who was maintaining a hopeful expression. "Well… I would say that sounds ideal." Blake said softly with a light smile. "... But… I don't know, Carl."
"What's stopping us?" Carl questioned. He knew Blake needed a break or else he was going to panic and he didn't want to see him get to that point.
"To put it simply… my priorities. I need this remodel to go smoothly or else we are stuck in a corner, so to speak. I planned this all out very carefully, every move. I don't want us to wait for our apartment to get done just because someone with rocks in their head sent out the wrong order."
"Hey." Carl said softly and he turned to face him and gripped his shoulders as he could literally see the strain on Blake's face as he spoke. Blake looked at him and pursed his lips again, not out of anger but out of desperation. "Hey… Listen for a minute. You need to take a step back and sort out your thoughts, calmly. You can afford to take the evening to do that, trust me on this… Take the evening and have some much needed nonsensical, goof-offy fun… with me. We don't even have to go anywhere in particular. We could just spend the night in a hotel and order room service for all I care. You have been focusing on this for a year straight… Just take a break for just one night… Okay?"
Blake sighed once again but after he did he looked ten times calmer as he met Carl's eyes and just nodded slowly, "Alright… I'll make the reservations for dinner then."
Hoodsey was walking back home after school had been released for the day. Thank goodness it was Friday. Too bad his plans had been cancelled until further notice since Blake and Carl had to make a sudden trip up to New York for something urgent. All he had to look forward to was a much needed nap and maybe an email.
"Well Good afternoon there, Rooobert." Hoodsey was startled out of his walking pace by a sudden appearance by no one other than Brandon Higsby. After a sudden growth spurt back in sophomore year, He was now about an inch taller than him but he still managed to keep his stealthy, rogue-like skills as he often popped up out of nowhere like he did just now. "Why are you walking?"
"I felt like it." He responded after walking around the nuisance and continuing on his path home. After a few steps he noticed that Brandon was following him so he stopped in his tracks and turned to him with an unimpressed look on his face. "Do you mind, Higsby?"
"Of course I do!" Brandon piped up happily. "I wasn't trying to stop you from going home or anything, I was just thinking that you needed some company so here I am! No need to shy away from social opportunity." Hoodsey just shrugged a little bit and continued walking with Higsby at his side. They were silent for a good four seconds before Brandon broke it, "Are you planning on going to prom?"
"No. I have no real need to go. I've already experienced it." He answered before looking at him. "Are you?"
"Oh yes. I am not missing the biggest bash in the school year but we all know the real prom is during the after party." He said happily. "Did you ever experience that?"
"Nah… We were too tired to go to the after party so we just took a quiet walk around the lake for some peace and quiet before leaving to go home."
"That's sooo….. boring." He stated with his nose crinkled up in disgust.
"I've never been the partying type. So it didn't appeal to me… or my date."
"If you tried it once than maybe you would change your mind. It's pretty fun and don't take this the wrong way or anything but you look like you need to have some."
Hoodsey just rolled his eyes with no notice from his unwanted tag along. "I think I'm good. I have no interest in it, believe me."
"I know but I'm just saying that you should try it at least once… or twice… or maybe a dozen times." He said with a light giggle. "Sooo, There is all this talk about colleges recently and I was wondering which school you picked. I understand that you got accepted by some really fantastic schools."
"…Yeah. All the schools I applied for accepted me." He answered feeling a little embarrassed about that fact. "I have chosen Berkley though.."
He glanced at Bandon and saw a very odd gleam in his eyes at that moment before he grinned, "OH! What a coincidence! I'm going there too!"
At that moment, He felt his future become dull and surely he noticed he had a dumbfounded look compared to Brandon's clearly excited face as he rambled about the possibilities and they have totally stopped walking again. He kinda felt like he had been slapped out of the blue. The worst part about this is that he couldn't turn down the school anymore since he had accepted the spot weeks ago and fully enrolled for fall. He couldn't just take it back for no good reason. He really would have loved to not know this information. Maybe then, they would have just lived separate lives on campus. Not now, He knew that Brandon would be right there next to him every step he took because that's what he does. This had to be a dream… or more like a nightmare and he would just wake up any minute. He closed his eyes for a second and reopened them just to see Brandon smiling at him. He looked ahead of them and they were just half a block to his house. "Uh.. Great! I-I'm going to go home. I have a ton of homework so I guess I'll see you later."
"Okay. Have a great evening, Rob." He said with a wiggle of his fingers as he crossed the street to continue on his path to his own home about five blocks away. Hoodsey cringed and shuddered as he pictured what was going to happen in the near future. Once that was out of his system, He hurried himself into his house and went straight to his room to check his emails.
"No, Seriously.. I think you shocked the hell out of him." Carl insisted to Blake as they took a walk around Central Park after they had finished their three course dinner. "At first sight, no one really expects you to sound so… authoritative."
Blake smiled a little and looked at the ground as they walked, "Looks can be deceiving. If I recall, I've been that way with you once or twice in the distant past."
"Yeah, but I never took you seriously." Carl dismissed bluntly but Blake shot him a light glare. "…Not that I don't now!" He recovered.
After a second Blake just smirked at him, "Ah, As a Gripling, I have to make myself clear when a crisis emerges so people will, in fact, take me seriously. Or else, I would just simply be a metaphorical doormat to any and all individuals I meet… I cannot have that happening."
Carl gave a short laugh, "You did that and then some."
"Well, of course. I am paying him so he has much to lose if he doesn't obey my orders." Blake said as he held his head high.
"You sure did show him."
Blake chortled, "Thank you, but what you saw was nothing. I've been known to get rather intense when the situation goes out of my control. I mean it has already but it could have been much, much worse than it was."
"Does this mean you have calmed down a little?" Carl asked with a sly smirk.
"I suppose I have. Just a bit." Blake said as he thought about it for a minute. "But only because you were so very persistent."
"I'm glad I could be of assistance." Carl said humbly as he lavishly bowed to Blake. In response he just playfully hit Carl's shoulder.
Once Carl stood up straight, Blake stood in front of him with a smirk of his own and swiped a rouge piece of hair from Carl's forehead, "Yes, well… If you don't mind, I know one other thing you could assist me with…"
"Oh really?" He responded with an arched eyebrow.
"Wow.." Carl muttered through his labored breath. He wiped his forehead before letting himself relax into the large mattress. "Twice in one week… The last time we had this type of opportunity was when your folks took that third honeymoon to Aspen last year." He turned and nuzzled his nose into the back of Blake's neck. "Be careful or else I will get used to this." He whispered.
Blake gave a short chuckle and turned to face Carl and he ran a hand through Carl's messy hair, "You will be able to do just that in a few months' time… Well.. Give a few days in between for rest, of course."
"I guess that's fair." Carl said with a sigh before giving Blake a short kiss before crawling out of the sheets and made his way into the bathroom of their hotel suite. He proceeded to start up the hot water in the over large shower. He stretched his limbs as he slowly inhaled the steam as it started to quickly fog up the room. Once he stepped into the hot water he was more relaxed than he had been all year and seriously, that was saying something. He soaked in the pouring water for a good ten minutes before he noticed the sound of a closing door.
"I just got off the phone with my personal stylist here in New York." He heard Blake's voice say from beyond the glass pane door before he opened the shower door himself and peeked through it. "His assistant will be here within the hour to drop off clean outfits for the both of us… May I join you?"
"Why, I would be insulted if you didn't, Blakey boy." Carl said in a light tone, this resulted in a small smirk from Blake before he stepped in. Carl reached over and turned on the shower head on the opposite side of the shower so they both could have hot water without shuffling around each other.
"Thank you."
"No problem. So what clothes am I going to be presented with? The last time you did this, you had me wear a dressy.. preppy get up." Carl mindlessly commented. Blake shot him an unimpressed glare almost like he had been insulted. "Not that it's bad or anything, I love that look on you." Carl said as he helped soak his partner's hair in the hot water. "It's just not me."
"Don't fret, Carl. I had made a rather detailed portfolio for you based on your personal.. rather casual style. I'm sure you will be pleased with the result since I had been more than specific with the style and color palette." He ran his delicate fingers over Carl's shoulders and chest before poking him in the bulk of his chest. "Just don't complain if it seems a little more stylish from your usual look… We are dealing with the more fashionable of brands. That is the reason of having a personal stylist after all."
Carl just rolled his eyes and smirked before washing off the soap he had lathered on, "All that matters is that the clothes are clean, I guess. I can't complain much since you are taking very good care of me."
"I shall say the same. You recognized how stressed I was and you took care of that fairly quickly… Thank you for talking me into this and forcing me to relax a little."
"It was nothing." Carl shrugged as he softly spread the soap over Blake's back while he was focusing on his hair washing ritual.
"Excuse me but I beg to differ on that notion." Blake said in a sharper tone as he glanced at Carl with a raised eyebrow. "It surely was not 'just nothing'. I am touched to know that you can recognize when I need to take a step back, I can only hope that I am able to do the same for you when the time comes."
"It's already been done, believe it or not. Many times actually. The fact is, we have known each other for most of our lives. It's pretty easy to notice when one of us is not really their normal selves." Carl proceeded to massage Blake's lean back with just enough pressure to demand those muscles to relax.
Blake released a lengthy sigh after he had rinsed his hair, "How long are you going to continue spoiling me, pray tell?"
"Let's see…" Carl said softly in mock-thought as he took down the removable shower head from his side and he rinsed off the soap from Blake's back. "I guess it depends on how long you would like me to stick around." Blake said nothing but he did turn around with a smile that made Carl melt inside and make his skin erupt in goosebumps all at the same time, leaving him dazed as he gazed into those crystal clear eyes only to be thrown into that familiar, other-worldly dimension as Blake placed a soft kiss on Carl's lips.
