A/N: a couple days are skipped. Nothing important happens.
Saturday had finally come for Blayne. The first week of school was over. She had slept three hours longer than she does on school days. She was actually refreshed and happy when she woke up. But she couldn't help but think. About everything. Sully. Wanting to cut it off with him. And finding another guy. And then she found herself thinking about Craig. 'What? How did he slip into my mind?' She shook it off and went to take a shower. She skipped down he stairs with a smile on her face.
"Hey Katie. Mom home?"
"No, she went to pick up breakfast."
"Cool. Well I'm going to got Craig's house, is that okay? Are you going to be alright alone for about ten minutes?"
"Mhhm." Mumbles the child called Katie.
"Okay, I'll be there all day, tell my mom that."
"Kay, byeeeee!!!" yells Katie as she watches her sister leave, then she goes back to coloring. Blayne had gone to Craig's an hour or so earlier than everyone was supposed to be there. She had her camera bag on her shoulder with, of course, her camera in it. She walked inside the Jeremiah house. She didn't even knock anymore. It was like her second home.
"Hey Ang!" She said, spotting the little girl on the couch watching TV.
"Hi Blayne." Angie said, sleepily. Joey came out from the kitchen to see who had come inside.
"Oh, Blayne, hi! Craig's in the shower. You guys filming today?"
"Yep!"
"Well, you can just…hang around. Like I said, he's in the shower. There's extra food from breakfast if you want it."
"Thanks for the offer, Joey, but no thanks. I'm going to go put my stuff in Craig's room."
"Okay." Joey smiled. He liked Blayne. He always had. She was a good friend to Craig. And she was polite to him and Angela. Even Caitlin, when she was around. Blayne skipped steps as she walked up them, and went into Craig's room. She set down her bag and the tripod she had been carrying by his desk. She flopped down on his soft, mushy bed. Putting her hands under her head, she looked up at the ceiling. She wasn't there long when she heard Craig coming. She propped herself up on her elbows so he wasn't too shocked to see her there. After all, he could miss her if she was just laying there. Craig was coming into his room, singing a song.
"And when the smoke, seems to cl - WHAT THE HELL?!?!" He yelled when he saw Blayne. She had the same reaction, only silent. She jumped off the bed and put her hand over her eyes. Craig only had a towel wrapped around his waist and he was sopping wet. She ran past him.
"I'll be in the garage." She almost tripped on the stairs because she was still covering her eyes. She ran past Angie and straight into the garage, throwing the door closed behind her. She flopped down on the garage. 'Whoa. Totally…weird moment there. Craig. Naked. And….why aren't I saying ew? Maybe…maybe he looked really hot totally wet and almost nude. Oh um…no way. Nope. I certainly CERTAINLY don't think that. Nope. Not one bit. Not at all. Nada. I'm not allowed to. So…nope…errgghhh'
She looked around. The garage was set up for filming. Craig had moved everything out of sight as to not to distract people who watch the video. Blayne looked at the 'stage'. It would look good at an angle. She looked over at the guitar rack. There was currently an acoustic, an electric, and a bass. All by Fender. 'Duh'. She thought. 'Who would get a guitar form anywhere else?' She picked up the acoustic. But put it back right away. She wondered what she would do for the Talent show. She had signed up, but as a solo. 'So had Craig, come to think of it. Which was weird. He has a band he could use.' Oh well. She sat back down and leaned back. The sofa was so old it almost swallowed her. Then Craig came into the garage. This time, fully clothed.
"Oh, hey."
"hey. Sorry I took so long."
"it's okay."
Neither of them planned on mentioning what had happened earlier. Craig reached behind him and grabbed the acoustic Fender, handing it to her.
"What?"
"You're in the talent show alone, right?"
"Right…." Blayne wondered where this was going.
"Singing and playing, right?"
"Right…."
"Play me what you're doing!"
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
Blayne took the guitar from Craig and played the song he had caught her playing a couple of days ago. He was amazed by the end. It was unlike anything he had ever heard. It made her seem different. More open. It was a side of her he rarely got to see.
"Impressive." was all he could say, even though impressive didn't come close to cover it. Blayne didn't say anything, she just handed the guitar back to Craig.
"Now play me something. Play me what YOUR doing for the talent show."
"sigh alright."
He started strumming…. "You are the reason of, you are the one I love, and will forever you give illumination. You stare at me at night, you give me such a fright, you wander my mind all the way to the destination. It's all because of you and your temptation. I wanted you to know that you're my inspiration…." He continued singing, he was staring right at her as he did. And she was looking back at him. 'Is the song about me?' She thought. 'Nah. Craig wouldn't….nah'. She continued to listen in awe. This was blowing her mind.
"You're part of us all, I curl up like a ball, I take you twice a day on my medication…" Not knowing, Blayne instinctively moved her hand to Craig's thigh, being so touched by his words. He looked up at her. She must've have missed the longing in his eyes, because she drew her hand back. Or maybe she did see it, and that's why she drew her hand back. Craig had stopped playing.
'Oh, man. What am I thinking? What is she thinking? What are we doing?' He thought, very confused. The same thing was going through her mind. 'Why did I touch him? The way he looked at me…'
As if on cue, Marco and Ellie burst through the door that lead outside, talking about Ellie's bad people skills.
"Hey guys! Where are Spinner and Jimmy?" Marco asked, looking for them.
"Not here. Obviously." Blayne answered. She stood up. "I'm going to go get my camera." She disappeared into the house. Ellie took in the quick exit Blayne had made and looked at Craig's posture. Tense. Something was up.
"Bad time or something?" she asked.
"What? No. Fine." Craig said, a little…more than a little, distracted.
Ellie raised an eyebrow at him, but left it at that. Blayne quickly returned with camera and tripod on hand.
"Okay Blayne, so where do I go?"
"Well, since you're taking Jimmy and Spinner, you stand over here, off to the right, and can move to the left if you want a straight on shot. I will be standing off to the left, and might move to the right or middle if I want a straight on shot of Marco or Craig. That okay?"
"Yep." Ellie went to where Blayne said to stand, and looked through her camera for the best angles and shots. Marco looked at his watch.
"Where are Jimmy and Spinner?"
"Why, got a hot date?" Ellie teased.
"Speak of the devil." Craig commented as Spin and Jimmy finally showed up.
"Okay, let's get going right away." Blayne said.
"Whoa, we just got here!" Spinner objected.
"What, do you need a break from walking ten feet from the car to the garage?" Blayne shot back. Spinner looked at his feet, defeated.
"That's what I thought. Ok, places!" Blayne had decided not to use her tripod, since she would be moving around, so she put it on the ground and moved over to the left. She and Ellie turned their cameras on, hit record, and Blayne signaled the boys to start playing. At first Blayne stayed where she was, getting shots of Craig gripping the mic stand, opening his mouth wide to yell 'yeah', and Marco strumming on the guitar. She got close ups of his hand too, she found that really cool. Then she decided to move to the middle, to get a straight on shot of Craig. She stayed there longer than she wanted. She quickly had to move and get a straight on shot of Marco then run back to the middle to get a shot of Craig as he finished up the song.
"Okay, that was good!" She said.
"Ellie, did you get enough?"
"Yep." Ellie took out her tape and handed it to Blayne.
"Cool. I'll load both of these onto my computer for editing so we can re-use them tomorrow."
"Alright." Ellie agreed.
Everyone stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to do next.
"Let's go get some pizza!" Spinner suggested.
"Always suggesting food. But I agree, this time. I'm hungry." Blayne told everyone. They all kind of nodded their heads in agreement, and out the door they went, headed for The Dot.
It wasn't very busy when they got there, it was barely past noon, and people didn't seem to really go there earlier than 1:00. They grabbed a booth by the window, Craig, Blaine and Jimmy on one side, Ellie, Marco and Spinner on the other. They ordered six cokes and two medium pizzas. Every now and then someone started talking about something that didn't really matter, so everyone pretty much was focused on eating. When the pizza was finished, Blayne kind of just sat there and looked out the window. She sighed. Craig looked at her.
"Do you wanna go?"
"Yeah, I kind of do. Sorry for being such a party pooper, guys."
"It's alright." Marco said, with half comfort.
"Yeah, it's been a long day." Jimmy agreed.
Marco and Craig scooted out so Blayne could up and leave. She waved and headed for the door. Craig stood there for a sec, looking randomly at the table and then back at Blayne.
"You know what, I'm going to go too. See ya." Craig hurried out the door to catch up Blayne.
"What's up with them?" Spinner asked, oblivious to the obvious.
"What do you think." Ellie said, sarcastically.
Craig grabbed Blayne's shoulder.
"What? Did I forget something?" She asked, wondering why he was with her.
"Um, no, I just…wanted to leave too."
"Oh, ok." Blayne put her hands in her pockets and starred at her feet as she walked.
"Look, I'm sorry about earlier, when I was in your room and -"
"Don't worry about it. Easy mistake." Craig didn't want her to finish her sentence, it was just so awkward.
Blayne laughed at the thought of it, Craig did too.
"So, um, when did you write that song? The one your doing for the talent show?" Craig enquired.
"Awhile ago…."
"What made you write it?"
"I don't know. I was bored, and was full of inspiration…" She didn't want to tell him. She didn't want to say it was about him. That would be weird.
"Speaking of inspiration, what about you? I really like that song. It's really clever. Where did it come from?"
"Oh, you know me, I'm always writing songs…."
"But that one was different, Craig. And um…it's a little unclear."
"Really? What part?"
"Well…what's it about?"
Craig laughed. "I thought that was a given. It's about my inspiration. Hence the title of the song."
"And what's your inspiration, Craig Manning?" She held her hand up to his face as if holding a microphone, she grinned. He stopped walking and turned to her. He pushed her hand away.
"This is where I get off." Blayne looked past him. His house was behind them.
"Oh…ok. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye."
Craig started going in the door, and said barely above a whisper, "It's you."
"What?" Blayne said turning around, thinking she heard him say something.
Craig panicked. He was sure she wasn't able to hear that.
"Nothing." He smiled. She smiled back, waved, and walked the rest of the way home.
A/N: Both song lyrics Craig and Blayne sing with guitar are from songs by the band "Mind the Gap"
Saturday had finally come for Blayne. The first week of school was over. She had slept three hours longer than she does on school days. She was actually refreshed and happy when she woke up. But she couldn't help but think. About everything. Sully. Wanting to cut it off with him. And finding another guy. And then she found herself thinking about Craig. 'What? How did he slip into my mind?' She shook it off and went to take a shower. She skipped down he stairs with a smile on her face.
"Hey Katie. Mom home?"
"No, she went to pick up breakfast."
"Cool. Well I'm going to got Craig's house, is that okay? Are you going to be alright alone for about ten minutes?"
"Mhhm." Mumbles the child called Katie.
"Okay, I'll be there all day, tell my mom that."
"Kay, byeeeee!!!" yells Katie as she watches her sister leave, then she goes back to coloring. Blayne had gone to Craig's an hour or so earlier than everyone was supposed to be there. She had her camera bag on her shoulder with, of course, her camera in it. She walked inside the Jeremiah house. She didn't even knock anymore. It was like her second home.
"Hey Ang!" She said, spotting the little girl on the couch watching TV.
"Hi Blayne." Angie said, sleepily. Joey came out from the kitchen to see who had come inside.
"Oh, Blayne, hi! Craig's in the shower. You guys filming today?"
"Yep!"
"Well, you can just…hang around. Like I said, he's in the shower. There's extra food from breakfast if you want it."
"Thanks for the offer, Joey, but no thanks. I'm going to go put my stuff in Craig's room."
"Okay." Joey smiled. He liked Blayne. He always had. She was a good friend to Craig. And she was polite to him and Angela. Even Caitlin, when she was around. Blayne skipped steps as she walked up them, and went into Craig's room. She set down her bag and the tripod she had been carrying by his desk. She flopped down on his soft, mushy bed. Putting her hands under her head, she looked up at the ceiling. She wasn't there long when she heard Craig coming. She propped herself up on her elbows so he wasn't too shocked to see her there. After all, he could miss her if she was just laying there. Craig was coming into his room, singing a song.
"And when the smoke, seems to cl - WHAT THE HELL?!?!" He yelled when he saw Blayne. She had the same reaction, only silent. She jumped off the bed and put her hand over her eyes. Craig only had a towel wrapped around his waist and he was sopping wet. She ran past him.
"I'll be in the garage." She almost tripped on the stairs because she was still covering her eyes. She ran past Angie and straight into the garage, throwing the door closed behind her. She flopped down on the garage. 'Whoa. Totally…weird moment there. Craig. Naked. And….why aren't I saying ew? Maybe…maybe he looked really hot totally wet and almost nude. Oh um…no way. Nope. I certainly CERTAINLY don't think that. Nope. Not one bit. Not at all. Nada. I'm not allowed to. So…nope…errgghhh'
She looked around. The garage was set up for filming. Craig had moved everything out of sight as to not to distract people who watch the video. Blayne looked at the 'stage'. It would look good at an angle. She looked over at the guitar rack. There was currently an acoustic, an electric, and a bass. All by Fender. 'Duh'. She thought. 'Who would get a guitar form anywhere else?' She picked up the acoustic. But put it back right away. She wondered what she would do for the Talent show. She had signed up, but as a solo. 'So had Craig, come to think of it. Which was weird. He has a band he could use.' Oh well. She sat back down and leaned back. The sofa was so old it almost swallowed her. Then Craig came into the garage. This time, fully clothed.
"Oh, hey."
"hey. Sorry I took so long."
"it's okay."
Neither of them planned on mentioning what had happened earlier. Craig reached behind him and grabbed the acoustic Fender, handing it to her.
"What?"
"You're in the talent show alone, right?"
"Right…." Blayne wondered where this was going.
"Singing and playing, right?"
"Right…."
"Play me what you're doing!"
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
Blayne took the guitar from Craig and played the song he had caught her playing a couple of days ago. He was amazed by the end. It was unlike anything he had ever heard. It made her seem different. More open. It was a side of her he rarely got to see.
"Impressive." was all he could say, even though impressive didn't come close to cover it. Blayne didn't say anything, she just handed the guitar back to Craig.
"Now play me something. Play me what YOUR doing for the talent show."
"sigh alright."
He started strumming…. "You are the reason of, you are the one I love, and will forever you give illumination. You stare at me at night, you give me such a fright, you wander my mind all the way to the destination. It's all because of you and your temptation. I wanted you to know that you're my inspiration…." He continued singing, he was staring right at her as he did. And she was looking back at him. 'Is the song about me?' She thought. 'Nah. Craig wouldn't….nah'. She continued to listen in awe. This was blowing her mind.
"You're part of us all, I curl up like a ball, I take you twice a day on my medication…" Not knowing, Blayne instinctively moved her hand to Craig's thigh, being so touched by his words. He looked up at her. She must've have missed the longing in his eyes, because she drew her hand back. Or maybe she did see it, and that's why she drew her hand back. Craig had stopped playing.
'Oh, man. What am I thinking? What is she thinking? What are we doing?' He thought, very confused. The same thing was going through her mind. 'Why did I touch him? The way he looked at me…'
As if on cue, Marco and Ellie burst through the door that lead outside, talking about Ellie's bad people skills.
"Hey guys! Where are Spinner and Jimmy?" Marco asked, looking for them.
"Not here. Obviously." Blayne answered. She stood up. "I'm going to go get my camera." She disappeared into the house. Ellie took in the quick exit Blayne had made and looked at Craig's posture. Tense. Something was up.
"Bad time or something?" she asked.
"What? No. Fine." Craig said, a little…more than a little, distracted.
Ellie raised an eyebrow at him, but left it at that. Blayne quickly returned with camera and tripod on hand.
"Okay Blayne, so where do I go?"
"Well, since you're taking Jimmy and Spinner, you stand over here, off to the right, and can move to the left if you want a straight on shot. I will be standing off to the left, and might move to the right or middle if I want a straight on shot of Marco or Craig. That okay?"
"Yep." Ellie went to where Blayne said to stand, and looked through her camera for the best angles and shots. Marco looked at his watch.
"Where are Jimmy and Spinner?"
"Why, got a hot date?" Ellie teased.
"Speak of the devil." Craig commented as Spin and Jimmy finally showed up.
"Okay, let's get going right away." Blayne said.
"Whoa, we just got here!" Spinner objected.
"What, do you need a break from walking ten feet from the car to the garage?" Blayne shot back. Spinner looked at his feet, defeated.
"That's what I thought. Ok, places!" Blayne had decided not to use her tripod, since she would be moving around, so she put it on the ground and moved over to the left. She and Ellie turned their cameras on, hit record, and Blayne signaled the boys to start playing. At first Blayne stayed where she was, getting shots of Craig gripping the mic stand, opening his mouth wide to yell 'yeah', and Marco strumming on the guitar. She got close ups of his hand too, she found that really cool. Then she decided to move to the middle, to get a straight on shot of Craig. She stayed there longer than she wanted. She quickly had to move and get a straight on shot of Marco then run back to the middle to get a shot of Craig as he finished up the song.
"Okay, that was good!" She said.
"Ellie, did you get enough?"
"Yep." Ellie took out her tape and handed it to Blayne.
"Cool. I'll load both of these onto my computer for editing so we can re-use them tomorrow."
"Alright." Ellie agreed.
Everyone stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to do next.
"Let's go get some pizza!" Spinner suggested.
"Always suggesting food. But I agree, this time. I'm hungry." Blayne told everyone. They all kind of nodded their heads in agreement, and out the door they went, headed for The Dot.
It wasn't very busy when they got there, it was barely past noon, and people didn't seem to really go there earlier than 1:00. They grabbed a booth by the window, Craig, Blaine and Jimmy on one side, Ellie, Marco and Spinner on the other. They ordered six cokes and two medium pizzas. Every now and then someone started talking about something that didn't really matter, so everyone pretty much was focused on eating. When the pizza was finished, Blayne kind of just sat there and looked out the window. She sighed. Craig looked at her.
"Do you wanna go?"
"Yeah, I kind of do. Sorry for being such a party pooper, guys."
"It's alright." Marco said, with half comfort.
"Yeah, it's been a long day." Jimmy agreed.
Marco and Craig scooted out so Blayne could up and leave. She waved and headed for the door. Craig stood there for a sec, looking randomly at the table and then back at Blayne.
"You know what, I'm going to go too. See ya." Craig hurried out the door to catch up Blayne.
"What's up with them?" Spinner asked, oblivious to the obvious.
"What do you think." Ellie said, sarcastically.
Craig grabbed Blayne's shoulder.
"What? Did I forget something?" She asked, wondering why he was with her.
"Um, no, I just…wanted to leave too."
"Oh, ok." Blayne put her hands in her pockets and starred at her feet as she walked.
"Look, I'm sorry about earlier, when I was in your room and -"
"Don't worry about it. Easy mistake." Craig didn't want her to finish her sentence, it was just so awkward.
Blayne laughed at the thought of it, Craig did too.
"So, um, when did you write that song? The one your doing for the talent show?" Craig enquired.
"Awhile ago…."
"What made you write it?"
"I don't know. I was bored, and was full of inspiration…" She didn't want to tell him. She didn't want to say it was about him. That would be weird.
"Speaking of inspiration, what about you? I really like that song. It's really clever. Where did it come from?"
"Oh, you know me, I'm always writing songs…."
"But that one was different, Craig. And um…it's a little unclear."
"Really? What part?"
"Well…what's it about?"
Craig laughed. "I thought that was a given. It's about my inspiration. Hence the title of the song."
"And what's your inspiration, Craig Manning?" She held her hand up to his face as if holding a microphone, she grinned. He stopped walking and turned to her. He pushed her hand away.
"This is where I get off." Blayne looked past him. His house was behind them.
"Oh…ok. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye."
Craig started going in the door, and said barely above a whisper, "It's you."
"What?" Blayne said turning around, thinking she heard him say something.
Craig panicked. He was sure she wasn't able to hear that.
"Nothing." He smiled. She smiled back, waved, and walked the rest of the way home.
A/N: Both song lyrics Craig and Blayne sing with guitar are from songs by the band "Mind the Gap"