When I arrive at Blake's house, I walk in without knocking. As I wander through the quiet hallway, I enter the kitchen and find Blake crouched over the kitchen bench. I creep forwards and notice the array of paper scarred across the length of the table.
"What are you working on?" I question.
Blake flinches back and then begins to scoop up the paper. Some of the pages go flying into the air and one lands on the floor by my foot. I quickly retrieve it before Blake notices it.
My eyes look over the page and I gasp when I realise it's not just paper, but in fact, a flyer for a house on the market. I lean against the bench and find the rest of the papers are the same but different houses of all shapes and sizes. Some with pools, others with extra rooms, or bathrooms.
"You're looking at houses?" I ask.
"Maybe." He sheepishly smiles. "I've been hunting high and low trying to find the perfect place, but with no luck."
Blake spreads the papers out and then steps to the side so that I can see them.
"Really?" I gasp. "I'm impressed, Blake."
"I just can't find anything I want," he explains. "They're either too small, far away, or not in the right area."
I look over the suburbs and nod my head in agreeance.
"Let's not move to somewhere we might get stabbed," I say.
"Definitely not happening, don't worry!"
Blake gathers the flyers and then tosses them into the bin. The lid clanks shut as he takes his foot off the pedal. He shrugs his shoulders and then walks towards me.
"We'll have to live here until something works out." He sighs unhappily.
"That's okay." I smile. "Maybe it's not the right time?"
"Yeah, and maybe it would be easier to build a downstairs bathroom? Or I can take over my parents' house?" He laughs.
"I don't think your parents will like that." I chuckle.
"Eh." He shrugs. "I'm sure they wouldn't notice if I sneak back into my old bedroom. London could take Jude's room."
"Or they could keep their house and you could start off with a training potty for London?"
"Thankfully, I've still got time to find a house."
"I'm sure things will work out, don't worry until then." I smile.
"Okay." He kisses my forehead.
Blake takes my hand and we walk outside to prepare for the gathering. I grab the box of new inflatable pool toys while Blake starts cleaning the barbecue in preparation for lunch. I take a seat on the grass and get to work inflating the watermelon slice floaty.
By the time I finish blowing the second inflatable toy up, the crunching of pebbles can be heard as Kyle and Charlotte arrive.
Kyle goes to the barbecue to help Blake while I strip out of my shirt and shorts in favour of jumping into the pool. Charlotte takes off her maxi dress and then quickly follows. She grabs the inflatable unicorn ring and plops herself in it.
We float around for a couple of minutes and then Ben and Axel show up around the same time. Ben goes to great the boys while Axel takes his shirt off and jumps into the pool. Water splashes across the pavement, and the after waves manages to knock Charlotte off her unicorn.
"Axel," she yells when she resurfaces.
"Ops?" He laughs.
Ben takes a run up and then flings himself in the air. Charlotte tries to use the floaty to shield herself from the splash, but it does little to nothing to prevent it.
"Are you done?" she questions. "I'd like to float around on my unicorn."
"Sure." Ben nods.
With a happy smile, Charlotte gets back on the floaty and shakes her wet sunnies off before putting them back on.
A cheeky smile overcomes Ben's face which makes me worried. He takes a deep breath and then easily submerges under the water. I watch as he swims under Charlotte's floaty before shooting upright.
Her arms flail through the air and she falls back into the water. Charlotte surfaces and throws her sunglasses on the grass.
"Kyle," she screams.
I watch as Kyle bites his lip to stop himself from laughing.
"Benny boo, don't be mean to my Char!" he scold.
Ben shoots him a firm death glare before taking Charlotte's unicorn and paddling off with a smug smile. She flicks water in Ben's direction, but it doesn't seem to faze him.
"Whatever, I liked the watermelon one better." With a flick of her wet hair, she paddles over to grab the other floaty from the grass.
Charlotte climbs on and gets comfortable. One of her arms hangs off while she drapes the other one over her face to block the sun.
While Ben spins around on his unicorn floaty, Axel swims over and easily pushes him off. Instead of handing it back to Charlotte, he takes it to himself. He sits on the floaty and pokes his tongue out to the pair of them cheekily.
"Kiss my ass," he yells.
"Gladly." Ben winks.
"Be careful with this one," I teasingly warn Axel. "He's always up to no good."
"Oh, what happened?" Axel curiously asks.
"I can show you," Ben offers with a smug grin.
"Do tell, I am intrigued by your answer."
Ben slowly creeps towards Axel's floaty, then motions for him to come closer. Excitement flairs in Axel's eyes as he leans over the floaty to get closer to Ben. A smile spreads on Ben's face as he hooks his arm around Axel's neck and turns him under the water.
Ben triumphantly claims the floaty and watches Axel flailing under the depths of the water.
When Axel resurfaces, he looks at me and frowns, "You were right."
"See." I laugh.
* * * * *
Blake and Kyle cook the food and put it inside. And then I see Kyle run out of the house and leap into the pool. When he surfaces, Kyle grabs Charlotte's foot and tugs her off the watermelon slice.
Charlotte screams with frustration and then throws the floaty onto the grass.
"Why can't I enjoy anything today?" she grumbles.
"I'm sorry, baby." Kyle wraps his arms around Charlotte's waist and kisses her cheek. She pushes him away and paddles off to sulk.
Blake's entrance isn't as grand as the others – he slips into the deep end and then swims over to the step I'm sitting on in the shallow section.
"The food smells great," I compliment.
"Tastes even better," he replies.
"I'm sure it does." I smile.
Blake takes a seat beside me and wraps his arm around my waist. I lean against this chest and continue to watch the rest of them swim around. Eventually, Ben rolls off the floaty and then looks at everyone with boredom.
"Let's play a game," shouts Ben.
"I bet we either end up getting naked or playing spin the bottle again," I whisper to Blake.
"I like the idea of the first one . . . but alone with you," replies Blake.
"Oh you." I shove Blake off the step so that he falls into the water.
"How about we wrestle? Man against man or couple against couple?" suggests Axel.
"Man against man," I second. "Because I don't want to play this."
"Fine, no girls then," Ben easily dismisses.
Kyle and Axel pair up leaving Blake and Ben to form a team. Kyle and Blake are at the bottom while Jude and Axel climb onto their shoulders to wrestle. Blake easily props Ben up while Kyle's slim physique struggles to keep Axel muscular body in the air.
It should be the other way around, but perhaps Kyle's broad shoulders will be able to even things out?
"Come on, start fighting," shouts Charlotte, already very enthused about the game.
"Go, Ben and Blake," I cheer. "You got this!"
Blake and Kyle walk towards each other while Axel and Ben get their game faces on.
"You're going done," shouts Axel.
"Blake and I are champions at this, mate." Ben smuggle grins.
"We are the undefeated champions!" seconds Blake.
"You're a bunch of bloody pansies at the moment," shouts Charlotte.
"Hush child," Kyle shoots back.
While Kyle is distracted, Ben grabs Axel's arm. The pair hold on tightly as Kyle and Blake start running back. Ben shakes Axel's arms which sets Kyle off balance. As he falls, Ben let's go of Axel's arms and watches them fall into the water.
"Woohoo, you go baby!" I yell.
"Better luck next time, boys," says Charlotte.
"Next round?" asks Kyle.
"I'm out." I raise my hands in defence. "Food is calling my name."
"Same," agrees Blake.
"How about you, Char? Wanna play?" asks Ben.
"Sure." She nods. "Someone needs to kick your butt!"
Charlotte joins the boys while Blake and I get out of the pool. We head inside and I immediately get a whiff of beautifully season cooked meat. My body goes to wander over to the food, but I tear myself away and force myself towards the stairs.
"I'm going to go shower because I feel gross."
"Okay," he replies.
Blake follows me upstairs and into his bedroom. He wraps one arm around my waist and kisses my cheek.
"What are you doing?" I ask. "Because if this is you wanting to get into the shower with me, it isn't happening."
"I want to talk," he says. "I'm always afraid you'll leave. After Ivan's death, I felt you slipping away and I couldn't handle it. I thought that if I made you leave, maybe it wouldn't hurt so much? It did, it hurt too much and I regretted everything I ever said."
"I'm sorry for always leaving. This time around, I promise to communicate more. I will always need my space, but I can make the effort to keep you in the loop," I reply.
"Take the time, just promise to boomerang back to me!" He smiles.
"I want to give you something." Blake walks towards his drawer and grabs something from the top draw.
"I know this tradition is old-fashioned, but I want you to have something that has meaning," he explains. "My parents gave me this for my birthday and I used to wear it every day before London." Blake's palm opens to reveal a thick silver ring.
"What are you saying?" I stutter.
"It's not to possess or own but to show you my commitment to our relationship. No matter what, there's no way I'm letting you go because like a circle, there's no end." Blake grabs my hand and slips the ring on to my middle finger. "One day I'm going to marry you, but we're going to continue working on ourselves until we're ready."
"One broken hole at a time." I smile.
"Yes," he replies.
"I love the idea, but." I flick my hand down and the ring slips off and falls into my palm. "It's a bit big for me."
"You know, you could put it on a necklace." He blushes.
"I really like the idea, thank you, Blake."
"About that shower." Blake laughs.
"If you laugh at my dancing skills, you're out!" I warn.
"Then I promise to be on my best behaviour."
"Okay then." I grin.
Blake and I walk into the bathroom and strip out of our clothes. He steps in first to turn the water on while I put my shower time playlist on. Blake laughs at the first song, but I shoot him a large which seems to quickly shut him up.
When I get in the shower, I start bopping along to the music as I grab the shampoo.
"You'd like this a lot more if you just danced, Blake," I say.
"Like this?" Blake awkwardly bobs his head, then wiggles his hips.
"It's perfect." I smile.
"Maybe I'll have to make this a regular thing?" he asks. "Playlist and all."
"It's the best," I say.
As we lather up in vanilla scented soap, I feel our past mistakes slipping away as the water from the shower disappeared down the drain. Like a crack in a tile, it wouldn't be gone forever, but it could be chipped out and replaced in the favour for something new.
Really want Ben and Axel to be a thing, anyone else?