"Okay, okay. We really should get back to working on this song Blake." Blair laughed through the phone. Blake stared back at her as they continued their face-time.
"Sing what we have back to me." He told her. They had been working on the song that he had assisted on for over an hour but they were really making some headway.
The nerves in Blair's stomach bubbled like champagne in her stomach, it made her feel anxious and excited all at once. She wasn't even completely sure why she was nervous. Blake had heard her sing plenty of times before at this point but this time felt different somehow.
She took a sip of her water and sat up straight, tucking a piece of her hair, that had fallen from her bun, behind her ear as she opened her mouth and began to sing.
Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn.
Shake it out. And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back so shake him off.
"Damn." He said, clearly impressed and doing nothing to hide it. "You're gonna blow up after this tour. I better enjoy all this time I'm getting you to myself because once the world hear's you, you're gonna be far too busy for little old me."
"Haha, stop. You flatter me way too much." She giggled, completely blandished by his compliment.
"I'm serious! You're so good Blair. It's like you don't even know how talented you are, which honestly just makes it better because you're not an arrogant bitch about it." His words were a less eloquent than most but she knew he was paying her another compliment.
Blair tilted her had just a hair to the side. "You're really just a big softy aren't you, Blake Everett." she smiled, leaning back on her bed and holding her phone above her head. She was flirting with him, heavily but he didn't seem to mind.
"Don't tell the press," he chortled. "My bad boy image will be ruined." He feigned concern, pressing his hand against his chest as his mouth dropped open.
"Why does everyone think of you so negatively?" She grew serious suddenly and the playful look fell from Blake's face. "It's like the person they talk about in those articles is someone else, someone I've never met. It's not you."
He was quiet for a minute, staring off into space like she has learned he did when he was looking for the perfect words.
"It didn't used to be." He said finally. His eyebrows rising as he frowned and dropped his head so she could no longer see his expressions on her screen. "After my dad died, that's when everything was really just beginning to take off for the band. I was just so, so, angry. Like, I was angry at God or whoever is out there, the Navy, him for enlisting. Angry that he was going to miss everything. I was just angry at the world and everything in it." He sighed but then kept going. "To top all of that off, I had been given this platform. This very public fucking platform where I was in the spotlight and everyone just got to watch as I went on an unexplained path of self destruction." He paused and raised his head up so that he was looking at her again. "I didn't want my dad's death to be a public thing, it was just too personal and I was too hurt. I didn't want to talk about it so I held it all in. I leaned a lot on my girlfriend at the time and when she let me down...I just lost it."
"Lost what?" Blair asked softly.
He was quiet again for a long time, contemplative. "I lost my ability to believe that the world could be good. That there were things that existed for other reasons apart from hurting me. You have to understand that at that point in my life it was like I couldn't catch a break. One shit thing after another until my whole belief in anything good was just...gone."
"We can talk about something else if you want." She said quietly as he closed his eyes.
"No, it's fine. I think it's good, really. Talking about everything. I don't know what it is about you Blair but I like talking to you. I've never felt like I could share this part of my life with anyone else. Especially so quickly. You know more of my secrets than even my ex did. Just promise you're not gonna like turn on me and go spread all my darkest, deepest shit to the tabloids."
"I would never, Bla-"
"I'm kidding Blair. I trust you." He told her earnestly.
She looked at the man she was coming to know through the screen, his green eyes locked on hers.
"There's a little bit more. I was drinking, heavily, and I was generally an asshole to women. It's not a period of my life I'm particularly proud of and it's not the person who I want to be, but I can't change the past. The press seems determined to keep me as a villain. As that particular very fucking hurt version of myself and I just have to keep doing my best to be better. It's been a lot of small steps but recently those steps have seemed easier than ever. Eventually the truth will come around."
"You're not a bad guy, Blake. You know that right?"
There was no way to ignore the way his throat worked as he grit his teeth and blinked quickly for a moment. "Thanks Blair. That means more to me than you know. The Blake you know isn't a bad guy but he's definitely been one before. I'm doing my best to keep this version of him around."
She heard the sound of piano keys from his side of the line, sweet a melodic, and she assumed that was the end of that particular conversation for the night.
She loved when he opened up to her, when he made himself vulnerable. It was in those moments she truly felt like she knew him. Those were the times that she got to see a side of him that only a few people were lucky enough to know. To the world he portrayed this hard and rough exterior but he had a kind heart she was learning more about each day and it was that same kind heart that had Blake Everett working his way into hers.
And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around
All of his questions, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground. So I like to keep my issues drawn but it's always darkest before the dawn.
He looked to her through the phone after he finished and she smiled. "It's perfect."
"I feel like we're done with it now. We had the ending we wanted. Just need to get in the booth tomorrow and finish it off."
"I can't believe we're gonna have a song together." She couldn't hide her enthusiasm.
"Me either." He reached backwards to scratch at the nape of his neck. "I —uh. I'm not big on collaborations."
"No shit, you've never done one." She teased.
"To be fair, neither have you." He smirked.
Defending herself she shot back, "Yeah and I have about five weeks in the industry, you have five years!"
"Details, baby, details."
Blair didn't say anything, but her breath caught in her throat when he called her baby. She couldn't read anything into it. Surely it was just a slip up, a phrase that meant nothing even though she would spend the whole night overthinking its meaning. They were friends sure, but they'd really only just met. Even so, she couldn't help the way his words had made her feel.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow at the studio at nine?" She asked him, trying to maintain her composure.
"Sounds good. Plan on a long day and staying until we're done. I'll post mate us coffee."
"Okay. I'll see you then. Night, Blake."
"Goodnight, Blair." He said. "Shit, wait!" The rushed nature of his words stopped her. "Before you go, my mom wanted me to ask if you have plans for Christmas."
"Um, well...not really." She admitted, her face reddening in embarrassment.
"I thought that might be the case with your parents and all. You can come to San Diego with me." She went to protest but he held a hand up. "Don't start with me, you're doing it. No one should spend Christmas alone. My mom will kill me if I let you. So, Momma Everett insists, and you can't say no to her. Bye!" He rushed out the words, ending the call before she even had time to protest.
Not that she would have. She hadn't gotten to be a part of a family for the holidays in three years. Only vaguely did she even remember telling him about her parents but he must have remembered. She fell asleep dreaming of that holiday weekend and what it would hold.
•
"I'm shitting myself." Blair said glancing over in Blake's direction as he drove them through the streets of San Diego. They were only moments away from his Mom's house according to him and as excited as Blair had been for this, now that she was moments away from meeting his family she was panicking.
"Calm down, B. It's gonna be fine, they're excited to meet you. They've heard a lot about you the past month."
There was a giddiness that filled Blair's chest when he mentioned that his family knew that she existed, and when he called her by the nickname he had started using for her. "I'm excited to meet them too, and to not be alone for the holidays."
Blake frowned, but recovered quickly, at the thought of the gorgeous girl beside him spending Christmas alone. He vowed to make sure this was one to remember.
"This is it!" He said while pointing down the street, his voice telling of his excitement.
Blair loved seeing him like this, his current excitement was a stark difference to his usual melancholy mood. She looked up at the house, it was a pale blue and she could hear the ocean waves crashing on the other side. The home was big but somehow still felt warm and inviting in a way that large homes often didn't. She grabbed her bag from the back seat and groaned as Blake swiped it from her, throwing it over his own shoulder, like it weighed more like a feather and less like the bag of bricks it felt like to her, and leading the way to the door.
He knocked twice before the door opened to reveal a woman appearing to be in her mid-fifties. She was of average height, a few inches shorter than Blair, with blonde hair that hung to her shoulders and a smile that made Blair relax immediately.
"You must be Blair! Oh my gosh, Blake has raved about you."
Blair smiled and stepped forward into the woman's open arms. She looked over to Blake to find him a bright shade of red and staring intently at the ground.
"Come in, Come in! Blake will take your bags up to the guest room!"
Blair follow her inside and Blake disappeared upstairs to, what she was assuming were, their rooms for the next two nights to drop their bags.
"Scotty! Cash!" The woman yelled and two men, both strikingly similar in appearance to Blake appeared in the doorway that led out to the beach.
"Yeah, mom?" The taller of the two asked as he stepped inside.
"Blake just got here and we have a guest!" Blair couldn't see the woman's face but in her head she could imagine the way her eyes were gesturing to Blair and the subtle tilt of her head.
The taller of the two men peered around his mother, spotting Blair and stepping forward as he extended his hand, the other man following close behind him.
"Hey, I'm Cash, it's nice to meet you!"
"Same to you! Blake told me you're an Air Force pilot! That's so cool." He nodded and went to reply but was interrupted by the second.
"I'm Scotty. Blake's told us all a lot about you!"
"Hopefully, all good things!" Blair said trying to contain her nerves and stop the blush from creeping onto her cheeks while silently wishing for Blake to reappear beside her.
"Back off her, all of you. She's here for two days you three can question her to death later but give her at least a minute first. We're starving and I'm assuming there is a grill somewhere with something damn good on it."
Blair looked over to him hesitantly as the others walked to the dining room to take their places at the table.
"I told mom you didn't like beef. It's just grilled chicken and vegetables." He whispered discreetly, squeezing her shoulder before moving past her and following after his brothers.
There was something so innocently sweet in the way that he always looked out for her. Giving her his jacket when she shivered, helping with her song, making sure the first meal she shared with his family was something she would like. They were such small things and yet they meant so much to her.
It was in that very moment, somehow instantaneously, that she realized within the past month she had let herself start to fall for him. She had never imagined that feelings for someone could come on so quickly, but there was no denying the pull he had on her heart. He might not even feel the same way, but she was falling and she hoped like hell that he would be there to catch her.
AN: I need to stop saying what's gonna happen in the next chapter because I always change my mind.
Yall ready to meet his mom and brothers? What do you think they'll be like? Do you think they'll accept her?
Do you think Blair and Blake are good together? Are they better as friends or would they work as a couple?
What did you think of all the precious Blake and Blair fluff?
let me know!
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Sav