“Excited for the season?” Blake asks.
“Yeah, it’ll be good to get back on the ice.”
“Tell Evan I said hi if you see him.”
Again, Elliot can’t help but laugh, because of course Blake is telling him to say hi to his brother. “Sure.”
With the straightest, most offended face, Blake says, “Can’t be assed to call me. Like, ever. Little shit.”
Elliot grins.
“Anyway, I’m gonna go, uh…” Blake nods at the house. “Find a bathroom.”
He walks away, pulling a shirt that’s presumably his off a different chair on his way into the house.
Elliot is still smiling for some reason, maybe because Blake looks more grown up but hasn’t changed so much after all, maybe because they had an actual conversation that wasn’t horribly awkward.
He grabs another slice of pizza and leans back. He’s almost glad that Adam convinced him to tag along.
#
Elliot finds Blake a while later when the sun has almost set and Brammer’s girlfriend has started lighting candles and torches around the pool. The crowd has thinned a little and some of the partygoers have wandered down to the beach. Elliot sincerely hopes that no one’s going to go swimming.
After Adam introduces him to some friends, Elliot wanders back outside, watches the waves, then notices Blake sitting on a low stone wall, down the hill behind the pool, his shoes behind him, feet in the sand. He looks up when Elliot approaches and tucks a strand of dark hair behind his ear, eyeing Elliot like he’s contemplating if he should walk away and drown himself in the ocean.
“Hey,” Elliot says. “Can I sit?”
“Sure.”
Elliot clambers onto the stone wall and realizes he’s way too close to Blake, but now it’s probably too late to scoot away, so he stays where he is, with a mere inch between them. It’s gotten so dark that he can barely see Blake’s face, the only light coming from the house behind them, a little further up the hill.
Again, Elliot keeps himself from asking Blake if he’s okay. Instead, he says, “Congrats on the contract.” He sent exactly that to Blake when he signed that contract, but he can’t think of anything else to say.
“Thanks,” Blake says. “You, uh… Yours is pretty good, too.”
Elliot laughs. “Yeah, pretty good.”
“Ravens are treating you well?”
“They’re a good group of guys,” Elliot says and now he sounds like he’s talking to the media. “I like playing with them. I never felt like I didn’t belong, you know?”
Blake hums.
“How’s your grandma doing?” Elliot asks.
“She’s okay. Worse than a nutritionist, though. Her sister showed her how to use Google, so she put together a meal plan for the summer and she got really serious about it.”
A snort escapes Elliot and Blake elbows him in the side.
“Not funny,” Blake grumbles. “I just wanted some cookies.”
Elliot pats Blake’s back, because that’s what he does when he’s around friends and Blake freezes, goes rigid and Elliot pulls his hand away quickly, resolving to leave it in his lap.
“Guess I’ll have to make my own cookies,” Blake mutters.
Elliot assumes that Blake’s relationship with his grandma isn’t at all like the one Elliot has with his own, because Blake’s grandma practically raised him, with his parents not being around anymore. Blake never talked about it much and Elliot didn’t ask, because it would have felt much too personal, like he was prying, but it must have been hard for him.
This time, Elliot doesn’t manage to keep the words from slipping out. “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Blake asks, no emotion whatsoever in his voice.
“It’s… When you called me that night, you sounded like… I don’t know. I just wanted to ask.”
A moment of silence, then Blake says, “When I called you?”
“After you won the Cup.”
“After I won the…” Blake takes a deep breath. “I called you. I’m sorry. I was really drunk and I… I don’t even remember calling you.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Elliot shrugs, tries to laugh it off. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m sorry,” Blake says again.
“Really, it wasn’t… It’s okay.”
“Okay.”
“Just, if you ever need someone to talk or anything…” Elliot trails off. They’ve barely talked at all recently, so maybe this offer rings hollow, but he doesn’t want Blake to think that he doesn’t care either. “We’re still friends.”
“Yeah,” Blake says. “Thank you.”
Elliot nods, not even sure if Blake can see it in the dark.
“Do I want to know what I said to you on the phone?” Blake asks, voice low.
“It was… You know, I barely understood half of it, you were really, really drunk, but it kinda sounded like you… needed a friend. I don’t know.” Again, Elliot shrugs, wondering how much he should tell him. Blake was probably having a rough night, and when you’re drunk everything seems like the worst thing in the world at a certain stage.
Blake doesn’t say anything, but then he’s closer all of a sudden, his arm pressed against Elliot’s, solid and warm, and it could be an accident, just him shifting, but then he doesn’t pull away.
“I…” Blake doesn’t finish, never does, but his pinkie knocks against Elliot’s wrist.
Elliot knows this move, but he can’t do this right now, so he pulls his hand away and says, “Blake.”
“Sorry.”
“No, don’t be sorry, it’s okay. It’s okay. But… I’m seeing someone, so I can’t… It wouldn’t be fair.”
“Oh,” Blake says. The warmth disappears and that inch between them is back within a second. “You’re seeing someone?”
“Yeah, Natalie, she’s… my girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Blake says again.
It’s been three years, so Elliot probably doesn’t have to worry about hurting Blake by telling him this. It’s not like they were
