Ten minutes later, Blake has packed a bag and he’s in his car, headed for the Ravens’ practice rink.
#
When Evan started talking to Blake on the phone, Elliot pulled him out of the locker room, sensing that something was going on. He heard part of the conversation, then Evan handed him the phone and suddenly he was talking to Blake.
They hash out the details, then Blake hangs up, already headed their way.
Evan is still on the bench in the hallway that Elliot pushed him onto, silent, staring at Elliot like he wants to ask him for help and doesn’t know how. Elliot can’t say that he’s ever been in a situation like this, but he can handle it.
“Do you need a minute?” Elliot asks.
Evan nods.
Elliot watches him take a deep breath, like he’s trying to keep himself from bursting into tears, and Elliot wants to tell him that it’s okay if he needs to cry, that no one’s going to judge him. Instead, he sits down next to him and waits for Evan to get it together enough that they can go find Coach Warren.
He’s still holding Evan’s phone.
They’d just gotten off the ice when Evan checked his phone and gave Blake a call. Both of them are mostly out of their pads. They need a shower, but that’s not the most pressing issue right now.
“Do you want me to do the talking?” Elliot asks.
Evan only nods.
Elliot nods back at him, then interrupts a meeting to get Coach Warren. If there’s ever been a time for interruptions, it is right now. Coach Warren doesn’t look too happy with him at first, but is quick to get up when Elliot tells him that it’s an emergency. He explains the situation as quickly as he can – he’s pretty sure that Coach knows that both of Evan’s parents died when he was nine, but makes sure to mention it and Evan’s breath hitches the tiniest bit when he does.
Coach tells them to consider it taken care of and asks, “You need anyone to drive you to the airport? Need us to book you a flight?”
“His brother’s on his way, he’ll pick him up,” Elliot says.
Coach nods. “Find Samuels something to eat, yeah?”
Elliot tugs Evan away and calls Blake with Evan’s phone, tells him that Evan is good to go and that he’ll stay with him at the rink until Blake gets here.
“Don’t speed,” Elliot says before he hangs up.
“I’m not. Promise.”
“Okay.” There’s something else Elliot should say, but he can’t think of the words right now. He almost wants to stay on the phone with Blake while he drives up here, which is ridiculous, so eventually he says, “We’ll see you in a bit.”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
Elliot wishes Blake would stop thanking him, like he’s making some huge sacrifice here.
He ushers Evan into the showers first, because they both need one, then he marches Evan to the buffet, makes sure he gets a decent amount of food and nudges him over to a table. He wanders back over to get some water and some food for himself, which is when Adam sidles up to him, eyes narrowed.
“Everything okay?” Adam asks, thankfully keeping his voice low.
“Evan’s grandma died.”
“Shit, isn’t he like… an orphan?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, crap.”
“Don’t…” Elliot looks around, at Evan, at the corner of the table that Elliot nudged him over to, poking at his food. “Tell the guys not to bug him, okay? But, like, do it quietly.”
“Sure, no worries.”
Elliot goes and sits with Evan, who doesn’t say a word. He puts Evan’s phone on the table, in case Blake calls them again, but the phone stays quiet and so does Evan. Elliot talks him into eating at least some of his food.
“I’m okay,” Evan eventually says.
Probably because Elliot has been staring at him. Elliot nods, even though Evan definitely doesn’t seem okay. It starts with the lack of constant word-vomit that’s pretty much Evan’s trademark, and then there’s that pinch to his mouth, replacing the usual easy smile that definitely doesn’t run in the family.
Elliot was legitimately scared of Blake’s grandma the first time he went to visit Blake in the summer. He soon figured out that she was very concerned, not only for Blake and Evan, but literally everyone else, made sure Elliot had everything he needed, asked about his family, kept putting food in front of him, but food he was actually supposed to eat, not just milk and cookies or whatever Elliot’s grandma makes for him when he swings by.
Blake actually laughed at him when Elliot pointed that out, and then said, “Yeah, no cookies here. Although if you ask really nicely she might make us some.”
They did ask really nicely and she did make them cookies and they ate all of them before anyone could stop them.
Elliot jumped on any invitation to the Samuels’ house, at first because he felt so comfortable there, almost like he was home, then because he also wanted to spend every possible second with his lips attached to Blake’s. He always slept in Blake’s room, Blake on a mattress on the floor, Elliot in Blake’s bed, except when Blake was in his bed with him. One time they watched a movie downstairs, Evan at a friend’s house, Blake’s grandma out playing cards with her friends that Blake called the Casserole Brigade, because they apparently were always out giving their neighbors casseroles at every possible occasion. When she got home, Elliot was fast asleep, Blake’s head on his chest, but jerked awake when the front door closed. Blake, of course, didn’t fucking wake up and Elliot didn’t manage to get him off his chest either, so Blake was still plastered against him when Elliot’s grandma poked her head into the living
