While the Sun Shines

36.

The first thing Nick noticed upon walking into the living room after a good night sleep, was that Blake wasn't humming or singing. Nick had been convinced Blake was incapable of preparing breakfast, or cooking in general, without an accompanying tune. But today, Nick smelled eggs but didn't hear any sounds coming from the kitchen.

Either Blake's test had gone horribly bad, or he was focusing hard on something. 

Nick proceeded to the kitchen with cation, and knocked on the open kitchen door to announce his presence before entering. 

"Good morning," Nick said. 

Blake glanced at Nick over his shoulder, then turned back to the scrambled eggs in the pan. Nick noticed the amount of eggs in the pan was very small and there was no bacon.  The silence was strange, too. Blake didn't even say good morning back.

Nick cleared his throat. "How did your exam go yesterday?" 

"Well," Blake curtly replied. 

"Uh, okay..." Nick took a tentative step closer to the counter, wanting to see Blake's face. But Blake didn't look up. Not even when Nick stood right next to him. 

"I had a feeling it didn't go well," Nick broke the silence again. "Because you're kind of quiet." 

"Quiet. Funny you'd say that." 

Blake turned the stove off. He snatched the pan and marched past Nick to the living room. Only when Nick's gaze fell on the kitchen table did he notice there was only one plate rather than two. What was going on here? A nervous feeling settled in the pit of Nick's stomach as he followed Blake to the living room. "What do you mean funny?" 

Blake sat down at the table, and smiled up at Nick. "Why don't you go ask Alex that? It sounded like he says funny things constantly."  

"What?" Nick stammered. 

Blake just raised a brow at him as if to say 'you heard me' and then started shovelling scrambled eggs onto his plate. 

Two things were now clear to Nick. One: Blake didn't screw up his test. And two: it was definitely something he'd done that put Blake in a bad mood. Come to think of it, maybe it was kind of strange. The way he'd behaved yesterday. He had made Blake a huge, elaborate breakfast and then proceeded to duck into his room and not talk to him the rest of the day. 

But how did Blake know he was on the phone with Alex... Shit, obviously he knew. Nick had said Alex' name a few times, and considering Nick heard Mia and Lara giggle in the living room from his bedroom that one time they visited, the other way around had to be true too. If Nick was talking loudly in his room, you had be able to hear it clearly in the living room too. 

It got worse. Blake knew Alex had stayed over a while back. He knew Nick made out with Alex and let him stay over in his room, and suddenly it hit Nick how bad this looked. This was so bad. So bad. Nick's stomach lurched. 

"Oh no, it's really not like that. Alex is just a friend," he hastily explained."We agreed to only be friends when he left." 

Blake didn't reply. 

Nick breathed in and out deeply, steeling himself before he sat himself down opposite Blake. "I was going to ask you how your exam went yesterday, but I didn't want to go to you right away because I was in a terrible mood after school." 

"Really?" Blake finally looked up at Nick, but it wasn't a good thing because his eyes were narrowed to slits. "Sure. You sounded like you were in a terrible mood with all the laughing all night."

Nick internally flinched at Blake's sharp words. He wasn't lying: he had been in a bad mood. Alex had cheered him up, but that didn't sound like the right thing to say right now. So, Nick just sat there and stayed quiet while Blake stared at him expectantly.