The Academy In My Head

Stalking Mr. Blackbourne

"Where's he going?"

"Shhh.... Don't let him hear you."

Luke rolled his eyes and caught Sang's eye and signed to her. ~This is why I take you to the quiet jobs~

She grinned at him and nodded, peering through the bushes at Mr. Blackbourne's driveway. Gabriel and Nathan made noises behind them as they were uncomfortable after falling into a huge mud puddle and Gabriel kept falling into Nathan. ~where is he going~ she signed to Luke.

Luke shrugged before signing to her that Mr. Blackbourne leaves like this at least once a month and usually always on a Wednesday. She frowned slightly and ducked her head again.

"Get off."

"Make me."

"Bite me." Gabriel grunted at Nathan, shoving his arm. Sang looked over her shoulder at them and glared in her best Mr. Blackbourne impression. "Sorry Trouble." Gabriel muttered before shifting one more time away from Nathan and steadied himself on his hands and knees.

"The others would be so mad if we get caught." Nathan mumbled. Sang turned her glare on him too. Nathan rolled his eyes but shut his mouth, prepared to run if he had to.

"Hang on." Luke hissed softly. Sang's gaze snapped to the front again, a frown marring her face as she stared at what she thought was Mr. Blackbourne.

~what is he wearing~ she signed to Luke a puzzled look on her face. He shrugged and kept watching.

She tilted her head as he confidently covered the ground between his front door and his car. Outside of Christmas day and during their country club lunch, she'd never seen him dressed in anything less than perfection. Which on a daily basis meant a gray suit, a black, maroon or dark gray tie and a white, black or maroon dress shirt.

Well, she could hardly ignore his rumpled self in Sean's kitchen the morning after their country club date when Sean had kissed her the first time before dinner and he'd stayed up all night playing her game to apologize to her.

But outside of THOSE occasions, he always wore a suit.

Until tonight.

She couldn't help but study him from head to toe and then from toe to head and back again. At least twice. Converse on his feet. Faded jeans that were just baggy enough to not be considered tight but deliciously tight across the rear... she blinked when she was shoved accidentally from behind and she turned her head to glare at the boys. They looked sheepish and mouthed 'sorry' to her before she turned around again.

Now, where was she. Oh yes, jeans that were deliciously tight across a perfect rear end... and a black, tight, short sleeved t-shirt. Oh yes, he was just as fit as most of the boys, she thought. She remained lost in her thoughts until Luke nudged her as the car started up. "what?"

"Ready?" He asked. "he's leaving, if we hurry and get in the car, we can pick him up quickly and follow him to wherever he's going."

"Should we do that? He'll notice." Sang said.

"Not if he's focused on what he's doing or is looking out for specific cars. The SUV is pretty standard right now and so far no one is following us in a black SUV. Will he think North has one just like it? Of course because that's a standard reaction to seeing a somewhat familiar car." Luke explained as Gabriel and Nathan backed out of the hiding spot before Luke followed and offered Sang his hand as she scrambled out behind them.

"Okay. Let's go then." She said. "I want to see where he's going." Luke grinned at her and kept hold of her hand as the four of them ran to the SUV.

~ ~ ~~ ~

Ah.

Silence and nothing to be in control and in charge of.

Owen couldn't help but relax as he drove towards West Charleston for his evening out. Sean was manning the phones and would redline him if some emergency popped up. Sean didn't know what he did on his evenings out and he didn't press for information. Owen had managed to basically make him think the outing was somewhat like his birthday and being alone was preferred.

Which it was.

But mostly because he'd never hear the end of it if Sean knew where he was going.

His eyes lit up as the 18+ club appeared in his line of vision with a big splashy sign that said 'Karaoke'.

Finally.

His favorite escape and stress release.

The others would probably freak out if they knew he enjoyed belting out 90's boy band tunes. He might even get disowned by a few of them. But it was something he greatly enjoyed. He parked his car, got out, putting his keys in his pocket and headed into the club to sign up for a few songs.

He never saw the SUV pull up behind his car.

Gabriel stared at the signage. "Oh man!" He whined. "I want to go in."

"You can't." Sang said, pointing at the part where it said 18+ "We're not old enough."

Gabriel pouted. "Nah, not totally true but you have a point, Trouble. I forgot my fake ID."

Luke laughed and rolled his eyes. "She wouldn't be the one in trouble if we could go in and we ran into Mr. Blackbourne. We'd all end up with hours."

"Not something I want to do this weekend." Nathan put in before sitting back in his seat. "But at least we know where he goes, right?"

Gabriel tilted his head and looked at the club again. "We could always call in a request." He said with a grin.

"We could?"

"Sure." Nathan grinned, pulling out his phone and finding the club's number, motioning for them to be quiet. "Hi, yes, I was wondering if a friend of mine has signed up for songs tonight? His name's Blackbourne." His eyebrow raised. "Excellent. I was wondering if you could add another song to the list for him to sing."

Sang giggled and clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Great. Yes..." He eyed them for a moment. "90's boy band songs usually. Interesting. Well, we're going to go a little off track with the request then. Call me Maybe by Carly Jepsen. Yes. Please. We'll pay online. Thank you." He said before hanging up.

"oh, he's in for a big surprise tonight." Luke chuckled.

"He usually does 90's boy bands?" Gabriel shook his head as Sang giggled more as Luke drove away. "Sean's going to have a field day."

(Fade...)