collaborate - ber.

027.

"I might have told you that my friends were coming too," Blake stammered, "but, uhh, It's just us. I lied, kinda." 

Blossom suppressed the desire to laugh. "Blake, you are weird." The dark-haired boy looked at her, guilt sparked in his eyes, "Aren't you, I don't know, mad?"
"Not really," The girl could not describe the relief she felt about not having to be with a group of people, "I'm flattered," she admitted, her face turning pink, " but why didn't you just ask me to hang out with you?"

"I thought you might not want to come, if you knew it would be just us two," now Blake started blushing, and he looked down at his hands, picking his nails once again. "Don't do that," Blossom grabbed one of his hands. Blake grinned, "sorry."

A little while later, after they'd chosen a restaurant to eat and the awkward atmosphere was gone, Blake said: "So, tell me something about yourself that I don't know."  The girl should have known that the boy was going to ask something like that, she still felt a little overwhelmed. Questions about Blake and his fame still wandered through her mind, and that, combined with the questioning look on her face, made the girl not able to think straight. 

Blossom took a deep breath, thinking, 'no time is the right time, let's do it now.'

"Nope, let's talk about you for once." The brunette glanced at him over the menu she was reading.

"I'm not that interesting," he assured her, running his hand through his hair. "I bet you are, you seem like the guy that's secretly in a band or something," Blossom spoke, raising her eyebrow. She saw panic spark in Blake's eyes and quickly realised that she should just tell him what she found out.

"You know," she pointed out, laying the menu down, "for some reason, I felt like I recognised you, the first time we met," it was weird to think that was just a few weeks ago. Blakes' face got red and he picked at his nails, but Blossom decided to not say anything about it this time. "It was pretty crazy when I figured out why I felt that way." She raised her brows again.

After a brief silence, she continued, "holy shit that was the worst joke I've ever made." Even though Blake seemed uncomfortable, he still laughed, "yes, it was."

Blake looked up and flashed her a smile, not saying anything."Turns out, one of the songs of your band has been in my playlist for months," she wrapped up the story.

The waitress came and Blake ordered some kind of chicken dish, while Blossom got a salad.

"I feel really bad for not telling you," Blake admitted after the waitress had left, "but I did not want this, whatever it is, to get influenced by that part of my life." 

Blossom could imagine what he meant by that. There were probably hundreds of people out there that would do anything to get close to someone like Blake, not only for him, but for the influence he had. How could she let him know that she liked him for him and not for his fame? Did he even want to hear that? The girl had no idea.

 "You shouldn't be," Blossom responded, "I probably wouldn't have told you if I was well-known." "So you could be a crazy-famous stripper without me knowing?" Blake implied, a fake shocked look on his face. "Don't spill my secrets," Blossom hissed, a chuckle leaving her mouth. It felt great to make jokes like these together.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Blake said, a little while later, when they were in the arcade. "What's up?" Blossom asked, looking around for another game to play. "Let's play that one," Blake pointed at an aggressive looking game. "Sure, but what were you saying?"

They both took a  fake gun and the game started. They were supposed to shoot aliens that were invading the earth. "Why aren't you mad at me? For not telling you about the band," "Why would I be? Alien on your right!" Blake quickly shot the alien, "I don't know," he answered, "I'm actually pretty relieved that I did not need to tell you."

"Blossom, one last question," He asked, a few hours later. They were standing next to her car, and it was pretty late. Blossom had a lot of fun at the arcade, which ended in them getting the ugliest friendship necklaces ever, using the tickets they'd won.

"Yeah?" Blossom did not know how it happened, but she and Blake were standing very close. "Is the, me being you know, known, going to change things, eh, between us?" Blossom shook her head, surprised, "I don't think so, you're still Blake to me."

His lips formed the most adorable smile Blossom had ever seen and she knew that that image of him would be running through her mind for the next days. "You have no idea how much that actually means to me."

The only thing that Blossom could think about was the fact that kissing Blake would be so easy, at that moment. Did she dare to just stand on the tips of her toes, lean in, and press her lips onto his?

While driving home, that was the only thing she could think about.

Because, if she was honest, she wanted to kiss him. She really did.

*  *  *

sMALL TOWN BOY IN A BIG ARCADEEEEE

holy gyucamole i've updated on time!!

-rosa.