Seeing Stars: A Blake Gray Story

11- Heart to Heart

When you walk inside, Addison is already waiting on you. You don't notice her before slamming the front door:
"You good, sis?"

You: "I don't understand boys at all. We were out and having a great day. Then some photographer showed up and started taking photos from afar. After that he barely would come within 5 feet of me."

Addison: "Wait, what were you guys doing before they showed up? Are you guys doing more than just friends stuff?"

You: "He's kissed me, that's it. But no danger of that anymore, I guess. God forbid someone sees the girl he is only into in secret."

Addison: "Try to cut him some slack. You should see the things the paparazzi post from those photos. If you like him just think about it."

You: "It's not about who I like. If he is ashamed of liking me, then that's all ther-"

You're interrupted by your phone going off that you've been tagged in a photo.

You excuse yourself to shower and change from the beach, but first stop to text Blake. He quickly responds with a facetime and apologizes while reassuring you that he had so much fun with you today.

Blake: "It was never about being ashamed of you. I've just been through a lot of drama with paparazzi and I still don't know how to handle it all."

You: "I guess I never thought of there being any downsides you seem so happy with your life."

Blake: "I am happy, but I've been doing this since I was 14. Up until this year I still lived at home with my family. I didn't really know what any of that was leading to until photographers showed up in my home town and started following me everywhere."

You: "Did people not think that was cool?"

Blake: "Definitely not. I even took a year away from social media, but just could never move on, because all my friends had already pulled away and only people who wanted to use me were left. That's when Bryce convinced me to just come to LA with him."

After you hang up and take a quick shower, you go out to the living room to figure out what Addison wants to order for dinner. You find her on the sofa scrolling through an article about Noah and Dixie's relationship.

You: "Research?"

Addison: *jumps because you startled her*
"No hahaha. I saw you got tagged in Blake's photo and then it led me to the sway profile and... well you know how it works. Start at one post and twenty minutes later you're down the rabbit hole 36 weeks deep in some random person's profile."

You reassure her you do that all the time as you sit next to her and start laughing at some of the goofy photos the boys post. You stop her at a picture of Bryce and tell her about how he thought she was so hot.

Addison: "Really? He's cute, I guess."

You: "You guess? All three of them are like ridiculous amounts of hot. You seemed so obsessed with them when you found out I was hanging out with Blake. I figured you'd jump at one of them being into you."

Addison: "It's not even the people themselves. It's just their whole lives. They seem so happy."

You: "I get that. I mean look at this picture of Dixie and Noah. They are literally couple goals."

Addison: "I know. She's so beautiful."

You: "I'd kill to look like her and definitely to have a guy like Noah obsessed with me."

Addison: "Well you do have a guy like that obsessed with you. Are we not going to talk about that picture Blake posted of the two of you together?"

You: "It's just a picture."

Addison: "The last time I saw him post with a girl was his ex from like 2 years ago."

That did make you feel better. Not only had he posted a pic with you, but he'd tagged you in it for everyone to see.

Addison: "Posting with a girl you're just hanging out with isn't something most guys do. That's girlfriend stuff. He must really be crazy about you."

You: "Too bad I'm leaving in 2 days."

Addison: "If you really like each other, you can figure it out."

You: "Kinda like you and your ex-boyfriend? You moved to California and have you even spoken to him since?"

Addison: "That was different. We didn't work for a lot of reasons and distance didn't even make the list."

You: "Really? You always seemed so perfect. What even happened?"

Addison: "He wanted things I wasn't really ready for, I guess. We'd been together a few months and when I wouldn't sleep with him that was kinda the end of that."

You: "I had no clue... WAIT... are you still a virgin?"

Addison: "I guess I've never found someone I was into enough to be interested, but hey no rush, right?"

You: "I just assumed, I'm sorry."

Addison: "Do me a favor and don't be in such a hurry. You don't really find out what you want in life the second you graduate high school anyway. Life for me didn't start to make sense until I came out here and started living it on my own terms."

You: "Have you dated anyone since you moved to California."

Addison: "I went on a few dates, but I wasn't ready for anything and it kinda fell apart. I've pretty much kept to myself since then."

You: "I didn't mean to push you into something with Bryce. He just seemed like exactly your type."

Addison: "I have a type?"

You: "Yeah all your old boyfriends were all super hot, super muscular, masculine types."

Addison starts to laugh hysterically at the comparison. You've never been close to her and it's weird that you feel so bonded to her after only a few days.