While the Sun Shines

43.

Call me.

Sem's curt, two word response was alarming. Especially because Nick had missed a call and didn't discover the message until after a few hours later. Lara and the others had left, and he and Blake were alone with a dozen extremely professional-looking pictures. Sem had sent Blake the exact same message. 

The day wasn't even halfway done yet, and with the camera's, confessions, and commotion it already felt like a bigger rollercoaster than the past few weeks combined. And that was saying something.

Nick sighed. He rested his elbows on his knees, and folded his hands under his chin as he stared down at Blake's phone on the table. "Do we have to?" 

"Afraid so." Blake patted Nick's shoulder sympathetically. "Like, it'll be fine! We're just gonna call him and make it quick and painless, alright?" 

Depending on Sem's mood after waiting several hours, Nick doubted the painless part would be true. Nor the quick part if Sem wanted to yell at them. Before Nick could even utter a 'no wait', however, Blake had already swipe-unlocked his phone and dialled Sem's number. He put the phone on speaker, and then there was little else to do but await their doom.

Sem picked up almost immediately. "I fucking knew it!" he eloquently answered the phone. "Blake, if you're sleeping with him too, you better not be fucking around!" 

"I think we're okay. He only said 'fuck' twice," Blake whispered in Nick's ear with a smirk.

"Uh..." Nick cleared his throat loudly, mostly to announce his presence to Sem before he spoke. "No, it's not just, uh, that. We're dating." 

Sem let out an impressively long string of curses. "I knew it," he repeated. "It was Blake you kissed and you just lied about it, didn't you?"

Blake's expression soured. Nick inwardly cringed and quickly put his hand on Blake's, entwining their fingers. "No, that wasn't a lie," Nick said carefully, keeping a close eye on Blake. "But that's definitely all over. He went home to England, and I'm dating Blake."

Sem was quiet for a moment. "Well, fuck me," he then said. "Not what I expected but finally something happened. I was done watching you sputtering and stammering around Blake like an idiot."

"Well, he may still do that," Blake slyly remarked. "When I'm—"

"No. Stop," Sem cut in. "I'm happy for you, I really am, but I do not need the details."

"Aw, are you sure? They're juicy, and I know you've been rooting for me to seduce Nick."

"I have not."

"Did you know Nick is really good at—"

"Bye!"

Sem actually hung up. Blake's eyes grew wide, and then he started laughing. The sound was so contagious that Nick couldn't help but join in. 

"I was going to say great at making pancakes in the morning when you need a pick-me-up, I swear!" Blake said between snorts. 

"Yeah right." 

Nick didn't believe Blake for a second, but it didn't matter. The relief that Sem knew and was alright with their relationship was way too big for Nick to care about Blake saying lewd things. Nick's parents still hadn't gotten back to him, but they would at some point. They did tend to sleep in on Saturday, sometimes even past noon. 

Blake's smile lingered as he pointed at the laptop on the salon table. "Anyway, now that's out of the way: let's get to work. We still have a picture to choose... out of the, like, twenty, Lara narrowed it down to. If we can even call it narrowing down at this point."