The Boy Down the Street // Blake Gray

13

Steph's POV
"Steph look at this." I look at the picture Kyle wants me to see. "What's so important about it?" I examine the photo to see if I've missed anything. It's just one of those dopey selfies that Blake posts everyday. "But look at the caption." I obey Kyle and look at the caption. The caption is "almost home 😉."

"What's the big deal about it. He's just saying that he's almost home from the tour. He's gonna be back in five days." Kyle looks like he's about to go insane on me. "Dude but look at the emoji he used. The winky face he used means it's obviously directed to you." I roll my eyes. "Not in a million years bud. He has captions like that all of the time." Then I walk off and see the frustration in his eyes. Maybe the caption is directed to me. Probably not, he's Blake Gray, the famous fuckboy after all.

-

"I'm sorry Steph. The class ended later than usual and Kane wanted me to stay after class to have a discussion about future auditions. I'll be there as soon as I can." Hockey just ended, and Trent is supposed to be here to pick me up. Fortunately, he had delays at acting class and is running late. "That's fine. Don't rush." Yes I'm disappointed that I'll be sitting alone in the lobby for a few extra minutes but I have to be understanding on Trent's commitments. "Thanks a lot." He says it with relief in his tone, then hangs up. I walk out of the dressing room to a bench in the hallway. I was expecting to be there alone, but there is someone else there too. "Hey Steph." I walk over and sit beside him. "Hey Gavin."

"My mom is late running late. What about you?" "My brothers late." I'm happy I'm here with someone else, especially Gavin. "How long are you waiting here?" I scratch my head. "Probably 35 minutes. You?" I ask. "Roughly the same time. Wanna walk around for a bit?" I can't deny this offer. I love hanging out with Gavin, even though we've on,u done it once. "Yeah let's go." We both get up from the bench and begin to explore the arena.

"Woah it's so dark here" I say as we enter rink 3. All of the lights have been turned off in rink 3 since no one uses it after the boy's team. "Wanna post some stupid shit on snapchat?" Gavin just reads my mind when we're together. "Duh" I say taking out my phone. This is gonna be a fun 35 minutes.

-

"That was super fun." Gavin and I just ran around the arena for 35 minutes taking stupid snapchat videos. "Yeah." He gives me the cutest smile ever and it just makes me melt. Did I just think that? Oh well, what can I do, his smile is just so amazing.

"Sorry we're late, but I see you two kept each other company so that's good." Gavin and I turn to the sliding doors and we see Trent and Gavin's mom coming towards us. "No worries mom, Steph and I were fine." He says winking at me. In return I give him a nod with a smile. "It seemed like it, your snapchat story was going crazy with you two in it" says Trent chuckling. "Okay let's go now." I pick up my bag and wave to Gavin, as he does the same. This was one of the funniest nights I've had in a while.

Blake's POV
"Today's show was lit." Taylor is right about that. It's a little odd having a show on a Thursday, but the Canadians have a long weekend since it's their thanksgiving this weekend. "Look at my story, I have loads of cool snaps from tonight" says Brandon. "Sure thing." I take out my phone and open snapchat. Then I click on his story.

"Damn Brandon these snaps aren't bad. Which is odd because they normally suck." Brandon punches my arm, but he knows I was joking since I said it with sarcasm in my tone. I look back down at my phone. Is story ends then Steph's story shows up. This is the first story of Steph that I've seen, since she rarely ever posts.

"What's your girlfriend doing with another man?" I look over my shoulder to see that Taylor is hovering over my shoulder. "She's not my girlfriend." Some people just don't understand what a platonic friendship is. But what is she doing with that person.

I instantly recognize him. It's the kid from her Instagram post from a week ago. On her story it's them running around a dark hockey rink, her getting scared by him, him goofily cheering on some recreational men's hockey team in their game then a bunch of selfies of them together.

I don't know why I'm feeling this but I'm super jealous. Why are they together alone? Are they dating? No no, they can't be. They shouldn't be. I thought they were just friends, they are just friends, that what she's told me. She doesn't even want a boyfriend. But if she does, doesn't she want me?