COLLIDE ✰ BLAKE RICHARDSON

XIII. surprise!

XIII.

It was safe to say that no matter how exhausted Leah was, she certainly didn't get another wink of sleep that night. After Marie explained the whole situation to her, she told her to meet her on her bus as soon as she woke up the next morning. Leah tried to fall back asleep after the call ended, but her head was spinning and her stomach was twisted in knots. She tossed and turned in her bunk, her teeth sinking down into her lip out of anxiety.

Was she going to get kicked off the tour now? I mean, the contract didn't say anything besides that she wasn't allowed to enter any public relationships with any of the boys, but it still wouldn't look good that the picture got out. After Marie had called and all of the boys had overheard since she was practically shouting into the phone, Reece apologized profusely. He felt so incredibly bad, but it wasn't his fault since he had no idea about the contract. None of the boys did, including Blake...

Blake, on the other hand, just felt hurt. If this contract was so important, didn't he deserve to know as well? And what did this mean for things between them now? Everything would be different.

But what even were things between them? They certainly weren't just friends. Friends don't look at each other the way they did.

Sighing, Blake rolled over in his bunk. He squinted as he reached for his phone, the bright light momentarily blinding him as he unlocked the screen.

Are you still up? He typed nervously.

Almost immediately after he pressed send, his phone lit up with a response. Yeah. Can't sleep.

Me neither.

Minutes passed with no response, and Blake grew impatient. Without really thinking, his thumb pressed "FaceTime".

"Hello?" Leah's sleepy voice rang out from his phone after what felt like ages of waiting. Blake let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in.

"Hey, L."

"Hi, B."

"Can we, like, talk about this? Because to be quite honest I have no idea what's happened." Blake whispered, constantly looking around to make sure he wasn't waking up his band mates.

Leah paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I think we should. The only problem is that it's 1 AM and we're on tour busses in a scary parking lot in the middle of nowhere."

Blake chuckled softly. Despite everything that had happened, just the sound of her voice still made his stomach churn. "I'll meet you at yours in five. Don't worry, I'll protect you from the parking lot monsters."

—

Leah set her phone down, her mind racing. She had absolutely no idea what was about to happen when she talked to Blake. It was all her fault, she should've told him about the contract earlier and she knew that. But he was just so..... so him. She just couldn't bring herself to do it, but now there was no other choice.

Before she could start worrying more, there was a soft knock on her bus door. The sleepy brunette quickly jumped off her bunk and shuffled over to the door in her slippers, her hands digging into her sides.

Leah unlocked the door and her stomach instantly erupted in butterflies. Standing in front of her was Blake wearing flannel pajamas and a crewneck, his hair all messed up from laying down. His eyes met hers, and the butterflies got even worse.

She hadn't realized how long they had been standing there until Blake cocked his head at her. "Well, are we just going to stand here all night, or...?"

"Right, duh, come in," she turned and led him into her small but cozy 'home'.

Leah knew her cheeks were probably red by then, so she tried her best to cover them with her hair. That plan failed almost instantly, though, because as soon as the pair sat down her skin went from a lighter shade to a bright, flaming red.

Sitting side by side on her bunk, their height difference didn't seem as drastic. As a matter of fact, their torsos aligned in just the right way that Leah's head leaned right into Blake's shoulder.

The two sat in silence for a while, both of their minds going crazy over everything that had just happened. For a minute, it was almost like there was no contract or managers or tour. It was just them.

Eventually, Blake turned his head to look the brunette girl in the eyes. "I think we need to talk about this."

Leah gulped. She didn't realize how much she was dreading this until now. "I know. I just don't know what to even say."

"Well, is it true? About your contract?"

"Yeah," she sighed. She couldn't even bring herself to look at him, but just the imagination of his face was breaking her heart.

Blake's mind and body seemed to freeze. Obviously he had heart Marie mention it before, but hearing the confirmation from Leah made it all sink in for real. His eyes bore straight down — he was sure that if he looked at the girl beside him, he would just burst into tears. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't think anything was going to happen," Leah whispered, holding back tears herself. "I- I wasn't planning on meeting you. And as soon as I met you I knew it was too late. I had already fallen."

Her words stung Blake right in the chest. This time, he couldn't hold back the tears from falling. Gripping the edge of the bunk, he forced himself to look her in the eyes, even if it took all of his strength.

"But I had fallen too. Didn't I deserve to know?" Blake's voice quavered, his deep brown eyes searching for her blues.

"You did. You do. I'm sorry, I just didn't know what to do or how to tell you and I was so focused on you that I honestly forgot-"

"It doesn't matter now. It's done. I found out. And now we're like this." Blake shook his head, moving his shoulder away from her and standing up. "I have to go to bed. We have a show tomorrow."

"Blake, wait—"

"Goodnight, Leah."