The Wrong Girl

Chapter Fifteen

I wish I could say I was surprised with the phone call I got from my mom a few days later during my lunch period. She was in Paris for business, and I felt the dread fill my stomach when I saw her name pop up on my caller ID. She only called when something was bad, she usually only sent texts while she was working.

"What's going on, mom?" I answered wearily.

"Sweetie, there's no easy way to say this, but I'm going to have to stay through the weekend, so I'm missing Thanksgiving" She replied quickly, as if talking fast would make the news sound better.

"Of course" I sighed.

"Don't say that, Serena" She said, sounding exhausted, "You can fly here if you want. You can bring Chloe!"

"Chloe has a family that actually spends the American holiday in America with everyone together, like it's intended" I remarked.

"You can bring someone else then. Or come alone. Or go to Chloe's house for the holiday" My mom tried, "I really am sorry, sweetie"

"I know" I sighed, and hung up the phone.

It was already Monday so I didn't have much time to decide what I was going to do. I sighed, walking back to where Chloe and Grayson were sitting in the usual spot. Josh was making up a test, leaving Grayson free to hang out with us.

"What was that about?" Chloe asked.

"My mom's staying in Paris for Thanksgiving" I rolled my eyes, used to my mother's antics already, "Any chance you want to come?"

"I'm going to Aunt Marie's house" She groaned, "I can see if I can take you with me"

"It's fine, I'd hate to be a burden" I shook my head profusely, "What are you doing for Thanksgiving, Gray?"

"Nothing" He laughed humorlessly, "My family doesn't do holidays anymore"

Then, without even thinking about it, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head.

"Come to Paris with me" I said.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"You heard me" I raised my eyebrows, "Let's go to Paris. Tomorrow"

"You're serious?" He questioned.

"I am" I confirmed.

"Serena" He said skeptically.

"Come on, Grayson, we may as well spend the holiday somewhere fun if we're not really celebrating it anyway. My mom did say I could bring a friend" I pleaded.

There was a brief silence while Grayson thought deeply about what I was offering to him.

"Okay, let's go to Paris tomorrow" He nodded.

I grinned, and went back to class in an amazing mood. Sometimes having fucked up families worked out.

That evening was spent in a flurry of packing chaos and calling Grayson to make sure he had everything he needed for a spontaneous trip out of the country. I knew this whole thing was crazy, but I was buzzing with excitement.

The next day was Tuesday, which was the last day of school for the week so we decided to fly out that day, but we didn't have to be at the airport until 6:00 pm. This gave me time to go to the hospital with Brayden to visit Liza after school.

"Liza" I said, giving her a gentle hug and trying not to feel her ribs, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

"You too, sweet girl" She said, touching my face gently, "Are you spending it with your mom?"

"Yes, I'm going to meet her in Paris actually" I said, smiling at her.

"That's so lovely, Serena" She crooned, "I hope you have an amazing trip"

I thanked her and the three of us chatted about school and friends and senior year and life for a while without incident. Close to the time I had to leave to make it back to Grayson's in time for him to drive us to the airport, things went wrong.

It started very small, Liza was moving her hand weirdly. Brayden didn't seem to notice. Then, she had trouble keeping her eyes open, and she tried to sit up and could barely move. Pretty soon, she was completely out of it. It was terrifying for me to see, and I felt useless because I had no idea what to do.

"Mom?" Brayden tried to shake her gently, but she wasn't responsive. The nurse came in to check on her, and Brayden rushed out with tears in his eyes.

"Is she okay?" I asked the nurse.

"Yes, this is normal with the exhaustion of the cancer and the chemo" She assured me, "She'll wake up in the morning in her usual state"

I went to find Brayden, but when I stepped out into the hall, my phone rang. Grayson was calling me. Shit, it was getting late and I had no chance of Brayden dropping me at Grayson's house right now.

"Where are you?" He asked when I answered.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up" I apologized.

"Where are you? I'll pick you up or else we'll miss our flight" He said.

"I'm at the hospital" I said slowly.

"What? Why? Who?" He asked in a panicked tone.

"It's okay, I was, uh, just visiting. I'll meet you out front" I said, hanging up before he could respond, "I'm sorry"

I continued my hunt for Brayden, and found him in the secluded corner with the vending machines. Wordlessly, I pulled him into a tight hug, and let him cry on my shoulder until he was all cried out, and feeling a little better.

He walked me down to the lobby and outside to wait for Grayson. I didn't think that was a great idea, but I wasn't about to tell him he couldn't, not with everything that had gone on today.

Grayson pulled up and I hugged Brayden goodbye before climbing into the passenger seat of Grayson's jeep.

"You're here with Brayden?" He asked, gruffly.

"Yeah, his mom has cancer" I said softly.

Grayson didn't answer me then. He didn't say a word for the entire ride to the airport. He didn't say a word when he carried both of our bags into the airport. He didn't say a word as we went through security, and he didn't say a word as we sat in our terminal.

"You can't honestly be mad that I was with Brayden given these circumstances" I finally said, breaking the silence.

"Of course I'm not" He said, shortly, "Why didn't you just tell me?"

I thought about it for a while. I even opened my mouth to answer a couple of times, but in the end I didn't really know why I didn't tell him. I know he would've supported my decision. We sat in silence again as we boarded the plane. I gave him the window seat, and he took it without objection.

The plane took off with Grayson facing the window intensely. A couple minutes after we took off, he turned to me with a serious look on his face.

"You know what my favorite part of the flight is?" He prompted calmly, as if he hadn't been ignoring me for hours.

"What?" I asked.

"Just a few minutes after take off, and a few minutes before landing when the houses are just about this size" He said, pointing at the shrinking landscape, "Everything feels like a doll house, like I could reach down and pick them up. Everything looks fake, small, insignificant"

Then he turned back towards the window, and watched the houses turn into dots and didn't say another word for the rest of the flight.

Author's note- I am busy. I'm so sorry for how long this took, but the truth is that it's the end of the year. I had AP tests, an internship, prom, orientation, graduation, my birthday, training for my summer job, end of classes and probably a million other things in the last month. So I am sorry, but bear with me, please. I promise I'm trying. I love you guys. The next one will probably be longer. What do you guys think is gonna go on in Paris? Will Serena tell Gray what happened to Vanessa?