All's Fair in Love and Las Vegas

Chapter Sixty

        "Honestly?" he whispered.

        "Yeah."

        "You."

        "Okay, that's good, what else?" I asked. I could only do so much.

        He thought about it, finally saying, "I don't...I don't really know. I haven't tried much stuff without having space to feel things about them."

        A new crack formed in my heart.

        "Does being outside make you happy?" I tried.

        "I... yeah, I think so," he said, exhaling slowly.

        "Okay. What about like, animals?"

        He shrugged. "They're okay."

        I wasn't looking for okay. I was looking for wonderfully earth-shatteringly happy. I worked my way through a couple more questions, but didn't really get anything that was stellar. So I circled back to his one good answer.

        "Okay, what about me makes you happy?" Gosh, I sounded so narcissistic.

        Grayson smiled. "When we snuggle. When we watch a movie together. When you itch your nose. When you steal my food at the restaurant."

        As nice as those were to hear (I wasn't even aware I itch my nose), I needed more "instant concrete happiness." For now though, I could work with it. "Why don't we snuggle and eat our snacks and watch a movie then?" I offered.

        "That's okay, Jacks. I mean, we're not even actually dating," he said, shaking his head.

        "Just this once we can have a real date," I pressed.

        His smile grew brighter. "Can I pick the movie?"

        "Of course you can pick the movie," I said smoothly.

        So we crawled under the blankets, keeping the snack tray between us. Except then we ran out of snacks.

        "You like the American food, don't you?" I accused.

        "No," Grayson groaned. "But I can't stop eating it."

        I laughed and set aside the tray. I scooted closer, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him on top of me. He looked up, saying, "What's this?"

        "You said you like when we snuggle, right?" I asked.

        He needs to stop smiling before I get lost in my thoughts. "Yeah. You're the best, Jacks."

        I settled in, and it wasn't until the end of the movie that I realized he'd fallen asleep on my chest. Powering down the TV, I laid down carefully so as not to disrupt him. 

        "Night, Grayson," I murmured.

        The next morning, the second half of my plan went into action. First, sleep in. That's always a great first step in a plan. Next, get Grayson ready for our adventure.

        "Where are we going?" he asked, sounding like an excited five-year-old in the passenger seat.

        "It's a surprise," I said, carefully starting the car. Unfortunately, Grayson did not have any normal people cars. All of his cars were well over a hundred thousand dollars. Meaning I was very timid to even breathe on the steering wheel, much less drive it.

        "Jacks, that's the gas. That's the break," he said helpfully.

        "You sure you don't have, I don't know, a Prius or something?" I said desperately.