Grayson (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Two

As the "official" guest, English was the one to pick the movie, deciding on an action flick that I knew Kennedy would hate and Mom would love. I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. I wasn't sure if English even watched it, seeing as whenever I glanced at him he had been staring at Kennedy. Boy had it bad.

Almost to the end of the movie, Mom left the room and came back in with fresh popcorn, putting it on her lap – I never expected her to share any, but English and Grayson both looked slightly disappointed when she kept it all to herself. A few minutes after she had settled back into her chair, Edgar skulked into the room, sliding around end tables and couch cushions that had been kicked to the floor in an effort to get comfortable. He sat on his haunches at my mother's chair, staring up at her with his creep-tastic eyes before jumping up onto her lap in a single move.

As he settled down, purring slightly, Mom began rubbing her hand gently down his back, and he arched into her touch just the littlest bit that made him look completely adorable and sweet – everything he wasn't. As I watched him, I noticed that he would duck his head toward the nearly-overflowing bowl of popcorn every few seconds or so. It took me a bit to realize that he was actually eating the popcorn, and I laughed a little bit, making Grayson look at me curiously.

"What?" he whispered, trying not to be too loud.

"Edgar is eating popcorn," I replied in a low voice, smiling as I leaned against him. It was a nice feeling, being able to be yourself with someone and not worry about what they thought. Grayson seemed to know me almost better than I knew myself, and in my opinion, that was probably the best thing to have happened to me.

Grayson opened his mouth and then closed it before opening it again. Then he closed it, not quite sure what to say. Finally he decided. "You have a weird cat."

I shrugged, "I know. But I love him anyway."

THE NEXT MORNING my mother was cooking breakfast with Grayson, each of them running around the kitchen like crazy, making something wonderful in the midst of chaos, yet never running into each other or bumping anything over. I was sitting at the island, swinging my legs on the bar stool as I watched them work, a bemused smile spreading across my lips.

"Jonah," Mom said as she ran across the kitchen to the fridge, a bowl in her hand. "I was thinking that maybe you and Grayson could go and get Allie. Have her follow you back here. It would give you a chance to show Grayson the place where you grew up."

Without waiting for me to respond, Grayson turned around from his place at the stove and said, "That sounds like a great idea!" He first glanced and me, and then my mom. "Cynthia, I must say that you do come up with the best ideas."

Oh, now he was just sucking up to her.

As if reading my mind, Grayson passed me and whispered in an extremely low voice – one that made butterflies go through my tummy – "Of course I am. If I have my way, she'll be my mother in law one day."

I wrinkled my nose and replied, "If she has her way, you'll be her son in law, as will English. And I hate that you can read my mind like that."

"You love it," was the last thing he said as he walked away, going to get some apples from the fridge.

As we ate breakfast – we were not joined by English that morning, for whatever reason – my mother was more than happy to keep the conversation portion going all on her own.

"...and you'll want to leave as soon as possible," she said when she finished her drink of juice. I had tuned out a good five minutes ago, and so I was spluttering to figure out what she had said.

"Huh?" I asked her, hoping my expression didn't display my complete and utter lack of knowledge.

"Listen, Jonah," she chided gently. "I was saying that if you and Grayson want to make it at a decent hour, you'll need to leave soon."

"We could leave by noon and get there at four," I said. "It's not like it's a really long trip."

"Still," she protested, "there may be traffic, and you should show Grayson around before you go and get Allie. Bring an overnight bag and just spend the night at the house."

Mentally, I groaned. "There's no getting out of this is there?"

My mother didn't even bother to fake a sympathetic look to me. "Nope. You're going. You're taking Grayson with you. It's final."

"And what are you going to do while we're gone?" I couldn't help but ask her, even though I wasn't sure I would like the answer. "Spy on English and Kennedy?"

My – now irritated – sister glared at me from across the table and then gave Mom a pleading look that was ignored. My mother answered my question in a bored tone. "Yes, Jonah. I'm going to follow them around, hiding around corners and listening to their conversations. I'll be sure to mind-trick them into having sex by the end of tomorrow."

The bad thing was I couldn't tell if she was being serious or not.