For Only You: A Grayson Dolan Fanfic (completed)

What?

Annaliese's POV
I turn around to see all three faces staring at me, waiting for me to say something.
"What?" I ask, wiping away a tear that escaped.
"Seriously?"
"What?" I ask again, more confused.
"You don't see it?"
"See what?"
"You've got to be kidding me! Are you blind?"
"Oh my gosh! What are you taking about?" I finally blurt.
They all look at each other, sharing a conversation just between their looks, and then they all turn back to me. "So...?" I prompt them.
"He totally is crushing on you... like, hard," Emma finally admits. I feel my face immediately turn red.
"What? No no no no. We're just friends, he knows that," I say, rushing my words out.
'This can't be happening. I just lost the twins. They're never going to talk to me again and I almost got taken... no. I'm not... this isn't real.'
"That's why he hasn't asked you out, because he knows you're just friends. But he's only going to be able to go so long before he can't stand just being your friend," Emma stops. She looks at me with slight pity. She knows how hard everything has been lately. She knows about the twins and why the guy attacked me and the message I left him. She knows all of it, and I can see how much she feels for me in her eyes. "Annaliese, he WILL ask you out if you don't have a boyfriend," she emphasizes 'will' and 'boyfriend.' And with that, she gives me a hug and leaves, with the other girls following suit. So, I'm left all by myself, in my work break room, with just my thoughts. I know... I know the way she said 'boyfriend' she meant a specific someone, but what am I supposed to do now?

Grayson's POV
Tomorrow... tomorrow is Tuesday. And the week and a half anniversary of Annaliese's message.
"Ethan?!" I shout whiny.
"What?!" He shouts back, mimicking my whinyness.
"What are we supposed to upload for tomorrow?" I shout again.
"I have no idea!" He shouts back. I open my mouth to respond, but get up instead and go to his room. I open the door and realize why he didn't come to my room this time. He's facetimeing... Hannah.
"Gray, whatcha doing?" He tries to hide it, but it's too late.
"E, it's fine. I'm okay," I assure him. I walk over to where they're facetimeing and pop my head into the frame. "Hey Hannah!"
"Oh, hey Grayson!" She smiles, but I can tell something's off because of the way her eyes shift to somewhere off camera. I find out why not even two seconds later.
"Who ya talking to?" Annaliese's cheery voice slices through the phone speakers and hits me like a wall of bricks. The phone immediately goes down to show just a black screen, indicating she dropped it. Ethan and I look at each other, worry for me evident in his face and then we both go back to his computer screen, even though we can only listen.
"No one. I was practicing for play auditions," Hannah tries to cover it up.
"Hannah... I heard what name you said... and it's not in the play. Trust me, I would know," Annaliese sighs. I can hear the sadness in her voice. And it both crushes me and fills me with joy.
'She misses me. She misses me!'
"She misses me!" I immediately get a shush and stare from Ethan.
'Oh crap. I just said that out loud...' I make sure I think this time.
"Did you hear something?" She asks, distracted from what she was originally saying.
"Hear what?" Hannah asks pretty innocently. The phone shakes and the screen lights up, showing most of Hannah, and only Annaliese's face. I turn and start walking towards the door. There was no way that I could stand there and see her. She looked amazing, obviously, but her face and eyes showed what really was happening. They were red and had bags under them, indicating her tiredness. She was exhausted and her eyes showed the level of sadness that she was holding. How was I supposed to stand there and see that? Especially when she told me she didn't think we could ever be friends or maybe even talk again? Without realizing it, my body lets out a big sigh, my body drooping with it.
"Okay, there it is again! I know that there's  someone else here or something!" My feet instinctively stop as her voice pierces the air. I try to stop it, but my body turns itself to face Ethan and his computer.
"I just have to finish something real quick, so I'll just meet you in the-" Hannah tries to cover it up, but Annaliese interrupts before she can finish her excuse.
"Wait. Who is that?" I can see her look at the camera. My heart starts to beat faster, even though I'm out of the frame. Hannah goes to grab for her phone, but Annaliese is faster and she picks it up. And now I can see her up close. I don't know how much more I can take.
"It's... oh, hey, Ethan. How's it been?" She asks, slightly deflated. Ethan perks up and answers cheerfully, "we only have five more shows left (the last leg of the international part), so that's exciting and saddening." Annaliese nods like she's distracted. I can tell she's looking for something from the way her eyes are shifting back and forth from Ethan to what's around him. "It's okay, he's not here." Ethan says, like he's helping her. She nods in agreement, her eyes no longer shifting, but I can also see a tinge of... disappointment? as well. I notice how she looks at Ethan, and then back to Hannah, her gaze on him never lasting more than a couple seconds, like she can't bear to look at him or something.
"Well, I'll let you go talk again, you guys must be pretty busy and probably have to leave soon anyway," She blurts, almost like she's making an excuse or something.
'Sh*t. She is making an excuse. Please don't say anything! Please!' I silently beg Ethan, hoping he won't relay information that doesn't need to be shared.
"Actually, we have the rest of the weekend to rest and get rejuvenated," Ethan explains.
Annaliese's face falters, but not enough for Ethan to notice.
"Oh, that's cool. Is it your first weekend to do that or...?" I could feel her prodding, hoping Ethan would answer her questions.
"No no, we've had a couple since the international leg of the tour," Ethan replied truthfully. And with that, I could see not only the sadness, but also the hurt grow in Annaliese's eyes.
"Oh," was all she got out, stunned by what he had said. And before anyone asked about it, she turned to Hannah and gave the phone back to her. "Well you better get as much talking time in as you can before you can't anymore." Hannah was back in the main part of the frame, but Annaliese was in the background. I could see her looking at Hannah, her eyes glazing over and I could see the tears start to form. That was all it took for me to get out of that room and close the door when I got back into my room. I wiped away my tear that started to fall and fell onto my bed.
'I'm so...stupid.' I pause, thinking exactly why she kept asking about the time off with Ethan and all at once, an overwhelming amount of guilt crashed inside me, realizing what I had done. I had never FaceTimed Annaliese, not once. Not even on those two or three weekends where we didn't have a show. 'Annaliese wanted to know if I hadn't given her my time when I actually did have some to spare or if I really had been non-stop busy since we left.' The truth was, I did have time, not much, but I did have time and I was stupid enough to just spend it talking to the fake one, the one I've been recording, instead of the real life, living and breathing one. I pulled the covers over me and wallowed in my stupidity until I fell asleep.

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I don't know how good this chapter was, so if you could comment what you thought, that would be great! Love ya and get ready for the next chapter! 😏😄