What A Secret Looks Like | ✓

04: grayson

"You're Tessa?" I can feel the blood drain from my face as I stare at the pretty face I'd thought about the past two weeks.

She nods slowly, causing her cropped hair to rustle as she tucks her hair behind her ear. I wonder if that's a nervous tic she has.

"Like the Tessa?"

What the fuck have I done? Well, I think the better question is who have I done?

"Yeah," She agrees, staring at me with those goddamn hazel eyes.

I rub my eyes as if she's just a figure of my imagination, but she's still there when I open them again. "I need a drink, do you want anything?" I mumble, trying to make sense of everything.

"No, I've already got one."

My one-night stand I can't stop thinking about was with my best friend's nightmare of an ex-girlfriend. He's going to fucking kill me. I grab one of Hayes's beers out of the fridge, and then heading straight towards the drawer that holds the bottle opener as I try to wrap my mind around this.

"Are you sure you're the Tessa?" I ask one more time, and she tilts her head to look at me as I sit down.

"If you're asking if I'm the self-centered bitch that cheated on Hayes, and was basically the reason Sephine and Hayes broke up in high school, then yeah. I'm that Tessa, but I'm not the same Tessa as I was then." She replies evenly, taking a sip of her red wine.

"Fuck." I mutter to myself, pushing the sleeves of my shirt up to my elbows.

"We've already done that so don't get any ideas," Tessa teases, and a smirk forms on my face as the one-night stand starts to replay through my mind. "Oh god, you're thinking about it aren't you?"

I raise an eye at her before taking a swig of my drink, "And you're not?"

The amusement on her face tells me everything I need to know, but instead of recoiling now that I know who she is, I'm only further intrigued. I know I should just stay away, but I don't know if I can.

But she said she's not that person anymore, and Sephine wouldn't have let her in the house if she thought otherwise. So I offer my hand across the table in a form of peace.

"Grayson."

Tessa stares at it for a moment before slipping hers into mine. "Tessa."

Her hand curls around mine for the slightest moment, before she pulls back as if touching me has burned her. "Do you think they'll let me stay?" She asks, changing topics to look at the door on the other side of the living room where Sephine and Hayes have disappeared into.

I let out a soft chuckle, unable to stop staring at her now that she's actually here. "Seph will get her way so I wouldn't worry about it; she has Hayes wrapped around her finger, making it quite obvious who wears the pants in the relationship."

Tessa smiles, letting out her own short laugh, "I'm just glad that they're together again."

This is going to completely come back to bite me in the ass. "Do you want to get a drink tomorrow night?"

If Tessa's surprised, she doesn't let it show. Instead she cocks her head to the side like she's trying to solve a puzzle. "I don't think that worked out too well for us last time."

"So dinner then. I don't think we have an explanation if you give me my clothes back tonight," I don't skip a beat because I'm genuinely curious to find out more about her. She doesn't seem at all like the person Hayes told me about; granted it was years ago in college when he told me about it but if Sephine could forgive her then maybe its worth it to get to know her.