cold | e.d

26

It had been 6 days since Ethan had kicked me out, leaving me with no explanation and my overthinking mind.
I played with my phone on the bed, not wanting to call him but I was in desperate need for some sort of answer to all my problems.

I scrolled through my contacts and got up to his name and let my finger hover over it. But before I could even call him, my mom was shouting me from downstairs.
"Kay!! Grayson is here."

I got up and walked down, bit confused as to why he didn't just call.
My mum walked off and he shut the door. His hands were quickly then shoved into his grey jean pockets.
"Hey." He said, looking down.

He was bad at giving me eye contact, but it was something I was used to.
"Hey, didn't expect you, I would have made myself look a bit more presentable." I motioned to my oversized clothes.

"Y-you look good." He looked up at me then quickly re-evaluated what he said. "I mean, you look fine, but not fine like bad, you look-"

"Relax..." I frowned, pushing his shoulder softly. "I know what you mean. So what's up?"

I was keeping to myself really, so I didn't really want to talk.
"It's about E."

But in this circumstance, I really wanted to talk. "Is he okay? What about him?" He could tell I was worried because I stepped forward intently.
"You know your friend Grace?" I froze. I hadn't spoken to Grace in months, since the bowling fiasco where she just walked out on me for no reason.

Well there was a clear reason.
She was jealous.

"What about her?" I stayed calm, smiling at him.
"She's at the house." He tried to put it calmly. "I'm scared he's going to relapse into his old ways. You've been the best thing for him, he hasn't been acting up and clearly is learning how to deal with his emotions."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"If I could tell you, I would. But I don't know what's going on. Could you come over?" My eyes darted around, thinking. I nodded shortly.

"Come up, I need to get changed."

"You sure you don't want me to just stay down he-"

I was already running up, and turned down to look at him.
"It's fine, come up." He sighed and followed me up anyway.

I was glad that he had come over and told me something, because clearly Ethan wasn't going to. Nor Grace. I couldn't fucking believe her.

I got changed in the bathroom, but forgot my top in my room. Did I just go in or ask Gray to give it to me?

Just go in. A voice in the back of my head was tempting, but I thought it through.
"Hey.. Gray?" I shouted through the door.

"You okay?" I could tell he walked towards me as his voice got closer.
"Could you pass me that tank top on my bed? It's the red one. I forgot to pick it up." I said kinda quietly.
"Oh, U-Uhm sure." His voice wavered but I could hear him go over to my bed and grab it.

As I was about to open the door a little, he did it himself, leading me to stumble forwards with the loss of something to hold onto. It swung fully open and I just recoiled back a little out of shock.
"Fuck- Sorry." I said, covering my chest the best I could. He stared for a few seconds before looking down, putting his arm out with the fabric bunched up.

"No no, I'm sorry. Here." I grabbed it quickly and thanked him before shutting the door again.
I didn't know why I felt so awkward around him now, but my back slid down the wood until I hit the floor. I put my head in my hands, embarrassed.

"You know I didn't mean to do that-"

"Gray, it's fine. It was my fault." I slid the top on and got back up. I put my hand on the handle. Why was I shaking? It was like he made my stomach do a full 180.
He cleared his throat, clearly just as uncomfortable as I was.

I opened the door and he looked up at me from my bed. "You ready?" I smiled, fixing my hair a bit.
"Sure, you ready?" Better to just act like nothing happened.

"Just need to grab my coat." I pointed to the black bomber jacket behind him and he got up, grabbed it and gave it to me.

"Thank you." Any little thing that happened felt like a finicky detail that built up this tense feeling.

-

We managed to get to the house and he opened the door for me. The minute I got in, I could hear their overwhelming laughter. I turned into the kitchen and there she was, sat by the island. She was leaned over with her cleavage spilled over, looking directly at Ethan as he was drinking a glass of something.

When Ethan saw me he stared directly at me, making me turn back and face Grayson. He grabbed my wrists and whispered softly, "You can do this.". I turned back again and now both of them were staring at me.

"Why is she here?" Grace said plainly. "I could say the same about you." I shot back.
"Grayson, I don't know what game you're trying to play here-"

"Game? Are you crazy?" Grayson cut him off, stepping next to me.

I looked down at my feet. I didn't want to start a fight. It was hard to see Ethan after him kicking me out and even worse knowing that she was here.
"I want you to talk to Kay. You can't just leave her in the dark like this."

"Leave her in the dark? She knows exactly what she's done. And so should you Grayson." he spat.
It made me flinch. Grayson was right, he was sounding like how he treated me when I first moved to the new school.

However, I clearly had no idea what I did. "If this is about me arguing with you more, I'm sorry." my eyes were prickling up but I fought the tears.
"Don't act dumb Kendra." He never used my full name, it made me shiver in shock.
"I d-don't know what I've done." I almost mouthed, my voice gone in the attempt to not cry.

"You're fucking deluded!" He laughed almost, putting his drink down and stepping forward. Grace seemed to want to chime in, but hesitated.
"Go on Grayson, you tell her."

"I'm just as confused as she is here."
"Are you serious?!" He pushed Grayson and I let out a little noise, wanting him to stop.
"Just say it!" He pushed Grayson again, this time making him stumble back towards the wall.

"Stop it!" I grabbed Ethan's hand rashly and he stopped, looking at me. He followed a tear falling from my eye and flinched for a second before going back into this sheltered act.
"You and Grayson." He stared directly at me, his eyes burning into mine.

"Me and Grayson?" I wiped my eyes and stood my ground.
"Wait-" I forgot Grace was here but she came over, grabbing his arm.
"No, tell me." I flashed from her to him. I wanted answers and I knew she would stop it.

She tugged at him and he looked at her.
"Can we talk for a second? In private." She said in a hushed tone. And then it clicked.
But he looked back at me anyway and spat out,

"You're a fucking cheater."