𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄

[𝟖] 𝐒𝐨 𝐒𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐥𝐝

"No." I objected almost too quickly. She cocked her head to the side, giving me a weird look. "Don't leave me, you can just use some of mine."

I hated when girls wore my clothes, they were mine so they belonged on my body and only my body. But I had to come up with something.

She smiled softly, walking over to where I sat at the edge of the bed. She stood between my legs as I looked up at her, her hands rested on either of my shoulders and mine were on her forearms.

"I'll be quick. Promise." She held out her pinky but I ignored it, holding onto her tighter.

"Pretty please?" I pouted. With that, I knew she'd cave. And she did, groaning. I grinned triumphantly.

"I call right." We said at the same time. She narrowed her eyes at me, crossing her arms.

"I said it first." She demanded.

"No, I did." I frowned, crossing my arms.

"You know what? I call the floor." She stuck her nose in the air and stalked out of my room. When she came back she had three blankets in her arms which she threw onto the floor.

I left the room because I knew she'd ignore me anyway. I ate a bowl of cereal and went back upstairs to find her lying on her side and scrolling through her phone.

When I finished showering and changing, I stepped into my room to find her asleep in one of my shirts and her clothes on the chair in the corner. I sighed walking over to her and scooping her up.

Planting a kiss on her forehead, I lowered her under the blankets and made my way over to her little floor-bed.

I'd noticed that at her house, she only had one pillow on her bed which I'd often find on the floor. And when she slept over and I'd offer her a pillow, she never accepted one. So I'd come to the conclusion she didn't sleep well with pillows.

Grace Rieder was probably the weirdest girl in the world, or at least in my world.

Every time I tried falling asleep, the picture of our burp-kiss kept coming to the surface of my thoughts.

I should rethink that name.

I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if we did kiss. And suddenly I regretted waking up early that morning, maybe that way, we would have had a different series of events that led up to an actual kiss.

Shit.

Did I like her?

Well, this isn't good.

In my defense, she was cute. Or so she'd been told.

🌊🌊

Grace waddled downstairs, her hair up in a towel and a brush in her hand as I followed behind her.

"I really need to go home, Sam." She groaned when she sat down on the barstool in the kitchen. Taking a seat next to her, I pulled the towel out of her hair and tossing it somewhere in the living room. "Pig." She muttered, standing to get it. She walked back over, towel in hand, and tossed it on my head.

"Pig." I mimicked her. She stuck her tongue out at me and reached for my keys on the counter. "What do you need those for?"

"I'm going home, Samuel. I need clothes." She spoke. I snatched the keys, standing from my seat and holding them above my head.

"No." I protested. I told Ray I wouldn't let to Grace go home yet and I wasn't going to break that promise.

"What is up with you? Why won't you let me go home? I just need clothes, not like I'm going to get attacked or something."

I shrugged. "You never know, Grace. You never know."

"Will you stop that! Give me the keys!" She demanded, jumping up and trying to snatch them from me. I held them higher and higher but this girl was ready to climb me like a fucking tree.

"He's just getting attached, Grace. I have some clothes for you, come." My mom spoke up from behind us. I turned, mouthing a thank you. She winked at me before guiding Grace up the stairs, who didn't spare me a look. She was probably just mad again.

Mom came back down but no Grace in sight. "She's changing." Mom sighed, giving me a quick hug. "So what's going on?"

"Her sister told me not to let her go home for a while," I confessed with a sigh. What? I don't lie to my mom. It's just me and her. And sometimes Dad when he's not working.

"Baby, that's not exactly your place-"

"But Ray made it my place and I don't break promises. And this one especially. I love that girl like family and she loves Ray so Ray's my family too, mom. We don't let family down."

She sighed, giving me a look. One I'd only seen a few times when she talked to Grant about his girlfriend. "Treat this one right, Sam."

"I promise I'll do more than just treat her right. Grace deserves the world, mom, and I plan on giving it to her."

She did deserve the world and if I told her that enough, I don't know if it would be one of her so I've been told moment. I hoped that when or if I ever told her that, she'd say that. And if she didn't, I'd make sure the next time I told her that she deserved the world she would.

She didn't know how much she was worth to me.