The cold, fall air is what I'm greeted with when I wake up. A smile planted on my face, I remember the date. Grayson and I became official the day before September started. So today being October first signifies our one month anniversary. I couldn't be more excited. Just like too many of our dates before, I have no idea what the plans are. I guess Grayson just hates giving me details...
"Genna get your ass down here!" My mom yells from downstairs. My head lifts itself up from my pillow, my mind starts whirling with ideas as to why my mom would call me downstairs this early. It's currently five in the morning and I usually get up a little before six, so why do I need to go downstairs? And why is she so angry?
My feet make hard thumps against our carpeted stairs as I angrily stomp down them. When I get down the stairs my mom is there, greeting me with her hands on her hips, and a hard stare thrown at me.
"What is it, Mom?" You can hear the irritation in my voice.
Her eyes roll, "Don't you 'what is it?' me, missy. You have a lot of nerve you know?"
I'm so confused. What did I do? The confusion on my face causes my mom to get even angrier. Me not knowing what she's angry about always gets her more riled up.
"I'm sorry?" I try. I don't know what to say, so it might as well be an apology. Maybe she'll think it's genuine and let me go back to sleep, forgetting whatever it is she's angry about.
My mom's face flushes with anger. "You're sorry?!" I nod franticly, scared of what she might do if I don't respond. "You didn't turn in your last three assignments and all you can say is sorry?!"
Oh. Oops.
"Oh! I'm so sorry. The thought completely left my mind!" It's true. With Grayson being such a big part of my life, sometimes I forget. Whenever I try to work he just pulls me over to him.
My mom and I talk about everything for a little longer, in the end she agreed with me and told me she would give me a punishment when I got home. I had to get ready for school, so I ran upstairs to take a quick shower.
Getting ready went as fast as the drive to school. My eyes search the halls for a specific person. Once our eyes meet, my feet tread faster to the other side of the hall. His grey eyes meet mine as his lips reach over to give me a quick peck. I smile at Grayson and his arm wraps itself around my waist.
"Hey, babe." When I first moved here, I never thought I would be happy again. Even though I'm not quite there yet, being with Grayson makes me feel like there is a possibility.
"Hey to you too," I respond, my face nuzzling into his neck, placing a quick kiss below his ear. His breath hitches as a throat clears. A random teacher that I don't have stands behind us. By the glare he sends Grayson, I can tell he has him. My eyes meet my favorite grey ones and we break apart, giving each other a silent goodbye.
My feet carry me down the hallway to my next class.
++++
The school day went by pretty fast. The coach needed help setting up some football thing that I have no interest in, so all the main players were excused to help him; I never got to see Grayson because he had to help.
The drive home was as boring as the way there. My radio silently buzzed with the sound of some random pop station. A song I had heard before and started to like came on, so I turned it up and bobbed my head to the beat. Since I was nearing the final stretch of the drive, the song was the last thing on before I turned the music off, along with my car.
The house was freezing, per usual, so I grabbed a warm blanket from inside our ottoman and fell on the couch cushion. My hand found the remote and switched on the TV. The channels all sounded boring, so I sat there flipping through the pages of the screen for what felt like forever before I found something that sparked at least the slightest interest in me.
The door to our house squeaked open an hour or two later. My sister's voice resounds around the house as she addresses me, "Don't you have anything better to do, like... homework?"
I pause my show and turn my head towards the figure that's standing in the kitchen. "No, I finished all my homework at school." With Grayson not being there at study hall to distract me, I actually got all my work done.
She gives a satisfactory noise and wonders up to her room. Emily only has a couple days left before she has to go back to school. She was supposed to leave a while earlier, but her dorm building had a fire, so the school let her stay back until the place was ready for people to live there again.
My mind wanders to the date on my mental calendar. Today is Grayson and I's one month anniversary and he didn't say anything about it...
He didn't say anything about plans or just the day in general. I wonder if I should say something. I mean, according to society it'd be pretty weird for me to do so, but if he doesn't I just might, no matter what society says.
I hear light footsteps down our stairs and my head turns toward the noise. Emily is back downstairs, this time in another outfit.
"I'm going out tonight," She yells as she leaves without giving me anytime to ask her any questions, or even say goodbye.
I guess it's back to a boring old day then. Maybe I can add a little bit of sulking into the mix.
My lazy butt stays on the couch for another three hours; I sometimes got off the couch to get some water.
The open slam of the door shakes my hand, spilling the water I was in the middle of pouring. I go to grab a towel as my family walks in, angry.
I wonder what happened this time...
"How dare you tell me to leave early?! I'm a legal adult; I can do whatever the hell I want!" My sister yells at my mom.
"I am your mother! If I want you to be home when I come home, you're coming home! Especially when you're under my
roof, even if it's only for a certain period of time."
They fight like this for a while before I realize I should go.
I go upstairs and try not to let their fighting affect me. They haven't fought like this since Emily came home, I mean, there was no reason, until now I guess. They did fight like this all the time when Emily still lived here. That's partially the reason why I'm thankful she went to college. Of course I missed her, but I think it's what's best for the family's well being.
I can still hear them fighting from my upstairs bedroom.
I could never deal with fighting. Sometimes, on rare occasions, my parents would fight. For some reason, I was always super sensitive to it. My sister would be fine, acting like nothing even happened, but I would be sitting in my room, crying, which is exactly what I'm trying to prevent from happening at the moment.
Soon enough, soothing music flows through my head, calming me down as I lay under my blankets, eyes starting to close. My headphones stop me from being able to sleep on my side without it feeling uncomfortable, so I lay on my back, my eyes staring at my ceiling.
My eyes drift close and my mind turns blank.
++++
The constant vibration wakes me up. My blurry eyes look at my bright screen, squinting at the sudden light.
An app I didn't even know I had, has been sending me constant notifications. I roll my eyes at the stupid game and put my phone on silent.
Just as I was about to roll back to sleep, my eyes see the time on the clock that's placed on my dresser.
It's almost ten o'clock and nothing from Grayson...
Did he forget? Probably. I wouldn't even be surprised if I didn't really mean that much to him. It's most likely a one-sided relationship. I can't believe I ever thought he really liked me. I'm so stupid!
My sad thoughts cloud my brain as tears start to prick my eyes. I fall back onto my fluffy pillow. I guess I'll just go back to sleep, my feelings following me.
My vision starts to get blurry. I sigh one last time before I feel as if I'm totally still.
Tap
Tap
Tap
What is that? I'm fully alert as I get out of bed, walking sluggishly toward my window.
As cliche as it is, Grayson is outside my window throwing, hopefully pebbles, at the glass. He points to his phone, signaling me to look at mine. I turn to my bed and grab my phone. The bright screen is filled with messages from Grayson once I turn it on. They started off just telling me he was coming to pick me up, then they gradually started turning into him asking me if I as awake, and finally him telling me he's on his way. A small smile creeps onto my face; maybe he didn't forget.
I put on something that doesn't make me look homeless, a.k.a. leggings and a knit sweater, and head downstairs. I'm careful not to wake my family as I ease open the front door and make my way to Mr. Romeo. His bright eyes shine under the midnight moon as he reaches his hands towards me. I fall into his embrace.
"Why are you here?" I ask him.
He looks down at me and kisses the top of my head. "Did you really think I'd forget our one month anniversary?" My eyes find his and a huge smile crosses my face.
I can't believe I actual thought he'd forget.
"And since it's our anniversary," I look up at him, wondering if he's making plans at eleven o'clock. "I made plans for us at a special place."
My eyebrows raise at him. "What kind of plans?"
He smirks at me and drags me towards his car. "Now that's the surprise." I roll my eyes, this boy definitely has a love for surprises.
We sit in the car, talking about random crap. The drive is less than half an hour, which gives me more time to ask him where he's taking me and him more time to not tell me anything.
We stop at a large building that looks almost like a warehouse. I step out and follow Grayson inside.
A wind of cold air blows past me as Grayson opens the door, letting me walk in before him. My eyes widen as I see the ice in front of me.
"An ice rink?" I ask, excitement bubbling up inside of me.
He looks over and smiles. "Do you like it?"
"Of course!" Ever since I went that one time in Chicago I've wanted to go again. I am wondering something though. "How come we were able to get in, do you have the keys or something?" I ask.
"My uncle owns this place and when I told him my plan, he was more than happy to lend me the keys." I nod at him and start walking over to where they have the ice skates. We both get our size and stop at a bench to put them on. Like the other time we went skating together, Grayson has to tie my skates for me. If it was the same as a normal shoe I'd be able to do it myself, but it's too complicated and when I tried to do it before it was too loose.
Grayson brought a jacket, so he opened an already unlocked locker and put it in there, which seems pretty stupid since there's no one here. I still put my normal shoes in the locker, no matter how unnecessary. After we're all settled, we head to the rink.
I may be excited, but I'm still scared. This is the second time I've gone on the ice and even though I'm confident I won't fall a lot, you never know.
Grayson reaches for my hand and guides me around the ice in a circle for what feels like forever. Our hands are interlocked as we laugh and skate side by side.
"You wanna know something?" I ask Grayson. He looks over at me, intrigued at what I'm about to say. "When I first moved from California, I never thought I'd be here."
"Be where?"
I smile. "Be at an ice rink at midnight with one of the greatest guys in the world." He reciprocates my smile and stops skating, causing me to stop as well.
"Yeah, well I never thought I'd be here either."
"Be where?" I ask, even though I know the answer.
He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me as close as we could get without us losing balance. "Be at an ice rink at midnight with one of the greatest girls in the world." Grayson says smoothly, making me swoon.
After we stare at each other for a couple seconds, I pull his hand and start skating, him following close behind me since our hands are interlocked.
Our feet continue to glide on the ice. So far, nobody has fallen, which is pretty surprising, but good nonetheless.
Right as that thought went through my mind, my foot turns and causes us both to fall down. Since I was the one who tripped, I fell down first, Grayson falling on top of me.
His smile (more like smirk) is the first thing I'm greeted with when I open my eyes, which closed on instinct when I hit the ice.
"Does this remind you of anything?" He asks. It did actually.
I place a hard, passionate kiss on his lips- just like the one at the other ice skating rink. Our lips move in sync, passion and our strong emotions being poured out of our hearts and into each other.
When both our heads fall back, mine onto the cold, hard ice, our eyes connect, but not as much as we do. The emotion I
feel is there, it's overwhelming. By the look on Grayson's face, it seems like he feels the same way,, but me maybe more.
A conflicted look crosses his face, like he's deciding on whether or not he should say something. My hand reaches up and cradles his face, which apparently makes him settle on a decision.
A nervous breath leaves his mouth. I raise a brow at his actions. He seems conflicted, but about what?
It's been quiet for a couple seconds, with me just holding his face, before he smiles and looks me in the eye with determination.
"I love you."
My heart squeezes, my mind whirls, and my hand drops.
He loves me?
We've been going out for only a month, but does that really matter? I've only loved one other person, but it's not like that time turned out bad; our relationship only ended because I moved.
The emotions I feel with Grayson are most definitely real, but are they strong enough to be called love? Being with him has been so... easy. Like it was a fantasy. My life has never been easy. I've fought with my insecurities throughout my entire life and even though I'm still in that battle, maybe with him I won't be for much longer. Who knows, maybe I should take a chance.
"I love you too."