I sat down near Peanuts bed as she looked at me with her head slightly tilted. I waved her tug of war toy in front of her face and she locked her jaw over the other end of the toy and pulled like her life depended on it. Every few seconds, she would let out a growl and pull even harder.
I won the war of course.
I gave her a biscuit and stroked her head before getting up and deciding to order Chinese food.
"guys! I'm ordering Chinese food... what do you all want?" I called out and almost instantly, they came out of their rooms and sat down on the sofa.
"you two are so weird," I said laughing to myself. "anyway... what do you want?"
they told me what they would like and when the food was ready, Ethan went off to get it.
The smell of Chinese food drifted through the apartment and my stomach growled as I could smell the sweet and sourness of the food.
The three of us tucked into out boxes of Chinese food as we sat on the sofa and watched Riverdale. I was developing a major celebrity crush on Cole Sprouse. What can I say... he's a good-looking guy.
Soon enough, Grayson and Ethan were off and out with Jack and Aaron to go late night skateboarding. For me, I grabbed my laptop and started to catch up on some of my overdue work.
I changed into some sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt, grabbed myself a bowl of ice cream and then sat in front of a computer screen for two hours as I wrote e-mails and architecture ideas before sending them off to my boss.
The rest of my 'work' time was spent e-mailing James to come over and see Peanut. In the end, he revealed he was in New York now and could face time me.
"james!" I exclaimed when he picked up,
"hello, my queen..." James said smiling to me,
"wanna' see the doggy?" I asked as I picked her up and showed her belly to the camera,
"still the same velvety ears?" he then asked me,
"as always," I replied before holding her close and snuggling her. "at least she's house trained now," I shrugged and laughed,
"oh yeah... that was messy when she pooed in your bed that one time..." James laughed,
"try three times!" I said back to him.
After another hour and a half of face timing, the twins came home and Ethan went to sit on the sofa to watch TV, whereas Grayson wrapped his arm over my shoulder and sat at the counter with me to face time James,
"hello gorgeous Grayson," James said with a big grin on his face,
"hey dude..." Grayson laughed at the nickname he had now adopted,
"aww... gorgeous Grayson!" I cooed in a teasing way,
"how're you doing?" he asked James,
"good... just decorating the new apartment," he said back to him,
the three of us spoke for a few more minutes until James nearly fell asleep.
I said goodnight to Peanut by stroking her sleeping head and then went off to bed, put on my pyjama shorts and an old Adidas top before falling into a deep sleep.
---
the next morning, I woke up when my alarm buzzed to find Grayson spread out like a starfish and groaning at the song that both of us really hate 'Call Me Maybe'. I don't know what it was about that song, but every time I heard it I wanted to scream. I guess that's why it was the perfect song to choose for my alarm in the morning.
"turn it off!" he sleepily said to me,
"sorry," I said as I scrambled to retrieve the phone and turn off the alarm.
I sighed as the music stopped and wiped my eyes free of sleep.
I showered and then dressed myself in the slouchy outfit from yesterday. When I came out of the bathroom to grab my clothes, Grayson had spread out to cover the entire bed this time and it was like I had never even slept in there. Every now and again, we would let out a snore and snuggle his head deeper into the pillow.
I made my way into the kitchen, grabbed a cereal bar and stood by the counter eating it. My bags were packed and ready next to the front door and I had another half an hour before my Uber came to pick me up.
The mission was to now get Grayson to wake up so I could say goodbye but it was almost impossible since I could sound a foghorn near his ear and all he'd do is snore louder.
I walked into the room and poked his shoulder until the poke turned into a tap and the tap turned into shoving my fingers under his nose.
Instantly, he woke up.
"I'm going now..." I said quietly,
"oh... okay, I'll miss you." He smiled half asleep,
"take care of Ethan and Peanut for today... I'll call you when I land." I said before rustling my hand in his head, kissing him and leaving the apartment.
London here I come...