Chapter 23: I Think I Like It
Greyson’s Point of View
I strode down the hallway and went straight to my first class, ignoring the few people who greeted me as I passed. My mind was in shock; I was still having trouble fathoming what had happened in the truck. They were really back together? What happened to Bren’s so-called pride? Why the sudden change of heart?
Walking into English, I saw Grace was already at her seat. Maybe she’d know something.
“Hey.” I took the seat next to her.
“Hi, Grey.” She looked over at me. Her curly auburn hair was pulled back with a headband revealing her porcelain-like cheeks and chocolaty brown eyes. She wore a grey school sweatshirt and dark wash jeans.
“So,” I started not really sure what to say, “do you know how Bren went from insisting she had too much pride to date Sterling to being back together with him?”
Her eyes widened, her lips curved. “They’re dating now? Since when?”
I sighed mentally. She was apparently all for this as well. “I guess since last night. I found out on the car ride to school this morning.”
Grace let out a girlish squeal. “They’re gonna be so cute together!”
Shaking my head, I refrained from saying the thoughts crossing my mind. She’d find out soon enough.
Nate walked in at that moment giving me a reason to return to my seat. Normally, I liked talking to Grace, but if she was going to go on and on about how great this was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
I took a seat in my normal spot and set my backpack next to my desk. Turning to greet Nate, I saw he was already looking at me, an odd look in his green eyes.
“What?” I asked.
He smirked. “You seem to be spending a lot of time with Ginger over there lately. How do you even know her?”
“First of all, her name is Grace, not Ginger,” I told him with a steely glare. “And she’s one of Sterling’s friends.”
“Ah.” He looked disappointed. “She’s one of those girls.”
Anger began to spread throughout my body. When I spoke, my voice was a bit louder and harsher than I intended. “No, she’s not. She’s nothing like that. They’re just friends.”
“Sterling just friends with a girl. That’s great, Grey.” Nate laughed obnoxiously, the way he always does.
I resisted the urge to punch him. “It’s true. And it better stay that way considering he’s dating Bren now.”
The laughter ceased, and his eyes widened. “What? They’re dating again? Since when?”
I have to explain this again? It's going to be a long day. "Since last night."
"How the hell did that happen? I never thought Bren would be dumb enough to get back with him."
"I don't know.” I sighed. "I didn't think she was either."
Mr. Johnson started taking attendance, and we remained silent for the rest of the class, neither of us in the mood to talk.
Finally the bell rang, and we all stood up to leave, more than ready to be done with this boring class. As I headed towards the door, I felt a small, familiar hand grab my arm.
“Grey, wait.”
I turned to see Grace, and I hung back to let people pass by us. “Yeah?”
She looked up at me with those big brown eyes of hers. “I heard you talking to Nate. Why are you guys so against Bren and Sterling dating?”
The rest of my classmates had cleared out of the room, so we started out the door and into the hallway. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”
“Can you at least try?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I guess you can say their relationship isn’t like most. When they’re happy, they’re extremely happy. But when they get into a fight or something, they’re downright scary to be around.”
We stopped in front of the door to her class. Grace looked up at me, confusion evident in her eyes.
“You’ll see soon enough, trust me.” I leaned against the wall.
“I hate not knowing stuff.” She huffed out a breath before adjusting the books in her arms and smiling. “Well, it was nice talking to you, Grey, but I should probably go into my class now.”
“Yeah, you probably should."
"I’ll talk to you later,” she said before turning and heading towards the doorway.
“Oh and Grace?”
She twisted her head to look at me curiously.
I made sure to look her in the eyes. “Next time, we’re not going to talk about my brother the whole time.”
Grace smirked. “Who says there’s going to be a next time?”
“You’re the one who said you’d talk to me later…” I winked.
She rolled her eyes. “Bye, Grey.”
I chuckled and strode leisurely down the hallway to my next class. Then I realized it was almost empty, and I quickly pulled out my phone to check the time.
Damn it. I had only a minute to get across the school.
I ran the rest of the way. Just as I reached my arm out for the door handle, the bell rang. With a groan, I opened the door.
My teacher looked up at me. “That’ll be a half-hour detention, Mr. Hayes.”
Biting back a snide comment, I scoped the room for an empty seat. My eyes landed on the only empty one. I swore under my breath before walking over and sitting down.
With a flip of her dark brown hair and a large smile, she said, “Hey, Grey.”
I swiveled in my chair to glare at her. “I thought I made it pretty clear I didn’t want you to talk to me, Delaney.”
“Well, what are you going to do? We’re in the middle of class, and there are no other seats.” She smiled sardonically. “You can’t stop me from talking, and you’re just going to have to listen.”
I simply stared at her before placing my head on my arms. What the hell was wrong with this chick?
She chattered endlessly the rest of the class while I tried to tune her out. It didn’t work. I heard all about the cute, little kitten she just got and named Princess even though it was a boy. I heard all about how she went shoe shopping with her mom’s credit card—she described every, single pair of shoes in explicit detail—and then got in trouble because she spent over a thousand dollars. How do you even do that? Then she went into a long rant about this girl from her gym class that she couldn’t stand—apparently, the girl always gave Delaney dirty looks. She informed me that her little sister was annoying and never stopped talking—I think it’s hereditary in that family—and was always trying to borrow her clothes.
It was torture of the cruelest form. I had red marks on my forehead from banging my head on the desk repeatedly to avoid not knocking her out cold. Don’t get me wrong, it was cute when a girl started rambling occasionally. But this, this was just wrong.
After what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang, and I almost cried with relief. I darted out of that class faster than security guards who hear someone say “bomb” at an airport.
The rest of the day went surprisingly smoother. At least until lunch.
It was pizza day, and it was one of the few things they couldn’t mess up since they ordered it from a local pizzeria. Ready to have a decent lunch for once, I sat down at my normal table. Nate and Lilah were already there and absorbed in their own conversation. After a few minutes Bren sat down next to me.
“Hey,” she greeted before taking a bite out of her pizza.
“Hey,” I said a bit bitterly.
She frowned slightly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I didn’t look at her and continued eating my pizza.
“You don’t sound like it…”
“I’ve had a terrible day so far,” I snapped. “And no, I don’t want to talk about it.”
I saw hurt flash in her eyes before she quickly covered it with an icy stare. “Jeez. I was just asking, Grey. You don’t need to snap at me.”
Was anything going to go right today? “I’m sorry, Bren. I just really don’t want to talk about it right now, okay?”
Bren’s eyes softened a bit, and she smiled softly as she reached out to squeeze my hand. “It’s alright, Grey. We all have those days.”
Before I could return the smile, my brother strode past and planted a kiss on Bren’s cheek as he took the seat next to her. Bren’s grin grew, and her eyes immediately lit up.
“Hey, Grey.”
Turning, I saw Grace sitting next to me. I hadn’t noticed that she came over here. “Hey.”
“I guess there is a next time now, huh?” She grinned.
“Yeah, there is. So,” I started, determined to stay away from the topic of Sterling and Bren, “what do you like to do for fun?”
“I like to read.” She saw my raised eyebrow. “What?”
“That’s all you like to do?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Fine. Let’s see…I like to take long walks on the beach and—”
I cut her off with a chuckle. “You’re ridiculous, Grace.”
“Well, what do you like to do?” She shoved my shoulder playfully.
“Hey, Grey.” Sterling’s voice interrupted before I could speak.
Grudgingly, I turned to face him. “Yes?”
“I have practice after school, so I won’t be able to take you home unless you want to wait a couple hours.”
“Okay, I’ll wait.” I spun back around to face Grace. “I have detention anyway.”
Her eyes widened. “You have detention? For what? I didn’t peg you as the type.”
“I punched a teacher.” Grace’s eyes widened further, and I chuckled. “I’m kidding. It was just for being, like, two seconds tardy to my second class.”
“Jerk.” She shoved my shoulder again. Then she frowned slightly. “Your second class? Were you late because you were talking to me?”
I didn’t answer right away; I didn’t want her to feel guilty.
“Grey?” Her small hand lightly grabbed my wrist.
“Kind of,” I admitted. “It really wasn’t your fault, though.”
She didn’t look convinced.
“It’s really not a big deal, Grace. I’ve gotten detentions for tardiness before. I just sit there and do homework for a half-hour and then leave.”
She brought her chocolaty brown eyes up to mine, a small smile on her pink lips. “You sure?”
I nodded, and she went back to eating.
“Wait.” She glanced at me after a moment, her eyes bright. “How long does Sterling’s practice last?”
“Till 4:30,” I answered. “Why?”
“How ‘bout I just bring you home? Then you don’t have to wait so long, and I don’t feel bad.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “It’s not fair to make you wait for me.”
“I’m the reason you’re in detention, Grey. If anything, I should be in there with you.”
“It’s not your f—”
“Please, Grey?” She grabbed one of my hands with her own, looked up at me with those big brown eyes. I couldn’t refuse.
“Fine.” I smiled. “Thank you, Grace.”
Her lips curved as well, and then the bell rang. She grabbed all of her stuff and started heading towards the door. “Just meet me in the library when you’re done, ‘kay?”
“Got it,” I said simply.
She went one way down the hallway, and I went the other. The second half of my day went by much better than the first even if it was a bit boring. Before I knew it, the last bell was ringing and I was off to detention.
Ms. Powers, one of the school’s so-called “security guards,” ran detention every day after school. She was an older lady who aged herself even more by wearing clothes meant for women half her age. She attempted to cover her greying hair by dying it blonde, but it didn’t help much and if anything, just clashed with the wrinkles on her cheeks. Ms. Powers didn’t talk much either, but if she did, you knew you were in trouble.
I took a seat in the middle of the nearly empty classroom. Apparently today wasn’t a big day for “troublemaking.” Or the true troublemakers simply didn’t bother showing up.
Pulling out the book we were assigned in English, Jane Eyre, I began reading. It seemed kind of romantic—which kind of made me wonder about Mr. Johnson—but it had a dark undertone that made it tolerable. I actually got pretty drawn in and was surprised when Ms. Powers told us we could go. I stored the book away in my backpack and headed towards the library.
The library doors opened with a soft creak, and I immediately spotted Grace sitting a table, completely engrossed into the book in front of her. I walked up to her, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Grace, I’m ready whenever you are.”
She jumped in her seat, her hand on her heart and her eyes wide as she whipped her head around to look at me. “Grey, you scared me.”
I couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped my lips. “Sorry.”
“We can leave now.” She packed her book away and pulled out a set of keys adorned with various key chains of all shapes and sizes. Then she threw her bag over her shoulder and picked up her textbooks.
We strolled out into the empty hallway. It was kind of eerie being at school during times like this when no one was around. The hallways were normally bustling with people and now it was just the two of us and lockers.
“So,” Grace broke the silence, “how was detention?”
“It went by faster than expected, actually. I got caught up reading for English,” I answered. “How was the library?”
“I got caught up reading too, as you saw.” She laughed lightly then her eyes widened slightly. “You got caught up reading Jane Eyre?”
“Yeah,” I admitted somewhat reluctantly. “It wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.”
“Most guys would probably rather die than admit they like that book, Grey.” She grinned. “But I think it’s cool that you did.”
We had arrived at the exit by that point. I held the door open for her to go through first. “I said it wasn’t as bad as I expected. That doesn’t mean I like it.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Grey.”
“So, which car is yours?” I asked as we neared the parked vehicles.
“That one.” She pointed at a red Volkswagen in the third row.
“You drive a red bug?” I asked incredulously. “Really? It looks like a giant tomato.”
She smacked my arm. “Don’t insult my car.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”
Grace looked at me as she unlocked and opened her door. “Doing what?”
“Hitting me. You’re a bit of a violent one, aren’t you?” I cracked a grin as I climbed in the cramped car.
She laughed and started the ignition. “If you think I’m violent now, wait until I’m mad.”
“I think I’d rather not…” I rubbed my arm as if it hurt.
“You’re a wimp.” With a roll of her eyes she backed the car out of the parking spot and turned onto the street. “Feel free to turn on the radio.”
I reached for the buttons and then hesitated. “What kind of music do you listen to?”
“Everything,” she answered simply.
“Everything? Could you be a bit more specific?” I asked.
“Just turn on whatever. I’ll listen to anything. I turn left here, right?”
“Yeah.” I turned on the station I normally listened to in the car that played a mix of all kinds of music. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes.
“So, you never did tell me what you like do for fun, Grey.” She glanced at me quickly before her eyes returned to the road.
“Uh…”
She laughed at my hesitation. “You’re a gamer, aren’t you? Video or computer?”
“Video games.” I rubbed the back of my neck. Most girls hated when guys played video games. For some, it could be a deal breaker.
To my surprise, Grace broke into a large smile. “So do I.”
My eyes widened. “Really? What do you play?”
“Mostly Call of Duty and Skyrim. Occasionally Portal.”
I’m surprised my jaw didn’t drop. “You’re awesome, Grace.”
“Thanks.” She chuckled. “I just don’t understand why it’s a big deal that a girl likes video games.”
“It just is.”
She pulled onto my street and stopped her car in front of my house. “Well, here we are.”
“Thanks again for the ride. You really didn’t have to,” I told her.
“It was nothing, Grey. Really.”
I reached for the door handle and paused, bringing my eyes up to hers. “Do you want to come in for a while? Play some Call of Duty or something?”
“Uh, sure. Why not.” She put the car in park and shut it off.
We both stepped out of the car and walked awkwardly to the house. After unlocking the door, we both went inside, and I led her upstairs to my room. I threw my backpack off into a corner and took off my jacket. Turning around, I saw Grace was just standing there.
“You can sit down.” She smiled slightly and took a seat on the edge of my bed.
I went over and set everything up, handing Grace a remote when I was done. She grabbed it from me as I sat next to her. There was plenty of space between us, but she seemed tense and uncomfortable.
***
An hour or so later, Grace was anything but tense and the gap between us wasn’t nearly as large. She was joking around and smack talking like there was no tomorrow. Normally, that would kind of irritate me, but she was slaughtering me, so she had every right. I had thought I was good at this game, but I was downright pathetic compared to her.
The game was finished and Grace looked over at me, her eyes bright, her cheeks pink with laughter. “That was fun.”
“For you maybe,” I muttered as I tossed the controller behind me on the bed and stretched a bit.
“Is someone a sore loser?” She smirked.
“You were right,” I said. “The name Grace really doesn’t fit you.”
She laughed. “I told you. People never believe me at first.”
“You’re not at all like I expected, Grace.” I met my eyes with hers. “But I think I like it.”
Her eyes changed, darkened a bit. “Oh?”
I nodded, not quite trusting my voice to speak. Everything seemed to slow down. Her eyelids fluttered; I could hear her every breath. I leaned forward, and it seemed like an eternity before our lips met.
My lips tingled, and it felt like my insides were going to explode. I grasped her waist, pulling her closer to me. Her hands were on my chest. The temperature of the room increased at least twenty degrees. I ran my tongue along her lips until they opened, leaving me free to explore the new territory. Her mouth was sweet like strawberries. It was intoxicating.
Neither of us noticed the door swing open, until Sterling spoke. “Hey—oh, I’m sorry to interrupt.”
We broke apart, and I noticed the door was closing. Right before it snapped shut, it opened once more and Sterling looked at us shocked. “Grace?”