Greyson |
I apathetically turned off my alarm as it sounded and lazily laid there a few moments longer to wait for my phone's back-up alarm to sound a few minutes later.
Moaning as the second alarm was even louder than my clock, I was unexpectedly surprised as I frantically reached over to turn it off.
Slowly opening my eyes, raising myself up to look around and see my clean room, I glanced over at the note from Tyler that I kept close on my night stand.
Briefly smiling, I sighed and stretched with a groan before I pushed at my bed to stand.
Upon standing, my phone's screen lit up once again as it vibrated.
I saw that Ellie was calling me.
Biting my lip, I decided to answer it despite my thoughts against it.
"Hello?"
"H-h... hey man."
Ellie's voice sounded strained and raspy over the phone as he chuckled dryly, giving me a slightly bad feeling.
"Listen, I... I usually have someone to take me to school, but I... he's kind of... I just need a ride. I know you and I don't really click, but I really would appreciate if you could drive me?"
I swallowed, my eyes searching the floor beneath me as concern overtook my thoughts.
He's never sounded like this before.
"Uh... yea, yea, I'll uh—sure. I'll come and get you."
"Okay... thank you," he sighed in relief.
I hung up and deeply frowned as I walked to the bathroom.
...
Pulling into Ellie's driveway, I put my car in park and rubbed my chin as I stared at Ellie's red brick house.
I was taken back as Ellie immediately ran out of his house to jog over to the passenger side of my car, carefully sliding into the seat, wincing.
As he went to buckle his seatbelt, I noticed a slightly purple mark near his wrist, his long sleeve barely covering it as he sat forward to stare at his house.
Curiosity overwhelmed me as I examined at his house along with him; frowning, I formed innocent scenarios of how he could've gotten the bruise, trying not to think of the worst.
...
There was silence between us as I drove, the continuous sound of the purring engine becoming the only audible noise other than my own soft breathing.
Glimpsing over at Ellie as he blankly stared out of the window, I saw him rubbing his wrists and his shoulders, his unusual silence making me raise an eyebrow in curiosity.
Furrowing my eyebrows, I looked back at the road and briefly closed my eyes before coming to a decision to talk to him.
"How're you today," I asked softly, grinning at him.
He slowly looked over at me and shrugged, the whites of his eyes noticeably red with exhaustion.
"Are you okay..."
He shook his head after a few moments, averting his eyes back to the windshield.
Biting my lip, I pulled over to the side of the road and saw him tense in response.
Goggling at him, I waited for him to look at me, but he never did.
"Ellie..."
I touched his arm, causing him to flinch as he timidly looked at me with worried eyes.
"Ellie... what's wrong?"
His eyes darted from left to right as he stared at me contemplatively, his thoughts seeming to frantically run about in his mind.
Tightly closing his eyes, he tiredly sighed.
"Greyson... there isn't anything–"
"Ellie... I don't... want to force you to say anything, but I'm not about to ignore how unusual you're acting... as much as unusual your usual ways are," I briefly smiled. "You haven't screamed once..."
He grinned, silent for a moment, seeming to think.
"It's... family stuff, you wouldn't want to know–"
"I do."
He took in a deep breath, glaring at my hand as I went to hold his.
"I'm listening," I said, reassuring him.
Staring at my fingers as they parted to wrap around his trembling hand, he began to smile, slowly tightening his grip.
"Man this is weird," he chuckled, raising our clasped hands. "But it's helping," he trailed off.
Focusing forward now, Ellie's expression hardened and then softened all at once, almost as if whatever was weighing so heavy on his mind was fighting against his ability to think.
He finally took a breath to speak and hesitated before he met my eyes.
"It's... as complicated as I'm making it seem," he chuckled.
Blinking rapidly, Ellie tried to fight against his tears, taking another breath to speak.
"A few years ago, during freshmen year... my parents died," he said quickly, closing his eyes.
"They didn't die because of natural causes or... anything like a deadly disease. The-they were murdered," he continued slowly, wiping his cheek.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you," he briefly chuckled. "But... man is it hard... trying to get over it by myself ya know?"
I quickly nodded, placing my other hand on top of our clasped grasp.
"I-I live... with my brother, Jordan. He's the one wh-who found them in the kitchen after coming home from work. And it's... crazy. I was hanging out with a girl... a girl that they didn't want me to hang around. They said that she was bad news or something like that, but I didn't listen... I rarely listened. I should've... been there for them. But what could I have done ya know? I probably would've been scared out of my mind," he shook his head.
Looking into my eyes now with quivering lips, he shakily exhaled.
"My brother... wouldn't let me see them. He wouldn't let me in the room as the police did their thing. All he did was hug me... and hugged me until everyone left and we were alone. He promised me he would keep me safe... he promised. Now... keeping his promise isn't a thing he does best," he frowned, fighting against the tears that fell, averting his eyes to stare at his lap.
"I'm sorry..."
Looking up at me now as I rubbed over his bruise, he briefly smiled before it faded with quivering lips.
"Please don't... it's not your fault man. It's never... you don't have anything to do... with this Grey. It's mine. With everything... going on," he trailed off, staring at me. "It's so much..."
"Have you told anyone else?"
He slowly shook his head, his body beginning to jerk forward as his efforts to keep from crying were starting to become futile.
Closing the space between us as I wrapped my arms around his back, pulling him close to my chest, I felt my heart break as his trembling body was so fragile in my grasp. Finally letting his tears fall freely, his soft sobs were so innocent and painful to listen to as he hugged me back.
Rubbing his back, a mix of distraught emotions and convoluted thoughts overcame me, and I began to feel a sort of protective urge rise within me.
Tightly closing my eyes, I fought against my own tears, silently gasping at the frail sound of Ellie's voice in my ear as he whispered, "thank you."
...
Ellie and I walked side by side, his expression so visibly exhausted as we threaded through the halls of the school.
I patted his shoulder and smiled widely when he briefly grinned.
As he looked away, I continued to stare at him and felt a undeniable sort of compassion and friendship form between us... because now, we share something in common.
Walking into first period, Ellie smiled at the sight of Genevieve and walked over to sit in front of her.
"Hey Greyson," she said as I walked over.
"That wasn't me Gen," I said, sitting beside her.
She glanced up from her book and saw Ellie smiling at her, a small grin forming on her lips.
"Well look who's back," she smirked. "I thought you were Greyson being how quiet you were coming in."
He shook his head and smiled.
"I hope I don't disappoint."
"Not this time around," she smiled.
...
Tyler |
Walking through the almost empty halls, I was bothered with the task of taking Natalie to her first period.
With her perfectly clean heels clicking along with the thump of my shoes, we both walked with a disunity that was almost symbolic in a way.
"This is so nice having someone to walk with to class now," she grinned, holding onto my arm tightly as if I'd run.
I nodded slowly, feeling myself force a smile as she looked up at me.
Stopping near her class, I was ready to let her go so that I could make it back my class; however, I was held back by her petite hands as she simpered up at me with a smirk.
"Bye Tyler," she whispered, placing a kiss on my lips.
"I'll see you at lunch... you're sitting next to me now," she said firmly, grinning as she walked into class.
Standing in the hall to stare at the floor as if I were in some sort of trance, I heavily sighed as I turned to quickly walk back towards my class.
As I turned the corner to walk down another hall, I realized that I hadn't given someone a high five just seconds before, brushing past them like I hadn't seen or heard them speak.
I ran my fingers through my hair and avoided meeting anyone's eyes as I sped down the hall.
Something doesn't feel right.
But when has anything felt right lately?
I mean... other than my ever present bad feeling when I'm around Natalie, I just... feel out of place.
Kissing her is like a chore... because she's always so rough and greedy, always forceful with literally everything.
And now I have to sit with her at lunch... I don't... but I know that I will because I'm scared to look at Greyson for even one second; I could explode on him at any moment, lashing out for no reason other than the fact that I'm confused.
I could yell at him for making me feel butterflies just from the thought of his name.
But I could kiss him for giving me a reason to wake up in the morning, that being his existence.
I don't know what I want.
I don't know what I should do to make this feeling go away... but on the other hand, I don't think I want it to go away.
He's my world, but he shatters my heart with each smile, knowing nothing of what he does to me, knowing nothing of how he makes me feel when he's touched me so tenderly and kissed me as if he desires me.
He's responsible for but unaware of my sexual... desires in way.
I need him, but I don't want to need him.
I realized that I had walked into my class and was now seated as I looked up to see Greyson staring at me with concern.
My heart skipped a beat, and I averted my eyes to put my head down to avoid looking at anyone else.
Greyson |
Ellie, Genevieve and I all stared at Tyler, wondering why he hadn't said anything.
I wondered why he looked so exhausted and so pained when he made brief eye contact with me, my heart breaking with his neglect.
"Alright class, who can tell me what the difference is between tone and mood?"
Ellie and I glanced over at Genevieve to see that she was still staring at Tyler with concern.
Everyone waited for her to answer, but were just as surprised as Ellie and I to find that she wasn't even listening.
...
Tyler |
I walked with Natalie holding onto my hand, heading toward the cafeteria.
"This is going to be so adorable. You're going to be sitting with me and everything. I can't wait for my old friends to be jealous that I'm going out with the star quarterback," she chuckled.
"Their blood will boil seeing how happy I am without their asses," she smirked.
I didn't respond as I peeped into the cafeteria to see Ellie walking over to the table to sit next to Greyson.
I didn't even notice that Ellie was here today.
...
Greyson |
Ellie sat next to me and nudged my shoulder playfully as he got comfortable.
Smiling, I nudged him back and watched Genevieve grin at us as she took out her food from her lunch bag.
I saw that she noticed the bruise on Ellie's arm, and growing visibly worried, she eyed me.
Shaking my head, I silently told her not to ask.
Forcing a smile as Ellie glanced up to look at her, Genevieve grabbed her book from her bag.
Her smile faded once she saw something behind us and rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, don't look now, but Medusa has entered the room and has her prisoner with her."
Ellie and I both turned to look, earning a grunt from Genevieve.
"You guys make it so obvious," she mumbled.
Tyler and Natalie were walking toward the other end of the cafeteria with their plates.
I frowned and looked back at my plate to eat without saying anything.
Ellie stared at me and then looked at Genevieve who shrugged in response.
...
Tyler |
It pained me not to look at my friends as Natalie drug me into her lions den, leading me where most of my teammates sat.
Earning stares from them and every other person over there, I felt uncomfortable and reluctant.
Natalie sat down with a cheerful grin, flipping her hair out of her face as she ate happily, staring at me with a smile.
Finding my eyes wondering over at my table, I saw Ellie avert his gaze.
Biting my lip, I slowly glanced over at Greyson who wasn't even the least worried about why I wasn't sitting in front of him.
Looking back to see Natalie texting, I felt as if I were a sort of prisoner.
...
After school
Natalie sat in front of me in a Chinese restaurant, smiling at me as I stared at her with a forced grin.
"So, how did you like school today? Did anything interesting happen when we weren't together," she asked.
"N-no... nothing, nothing happened. Today was–"
"Great, let me tell you about what happened with me," she interrupted.
Staring at her mouth as she spoke, I began not to hear what she was saying as my thoughts took over, my mind so much more interested in what my friends could be doing at that moment.
...
Natalie dropped me off at home and pulled off to leave me standing at my front door.
Looking into the house, I saw that my parents were home with there being lights on in every room downstairs.
Not wanting to talk to them, I decided to walk back to my car and jumped into the driver's seat with a sigh.
Rubbing my face, I could literally feel stress eating at my insides as I sat there staring at my steering wheel.
Taking out my phone, I went to my contacts and saw Greyson's name.
Biting my lip, I scrolled past it and clicked on Ellie's name.
Staring at the screen, I noticed that he hadn't texted me back from the last time I asked him if he was alright and tightly closed my eyes in frustration.
Deciding against texting him, I turned on my car and pulled out of my driveway.
...
Pulling into Ellie's driveway, I jumped out and slowly walked up to his front door.
Hesitating, I knocked.
I wondered why he hadn't responded to my text before and was a bit concerned, more than usual.
Moments later, the door was yanked open to reveal an older looking, rougher version of Ellie.
He glared down at me with an aggravated glare, his shirtless body adorned with a scratches and bruises.
"What the hell do you want?"
"I-I wanted to see if... if Ellie–"
"Ellie can't hang out with you right now okay? He's on punishment," he deadpanned. "The only places he can go is to school and practice... if I find out he goes anywhere else I'm going to..."
He paused and bit his lip, glancing around the area behind me.
Sighing, he seemed to calm down and shook his head.
"He can't come out right now okay," he said more gently.
He shut the door in my face, and I was left to stare at the wood of the door, frowning in confusion.