Grayson Reid Jansen
At The Cheesecake Factory, around 4 o'clock, our hostess seats Holland, Ellie, and I at a table. She, named Gina, gave Colson and his date a booth not too far away. This relieved Holland and I because it meant we could still be able to watch our kid brother. I just hoped he wouldn't fuck it up, if he was anything like me, his older bro, he wouldn't. Well...
"Mind her neck, Holly," I scolded my big sister who was too busy trying to spy on Colson to care for her own child.
Holland quickly adjusted baby Michelle's body to assure her comfort while she slept as we waited for a waiter or waitress to take our drink orders.
So far, so good, I thought in my head. Colson was already making her laugh. They sat across from each other as expected but more mature couples would sit side-by-side. I personally preferred to be seated across from each other, but hey, what do I know?
"Hi, I'm Casey, I'll be your waitress this evening. What can I get you to drink?" She recited from memory.
"I'll have a water, no lemon, please." I said, cracking my knuckles under the table.
"And a strawberry lemonade for me, please?" Holland asked.
"Alright. Would you like a water or milk for your baby?"
"Oh, no, thank you. I have a bottle."
"Okay, no problem. She's precious, by the way. Congrats, you two."
"My niece," I let her know right away.
"Oh. Good," Casey batted her lashes at me.
There was a moment where she just stared at me until Holland cleared her throat, dismissing the waitress.
Once Casey was gone, Holland raised an eyebrow at me.
"Don't start," I warned her, already knowing what she was going to say.
"She's cute." And she said it.
"No comment." I swallowed, looking over the menu.
"So you do have a type," she exclaimed.
I tilted my head and looked at my sister like she was crazy. "Leila had brown hair-"
"And now she's single. See what I'm getting at?"
I shook my head and tried to ignore her.
"I'm just saying, you have a fixation-" Holland kept talking but I whipped out my phone and started to zone her out.
Casey came back with our drinks but Holland suggested we needed more time with our orders so she switched away.
Realizing how rude I was being, I put my phone on the table and locked the screen to engage back in conversation with Holland who wouldn't shut up if you paid her.
After a few silent moments passed, Holland put her chin in the palm of her hands and asked me,"do you miss her?"
My jaw clenched. "Drop it," I reiterated.
"Fine. What about Kay, Mark's sister, she thinks you're cute?"
I huffed and blinked slowly, bored. "I know you're not trying to play matchmaker," I mumbled at Holland.
"Whatever," she groaned, throwing straw paper at my forehead.
Holland and I had stopped talking when suddenly, we heard arguing.
The next thing everyone heard was "ASSHOLE". A few people gasped and we all looked around to see where the hub bub was coming from.
It was Colson's date. I stood but was too late to do anything and witnessed her dump her drink in his face and storm out.
"Fuck you, bitch!" He shouted, making me run over to him and yank him out of the restaurant before security was called.
"Get off of me!" He squirmed as I had him by the collar of his hoodie.
"What the fuck was that?!" I waited for an explanation.
He puffed his chest and tried to get away but he was up against a wall.
Holland came out and stood by my side, Ellie crying on her hip. We were both pissed that he'd open his mouth to say something like that, especially to a girl.
When Colson didn't tell me what happened, I got fed up. "I swear to God you got two seconds to tell me or I'll-"
"Okay," he spat,"All I did was ask her if she wanted to go back to her car and hookup and she went all 'I'm not that type of girl' on me so I called her a prude and she said 'you probably have a little dick anyway' so I called her a cunt and she slapped me."
I let out a frustrated sigh and released him as I paced while Holland tried talking some sense into him.
"This is all Grayson's fault, he told me to go out with her!"
"That doesn't give you the assume she wants to have sex and get mad when she rejects you." Holland whisper-yelled to him.
I stopped pacing and got back in his face. "Why're you worried about having sex, anyway, your balls just dropped?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong but you were fucking at thirteen."
"Watch your mouth," Holland asked calmly.
"I-- wait. This isn't about me, this is about you. What the fuck's wrong with you, you know you don't talk to women like that-"
"You're a real fucking hypocrite, Gray. No wonder Brea left your ass." He barked and walked away, aggressively bumping my shoulder.
Before I could lunge and snatch him up, Holland pulled me back by my pocket.
She shook her head,"Let him go." Except, I couldn't just let him go. I was ready to fight him at that point. Who did he think he was?
"Go inside and get something to eat, I'll be back," I insisted, handing over my wallet.
======
It felt like I had been waiting forever when I came to a stop outside of the mall.
My phone rang so I answered it. It was Holland.
"Yeah?"
"Hey, you find him?" She questioned.
"No, not yet. He'll show up, don't worry. I-"
"Grayson?" I heard someone call my name.
I turned, squinting, and saw none other than Kaign and Dylan sitting outside of a restaurant, eating under an umbrella.
Returning to my call, I said,"I'll call you back when I find him."
After hanging up, I slid my phone in my pocket and walked over to their table.
"What're you doing back in town?" Was my first question.
"Well, nice to see you, too." Kaign scoffed.
Dylan chuckled and looked up to greet me to which I spoke back and then repeated my question.
"We're here for Chandler's wedding."
"Oh," I remembered,"So, Brea's here too?"
"Mhm. Landed last night. She had a rough flight," Kaign told me.
"Huh. H-how is she?"
Kaign stopped chewing and used a cloth to wipe his mouth. "Can we talk, just Grayson and I?"
Dylan nodded and said he had some quick shopping to do anyway, excusing himself from the table so I could sit in his place.
What do we possibly have to talk about, I thought in my head.
Honestly, I was nervous, I had no idea where the conversation was headed.
This could be good or go really bad...
"First, I want to say, Brea's not letting herself go, if that's what you think. I know you hetero men expect that after a breakup,"
"I didn't think that at all, actually."
"She has been beating herself up this past week, though. It's bad, Grayson. On the plane, she had... an episode; she thinks everything that's happened is all her fault."
I dropped my head, feeling bad.
"It's not-" I started to speak but Kaign interjected.
"I know," he inhaled,"it's mine."