Jordyn Amor
We get into his car and sit there for a bit, in silence.
"I had fun, Grayson," I say turning to him.
"We haven't finished with what we're going to do today, though," he says chuckling.
"Oh," is all I manage to say, "I just wanted to say thank you in advance," I say smiling.
"So far," I continue, "I have had fun, laughing while we eat our food talking about random stuff and laughing on all the rides, enjoying each other's company. It's been a great day so far and thank you so much for today. Today's been the happiest day of my life since the death of my father, apart from Milo coming into my family, but yeah. My friends don't even know about my father's tragic death because I don't want them to worry about it because they knew that my father and I were close," at this point, I'm crying.
"I've already told them to not come to my house for that reason, and now I want to be able to tell them but I don't know how to tell them because they may think bad about me and then it would ruin our friendship. I don't want to ruin the great friendship that we have because we have been friends since we were little, and we've shared so many happy times together even our most top secrets."
I am now a crying waterfall.
Grayson opens his arms so he can embrace me in them. I lean over to embrace his gesture and wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tight, as he wraps his arms around my waist and digs his head into my neck. I take a deep breath as his cologne invaded my nostrils. We stay like this for some time until he speaks.
"I've had so much fun too, Jordy, and just so you know that if you need anything, even if it's in the middle of the night, I'll be there to help you and accompany you in those times of trouble or even if something you want to talk about. Even if you just need a hug, I'll be there," I let go of the hug and look deep into his eyes.
"Thanks, G," and give him a small fist pump.
"Are we ready to go?" he asks me as he starts up the car.
"Yup," I say wiping my eyes carefully and we exit the car park of MacDonald's.
"Can I play some music?" I ask.
"Yeah, sure," he replies handing me the aux cord to plug my phone.
I plug my phone and shuffle play the daily updates of my playlists. 'Before you go' by Lewis Capaldi plays through the speakers. I listen to this song whenever I miss my father that I start balling my eyes out. It comforts me in those rough times without him, and to this day I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he won't be here with me, physically, to comfort me, to laugh with me, to hug with me, to give me warmth and support.
I start humming to the song and turn up the volume so Grayson won't have to listen to me. I know he knows that I sing, but I don't like being heard when I sing.
"So, before you go..." I whisper-sing.
"You are a really good singer, Jords," Grayson says out of nowhere.
"Oh, uh, thanks," I say looking down from embarrassment.
"Where are we going, anyway," I say quickly to try and change the subject.
"It's a surprise, so you're going to have to wait until we get there," he says to me giving me a toothy smile as I give him a jokingly huff in response.
"Fine," I say and continue humming silently.
"You have an angelic voice, though," he says looking at me.
I force myself to look at him.
"Thanks, Gray," I say giving him a small grin.
Throughout the ride to this secret spot Grayson has in mind of taking me, we talk more about our families and somehow I found the courage to open up about my father and tell him more about how my father was my best friend, not only my father. He talks about his family, his sister, Cameron and how she's in college.
Important Note:
(A/N: I don't want to add anything about Sean Dolan, Grayson and Ethan's father, because I don't know him personally and I don't want to make things up about him that are not true because it's not right and it's disrespect towards the Dolan family, but Rest In Peace to Sean.)
He parks his car in a suburb that is full of beach houses.
He comes to my side of the car to help me out of the car. I grab my phone and look at the time that my phones shine in my face,5:43 pm. Wow, I didn't know I had so much fun that the time went by so fast. I text my mom and tell her we'll be there soon and ask her if there's anything she needs from the shops while I'm out.
I put my phone away and look up at Grayson who is smiling at me, showing his dimples, and extends his hand for me to take. I look up at him and stare into his deep beautiful eyes. I take his hand. I feel so comfortable around him, even though we're just friends just starting a new friendship together. I feel so comfortable around him that I can speak confidently about my father and other things. I feel like I can trust Grayson, I can tell him anything, but I'm confused about this holding-hand thing.
We continue walking hand-in-hand and act like it's normal. He takes a turn onto a sandy pathway towards the main beach.
I gasp in awe and stop walking letting go of Grayson's hand. He walks a few steps in front of me and looks behind him at me.
"Come on, Jordy," he says chuckling at my reaction.
"It's beautiful," I say looking around at the gorgeous scenery.
The sky had turned into a beautiful light pink interweaved with soft orange and a fading blue as the sun seeps through the cotton-candy clouds. I take out my phone and take a picture of it posting it on my Instagram story.
"Just like you," Grayson responds to my comment on the sky.
"Same to you," I say giving him a wink and moulding my hand back into his.
We walk onto the beach, silent. Just taking in each other's company, once again. I took off my shoes and held them in my hand as my feet wiggled in the cool, glistening water. Grayson too took his shoes off, walking in the water with me.
"It's so calm here. There are not many people," I say looking at the sunset.
"Yeah, this is where I come every morning, sometimes or even after school to relax my mind on things that may stress me out, you know?" he says giving my hand a light squeeze.
What's up with this touchy-hand thing?
"Mmm," I say, "Hey, uh, what's with you and holding hands? Not like it's bad holding hands, it's just something odd that we're doing-especially if we're just slowly developing a friendship and getting to know each other," I say.
He looks down at me and smiles, "I just thought, you know since you're opening up to me and I do the same and since you talk about how much you and your father had such an amazing relationship not only as father and daughter but as best friends. I just wanted to let you know that I can be there for you when you're facing rough times, I can be there when you want a shoulder to cry on. I'm just trying to show you how much of a friend or best friend I can be to you, for emotional support and advice for anything," he says truthfully.
I look up at him and give him a smile which shows my dimple on my right cheek.
"Thanks, Dolan," I reply, "I can definitely rely on you for advice or anything I need, sometimes," and he returns the smile.
I let go of his hand and walk up the beach where there is dry sand placing my phone, purse and shoes down.
"What are you doing?" Grayson asks me placing his stuff down too but confused.
"Oh, you'll see, follow me," I say.
The wind blows through the loose hairs falling from my bun.
We get to the water and walk further inwards so the water is up to my knees.
"What are you doing?" he chuckles behind me.
"Oh, nothing," I say closing my eyes letting the wind blow through my dress and my hair.
I open my eyes and see Grayson in the corner of my eye view and I took this opportunity to surprise since his eyes were closed. I scoop a generous amount of water in my cupped hands and out of nowhere release the water in Grayson's face.
"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" he yells as I'm killing myself with laughter.
"Oh, you're definitely gonna get it!" he says, chuckling as his cupped hands go beneath the water, and it takes me some time to process what's happening, or what's gonna happen.
I start running, but more like walk-running because of my dress length. It stops in the middle of my thighs preventing the space I need to run.
I can hear Grayson's laugh behind and it's so close that I could feel the brush of his fingertips against the small of my back, but I save myself from him.
I continue to run waiting for him to give up but he doesn't.
Urgh, great. The real question is, how am I still running?
As I keep on running my feet, for some random reason, don't function properly. It's as if they dislocated for a second and then resemble back together as if nothing happened.
I fall to the ground and my eyes widen as I watch the water tumble towards the shore, close to me.
I feel two big arms wrap around my waist and lift me up as we stand in a hugging position. I wrap my arms around Grayson's neck placing my head against his chest as the water plays with our feet. This is the first time I've hugged Grayson, or a guy other than my father, like this
I can hear his heartbeat as I close my eyes.
He rests his head on mine.
"I got you now," he whispers chuckling.
I laugh, "I guess," I say.
"Let's go, shall we?" he asks looking deep into my eyes, with that beautiful smile.
"We shall," I say as we walk back to the place where we left our stuff and walk back to his car.