AVERY
"I cannot believe Grayson Dolan is on his way to my house right now to take you out!" Lily squeals while jumping around her bedroom. "This is your first real date."
"I know, that's why I'm nervous." I bite down on my lower lip and glance in the mirror.
"Don't be. You'll have a great time. I'll just live vicariously through you." A smirk forms on her lips.
I nod my head and run my hands through my hair one more time. I can feel my stomach turning with nerves as I wait for Grayson's arrival. It's still insane to think he wanted to take me out on a date.
I'm starting to realize that he's not as bad as he seems. I'm going to try to put my faith on the line and trust this process with him.
Lily peeks out her window, and yells out with happiness. "He just pulled up in a red mustang! That's a hot car."
"I guess that's my cue." I smile and grab my purse.
"Have the best time, and don't forget to kiss him." She encourages me.
"Kiss him?" I slightly widen my eyes.
"Yes, give him a little taste." She smirks at me.
"Goodbye, Lily." I roll my eyes and rush out of her bedroom.
As I exit her house, I can hear the music blasting from Grayson's car. I get into his passenger seat and glance at him. He's wearing a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath. Classic.
"Wow, you look gorgeous." He lowers his music and eyes me up and down. I'm simply wearing a baby pink t-shirt with denim shorts. I wanted to keep it casual and appropriate for the setting of our date.
"Thank you, you too." I say and immediately regret it. "Uh, I meant to say you look great. I like the jacket." I awkwardly ramble on.
"Wow, I've never been called gorgeous before. I'll take the compliment." He smiles and drives away from the curb.
"That was so stupid, I'm sorry." I close my eyes and shake my head back and forth. Way to go, Avery.
"It's cool, don't sweat it." He laughs and keeps his focus on the road.
"Nice car." I gulp and look around it.
"Thanks, Ethan and I usually share it." He nods.
"Where is Ethan tonight?"
"He's with the boys, they're writing more songs. The tracklist for our first album is almost complete. We start recording next week." A proud smile forms on his face.
"Wow, that's amazing. Everything is happening so fast." I nod and look out the window.
"It's unreal. Our lead single is going to be a song called Comatose, it's pretty awesome."
"I can't wait to hear it." I honestly mean my words.
"Glad rock music is growing on you." He looks at me with a smirk.
"I'm just as surprised as you are." I giggle.
"We have that effect on people." He says while gripping onto the steering wheel.
"Trust me, I know." I agree with him, knowing so many girls go insane for them.
When we pull up to the arcade, it's pretty crowded. Considering it's a Thursday night, this is a shock to me. But then again, it's summer. Days of the week don't matter anymore.
Grayson turns the engine off and gets out of the car, walking over to open my door. I smile at the gesture and step out. He places his hand on the small of my back as he ushers me inside.
I haven't been here in awhile, so it's refreshing to walk through the doors of a fun environment. After we get set up with tokens, he looks around the room and sighs.
"Where should we start?" He glances back at me.
"Easy. Air hockey." I smirk and walk over to the table.
"I didn't want to make you cry this early on in the date." His cocky attitude shines.
"You're the one who is going to be crying." I laugh and look down.
"I guess this is the first challenge." He cocks his eyebrow up.
"You're on, Dolan." I tease and glance down on the table.
I lean over and focus, knowing I alway beat my father at this game. Grayson walks to the other side of the table and sets it up. He stares at me while placing the puck down.
Without warning, he tries to shoot it toward me. I instantly block it and use my strategies to score my goal. I'm victorious, and smirk at him.
Instead of complaining, he shoots it back. I laugh as we begin to get deeper into the game. Once I finally win, I jump up and down.
"Ha! Victory is mine." I clap my hands together.
"Best out of three." He sighs.
"Aw, what's the matter? Is somebody a sore loser? You can't handle the heat." I giggle and spin around.
"Is that all you have in you? Come on, let's play another game." He challenges me.
"You don't have to tell me twice." I laugh, and so does he.
We play a few more games and spend the time laughing and teasing each other. Grayson's smile never fades as he gets into our competitive game.
When we finish our four rounds of air hockey, we move onto Pac-Man. He dominates the game, and I'm seriously impressed.
I try to beat his record, but come up short. It's okay because we both fail at the basketball game. Good thing Grayson is a musician, because he sucks at playing sports.
After he misses another shot, I let out a laugh. "Wow, another miss. I didn't think you would fail at anything."
"Sports were never my thing, clearly." He shakes his head in disappointment.
"Well, don't worry. It's not my thing either." I reassure him.
His eyes roam around the arcade. "Want to get out of here? This place is getting too crowded."
"Sure, where do you want to go now?" I ask and clutch onto my purse.
"Do you like ice cream?" He raises his eyebrow.
"Of course I do." I nod with a smile.
"There's a shop a few blocks away. They usually stay open late during the summer. We can head over there."
"Yeah, sounds fun." I say, and genuinely mean it.
He reaches down and holds onto my hand. My stomach turns as I interlock our fingers together. I feel comfortable on this date, it feels right. I thought I was be a nervous mess, but it's so natural with him.
Once we're at the ice cream shop, I get classic vanilla and he gets classic chocolate. It's something I should have seen coming.
We sit at a table under a tree and begin eating our dessert. It's nice to have a normal conversation. Grayson is pretty easy to talk to.
"I had fun tonight. It was great to be back at the arcade." He says while scooping more ice cream into his spoon.
"Yeah, I had a nice time." I agree with him.
"Well, that's all that matters." He nods with a smile. "I'm glad you got to see I'm not so dangerous after all."
"You aren't. There's a secret ten year old buried behind that hard and brooding exterior." I let out a small laugh.
"So, you would go out with me again?" A smirk toys on his lips.
"Yes, I would." I nod, already agreeing to another date.
"I like the sound of that."
"As long as you don't get too busy for me." I tease him.
"For you? I'm never too busy." He rubs his lips together. "You know, I could set you up with some kind of deal with my label."
"Me? Oh, that's okay." I laugh at the thought.
"People should hear your voice, especially producers. I can't believe you don't publicly sing." He shakes his head in disbelief.
"I would love to perform more, but I can't. I would get too anxious." I admit to him.
"You should get over that fear, your talent is too amazing to be hidden." He boosts me up.
"You really think so?" I'm shocked he's so motivating.
"I know so." He instantly agrees.
"Maybe I could work toward it." I bite down on my lower lip.
"I would love to hear an original song."
"They aren't that great." My shoulders shrug.
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure they are." He lets out a sigh.
"I'm my biggest critic." I say with a laugh.
"You haven't performed anywhere other than church?" He questions.
"I played Sandy in a high school production of Grease, but the crowd wasn't extraordinarily big." My old high school wasn't anything to brag about. I was nervous for those performances, and nearly threw up on opening night. That's all my heart can take.
"I can totally see you in that role. I would make a good Danny." He smirks, and I can't help but agree. He already has the bad boy look down.
"Do you sing?" I ask.
"Hell no, we're lucky for Austin because Ethan, Landon and I are all tone deaf." He cringes at the thought.
"How long have you all been friends?"
"About nine months now. Ethan and I were holding auditions for a guitarist and Landon nailed it. We knew he was our guy immediately. He introduced us to Austin because they went to high school together. At the time, Austin was in another band covering songs, but Ethan convinced him to join us. The rest is history." He explains with a happy grin.
"That's amazing, you guys were clearly meant to do this." I match his wide smile.
"We're a crazy bunch, so we work well together." He laughs.
"The girls go nuts for you guys." I shake my head, thinking back to their concerts.
"Yeah, I guess they do." He looks down at his ice cream.
A napkin floats off the table and lands on the ground. When Grayson goes to pick it up, a pack of cigarettes falls out of his jacket pocket. He immediately picks it up and awkwardly clears his throat.
"You haven't smoked one all night." I point out, motioning toward the box.
"I haven't had an urge to." He gulps and rubs his lips together.
Nodding my head, I take another scoop of my ice cream and enjoy the delicious texture against my tongue. When my eyes shift back to Grayson sitting across from me, I notice he's already staring. A low blush forms on his face as he nervously clears his throat.
"What?" I chuckle.
"It's nothing." He shakes his head.
"No, tell me." I beg.
"You're just beautiful." He lowly whispers.
"Oh, thank you." I blush and push a piece of my hair behind my ear.
"I call it like it is." He says with a laugh.
"I'm surprised you would even ask me out." I don't mean to say this out loud, but I want to get it off my chest. Just sitting near him seems surreal.
"Why would you say that?" He tilts his head to the side.
"I just feel like we're different." I shrug.
"I don't think we are at all." He disagrees.
"Sorry if that was a rude thing to say, I don't go on many dates." I begin to grow embarrassed.
"No? I don't buy it." He shakes his head.
"It's the truth. This is actually my first real date."
"Seriously?" His eyebrows raise in surprise.
"Yes." I nod.
"Well, I hope I made it special for you." He lowly whispers, keeping his eyes on mine.
"You did." I grin at him.
He finishes his ice cream and slides closer to me. My heart rate increases as he peers down at me with loving eyes. They dilate when they come into contact with mine. In a swift motion, he places his hand on my cheek.
"I would really like to keep seeing you, Avery." His whisper sends chills down my spine.
"Believe it or not, I would really like to keep seeing you, Grayson." I finally admit with a small chuckle.
"I'm happy you said that." He leans closer to me and slowly presses his forehead against my own.
My nerves get the best of me and I awkwardly gulp. I've never been this close to somebody like Grayson before. He's making my insides turn. "It's getting late, maybe we should-"
"I'm pretty sure we're exactly where we need to be." He whispers.
"Okay." I exhale a breath and gulp again.
"You're so angelic. Perfect eyes, plump lips." His thumb grazes over my bottom lip as he says the words. "In a way, you're right. Someone this pure shouldn't be associated with a dark soul like myself."
"Well, maybe I'm not meant to be a perfect little good girl forever." My voice trembles as I stare at him.
My eyes glance down at his mouth. I can feel his breath fanning over my skin. Squeezing my eyes shut, I lean forward and connect my lips to his.
His hands find my blonde locks as he tangles his fingers in my hair. He isn't too aggressive, his touch feels soft and delicate in its own way.
A part of me is terrified by the way he's kissing me, like he's giving me his all. I know with rockstars come fame and with fame comes heartbreak.
Maybe I'm in way over my head, maybe I'm not. Maybe my perfect image needs to be burned a bit. I know this might be a mistake in the long run, but at this moment, it's absolutely perfect.