Hello Stranger

Chapter 29

I woke up with heavy arms wrapped around me holding me closely. Grayson kept his promise to be stay with me. I was not expecting him to actually be here. He seemed like the kind of guy who had no issues breaking a promise as small as this one. I move to adjust myself a little so I could look at Grayson. He was still sleeping and he looked so peaceful. Nothing about his life seemed peaceful. It also seemed stressful so I couldn't imagine he got good sleep very often. As much as I wanted to get up and go to the bathroom, I didn't want to risk waking him up. 

So much has changed in so little time. And honestly, I'm scared that one day I'm going to wake up and think that the decisions I've made were impulsive. What if I wake up and realize that none of this is who I am? What if who Grayson really is finally sets in and I can't handle it? What if everything changes again tomorrow? Or next week?

"You're staring," Grayson grumbles with his eyes closed. His voice held no annoyance or anger, it was more playful then anything else.

"I am not," I say shaking my head.

He opens his eyes and props his elbow on the bed and his head on his hand facing me. "Really? So, what were you doing? Checking me out?"

The thought of us last night before his phone rang flooded my mind. We were so close. I could feel his warmth as if it was my own. And I wanted him in every way. "Definitely not. I was checking to make sure you were still breathing," I joke. "Sadly, you are." I went to stand up but he catches my wrist and pulls me back down to him.

"Sadly?" He asks matching my joking tone.

"Yeah, dead you wouldn't argue when I say we have school," I say getting back up and digging through my bag of clothes that were still here. Grayson just watched me from his laying position. I settled on a cropped black tank top, a pair of dark wash shorts, a grey jacket, and my black shoes. I grab my clothes and head into the bathroom and changed before looking in the mirror at myself. Is this really who I am? I quickly brush my hair and leave the bathroom, entering the room again. Grayson was dressed and wearing a black tee, medium wash jeans, and black shoes. Did he intentionally match me?

"We should head downstairs, everyone's probably eating," Grayson says coolly. I nod and follow him downstairs. Maybe I could get used to this. We could hear everyone talking to each other in the kitchen the closer we got. But the talking ceased once we entered the kitchen. Everyone looked to me like they were expecting an answer and it made me feel kind of uncomfortable. What did they want?

Grayson must've noticed my discomfort because he broke the silence by saying, "Was everything handled last night?"

"Yes," Aaron answered vaguely. Aaron was always vague but this seemed too vague.

"Well?" Grayson questioned. When Aaron just nodded, Grayson looked to the others for an answer. Ethan and Cameron shrugged.

"Well enough," Jackson answers before walking off.

"They won't say what happened," Ellie said crossing her arms.

"You don't need to know right now," Grayson says.

"I deserve to know," Ellie replies.

Just before Grayson could say another thing, Aaron intervened. "Yes, you do deserve to know. And you'll get the answers you're looking for when we can give them to you. But right now to keep you safe, we've said all that we can."

"You promise we'll get answers?" Ellie asks. She doesn't trust easily, but I'm happy she seems to trust Aaron.

"I promise you will get answer," Aaron nods. But he only said she'll get answers. Not both of us. Aaron words everything carefully so it wasn't a mistake. He worded in a way that wouldn't be noticed but wouldn't make him a liar. I could push it, but I'm confident it won't get me anywhere.

"Thank you," Ellie says before turning to me. "Better this morning?"

"I was fine last night," I lie.

"Hungry?" Grayson asks me.

I shook my head. "Nope. Not a breakfast person." Which was a lie. I loved waking up with the house filled with the smell of all kinds of things. I loved eating with my brother and talking like we have years to make up for when in reality we didn't. But lately I have no appetite. Ellie looked at me confused because she knew I was lying, she just didn't know why.

"Well, come on then. I have something I want to do before school," Grayson said.

"Grayson," Aaron warns.

"It's fine," Grayson says.

"Are you sure?" Aaron says looking from me to Grayson.

Grayson looks at me and replies, "Yeah. I'm sure."

"Okay," Was all Aaron said. Me and Grayson left the house and got into his car.

"Where are we going?" I ask as I buckle up.

"It's a surprise," Grayson says pulling onto the street.

"A good one?" I question.

Grayson opens his mouth to answer but closes it and doesn't answer the question. He waits a couple minutes before speaking again. But it wasn't about my question. "Do you get nightmares a lot?" 

"No," I answer casually. "Well, I guess it depends on your definition of a lot."

"Daily?"

"No. Not Daily."

"Weekly?"

"Yeah kinda. Once or twice a week. But not every week."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, until recently I went two months without having any nightmares. Then I had two in the span of three days."

"What are they about?"

"Someone suffocating me until the point of my death," I shrug.

"I won't let that happen to you," He says surely.

"I know you'd do everything you can to prevent anything bad from happening to me." As much a I'd like to believe he'd be there to save me if something happened, there's no guarantee he would be. There's no guarantee he'd even be able to help. But I don't doubt that he would try his best to help.

Grayson pulled into a parking lot of a vacant building, parked the car and looked at me. He looked... vulnerable. "You said you wanted to know all sides of me, right? Are you still sure about that?" He asks. He was scared. Not of what might happen, but of how I will react to it. He's scared I'm going to change my mind.

"I'm sure. I'm a hundred percent sure," I give his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Okay," He gets out the car and walks over to my side opening it for me. "Let's go inside then."