tragically beautiful | grayson dolan

fifteen

grayson

"All right, we'll pick up with chapter seven on Thursday. Have a great day and don't forget to look over your notes for the next quiz." Professor Randoff says while closing his laptop.

Grabbing onto my notebook, I rise to my feet. One more class until I'm off to work the night shift at the diner. The frigid temperature fans my face as I walk across campus.

The ground is slick from the rain the previous night, even though the sun is trying to peek through the cloudy sky. It's a gloomy day in Newfield and I can tell a storm is on the way.

My mind is drifting off to Callie and what she said to me yesterday morning. She wants to hook up with me again? Continue where we left off? The fact that she called me out for obviously wanting her made me nervous.

All I can think about now is the way I ripped her shirt off and how she wants me to do it again. I don't want to get roped back into her games, especially since she's staying at my apartment.

Plus it doesn't help that her estranged sister is my manager. Nobody at the diner can know that I'm letting her crash on my couch. Or in my bed.

No, that was a one night thing. She helped me overcome my nightmare and I left her stay in my room. It was nothing crazy and it didn't mean anything.

Shit, I need to stop thinking about her. We can't hook up or sleep together, it will only allow my attraction for her to grow. Callie will break my heart again, and I don't want that.

"Hey, wait up." Someone shouts from behind me.

Turning my head, I see a girl with long dirty blonde hair jogging up to me. She's wearing a blue flannel and washed out denim jeans, covered by a winter coat. A beanie is placed on her head, the pom-pom bouncing with each step she takes.

"Grayson, right?" She says while looking up at me.

"Yeah." I slowly respond, trying to figure out if I've met her somewhere before.

"I'm Ivy." She introduces herself with a sweet smile. "We're in business marketing together."

The minute she mentions the class, it all clicks in my brain. She sits in the back and keeps to herself, but I noticed her on the first day of class.

I thought she was pretty, but I was still burned by Callie's exit to pursue anything with her. I stayed silent the rest of the semester.

"Oh, that's right. How are you?" I lightly chuckle.

"I'm good, just on my way to class." She nods to the building I'm in the process of walking to.

"Same here." I look down at her.

"You recently moved to Massachusetts, right?"

"Yeah, two months ago. I'm from Oregon."

"How do you like living on the East Coast?" She shoves her hands into the pockets of her coat.

"It's okay, I'm still getting used to the people around here." That's the understatement of the year.

"Wait, you like the band Misfortune?" She suddenly asks.

My eyebrows furrow. "Yeah, how did you-"

"Lucky guess." She giggles, pointing at my notebook full of various band stickers.

"Wow, I'm surprised anyone in this town knows who they are."

"I'm surprised anyone in this generation knows who they are." She laughs again, allowing me to do the same.