Living with Tayler Holder

Chapter 8: Call from home

I woke up after one of the most difficult nights ever (you know how it be with fresh braids 😫) and went downstairs after showering and getting ready for the day. It was around 10am when I went downstairs and the house was quieter than usual as most people had meetings with managers they had to go to. Tayler was still here tho and he sat with me as he set my breakfast down in front of me. It was nothing too crazy - just some buttered toast. Simple, yet delicious. Tayler sort of just sat there watching me.
"Um...you don't have to watch me eat. I'm sure you have better things to do." I said not wanting to be watched.
"I just need to make sure you eat Grace." He said softly. As if my prayers had been answered there was a knock on the door.

Tay got up to go see who it was and to my unsurprise it was Zach. Zach squeezed past Tayler and ran in my direction and stood behind me as some sort of protection.
"Look man, it was a mistake. You know I love you bro and I hate that all of y'all are angry at me right now." He said referring to the rest of the house.
Zach continued to ramble on for a while but Tayler cut him off.
"It's aight bro. You're good. Y'all are ok and that's all that matters." Tayler said which surprised both me and Zach.
"Wait really? Hey this being in a relationship is doing the world of good for you man" Zach said going over to Tayler and giving him a pat on the back. After our conversation yesterday Tayler seemed to calm down quite a lot which was great.
"Wait you're in a relationship?!" I said in pure shock. I can't believe I didn't know about this.

Next thing we knew, there was another knock at the door. Before Tayler could answer me he sped to get the door. This wasn't the end of that topic. I had to find out more about this relationship later. This time it was Bryce, Kio, Noah, Blake, Josh and Vinnie (aka Sway).
"Wassup kids!" Bryce shouted as he walked into the mansion once Tayler had let him in. The boys trailed one by one into the kitchen where I was sitting and I greeted each of them with a hug. I hadn't seen the guys in timeee and I was looking forward to hanging out with them today.
"Yo Tayler we brought a football so we can play a quick game out back" Vinnie said enthusiastically.
"Wanna join us too Grace?" Bryce asked as he started to make his way to the garden. Before I could answer Tayler got there first.
"Sure she can. But she has to eat her breakfast first." Tay said seriously.
"Stop treating me like a kid. I don't need supervision to eat man." I said as I kissed my teeth and slumped into my seat. The boys looked at me sympathetically but they knew there was nothing they could do. The looks on their faces showed me Tayler had told them everything.
"I'll stay with her while she eats and y'all can get a game started" Kio said volunteering to stay in.
"Fine. But make sure she doesn't throw any of it away." Tayler said as he and the boys went into the garden to play.

Kio sat next to me and I could tell he felt sorry for me as I continued to eat.
"Lad you don't have to look at me like that. I'm not dying or nothing." I said letting out a slight chuckle. He seemed to crack a smile as he said "I know ur not. I just know it's probably really hard for you right now. You know, having to be away from home and face these issues."
"Kio I'm ok mate. I don't mind being away from home. I actually feel safe out here with you guys and that's helped a lot with my eating." I said finishing of my toast and putting the plate in the dishwasher.
"That's good. Wanna head out to the rest of the guys?" He said already half way to the back door. I could tell he really wanted to join in. You go and I'll meet you lot out there in a bit.
"You sure?" He said already outside.
"Yh I'm sure" I smiled as he ran out to the guys.

As I was about to go back upstairs, my phone rang. It was one of my friends from London. I answered the face time call and was met about 5 of my friends from home.
"Omg guys heyyy" I said excited to see everyone.
"Grace we've missed you so much. I don't think you understand. There's no one to fight dickhead boys off anymore. They don't seem to be that scared of us"  my friend Bella said.
"Girls don't lie now. I know you lot are fighting them off just fine without me. You lot are the intimidating pretty bitches." I said hyping my besties up.
"No no no WE are the intimidating pretty bitches" Maxi said. We all laughed and they filled me in on all the London summer goss.
"Um Grace...why is Bryce hall hovering over your shoulder?" One of my girls said.
In a state of panic I turned my head to see Bryce stood there all smiley without a care in the world.
"Um...what?! Oh....he's not Bryce" I said laughing hoping Bryce would get the memo and laugh along too. Luckily he did and he started to laugh with me.
"This is Jay. He's friends with my god brother. Lots of people seem to think he looks like Bryce." I said trying to convince the girls. I loved them so much but I couldn't have people find out I was living with Tiktokers. I couldn't let the world know yet. Not ever.
"Yh I'm Jay. I get called Bryce all the time. Anyways see ya." He said before zooming out of frame.
"Oh right sorry. That's so embarrassing." Maxie said laughing as well.
"Oh it's ok. Anyways you guys should get to sleep it's like 1am over there." I said trying to end the conversation as the boys came inside sweaty from playing.
"Ok bye. Love you Grace!" They all shouted through the phone.
"Love you too" I said blowing a kiss and ending the call as I noticed Tayler approach me quickly.
"Aww I wanted to meet your friends." He said upset he missed the call.
"Um.. they had things to do" I said trying to think of a change in subject.
"Grace...why don't you want your friends to know about us?" Bryce said crossing his arms as the others listened in curiosity. I sat there frozen for a few seconds before doing the first thing that came to my mind. Running. As I tried to escape the situation I felt a strong pair of arms pull me back.
"Oh no you don't. There's no way your getting out of this one" Noah said as he pulled me to a seat and all the guys blocked every route out of the room.
"Are you embarrassed of us or something.." Blake said trying to guess the reason.
"No! That's not it" I said defensively.
"Well then why don't you want people to know about us?" Josh asked.
"I'm really not getting out of this one huh?" I said hoping for a miracle. But I had realised I did owe the guys an explanation.
I could see the look on Tayler's face and it was clear he felt bad.
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to" Tayler said.
"Yh we don't want to force you or anything" Vinnie said evidently also feeling bad.
"No, no, I do owe you guys an explanation as to why I'm so cagey all the time about pictures and stuff."
All the boys perked up wanting to hear what I was about to say.
"Yh I mean when I tried to take a selfie with you you almost smashed my god damn phone" Zach said chuckling slightly.
"Well, I just don't want my face plastered all over the internet. Because once you become some what 'famous' people do some digging. And people find...stuff." The guys looked confused.
"What kind of stuff?" Kio asked, signalling me to continue.
"Stuff about my dad." As soon as I said that Tayler's eyes widened.
"Um Grace you don't have to say more if you don't want to." Tayler said realising exactly what I meant.
"No I want to" I said reassuring him.
"My dad..isn't the greatest guy in the world. Let's just put it that way. I just don't want my family drama put out there to the public. You get me?" I said not wanting to go into details. The boys nodded clearly unsure as to what to say as they looked at me sympathetically.
"Guys stop looking at me like I'm some abandoned puppy." I said unable to deal with the stares.
"Sorry, it's just that...you look so clean" Zach said as a grin started to spread across his face.
Clean? What the hell is he on about. Realisation suddenly hit me. All the boys were sweaty and dirty from playing outside. The rest of the boys started to get the memo and soon started getting closer and closer to me.
"Get her!" Blake shouted as all the boys charged towards me.
Before I even had a chance to react I had been pulled into a hug by loads of make sweaty bodies.
"Ewwww you lot are so gross" I said trying to hold my breathe. But as much as they stank, I did need the hug. These guys aren't as bad as you'd think, I'll tell you that for free.