The Summer Reunion (unedited version)

45| Paint Me Like A French Girl

My head snapped up at his confession. "What? Since when?"

Ever since we were little kids Grayson hasn't wanted to be anything else but an artist. He used to talk about becoming a book illustrator or a million other careers in the arts. It shocked me now to hear that after all these years he'd just up and changed his mind.

"My grandfather flew down to stay with us for a week a while ago. We talked and he made me realize it's smarter to major in something that will give me a stable career and steady paycheck."

"So you're going to spend your life doing something you don't like rather than following your dreams?"

"It's not like I can't do art as a hobby, Andie. Besides, I haven't even picked up a paintbrush or drawn anything serious in months. It's a smarter choice for my future to do something reliable, like business."

"Business!" my eyes went wide with shock. "You'd rather join Drew and his douchebag buddies in yelling at people over the stock market? You'd rather hold a briefcase than a paintbrush?"

"For someone whose patronizing me for going after money, you seem pretty fixated on this bonus."

"Yeah, because I don't have any of it. When you have so much, it doesn't mean what it does to people who have nothing. I can't believe you're not going into the arts." I tried to revert back to him. "You seriously think you need money to be happy?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Like I said, that's different."

"There's no point in fighting with my grandfather, you know that."

"Yeah but you're moms are a chef and an art teacher."

"That's exactly why he doesn't want me doing anything like that. All of our parents and grandparents have established themselves as big time names, except mine. He has no one to inherit his business, and he wants me to."

"God, you sound like Drew." I dropped my head into my hands.

"There's nothing wrong with growing up Andie. We all need to do it eventually." He stood up and walked to the door.

"There's a difference between growing up and giving up."

He paused at the threshold for a moment before closing the door behind him.

What happened to him over these last few months that made him abandon his entire career path he's been dead set on? I can't believe he let some old cynical man like his grandfather talk him out of doing what he loves. Maybe that's the problem. He's forgotten how much it means to him. He just needs a reminder.

I opened my door as Grayson reached the bottom of the stairs. 

"I have something for you." When I reached the last step I grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the cabin. 

                                                                                     ***

We arrived outside the large cabin a few minutes later. On the way over Grayson had been relentlessly asking what we were doing and I stayed quiet.

"You really know how to enjoy a surprise," I responded to his constant nagging. "Close your eyes."

Our hands were still intertwined. Neither of us had broken the grasp since we left the cabin. He did as I said and shut his eyes as we came to a stop outside the doors.

"Now wait out here," I told him.

"What? You're leaving me out here with my eyes closed?"

"You don't want to ruin the surprise, do you?"