With or without you

Chapter 33

Tess's POV

When Austin and I got to the couch, it felt comfortable with him. I could see Gray from across the room eyeing me every so often. Something about knowing he was always around made me feel safe. Austin and I were still talking. The conversations with him were funny, casual, not too deep. It was like the perfect distraction because when I talked to him I never really thought about her. That said though, in the middle of our conversation it was like I felt something. I turned around to see her and her little girls walk in. We held eye contact for a couple seconds before I turned around.

"You okay?" Austin asked.

"Yeah I'm good."

"Are you friends with Riley?" That's a complicated answer.

"Umm kind of."

"She's really cool. I have her in my Spanish class. She always helps me out with homework and stuff."

"Yeah. Sorry, you were telling me about that one football game."

"Oh yeah, so I..." He went on to tell me about this one football game where him and Gray caused the quarterback to throw an interception. Apparently Gray was on defense and he rushed the quarterback, so to avoid a sack and threw it right Austin. I told him about the time Gray made me throw the baseball with him and I accidentally threw it when he wasn't looking and hit him in the stomach. We told little stories like this back and forth. Not all of them were about Gray though. I was so invested in our conversation what when I heard everyone go Oooohhhh it startled me a bit. I turned around to see Gray taking a step back as if he were about to fall, and Riley made eye contact with me. She looked like she was going to start making her way towards me when out of nowhere Gray picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. I watched as they walked outside. As he passed Lauren and the group she was with Laurens eyes made their way to mine. She gave me a look that I couldn't quite read. Without another thought I stood up and said,

"I have to go."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No." The look on his face made me realize how my tone had come out.

"Sorry. I just need to make sure they're okay."

"Okay. No problem." I ran outside to hear both of them screaming at each other, asking what the others problem was. I could tell Riley was angry, she turns into a different person when she drinks. As for Gray, this was new. I'd never seen him yell before, at least not at another person.

"What the hell is going on?" At this they both turned around looking somewhat guilty and angry. I could see a bruise forming on Gray's cheek. It wasn't bad but it was still there.

"I'll take care of this Tess just go inside." Gray said trying to wave me off. I didn't like that. I could feel a bit of irritation with him building inside me.

"Take care of what? What happened? Why do you have a bruise? And why are you arguing with Riley?" Over his shoulder I could see Riley walking away already.

"It's no big deal. Go back inside." He turned around to see Riley walking away then turned back to me and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going back inside." I started to follow Riley, but Gray got in front of me and tried to stop me. The irritation grew a bit more.

"Just let her go."

"Gray get out of my way now." My voice came out angry and strong. I don't think I've ever spoken to Gray that way.

"Fine." He said, as he walked past me and into the house. I ran over to Riley who was already making a break for the side gate. The gate was so far on the side of the house that you couldn't really see around the corner of the house unless you were standing in the middle of the yard. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Where are you going?"

"Home." She wouldn't look me in the eyes.

"You're drunk."

"So?"

"So, you can't drive."

"I'll figure it out."

"Did you drive the girls here?"

"Yeah." She was trying to walk out again. I grabbed her belt loops and pulled her into me.

"You're not driving." I didn't realize how close we were until she looked up and we made eye contact. She closed her eyes and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Riley what happened?"

"Nothing." I slowly wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in closer to me. I could smell her perfume. The one that always drove me crazy.

"What happened Rye?" She wouldn't pick her head up off my shoulder.

"I just wanted to talk to you." Her voice came out soft and broken. I didn't know how to respond to this. All the anger I had been feeling had already dissolved.

"Come on Rye. I'm taking you home." I picked her head up from my shoulder as I said this.

"I can't go home. My parents will kill me."

"I'll take you to my house." At this she made a face.

"What about your bitchy sister?"

"She'll be fine."

"Go get in the car." She nodded her head, and with that I made my way back into the house. Gray was waiting by the back door for me.

"What happened?" He was still angry.

"I'm taking her home."

"No Tess. She can figure her shit out herself."

"I'm taking her home Gray." There were so many people in this stupid house I was getting frustrated.

"Why can't you just get over her?" Gray screamed. I looked around to make sure no heard him. It was so loud in here that even though he was screaming, no one heard.

"What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You need to get over her. You keep just running back to her every time she wants. You keep going back and forth. You need to stand up for yourself." I didn't know what to say.

"We are not doing this here." I started to walk past him, but stopped.

"Are you going to be okay to drive home." He glared at me.

"Sure Tess. I'll figure it out. Fuck."

"Call me if you need a ride."

"Yeah whatever." I'll deal with that later. I walked past all the stupid people in here to find my stupid sister. I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the guy she was talking to.

"We're leaving Lauren."

"What? No..." When her eyes met mine, I think she could tell I was done.

"Okay. Fine. Let's go." At least that was easy. Now, to just get out of this house.