Shifting Gears

30. An Unfortunately Unifying Empathy

"Good morning!"

My eyes fluttered open at the cheery voice, squinting quickly as bright light aggressively filled my vision. I groaned lightly. My bed was hard. And weirdly warm.

And was...moving?

I yelped, eyes shooting open and I stumbled upright, then fell to the floor in an unceremonious lump.

Another yelp shot from my mouth as another lump fell on top of me.

I shoved Greyson off of me, scrambling to a seated position, to find Mandy in sweatpants and a "Friends" t-shirt grinning down at us in between sips from her steaming mug of coffee.

"Uh—um, hi, Mrs. McAlli—Mandy."

My face felt like it'd been sitting in an oven for an hour.

I glanced over to see a groggy Greyson sitting up beside me. He rubbed his eyes, his dark brown hair going every which way, and when he retracted his hands, bright green eyes sparkled.

"Good morning, Aunt Mandy." He said it simply, but I could hear the mirth in his tone.

"I've made some extra coffee," Mandy chimed, cocking her head. "You two look like you could use it."

"Uh—"

Before I could stammer something that probably wouldn't make any sense, a smaller figure appeared between Mandy's legs.

"Grey!" Gabbie's hair was in a bedhead that rivaled her cousin's, and she still had a set of purple pajamas on. She hugged her purple teddy bear Purple close to her, and she showed a newly missing tooth when she smiled. "And Miss Cory! Do we have tut'ring this morning? I thought you come after lunch."

Greyson managed to hide a snort, and Mandy bit her lip. "No, she's just visiting, sweetheart."

Gabbie frowned. "It's so early."

Greyson spared me from responding by standing and jogging forward, catching his little cousin up and swinging her around bridal style. Gabbie forgot all her questions as she let out peals of delighted laughter.

"You smell like Reeses Puffs," he commented as she giggled. "Did you eat them all, little Gabster?"

She shrieked her protests as he marched into the house, and they disappeared inside for breakfast.

Mandy's face broke out into another smile. "Want to come grab a cup of coffee?"

"Mandy, we didn't—"

"A little nap never hurt anyone," she cut me off, eyes glinting. "Come get some coffee. I think you two have a practice to get to soon."

— - — @ — - —

Word spreads fast—especially when it was something juicy like a romance between the top-dog at Raven Heights' sister and the top-dog hailing from Omayle.

As Greyson and I had walked down the main road to the Shop to get the schedule for the day, people—fans and racers alike—would cast glances toward me and Greyson, whispering things and nodding. It was probably at our intertwined hands, as Greyson had grabbed mine claiming that he could do that now that we were "official."

I think he was also testing to see if I would pull away as we walked among the crowd. I did feel the urge to yank my hand away, but when I remembered I'd made my decision and it was what I wanted, I stood tall again and cast Greyson a smile.

But, I did have to admit, sitting in the bleachers next to Mandy who was able to come to the practice to watch Greyson, the thousands of eyes weighing on me made my skin itch.