Forever And Ever

13. Emery

When Aria walks out, I start to get anxious. I've never lied to my friends before. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

No one says anything, and the room is so tense it feels like one wrong word would snap everyone.

"So," I clear my throat.

"Why are you lying to us?" Joslyn whispers.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"What are you talking about?" I mumble. "I'm not lying about anything."

"Yes, you are," Rebekah mutters.

"Are you really dating Grayson?" Leia asks.

"Yeah," I say. "Of course I am."

"Really?" Joslyn looks skeptical, "Because you've never gotten along before now. And what about Devyn? I thought he would—"

"We have gotten along," I blurt.

"Name one time," Leia narrows her eyes at me.

I clamp my mouth shut to keep from saying anything else stupid. Of course, we've never gotten along.

"If you two aren't really dating—"

"We are," Grayson says from the doorway. I didn't even know he was there.

When my friends all turn to look at him, I shoot him a grateful look.

"Okay," Rebekah mutters, but she looks far from convinced. They all do.

"Emery," Grayson says. "Can I talk to you?"

I nod and walk towards him.

When I step into the hall he shuts the door and leads me around the corner.

"We need to figure out a better way to do that," I murmur.

"What do you mean?" He turns to face me.

"I don't know," I shrug. "Like figure out a way to communicate when we need to talk, but not say it out loud. Or at least, not like that."

"I see what you mean," Grayson mumbles.

I sit down on the couch and Grayson sits next to me.

"I'd say thank you again," I murmur, biting my lip to keep from smiling, "but I have a feeling you would tell me to stop talking."

"I would," he agrees, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Thank—"

"Shut up, Emery," Grayson laughs.

"Shutting up now," I giggle.

Aria comes walking out and sighs.

"Alright," she mumbles. "Come on, Emery. We need to go back with our friends. This is already looking pretty bad."

I nod and get up to follow her.

"Good night, Grayson," I call over my shoulder.

"Night, Emery," he calls back.

As we walk back into my room, my friend's eyes turn to look at me.

"Guys, I know you don't—"

"Emery," Joslyn cuts me off. "If you say you're dating Grayson, we're not going to argue with you. I know you've never lied to us and even if you are now, it's not our place to judge. We're happy for you, and Grayson."

"Thanks," I smile weakly, as Aria rubs my arm.

"Okay, now that that's settled," Rebekah rubs her hands together, "no more talk about boys. Leia, that goes for you too."

She flushes and giggles.

"Leia, you're in love, you idiot," Joslyn laughs.

"No more boy talk," Rebekah says, firmer this time.

Joslyn and Leia only giggle more.

Aria and I move to the bed and sit down.

"Well, then what are we going to talk about?" Joslyn pouts.

"Mm," I mumble. "Maybe we don't have to talk. I'm ready to go to bed now."

"Emery, you're always ready to go to bed," Aria laughs.

"Today was a tiring day," I mutter, wrapping my arms around my pillow and shutting my eyes.

I fall asleep to the sound of laughter.

xxx

When I wake up to the sound of my alarm, my room is empty.

Great, I slept in again.

I get up and throw on clothes as quickly as I can and walk to the kitchen, except Aria isn't there. Just Grayson.

"Aria left with Devyn earlier this morning," Grayson says, reading my confusion.

"Oh," I mumble.

"You slept in a while," Grayson smirks.

"I sleep in a while every morning, hotshot," I smile.

"Ah," he hums.

"Come on, let's go before you make us late," I sniff, walking to the door.

"We're already late, little Jenson," he calls after me.

"You need better nicknames," I giggle.

"Hmm," he murmurs thoughtfully. "How about I call you Emmy then?"

"No," I whine. "Nobody calls me that."

"Exactly," he smirks, getting into the driver's seat.

I sigh as I slide into the passenger seat.

"Is this going to be a big deal?" I mumble as we pull up to the school.

"Probably," Grayson replies. "Jack already made everything else a big deal, why wouldn't he make this something too?"

We step out of his car and start walking to the entrance. Already there are a ton of people staring. Shit.

When we make it into the hallway, everyone is staring and whispering. My hands tremble slightly and I intertwine my fingers with Grayson's, mainly for comfort. I hate people staring at me.

He squeezes my hand knowingly.

We almost make it to class without trouble, but Jack and Hugo come around the corner snarling.

"You think this is fucking funny?" Jack growls, trying to pull me away from Grayson.

"Don't fucking touch her," Grayson barks, pulling me out of Jack's grasp.

"She isn't yours, Woods," Hugo snaps.

"Yes, she is," Grayson growls, wrapping an arm around me. "She's mine."

She's mine. Jack never said anything like that. He never cared when we were together.

"Really, Emery?" Jack hisses, turning his anger on me. "You're just going to let him talk like that? Like he owns you?"

"I'd rather it be him than you," I snap, grabbing Grayson's hand and pulling him toward our class.

I hadn't even noticed how many people were watching us.

"I'm sorry he's such a bitch," I murmur. Grayson shouldn't have to be dealing with him.

"It's fine," he grinds out. He's still pissed. Not that I blame him.

I nod and decide it's probably best if I don't say anything. I don't want to piss him off more.

"I'm sorry," Grayson murmurs after a couple of seconds.

"For what?" I raise my eyebrows, tilting my head so I can see him. He hasn't done anything wrong.

"I shouldn't snap at you," he whispers, squeezing my hand gently. "It's not your fault."

"It's not your fault either," I smile softly, squeezing his hand back.

He nods as we reach our classroom door.