𝗧𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆: "𝐾𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ"

Grey woke up, flying out of bed. Eyes wide, breathing laboured as if his chest was being compressed. Sweat traveled through his brow in the dark room, which he quickly realized through a few passes, was not his.
Where was he? Where was he?

He looked back and down at the person who laid in bed with him, who now half awake, half asleep, began to pull on his arm, mumbling, "Are... are you okay?"

Grey sighed, falling back onto his previous position: laying down on his  back, near the heat of a small, petite person. "Yes, I'm okay, sunshine."

"Are you sure?" she mumbled. He grabbed her waist and pulled her nearest to him, bending into her, burying his face into the crook of her neck. He hummed in approval. "Sure, sure, sure?"

"I'm sure, sure, sure, sunshine," he replied, smiling against her warm skin. "Go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay, love you."

His smile went wider. "Love you too."

She hummed with glee as she rested her head on Grey's chest and continued to sleep. Grey stayed up for a while, stroking her hair, kissing her forehead, mumbling sweet whispers into July's ear until he finally went to sleep.

~~~

"Blah, blah, blah, first name, last name, backstory stuff," Audrey mumbled, showing Grey her screen whilst scrolling. "This boy is so boring."

Grey leaned back in his seat on the school bus, folding his arms, scowling. "We are not here to talk about your horrible taste in men."

"Are we here to prove those rumours true?" she hopped up, grinning. But Grey knew that her grin was forced, and she did not look pretty with it.

"What rumours, you nutjob?" he replied, his face shriveled into an even more serious look.

"That you're in love with July. Duh!" She smacked him on the top of the head playfully, but he wasn't joking around with her.

"It's not true. They just met like what? A month ago?" Nathaniel butted in, his eyes glued to his phone screen.

Grey glared at them. "My love life is none of your business. What is my business is the fact you can't act right when you see me with her. What you did in that cafe the other day? Disrespectful."

"Oooh, she's finally in trou–ble!" Reyes teased.

"Shut up," Grey spat. "I'm talking to Audrey."

Reyes reclined in his seat, taking a handful of Dorian's pop corn, a grin on his face.

"Me? What did I do wrong?" she argued. "She was disrespectful!"

"Disrespectful? Or getting too close?" Grey hit back.

"What are you talking about—"

"You can't be my friend if you don't respect my girlfriend. And she will be my girlfriend, so don't give me any sass."

Nathaniel's head shot up, eyes wide. "You just met."

"Okay? So?"

"You can't marry someone you just met."

"It's giving Anna from Frozen," Reyes teased. Grey glared at him.

"I never said anything about marriage. But I might, just to piss you off," Grey got up and leaned over his seat into the row behind him, his hand going straight into Dorian's pop corn as the group wooed and cooed.

"You're full of shit," he said.

"And I protect you," Grey replied.

Nathaniel opened his mouth to say something but Audrey cut him off, "There can be two truths."

"And there can be three," Grey purred. "The third? That you're a bitch."

"Okay, you walked yourself into that one, babe," Nathaniel laughed.

"Excuse m—" The bus halted suddenly, jolting Audrey forward into the gap between Grey’s seat and the one in front, face first. Laughter whirring through the air, the bus doors open.

A strawberry-blonde head of hair poked through the doors as they got into the bus, smiling, "Good morning, sir!"

"Good morning, darlin'," the bus man replied. "How do you do?"

"I'm great, and you?"

"Much better," he smiled. "Go take a seat, now. I'll wait 'till you're secure."

"Thank you," they turned to the wide-eyed crowd, and Grey saw it. Grey saw her. And he smiled at her glowing face and pink cheeks, and continued to until she took her seat.

"Good morning!" she greeted him.

"Good morning, sunshine," he greeted her.

"Help! I'm still down here!" Audrey yelped. Grey yanked her back up by the arm and threw her back over into her seat, "There, all better."

Audrey sighed before laying back in her seat. Meanwhile, July sat there, bewildered, shrieking, "Are you okay?? I'm sorry I didn't see you there."

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Are you buckled up, buttercup?" the driver grinned. July stood up her thumb. "Allllllrighhhttt!!!" The bus went on.

"That entire interaction gave first scene of a high-school movie vibes," Dorian snorted.

"Literally," Reyes agreed.

"It's just about being nice, you know! Plus, he might be my uncle or cousin, three times removed and replaced," she nibbled on her lower lip. "It's not hard to be nice."

"Yeah, but don't be too nice. We all know how that ends," Nathaniel mumbled.

"I'll just forget that you just said that," Grey frowned before turning to July. "How was your sleep?"

She grinned. "Great."

He grinned. "Cool."

"Don't you just love love, Reyes?" Grey could hear Dorian whisper to Reyes. "It's giving movie night."

"Literally, dude. Like get married already," Reyes replied.

"They're so cute!" Dorian whisper-squealed.

"Dude, they just met," Nathaniel deadpanned.

July and Grey changed expressions on cue. Grey tried to hold back his laughter. Meanwhile, July seemed a bit puzzled.

"Dude, are you jealous?"

"Dude, are you for real right now?"

"Welcome to the group, baby," Grey chuckled.