The Trial

Chapter 8

"Can you slow down?" I ask while gripping the door handle. Allowing the annoyance to drip into my voice as Will only drives faster. After the talk I had with Greyson yesterday Will spent the night and we left early this morning to visit my parents. Pressing the redial button on my phone yet again Will answers my question as the phone is being raised to my ear,

"Not if I want to keep my balls," he says with no hint of amusement. I automatically roll my eyes at the mention of his orders. Greyson doesn't want to take any chances of me being caught by The Beginners so he ordered Will to drive me to see my parents and to do it quickly. Apparently, being outside of Darnell Heights is a risk for me, let alone leaving the state. It's only three hours away yet Will is planning to get there at least an hour earlier.

As my phone rings in my ear our conversation dies down leaving me to wait on their answer. It never comes, not to my surprise, but to my frustration. This will have to be a surprise visit. Knowing that I might see my parents brings a wave of joy over me. I've been away from them for too long. My happiness is short lived as I remember the lie I'm going to tell them. I will be leaving, to never see them again, with a lie. Greyson's words from last night enter my head and I can't help, but to agree with him. If my parents were to know the truth they would never let me go, instead they would die for me. They deserve to live even if the rest of their lives doesn't have me in it.

"So is it just me or is it going to be the weirdest thing to see you and Greyson together?" Will bursts out the question I've been wanting to avoid. I haven't asked myself this question due to the fact that I would have to think about Greyson and I being together. I groan out my answer,

"You are not the only one," Looking out the window I don't know if it's the blurry trees we are passing or the idea of me being forced to live life shackled to Greyson, but my stomach coils with nausea.

"It's not even the fact that it's you and him, he's never been great with girls. Given most of them want him and he's had a few, but this is different." I don't look to Will as he glances my way, "I mean, now he will have to keep you, create this relationship with you. Greyson is awful at relationships. The closest he's ever had is a friendship with me and he still threatens to kill me on a daily basis."

I can't help the smile that breaks my self loathing thoughts. That does sound like Greyson. From knowing him for almost a week I can already tell he isn't good at connecting with others. Will chuckles a little beside me then continues to tell me stories from his and Greyson's pasts. I listen for a moment, but then my mind drifts in and out. One moment in focusing on the story he is telling, the next moment I'm wondering what it will be like to live with Greyson. The man who gives me butterflies that I desperately want to ignore, but can't seem to do so.

•••

Familiar buildings pass us by as we near my parent's house. Memories of road trips flood my mind bringing a smile in their wake. The ice cream shop they brought me to after my team won the soccer game. A house that my childhood friend would invite me to so we could play together. The weeping willow just outside of the park that I had my first kiss under during that rainy day. Soon the neighborhood I grew up in appears. My heart begins to hammer on cue of the sight.

When we stop I front of the house a small feeling of peace enters my body. It looks just as I remember it. The two dogwood trees sitting in the front yard with the wooden front door in the center is a welcoming sign. Mom's flowers, now wilted and dead, have stems sticking out of the soil below. It looks grey outside of the home, but the warm feeling it gives me doesn't go away. The only noise I can hear is the jingle of keys as Will shuts off the engine. A deafening silence lies between us as we stare out at the house that basically bleeds my childhood memories onto the grass outside.