Escaping Lights - A Greyson Chance Fan Fiction

Chapter 16: Clumsy Stupid Reckless

What did I just do? Did I just confess to Greyson indirectly? I'm dead meat, I know it.

***

     The week after that, I kind of got used to the place now and how things were done around.

     I would call my family sometimes, telling them how I was doing. But for some reason, Nana seemed to refuse talking to me which made me worry a lot, but Seth assured me that she just didn't wanna feel so miserable knowing that I really did go. I hesitantly hung up after that conversation. I spoke to Dad but despite his stern tone, I could sense his anxiety. Mom was hysterical like usual since I went on my little vacation, but I didn't mind. In fact, I liked how they worried about me.

     Maddie seemed to act friendlier towards me, much to my relief. I thought she really did hate me at first. But then I realized that was just how she truly acted. We talk a lot about various kinds of things, from Oklahoma fields to New York city lights.

     Meredith didn't seem to mind much that I stuck around. She kept on refusing my suggestion of giving her some money in exchange for my stay. She said she didn't like things that way. Good deeds shouldn't be bargained, according to her. It was uneasy in my part because I was practically living under her protection for no exchange. In other words, I was freeloading.

     But no, I wasn't actually taking advantage of her generosity. I hope you wouldn't think too lowly of me. I actually do my share around the house too. Whenever we got home from somewhere, whether from Erin's or from downtown, we would stop by shops and I would buy something for everyone. Like on Saturday, I brought home cake, which Ruthie loved. I guessed it was some way of saying thank you for their kindness.

     So as I was saying, I adjusted to New York pretty much now. We got busier for The Cruciform. I was kind of relieved, because it made me so distracted up to the point that I was having fun. On Wednesday, we were already putting up posters around that announced the club's project. We were all made to scatter around Manhattan, and I was assigned to pin up the ads in the area around Edgecombe Avenue.

     The were four people in our group, including Greyson. There was Hikaru Yamamori, a Japanese girl whose first name meant "shine". She had dark hair and really cute eyes. She was 13 and had a perfect American accent. And then there was Gail. Well, you know about her silly orange hair and her enthusiastic personality.

     "We have hundreds of these to put up! We can do it, group!" Gail cried happily. She gave us each high fives. It was rather hard to catch her hand because cradled in my arms was a huge bundle of posters.

     "Remember, only four posters on every block," Greyson reminded us.

     "Aye, aye, captain!" Hikaru responded.

     "We know," I said.

     Starting from that night outside 7-Eleven, I had pretended that I never said anything to Greyson. He probably got that idea too, since he was back to teasing me all the time, and I was back to being half-nasty towards him.

     I felt somehow relieved that he hadn't responded. What if he had never liked me back? I had felt the tension between us when our paths crossed on the stairs inside Mer's house. I had looked away from his eyes so I wouldn't be able to read his expression, and he did the same. We hadn't said a word to each other again that night.

     The next day, an uncomfortable swish of air was still in between us, so I decided to break it once and for all. I hadn't even been precisely sure that he felt the same about me. But apparently, he forgot about what I said or he either pretended it didn't bother him at all or understood what I meant.