Escaping Lights - A Greyson Chance Fan Fiction

Chapter 24: Supposed To Be Awkward

Time had flown quite speedily as I spent my time in Manhattan. I hadn't even realized that we had entered the two-digit days. But despite that, a lot had indeed happened, and I couldn't help but think about home as well.

     On Friday morning, I received a message from Amy. She was back in Oklahoma and she told me that she would wait for me patiently. I texted her back saying that I would be home soon.

     In the deepest of truths, I knew that I owed a lot to Greyson and his aunt, because I had way long overstayed. But something had been driving me, telling me that it wasn't my time yet. That I needed more days.

    But days for what? This was getting pointless, really. Yet, this entire experience was like a strange obsession towards a thing. You know that feeling when you get an addiction, and one day you just tell yourself that you want to stop, but you can't, because it has become a part of your daily routine, your life. This situation was kinda similar to forcing yourself to stop a habit. It's hard, I knew it. Also, I had been afraid of something. I had gotten too attached. To everything. I didn't want to say goodbye yet, but I was too much aware of the fact that if I would stay longer, goodbye would be much harder. And that was what I had just started to fear.

***

Three-fourths of the preparations for Stardust was already done. The props, mostly. If tomorrow would be the night of the dance, the total set-up would be ready. We just needed to add a few more decorations and everything would be perfect. The intermission numbers had to be practiced more, though. Erin acquired slight problems with her throat, so she couldn't entirely focus on the kids.

     The mentor's cough could be distinctly heard across the room. "Erin, are you okay? Perhaps we should handle this ourselves first and you rest back inside the house," Sam said, stepping off the platform and peeking at Erin's face.

     "I think we need a short break. I just have to drink some water," Erin replied, trying cast away the worried look on everyone's faces with her bright smile.

     Sam got the message and clapped her hands to get the attention. "Okay, everyone! Take a break and cool down for a bit. Then we're back here, alright? We haven't perfected the bridge yet."

     The kids scrambled away and headed off towards the couches.

     Meanwhile, I was by the counter were the water pitchers were placed. I brought out some cups and planned to distribute water to the singers.

    Having no interest to join the performers, the props-com kids had bought a bag of candy and passed it around. I had enjoyed my afternoon with gummy bears and jelly beans, and the best part was the gum. I must had eaten a piece the size of a ping pong ball.

    For about ten minutes I had taken in the pleasure of blowing the gum in and out of my mouth, forming a large pink bubble. And precisely that moment, I had just proudly blown a huge bubblegum out of my mouth that covered up to my nose. That's when two fingers tapped my shoulder and I instantly whirled around and suddenly everything went quick as a signal.

    I faced Greyson and because he was so tall, my reflexes told me to look up and neither of us realized we were standing too close to each other and I almost lost balance because of the small space between us and he grabbed me by the arms and he instinctively pulled me closer to him and just like that, the other side of the bubble stuck to his lips.

     His lips. Me. Him. Stuck together with only the bubblegum serving as the barrier between us. My eyes widened, so did his. What was this? Some kind of magic trick? Foul play? How did this happen? How did we get here that we were this close to brushing each other's lips?