The Captains

Chapter 13

"I'm sorry if I scared you." Garret apologized reaching for his back pocket

"Give these to him when he's ready." Grayson's dad handed me two envelopes "I don't know you, but I know you know him. I've watched you the whole night. Please promise you'll give them to him. Tell him I'm proud of him and that I love him so much."

I nodded as I took the envelopes. I ran to where I saw Grayson run, under the huge oak tree. I pushed pass all the branches and the little trees with the envelopes still in my hands. He was sitting on the ground still in his uniform.

"I don't know what happened and you don't have to tell me. The only thing I could put together was that the Patrick Dempsey lookalike is your dad. And that your dad played in the NFL. I know that ,because of my dad." I rambled

I looked up at Grayson who was looking down  "He told me to tell you that he's so proud of you and he loves you so much. He told me to give you these two envelopes."

I placed the envelopes in his lap and he didn't say anything. He was dead silent.

Grayson shook his head "He doesn't love me. You don't just leave someone for two years without saying anything. I'm such a mess, you aren't gonna ever want to talk to me if I tell you everything."

Grayson was crying. He was crying in front of me. He was letting down whatever guard he built up and was showing me himself.

I scooted closer to him and put grabbed his hands and held them.

"Go ahead tell me how much of a mess you are, it can't be any worse than me. I'm still gonna be here Grayson and I don't know what it is with you. What I mean by that is that the first time I met you I wanted to kill you, but now God I don't even know how to say it. You're like the person I'm closest to even though we haven't known each other that long. What I'm saying is that you could have killed someone and I'd still be here. I'm not going to let your past run me away." 

He wiped his tears from his face"Thank you."

"You just saw my dad. I'm not going to go into full detail because it's still hard. You know how I told you I lived in Pennsylvania? That's when he played with the Philadelphia Eagles. I lived in Pennsylvania until eighth grade and that's when he went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. My parents fought a lot after we moved to Tampa. Then one day they had a huge fight and my dad left. But he never came back. That's why I got afraid when you just left, I thought you weren't going to come back like him. You were just going to leave after I got close to you. And I know getting close to people isn't our thing, but with you it's different somehow." He opened up to me

I stared it him "I'm not going to leave you. Ever."

"That's not the only thing I'm scared about." He said as I kept stroking his hair and holding his hand "I've fucked up a few times. When he left I was hurting. A lot. Blake and I went to a few parties. I came home drunk one time. My mom said 'You're gonna be just like him. You already play football and look like him. No woman is ever going to love you.' I made one mistake and I get a speech that will never leave my head." 

Grayson let his tears stream down his face.

My hand brushed against Grayson's and he grabbed it "I'm not leaving. I swear. I promise I won't ever pull a stunt like that again now that you've told me."

"Thank you for listening to me." He squeezed my hand "Let's go get our things then I'll drop you off at home."

Grayson sat up and stood up, just as I did. "Grayson, I'm always here. Do you know that?"

"I do know that. I wanna talk to the Florida coach before I go. Do I look like I've been crying? Or anything?" He asked as a small tear ran down his cheek