Outspoken ❂ Hayes Grier

vii

if you've lived in los angeles as long as i have, you know that it's very rare to have weather that isn't sunny and hot. but, mother nature decided to confuse us by throwing in a huge rainstorm right smack in the middle of july.

colin had called me bright and early this saturday morning with a request to meet him at his office at ten thirty today. i was still a bit angry with colin for how he acted at the hospital, but i was willing to let it go. hayes, on the other hand, was a bit less forgiving than i was.

as soon as i arrived at colin's office, neither hayes or him were talking, just sitting in awkward silence.

"oh, shay, thank the lord you showed up." colin said. "i just finished planning your date tonight."

i imagined colin planning an extravagant date, but when he announced his plan, i was a bit disappointed.

"you two are going for dinner tonight at alessandro's." colin looked between us two to catch our reactions. both of us frowned.

"a dinner date? that's your amazing date plan?" i asked, looking at hayes.

hayes shrugged. he'd been overly quiet ever since i came.

"yes! just a simple dinner date will work wonders. trust me!" colin nodded, sitting back into his chair and twirling a pen between his fingers.

i shrugged. "whatever you say, colin. you're the boss."

"pick me up at 8?" i turned to hayes and laugh. he breaks into a smirk. i was happy to see him smiling, i felt like i hadn't seen it in a while.

+

later that night, hayes picked me up. it was going to be nice to go on a date where we were alone instead of surrounded by people. maybe we'd actually get to talk and i could figure out why he's been so quiet lately.

"hey." i greeted him, opening the car door and sitting in the passenger seat. i was surprised that we weren't being picked up in a limo.

hayes smiled at me. "hey, shay."

hayes still looked a bit sad, even though he was trying to play it off the other way by smiling. but i could tell something was wrong. i decided to wait until we got to the restaurant to ask him what was up.

the car ride was unbearably silent, the only noise was the occasional cough or something, but neither of us were talking.

"hayes, you've been acting weird since this morning." i finally blurt, deciding it to was weird between us to wait to address this at the restaurant.

"i'm fine, what do you mean?" he deadpanned, obviously lying straight to my face.

"you're lying."

"shay, i'm fine." he sighed, leaning his head against the headrest and looking me in the eyes. god, his eyes were blue.

"this dinner is gonna be miserable if you don't tell me what's wrong."

suddenly, he pulled over onto the curb and looked at me. "god, shay, has anyone ever told you how demandingly outspoken you are?"

"those are some big words, grier. wanna tell me what's wrong now, or are you just going to insult me?" i leaned back into the leather interior, not letting him distract me with insults.

"it wasn't an insult, babe." he faced me, smirking slightly and running a hand through his hair.

we stared at each other for quite a while. i wasn't sure what he was thinking, really, he just kept looking at me with a ridiculously smirk on his lips.

"i'm bored, shay." he finally said.

"then start the car and let's go eat."

"not now, i mean in general. i'm homesick, the truth is i hate los angeles and i just want to go home. so there's your truth."

his eyes wavered as i looked at him, darting from me to the ground.

"go home, hayes."

"what?"

"go. i could tell from the moment we met. i knew that's why you acted out. you just wanted to be done with fame, it got boring, i get it. go back home, take time off. it'll be good for you." hayes smiled as i spoke, his stupid smirk changing into a real grin.

"come with me." he blurted, taking one of my hands and lacing our fingers together.

"what?" i chuckled, half-thinking that he was kidding.

"c'mon, shay. you've obviously brought out my true feelings and you've made me a better person in the two weeks i've known you. i want you around." he kept his eyes on our intertwined hands, periodically looking at me.

"really?" i wanted too, i really did. i liked spending time with hayes. but before i could plan it all in my head, reality hit and i knew that if we did this, the result would only be trouble. between colin, my sister, and my friends, it would just lead to chaos.

"i can't, hayes. i can't just leave. i want to, but i... can't."

hayes frowned. "shay, please, just come. i promise you'll love it. i want you with me. we can leave tonight. we'll call colin right before we take off so he doesn't have time to chase us down. we can call your sister too-"

"hayes, listen to yourself. i can't just run away with you. this isn't a movie."

"we can make it a movie. i can be the famous celebrity asshole who's fake girlfriend convinces him to go home and the famous celebrity takes his fake girlfriend with him."

"wow, that sounds an awful lot like our lives." i laugh.

he shrugs. "so, are you in? please say yes."

there's two types of people in the world, the people who are reasonable and who don't do stupid things. then there are the people who don't think and just go for whatever comes along. i like to think that i fall in the middle of the two categories.

"alright. let's go to north carolina."

+

HELL YEAH SHAYES TRIP

yes the story is finally picking up!!! im so excited :))

thank you for reading !! vote, comment, share, add :))

(also i'm so glad that hayes is going to be okay :)) but i hate that my baby is in pain :(( )

love, emily 💖