Decide // Dolan Twins Fanfiction

-4-

After a vey awkward and silent drive, Grayson and I make it to Lenny's Diner. Grayson walks to my side of the car and opens the door for me, reaching a hand out to me to help me out. I hesitantly grab it and he leads me inside the diner. The waiter leads us to our table and we sit down, silently eyeing our menus.

"Grayson," I say, my voice barely a whisper, "I'm sorry."

He looks up and my heart almost breaks from the look in his eyes. "Veronica, you don't have to apologize. I don't know exactly what happened, but I know that whatever it was, it wasn't your fault. I understand if you aren't in the mood to spend time with me anymore."

I bite my lip, trying my hardest not to start crying again, "I want to spend time with you Grayson, I just feel like I'm not gonna be much fun."

He reaches across the booth and takes my hands in his, "It's okay, I just want you to be enjoying yourself, and I want you to be safe."

He's so sweet he almost makes me forget what a horrible man my step father it.. almost.

Grayson and I decide to stay at the diner, however I have no appetite at all so I basically just watch Grayson eat. He even looks good while stuffing his face.

When he's done eating, we head back to his car, and I dread going back home unless my mom is home.

Grayson seems to sense my anxiousness when he asks, "Are you sure you're okay with going home right now?"

"Yeah, I'm sure my mom's home by now, I'll be okay," I assure him.

By the time we pull up to my house, I feel sick to my stomach when I don't see my mom's car, and I can't find a way to make my legs work.

"Text me if anything happens, okay? Please." Grayson says, and I'm thankful to see that he actually cares about my wellbeing, even though I just met him. He's a keeper.

"Okay," I say, slowly opening the door and stepping out. Once I leave his car, I don't look back because I don't want him to see the scared look on my face.

Thankfully, as I'm about to open the door to my house, my mom's car pulls into the driveway. Something in me is so relieved that I run to her car, not caring if Grayson sees me and thinks I'm weird.

She steps out of her car and before she can say anything I throw myself into her arms.

"Mom," I sigh into her chest, trying to keep my composure.

"Hey sweetie, I was gonna tell you that I had to go back to work for a little, but you were fast asleep," she smiles down at me.

"It's okay mom. I'm just glad you're back. I can't stand Robert," I tell her, hoping she won't ask what happened between me and him.

"And who may this be?" She asks, her eyes leading to Grayson, who I guess decided to wait outside of his car until I made it inside safely.

"Oh, this is Grayson, I met him at school today and we went out for a bit," I tell her and she smiles so widely.

Grayson walks up and gives her a beautiful smile while shaking my mom's hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Grayson," he says, very politely.

"Very nice to meet you Grayson. You can call me Jenna," my mom smiles at him, clearly loving him already.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure Veronica got home safely. Goodnight Veronica, goodnight Jenna," he says, squeezing my arm before he steps into his car and drives away.

I simply wave at him and my mom basically yells goodbye at him.

"He was so cute!" My mom squeals, it's almost as if she's the teenager in this family.

"Yeah, he is," I laugh.

"And so polite and sweet. He's a good one," my mom says, walking towards our house.

Once we're inside, the atmosphere around us completely changes when we spot the empty beer bottles on our dinner table.

"Jenna! Where's my dinner?" Robert slurs, reeking of alcohol.

"I thought I told you to order in something," my mom says as politely as possible, trying not to tip him off.

"Don't get sassy with me Jenna!" He raises his voice. I want to slap him so badly, but I know that wouldn't end well, especially for my mom.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes, "I'll make you something right now." She disappears into the kitchen and I run up to my room before Robert tries something with me. I feel bad as I go upstairs because I don't want to leave my mom alone with him, but I know she knows what to do around him.

When I've made it up to my room I see a text from Grayson.

'Hey, just making sure everything is alright'

'Yeah, everything is fine. Thank you'

He texts me back, but I ignore his text, not wanting to bring him into my crazy drama. I shouldn't have even went out with him tonight, but I'm glad I did.

The next morning I wake up extra early, to make sure I look my best, because if I look good, I'll feel good. Or at least I hope so. I spend a little longer on my makeup to make sure it's perfect and once I'm ready I head downstairs.

My heart nearly shatters when I see my mom, a black eye very apparent under all her makeup.

"Mom," I gasp, taking in her weak appearance.

"Everything is fine, honey. Things just got a little out of hand, but I'm fine. Let's get you to school," she whispers.

We climb into her car, neither of us saying a word. She never wants to say anything bad about Robert because she knows that I haven't liked him since the start. She just never wants to admit that he's wrong for her.

After a silent drive to school, I say goodbye to her and step out of the car. I hope she has a long day at work, just so she doesn't have to deal with Robert.

As I walk into the school, I feel a strong arm wrap around my shoulders. I look up to see a very smiley Grayson.

"Good morning," he says, smiling at me.

I try my best to return a smile and say, "Good morning."

"You ready for History?" He says, still smiling. After the morning I've had, I can't seem to find a way to smile back, no matter how infectious his happiness is.

"Yeah," I simply say. I follow him to our History class, and I end up putting my head down right away. I sense Grayson's eyes on me, but I don't look up. When class starts, I drown everything out, feeling like a zombie.

History goes by fairly quickly, and I leave the classroom before Grayson tries to say anything to me. I know I shouldn't be giving him the cold shoulder, but I just can't pretend to be happy with everything going on at home.

When I get to art, I see the teacher writing on the board. In big letters she's written 'Draw Your Feelings'. Although me drawing my feelings right now would be a little too personal, I decide to do it anyways. But instead of my feelings, I draw my mom. I draw the big bruise in her eye, and I draw her screaming, and crying. I get so caught up in my drawing that when I look up, there's only ten minutes left of the class. Ms. Anderson walks around to check everyone's work. When she walks up to me, I cover my face in shame, knowing that my piece is very messy, and not at all my best work.

"My oh my! What have we have here," she says, holding onto my piece and holding it up, "this is extravagant! Such raw emotion. I love it! Wow."

I feel the class's eyes on me and I feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. I whisper a soft "Thank you" to Ms. Anderson as the class starts to clap. Even Ethan, sitting next to me starts to clap.