** REWRITING ** Tidal Wave

Chapter Thirteen

When Grayson came in, he looked so pissed. But he also looked so good. His tshirt stuck to his still wet, nicely toned stomach and his dark hair was messy. It looked like he had just ran his hands through it. We left the guys in the den and ran into Marissa in the kitchen, where dinner was already ready. I was in heaven. I probably ate more than half of all of the mac and cheese. I thanked Marissa and then when she left, I did the same for Grayson. I knew he had asked her to make it. At first he denied it but we both knew what really happened. We stared at each other. I swear he was about to reach across the table to touch my face but then Marissa came back in carrying a huge plate of chocolate chip cookies. My favorite. I thought it was cute that Grayson had asked Marissa to make them for me. We brought the plate up to his room, the left tower. And there we were. Alone.

I smiled as I looked up to the sky. The sun streamed in from the window, which was the whole ceiling. I had always loved Grayson's room. It was the whole tower. And I mean the whole tower. All three floors of it. The bottom level is where his actually bedroom was, the second was his bathroom and closet, and the top level, where we were now, was a lounge and study area complete with a plasma screen and a trophy case covering the rest of the wall. There was a spiraling staircase that passes through all the levels. But my favorite party by far was the skylight. The high ceilings in the top level enhances the illusion that you were really looking up at the sky. I was in awe. It was just after sunset and the sky was a dark pink with hints of orange.

"Pretty, isn't it?" My breath hitched. Grayson was right behind me. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest against my back. My blood felt like hot lava.

"Yeah," I managed to squeak out. I looked over my shoulder to at him. I excepted him to be staring up at the sky. Instead, he was staring at me. His eyes called out to me. They were a chocolate abyss. Somewhere I could go and all my problems would disappear. They made me feel safe and dangerous at the same time.

Subconsciously, I had turned around to face him, our chests brushed together whenever one of us took a breath. Neither of us were looking at the beautiful sky anymore. Only at each other.

I cleared my throat and stepped away. "Math," I said, reminding both Grayson and myself why I was there.

Grayson laughed. "Math," he said imitating me, "You got your backpack?"

"Yeah," I responded and I looked around the room for it. "I must've left it--"

"Downstairs?"

"Yep, I will go get it." I started to move out of the room but Grayson caught my arm.

"I got it, Ellie." He held my arm for a second longer, and then released his fingers one by one and disappeared out the door.

With Grayson gone, I took time to collect myself.

Why did my body go haywire whenever he was around?

I tried to distract myself so I made my way over to were the biggest trophy was. I was amazed. What could've Grayson done to earn something more than half my size? I squinted to see what it said. National Champions 2012.

I backed away from the glass, afraid to break the trophy. National? How could he not have told me? I thought. Maybe because you didn't try to contact him for six years? My subconscious told me.

I sat down on the soft semi circle couch and popped my feet up on the coffee table. I couldn't stop my racing mind. The more time I spent alone in Grayson's room, with his scent everywhere, the more I began to doubt coming here. I eventually got up and started to pace.

When he gets back I will tell him I have to go, I have something planned with Kiera. Will he believe it? At that point I didn't care. I had to get out of there. I was going to do something stupid, I knew it.

The door creaked open. "I'm back," Grayson called. As soon as I say his hopeful face, my excuses diappeared from my mind. He turned to close the door and then looked back at me, "Let's do this."

We both sat down on the couch. After only twenty minutes, the coffee table was covered in papers so deep I couldn't see the surface. And cookies. I grabbed one and offered another to Grayson. He was a good tutor. He knew exactly what he was talking about at all times. At one point, I had asked Grayson how he knew all this stuff before he learned it in school. He seemed embarrassed but he admitted that he had taken Calculus before. As a freshman.

I popped the remaining piece of cookie in my mouth as I leaned over the table, trying to study the notes far in the back. I grabbed a paper I didn't understand and gave it to Grayson.

"Ok, let's see here," he said, "This expression is called difference quotient. A line through two points on a curve is called a secant line, so m is the slope of the secant line." He looked down at me to see if I understood. I nodded. He couldn't help but smile.

"What?" I asked.

He grinned. "You just have a little something," he said gesturing to his lips. After several failed attempts at wiping it off myself, Grayson did it. His thumb brushed over my lip softly and stayed there for longer then it was needed. I didn't complain.

He looked down at his finger. "It's chocolate." He licked it off his thumb, never breaking eye contact with me. My body seemed to move on auto-piolet. I inched closer to him on the couch. Our knees were touching.

It wasn't enough.

I leaned forward. Our foreheads met. My lips brushed his everytime one of us took a breath. He had gotten this far but I had to close that last distance. This one was all on me.

The last thing I remember is his eyes looking into mine. I never had loved chocolate more.

Our lips collided. My stomach responded in ways I couldn't even begin to describe. All I knew is that I wanted more. More. More. More.

Grayson opened his mouth as an invitation, I accepted. His hand pushed against the small of my back, bringing us closer. I locked my hands at the back of his neck. My veins were on fire. I couldn't get enough of this. Of him.

Grayson seemed to sense this. He slipped his tongue over my bottom lip. I shivered. I swug my leg around him. Only then did I remember whose lap I was sitting in.

Grayson. I was sitting in Grayson Taylor's lap. Grayson Taylor who already has a girlfriend.

I pushed him away from me. Hard. I looked up into his eyes. They were filled with questions I didn't have the answers to. He took my hands, which were resting on his chest, in both of his. They were big and warm and soft. They reminded me of home.

"Ellie?" he said softly, "are you ok?" All I could do was shake my head. "Is it something I did?" I didn't move because it was.

It was always about Grayson.

My breathing became shallower. He took this as a yes. "We don't have to... have to do this if you dont want to." he said so tenderly it made my heart hurt.

This is exactly what I meant by stupid.

All I could do was cry. Grayson didn't say a word. He just held me. I could tell he wanted to say something to me, he needed to, but he stayed quiet as my tears wet his tshirt. His hands moved in big, warm circles on my back. It only made me cry harder. He pulled me tighter. My tears became uncontrollable. Whatever he did to comfort me, it brought me closer to him. And to the realization that Grayson and I couldn't ever be together.

_________________________________________

Sorry to leave you guys with this cliffhanger mostly because I probably won't be writing for the rest of the week because I am going to DC! If you need some other stories to read during this time go check out The Summer of Us by evshreve28 and Hold Me Close by rdenney. Remember to comment and vote! Hope to update soon.