the rooftop / g.d

4

GRAYSON'S POV

I pace around my small apartment in worry. What the fuck am I going to do? I have seven days to pay my rent or I'm getting evicted. 

There's no way I can pay it in seven days, especially now that I don't have a job. 

Happy fucking New Year to me. 

I sit down on my sunken couch, dropping my head in my hands. If I manage to pay it off, I'll be broke with absolutely no money to survive. I don't have much in my savings account and I can't borrow money from the bank. I wont be able to pay it back. 

I stare at my phone in contemplation. No. 

Don't call them, Grayson. You haven't needed them for three years, you don't need them now. You can do this on your own. 

I need a job, fast. But how? I'm screwed. I sigh, picking up the phone with no dignity left. 

I press on the contact I haven't called in years and wait for them to answer. What if they've changed their number? I really hope not. 

"What do you want?" I hear my brothers voice on the other end. He answered, shit that was unexpected. 

"I need your help." I say bluntly. 

I've never asked Ethan for money. I know how he is. If I did, he'd never let me live it down. 

He has his life figured out and has a job that pays insanely well. He's always been the parents' favourite child. 

Me? I was the black sheep, the scapegoat, the reject. 

It's why I moved to New York in the first place, the get away from them all and start fresh to prove that I don't need them, prove I am good enough. 

They can roll around in money together all they want.  

I hear him scoff loudly. "I knew it would only be a matter of time." 

"Listen. I didn't want to call but I just thought-"

"You're embarrassing yourself by calling, you know that?" 

I bite the inside of my cheek, stopping myself from saying something degrading to my brother. I'm better than that. 

"I don't want to sound desperate but I need a loan." I say, hating the fact that I'm asking him for help. 

"Still having money problems, huh?" He asks with humour. "When you are going to get your head out of your ass and come back home?" 

"That's not my home." I deny and he chuckles. 

When did he become such a dick again? Right, the day he got accepted into an Ivy League university, making the parents oh so proud. He's so obsessed with himself that it's sick. 

Actually, he's pretty much been like this since the start of high school. Things just got even worse after it.

This is why we've never gotten along. It's like he's made it a challenge for him to be better than me in everything we've ever done. 

"You're so predictable, Grayson. Rebelling against the family by moving to a different state. We get it, you control your own life." This is why I didn't want to contact him. 

"Will you help me or not?" 

I contemplate whether or not telling him that I got fired and I got an eviction notice but I decide against it. 

I know he'll tell the parents straight away and they'll look down on me like they've done my whole life and praise Ethan even more. 

They'll see me as unstable, barely surviving in the largest city in the states and make a mockery of me, even more than they already do. I've gotten that for the past 21 years of my life, I don't need more of it. 

"What ever mess you've gotten yourself into to actually call me for the first time in three years, you can get yourself out of it, little brother. You haven't needed me for three years, handle it yourself." He turns me down and I sigh. It was worth a shot. 

"I haven't needed you for 21 years." I sneer and he scoffs. 

"Is that why you're calling me right now, little brother?" He points out, making me even more angrier than I was. 

"You don't get to call me your little brother, Ethan. You've never acted like my brother." Siblings have each others back, always. Ethan never has. I've given him chances to make it up to me but it wasn't until l I turned 18 that I stopped. "You've never been my brother." I reiterate. 

Ethan is silent for a few seconds, almost contemplating what to say next. Just as I'm about to hang up on him and have the final word, he spits venom back, hurting me more than I thought it would. 

"That makes two of us." 

I feel my chest deflate. I lower the phone from my ear and hang up on him, feeling a heavy pressure in my chest.  I expected that answer but god that hurt. 

I throw my phone onto the couch and go into my room to change. I hate staying in this uniform, it reminds me of the job that I no longer have. 

I change into dark jeans and a hoodie before taking a deep breath and feeling my eyes go teary. What the hell am I going to do? If I don't get a job in seven days, I will literally be homeless. 

I can't call the parents, knowing they'll say exactly what Ethan did. 

They'll say how they told me so and that moving to New York was a bad idea, that I've been unstable since high school and I don't need that right now. 

I can't comprehend the fact that instead of spending my New Year's Eve making money, I'm stuck in my crap apartment with an eviction notice without a job. 

Fuck this. I can't stay here, I need to think and find a solution to my problem. 

The only place I can think of going to clear my head that costs no money is the rooftop. It'll for sure be empty considering the occasion and I'm glad. 

I want to be alone. I slide on my vans and walk out of my apartment, taking the stairwell to the top. 

When I open the door to the roof, I see that I won't be alone like I thought. 

I spot the nameless beauty sitting comfortably, overlooking the city and I feel my heart pumping fast. Hearing my movements, she turns her head to glance at me and her mouth parts in surprise.