As He Held My Hand

10. The Invite(s)

10. The Invite(s)

Gemma’s POV

The rest of the week goes by without a problem. I make sure Greg stays away from Alex, steer clear of Rick for the most part, and eat lunch with Grant every day. He’s easy to talk to, and I begin to slowly forget that I thought he was an extreme player a couple weeks ago.

Soon, Christmas break has started, and I’m excited to be off for the next two weeks. Midterms are a week after we get back to school, so I plan on studying a little bit every day. But there’s a different reason as to why I’m so excited for Christmas break. It’s not just that I’m off of school for two weeks and Christmas is only a few days away, but the Friday before break started, Grant invited me to come over to his house to watch a movie. I know it was just as friends…I was allowed to have friends that were guys.

But something about the way he asked me made me feel like it was something different was going on. So on the day we agreed to get together to watch the movie, I go over to his house. He tells me is dad is out, so we’re alone at his house. He has snacks waiting and a few movie to choose from. I pick some horror movie that I’ve never seen before.

He sits on one side of the couch and I sit on the other. I scream at the scary parts, although I try not to, and at least once I find myself shoving my face into Grant’s shoulder. He doesn’t push me away, but laughs. “Shut up. This is scary!” I say, smacking his arm with a throw pillow.

He grabs a pillow from the chair next to him and hits me with it. “Oh…my…God…you just hit a girl!” I say laughing. “Only because you hit me first!” he cries in self – defense. I take my pillow and hit him again, and soon it turns into a full blown pillow fight. I don’t even realize that the main character’s boyfriend just got his head cut off.

After our pillow fight, I relax back on the couch, breathing heavy. Grant does the same, and I stretch my legs out, kicking one of his feet. He lifts up his head and looks at me. “You kicked me.” he says. “You kicked me. I can’t believe you kicked me! That’s it! We’re done! This friendship is over!” he says, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. I raise my eyebrows and then start laughing.

“What are you laughing at? You kicked me, Gemma, and I refuse to forgive you.” he says and I keep laughing. He starts laughing to and then kicks my leg back. “Now we’re even.” he says, laying back looking satisfied. I shake my head at him and look at him lying there, his eyes still closed. He’s cute when he’s sleeping…or at least when it looks like he’s sleeping.

Suddenly, he opens his eyes and my head snaps back to the movie, where the main girl is running somewhere. He looks over at the movie, and the rest of the night is spent in a comforting silence. When the movie is over and the snacks are gone, Grant walks me to my car, and I muster up the courage to ask him the question I’ve been waiting to ask since he invited me over.

“Hey, um, Christmas day, I don’t know if you’re doing anything…but it’s just my aunt and I, so if you wanted to, maybe like, come over for dinner with your dad, you’re welcome to. But only if you don’t have plans, or something.” I stutter, tucking a loose strand of hair from my ponytail back.