never be the same | grayson dolan

thirty

I bring my suitcases into the living room and place them by the front door with a heavy sigh. I can't believe the day has arrived. It was time for me to face reality and go back home. The thought makes me sick, but I have no control of the situation.

Grayson and my father are sitting down at the kitchen table when I enter it. A bowl of Lucky Charms is already perfectly placed in front of a chair. I smile brightly and sit down across from Grayson. He looks up at me with a small smile. They're both extremely quiet, which makes the atmosphere awkward.

"So, what time are we leaving?" I glance at my dad while taking a bite of my cereal.

"About an hour, your flight is at 6:20. You need to get there at least two hours earlier." He looks up from his newspaper. "Grayson's taking you."

"You are?" My head turns toward him with a smile.

"Yeah, if you don't mind." He lightly grins.

"Of course I don't mind." I'm actually super happy that I get to have a little more time with him.

"Looks like we're gonna have to say goodbye sooner rather than later." My father looks over at me.

"No, for now we are enjoying these last few moments all together." I shake my head with a tiny grin.

"It sure as hell has been an interesting summer." He laughs before looking back at his newspaper.

"Definitely interesting all right." Grayson looks over to me.

"Best summer ever." I say quietly, mostly to myself.

A sudden knock on the sliding glass door makes my head turn behind me. Anthony is standing on the hot deck, waving his hand up. I motion for him to come inside as he steps into the air conditioned house.

"Hey." He greets the three of us.

"Hi." I get up from my seat at the table and stand in front of him.

"I know you're leaving today, I just came to say goodbye."

"Yeah, we're heading to the airport soon." I nod my head.

"Look, I know this summer was a tough one." He begins with a sigh. "I didn't make it any easier by doing what I did." I see him cringe at his own thought. "But I hope we can move forward with everything."

"Anthony, without you who knows what could have happened to me." I look directly at him. "Yeah things started off bad between us, but we were never the best match as a couple anyway." He knows that's the truth.

"That's for sure." He chuckles lightly. "I do still really care about you, that's why I made sure Ben was gone for good. It was mostly my fault everything bad happened in the first place."

"That's all in the past now." I flash him a small grin. "I appreciate everything you've done to help me."

"I'm just glad everything is done and over with." He shakes his head.

"Me too." I nod in agreement.

"Well, I should head out. I have to go get some supplies for school tomorrow."

"Crap." Grayson mumbles from the kitchen table. "I actually forgot tomorrow's the first day."

"Yeah, I seriously need to prepare myself for Mr. Bardot's class. The guy is so boring." Anthony rolls his eyes with a groan.

"You have him too?" Grayson raises an eyebrow up at him.

"Unfortunately, the dude is so annoying. I had him for study hall last year. Now he's my government teacher." He crosses his arms over his chest.