Jersey

nine

Ellie wound up staying over that night, sprawled across one side of his bed. She was laying on the foot of the bed while Grayson laid against the headboard.
Grayson woke up first to Ellie's foot in his mouth. He quickly smacked it away, spitting a bit. She groaned, turning over.
He sat up, letting out a yawn. Looking over to Ellie was amusing- she was definitely not the cutest sleeper. He went downstairs fixing himself a bowl of cereal, soon being accompanied by Ellie.
"Pour me a bowl." She said, taking a seat on the stool.
He smiled, "Sleep well?"
"Great." She answered, "I wish we could switch mattresses."
"I told you not to get that heavy firm mattress set."
"Doctors said it was good for my back." Ellie defended.
He rolled his eyes, "Shouldn't have listened."
She sighed, "Yeah, you're right."
Grayson handed her the bowl of cereal and sat across from her with his.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and Ellie looked up, "Who's that?"
He checked and his face was overcome with confusion, "It's- Lily."
"Lily?" She asked in shock, "What'd she say?"
"She's in Jersey." He said in disbelief, "She wants to meet up."
"I thought she hated you." Ellie reminded.
Grayson didn't know how to respond to that. He hadn't spoken to her since the breakup, and he didn't know how well seeing her would be.
"Are you going?" Ellie asked, secretly hoping he'd say no.
"Yeah." He answered with no hesitation, already starting to type, "I didn't think she'd ever talk to me again."
"Surprise." Ellie said non-energetically, now carelessly eating her cereal.

Grayson went out to meet Lily after Ellie drove herself home. Ellie just took a shower and sat on her couch, thinking of what might happen between Lily and Grayson. Even the slightest thought that they'd get back together scared her.
Grayson sat alone at the restaurant for a few minutes, before Lily came into view. He smiled, waving her over. He stood up to hug her which she gladly took before sitting down.
"How are you?" She asked.
"I'm good. A little confused as to why you asked me here, but good."
"We just haven't talked in a while. Things ended kind of- weird and I was honestly just worried about you. The only pictures I ever see are ones the paparazzi took of you and Ellie." She explained, "How is she by the way?"
"Oh she's good. She's got this whole book thing going on right now. Really special for her." He answered, "And everything's cool with you?"
She nodded, "We're about to wrap up the season finale of rocked in a few weeks. It's been very busy and stressful but definitely worth it."
"Yeah I've been watching."
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah well, Ellie's a huge fan of that show."
Lily shot a small smile, "So are you two- together now or?"
"Uh, no." Grayson answered, staring down at his plate, "Still just friends."
"Oh." She answered, a little happier, "I just figured you and her had something. Was I wrong?"
Grayson took a second to answer, "I don't know, honestly. Maybe."
Lily was now confused, "You do like her, right?"
"Lily I don't know if this is the conversation we should be having."
"I don't care." She said, "I always assumed you were in love with her, and that's why we didn't work out. And now you guys have the opportunity to be together and you're not? Now I'm confused because I don't know why we didn't make it. I just need you to tell me why you don't love me anymore."
Grayson heavily sighed as the conversation got deeper.
"Look, I never stopped loving you. You were such a big part of my life, how can I just stop? When Ellie came, I was so overwhelmed from not seeing her in so long. I got my feelings mixed up and that ended up hurting not only you, but my career too."
"That day on tv, when you snapped? I was so worried, G." Lily said, "I had no idea you were feeling like that."
"How could you?" He asked, "I kept everything to myself. What I'm trying to say is Ellie isn't the reason we broke up, I am. I needed time to figure out what I wanted."
"And do you know now?" She asked.
Grayson shrugged, "Lily, I don't know."
"How can you not know?" She asked, a little frustrated, "I mean, I doubt you want to hear my take on this but it's so obvious that Ellie's still in love with you."
"What?" He asked, "You barely know her."
"I don't have to know someone to know that whenever she sees, or hears your name her eyes light up and you can tell just the thought of you makes her smile. For goodness sakes Grayson, she dropped everything to go on tour with you. She wore a wig just to be seen with you."
"We're close, Lily."
"No." Lily said, trying to snap sense into him, "You already hurt me. Don't hurt her."