Heated // Grayson Dolan

ONE

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"Sydney! Sydney, watch where you're going!" Audrey yelled from the passenger seat of my car.

"I'm sorry" I sniffled as I whipped my watery eyes with my wrist as my other hand held onto the wheel. "I-I just can't believe he did that to me. You know? Like I loved Parker... How could he..." I sobbed as I attempted to drive.

"I know, I know." She tried to calm me down. "Sydney pull over, I don't think you should be driv-"

A loud bang sounded as everything around me began to become a slow blur. I looked over the puffed up air bags to see that I T-boned somebody in the lane beside me. The person in the other car was okay; they came out to my window and started yelling at me, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I looked over to my right to see Audrey. She was completely still, not even blinking, a large piece of glass was lodged into her throat and her face was scratched up from the glass that hit her. Tears began pouring out even harder. I was crying so hard I began to get a migraine. I could hear the sirens going off faintly in the background.

"Audrey!" I yelled at her. She didn't respond. "Audrey!" I reached over and shook her shoulders. She was unresponsive.

"No!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "No! No! No!" I repeatedly shook her shoulders. "No! Audrey! I can't lose you! Wake up! Audrey, wake up!"

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"Hello? Miss? We just landed."

I snapped back into the present as I stared back at the flight attendant who was snapping at me to catch my attention. Besides a few flight attendants, my bags, and myself the plane was completely empty.

"O-oh, I'm sorry" I replied quietly.

Getting up for the first time in almost two hours, I grabbed my backpack and scurried off the plane. A light blush from embarrassment rested on my face as I walked with my head down to the baggage pickup.

"You're lucky I would recognize your suitcase anywhere" my older cousin, Dallas, called out to me as I approached. "Not too many people have a suitcase covered in 'Florida' stickers." He laughed lightly.

I nodded in response as I grabbed my bag. "Thanks" I thanked dryly.

"Hey, are you okay? After everything?"

I wanted to answer: What do you think, asshole. I just basically murdered my bestfriend because I couldn't get my shit together after Parker dumped me. But I just shrugged, "I'm fine, I guess."

Dallas shook his head and pulled me into a hug.

"It's okay to not be okay, Sydney..." he made direct eye contact with me. "Come on. Let's go to my house. You're gonna like it here in Jersey. It's much quieter than Florida. It'll help you clear your mind. Plus, summer is a little less unbearably hot here" Dallas smiled softly as he gestured me towards the exit of the airport.

Dallas moved to New Jersey when he was my age and starting off college. Three years later and now he's twenty-one and is just about to graduate. I decided I wanted to spend my last summer with him in New Jersey to try to pick myself back together, but if was being honest I didn't think I'll be able to do it by the end of summer. I was supposed to start college at USF, back in Florida, in the fall, but I didn't think I'll be mentally stable by then.

I pulled the sleeved of my black sweater over my hands before following Dallas to his car. I didn't care that it was early June and hot out, I wanted to hide in my oversized, soft, black sweater.

. . .

Placing the last piece of clothing I had in the drawer of Dallas' guest bedroom I shoved the drawer clothes. I raked my hands into the hair at the top of my head as I looked down at my feet and allowed the negative thoughts to consume me. I dropped onto the bed, face down, as I tried my best not to cry. I gripped tightly onto the pillow under my face and let out a small muffled scream.

"Hey, Sydney?" Dallas gently opened the door.

I quickly pulled myself up and tried to act natural.

"Yeah?" I barley let out.

"I know it's your first night here, but is it okay if I call some guys over? We have a really big calculous exam tomorrow that we need to study for and we like to do this study group thing"

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on leaving the room anyways" I shrugged.

"Don't lock yourself up in here. Feel free to come out whenever you want to. You can even roam around town if you want, Long Valley is really safe."

"That's okay, Dallas, I'm okay in here."

. . .

The house was quiet other than the soft mumbles of Dallas and his friends quizzing each other or something. If I'm being honest, I didn't actually know if they were quizzing each other, or gave up studying, or what. I was just assuming.

Memories of Audrey flooded my brain as I laid on the bed. My eyes began to water.

I couldn't believe she was gone. She's been gone for two months and I still can't seem to grasp the fact. She almost made it to high school graduation too, she almost made it too our last summer, she almost made it to college. But she didn't. She had her entire life ahead of her because I drove back to my house from the school that April night, after an art event at the school when Parker had dumped me over the fact he was bored of me. If I wasn't so stubborn and let her drive, knowing I wasn't capable of driving home safely, she would still be here today.

My throat began to become really dry as I thought about her. I sat up, being sure to wipe my eyes with the sleeved of my sweater. I forced myself to get up.

Gently turning the door knob, I quietly left the room. Trying to be as discrete as humanly possible, I walked passed everyone sitting in the living room as I made my way to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. I cursed at myself when I accidently dropped the bottle.

"A little clumsy there?" a deep voice asked with a small chuckle at the end as a tall guy with dark brown hair walked into the kitchen and grabbed the water bottle for me.

"Yeah, I guess so..." I replied softly, playing with the sleeves of my sweater again.

"I'm Grayson" He smiled as he handed me the water.

"Sydney." I replied quietly before turning around to leave.

"Hey, wait up, so you're from Florida right?"

"Mhm" I hummed.

"That's so fricking cool. It's like your life is a never ending vacation"

"I guess" I shrugged.

"You're pretty quiet, huh? My twin brother, Ethan, can't relate" He laughed lightly at his own joke.

"Yeah, uhm, that's funny. I'm going to go back to the room, though, if you don't mind... I'm kind of not feeling well." I lied to get out of being social with the Grayson guy.

"Oh, yeah, of course, I don't mind at all. Go ahead" He smiled gently. "Get well soon!" he called out before heading to the fridge to grab whatever he was in the kitchen in the first place for.