Heated // Grayson Dolan

THREE

"Dude you suck ass at this." Ethan chuckled as Grayson attempted to play fortnite.

They were hanging with Dallas again, they were taking turns playing fortnite. I've noticed Ethan seemed passionate about that game, he shouted curse words of either frustration or victory every two seconds while playing. Dallas seemed amused by the game, shouting every now and then with Ethan. Apparently Grayson wasn't too good at it.

I would lock myself up in the room and isolate myself from any potential social interactions, however I did end up just excluding myself from any conversation and remained silent the entire time. After the day before's talk with Grayson I decided I would at least try to not mope around anymore. It definitely wouldn't be easy and it definitely wouldn't be able to be done in a single day, but I was trying my best.

I wasn't doing it for Grayson, I wasn't even doing it for myself. I was doing it for Audrey. She'd want me to continue living my life, Grayson helped me realize that. I dedicated every ounce of motivation to what Audrey would've wanted.

"Well I'm sorry I don't spend every second of every day playing this damn game and actually go outside." Grayson rolled his eyes before he died. "Fuck." He groaned.

"Give me that shit" Ethan demanded as he held his hand out for the controller that Grayson handed him.

"Hey, Sydney, you sure you don't wanna go do something else? We could do something else." Dallas offered.

Ethan started a new round, he was a hundred and ten percent focused.

"I'm fine," I answered honestly.

"Are you sure? I could take you out into town, I don't even like this game." Grayson offered, his tone of voice was gentle.

"That's okay, really, I'm fine" I shrugged.

"Really? It'd help you ease back into your life again" Grayson tilted his head to the side.

"Okay fine" I nodded. "But because Audrey would want me to."

. . .

I sat silently in Grayson's black jeep as he drove out of Dallas' neighborhood.

"So, where do you want to go? Any ideas?" Grayson glanced over at me before glancing back onto the road.

"Nope. Take me wherever."

"Okay, I'd love to take you to like the creeks or to the cliffs or something like that, do some sort of adventure, but I think it'd be too early for that. You need to ease into living again, you know? So maybe like a café, or a park, or maybe a shopping center?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"A park sounds good. Too much social interactions at cafés and malls." I replied, staring blankly out the window, watching all the trees as we passed them.

"Alright."

. . .

We sat silently at a bench in a small park with a small pond and a bunch of trees that Grayson took me to. It wasn't awkward silence, though, it was more of a peaceful silence that allowed our minds to relax.

The wind rustled the tall trees and the leaves crunched as a few people walked around the paths of the park. I dozed off as I wondered whether Audrey was proud that I was trying to have a life again, little by little, or if she'd be upset that it took me so long to begin, or whatever if she knew what was going on.

I snapped back into reality, immediately seeing a mamma duck and her chicks walking out of the pond.

"Oh my god, look at the duckies!" I gasped as I clapped my hand over my mouth and pointing the other hand to the ducks.

Grayson began laughing. Calming down he just shook his head with a smile resting on his face.

"Do you guys not have ducks in Florida?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course we have ducks in Florida"

"Why did you reacted to that like that then?" He laughed lightly.

"Because they were cute." I replied shyly.

"Oh my gosh"

"You should see me react to dogs."

"Funfact: I'm allergic to dogs"

"Well that sounds like torture."

He laughed lightly, tilting his head downwards as he shook his head. He bit his lip lightly before looking back up at me, forming a pure smile on his face.

"What?" I asked with a small voice.

"Nothing." He directed his attention away from me, the smile remained on his face.

a/n: Sorry this chapter is so short, I didn't know what else to include in it and it was a filler too soooo...