Heated // Grayson Dolan

FIVE

"You can't keep pushing everyone and everything away." Dallas stated as he walked into the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes, slamming the fridge shut, holding an apple in my other hand.

"Stop rolling your damn eyes, Sydney" Dallas groaned. "You know how much it sucks to see you like this? To see you so depressed, shutting yourself out? You're my little cousin, I've known you since you came out of the damn womb. I've never seen you go even an hour without smiling now I can't even remember when the last time you smiled was. I know you feel guilty and like it's all your fault, but you need to come back to your life. If you can't do it for yourself do it for the people who fucking care about you. Me, your parents, all your friend"

"It's not that easy..."

"I know it's not, but a few days ago, when you were at least trying... That was enough for me. That was enough to make me happy. You just need to try"

"But I don't deserve it, Dallas!"

"Stop saying that! Damn it! Stop saying you don't deserve to be happy because you deserve it more than anybody I've ever met! And, shit, I deserve to see you happy again." He shouted, his voice was strained.

"Dal," I breathed out, "Yesterday morning, when I woke up screaming, I woke up from a dream where I was back at the crash and Audrey told me she couldn't forgive me for what happened and that she wanted me to stay a mess"

"That's not real though. She wouldn't ever want that for you, and we both know she'd forgive you, Sydney"

"But it felt real..."

"It wasn't though. Your mind is in such a dark place right now, you have to remember it's going to try to tell you the worst things possible and the only thing you can do is fight it."

"Okay..."

"Grayson was worried about you yesterday... You should go talk to him, tell him what happened. He only wants to help"

"Why though? I don't get that. He barley knows me."

"He can see the real you."

"Ugh can the two of you stop saying that, this isn't some sappy movie where people see that people are not who they seem after a week. That doesn't just happen."

"Or maybe it does and you just haven't experienced it."

"No, that just doesn't happen"

"Okay whatever. I have my last exam today, I'm dropping you off at 'la casa del Dolan' on the way so you can talk to Gray and tell him about your dream because I think he can really help you out."

. . .

I rang the doorbell and rocked on my feet. I held my elbow as I waited.

A girl around Dallas and the twins' age opened the door.

"Bye, Dolan twats. Don't miss me too much" she shouted laughing lightly as she stepped out. "Oh hi, I'm Lydia." She smiled sweetly.

"Sydney."

"Oh hey, Syd. How are things?" Grayson stood at the doorway. It was the second time he'd called me 'Syd', nobody really ever gave me a nickname, I guess that had become his thing.

"Fine I suppose"

"I'm gonna get going, have a plane to catch. See you around when I get back!" Lydia smiled before rushing off to her car.

"That was Ethan friend, Lydia, she was just saying bye before she goes on a three month internship in Spain"

"Wow, Spain" I nodded my head. "Hey, uh, Grayson, I kinda wanted to talk to you about something.

"Is everything alright? You're okay right? You seem better"

"Yeah, yeah, it's about the entire thing yesterday."

"Okay, come in"

He directed me towards the living room couch.

"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm sorry that I pushed you away when you only wanted to talk. It's just that—"my throat began to become scratchy.

"Take your time,"

"It's just that I had a nightmare the night before. It was with Audrey when we crashed, and she told me that she wanted me to stay a mess and that she could never forgive me for what happened." I took a deep breath. "But Dallas helped me realize that she wouldn't ever say that, and that I needed to at least try to be happy again, not for myself, but for the people around me..."

Grayson nodded his head. "It's okay, it's alright to have little moments like that as long as at the end you continue to fight."

"I want to get be happy again, Grayson..." My voice went small as a tear fell down my cheek.

Grayson swiped away my warm tear with his thumb before pulling me into a tight hug. "I'm going to help you. Okay? I finished all my classes, and graduation isn't for another month. I'm going to take you on little adventures and shit every day and we're going to crack a smile onto that beautiful face of yours."

"Okay..."

"I'm going to take you to the waterfalls, creeks, four wheeling, all that good shit. Okay? I'm going to help you live your life again, I'm going to bring you back."

I pulled away from the hug. "Shouldn't we ease into it and not go full course adventures?"

"Well yeah, but we're gonna just dive right in with a small adventure and just increase the fun as we go."

"Okay"

"Alright."

"Bet."

"I can't wait to bring out the real you and finally get to meet her"

"I can't wait until she's back"