Heated // Grayson Dolan

F O U R T E E N

"Grayson?" I knocked gently on his door before stepping in.

He was skyping someone on his laptop before looking over at me. A loud cough escaped his mouth before he told the person he had to go and shut his laptop.

"Hey, Syd..." He smiled slightly.

"Hey..." I spoke quietly. I couldn't help but sniffle as thoughts of what happened earlier flooded my head. What had happened scared me.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong..." He slowly walked over to me before pulling me into a tight hug.

Burying my face into his sweatshirt I mumbled, "I fainted earlier today and I'm scared."

"Hold on what did you say?" His eyebrows furrowed as he pulled away.

"I passed out." I mumbled again.

"Are you alright? Do you have any headaches or lightheadedness? You didn't hit your head right?"

"I'm alright, I guess. No headaches or anything, and I don't think I hit my head."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I woke up hungry, but I needed to take a shower so I did that before eating breakfast, and then I blacked out in the shower."

"Syd, baby, you need to eat"

"I had breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday, though, I had pasta at ten pm, I remember it clearly. I should've been able to make it twenty minutes to grab breakfast..."

"Do you usually eat dinner at ten?"

"Well no, I eat usually around seven but what does that have to do with anything?"

"You're sugar was probably low... eating later than usual causes low blood sugar. It causes dizziness, confusion, hunger, weakness, and can cause blacking out."

"I had all of those... Since when were you a doctor?"

He laughed lightly. "I'm not, one of my friends is majoring in medicine and was telling me about it the other day." He shrugged his shoulders. "Just avoid eating so late, next time. I don't want anything happening to you, Syd."

"I know. Thank you, Gray..." I smiled before kissing him slowly.

Grayson looked down at me as he tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. He held my jaw while rubbing the pad of his thumb over my cheek in circles, softly. He turned his face to the side to clear his throat before facing me again and letting out a small sigh.

"Syd." He whispered, his voice was delicate. "There's something I should tell you about."

He sat down on his bed. I stood between his legs, his arms wrapped loosely around my waist. His eyes gazed deeply into my own.

"What is it?" I asked as I tried to read signs off his face. All I could gather was that it was, quite obviously, something that was upsetting him.

"My dad has stage four cancer." He looked down at his lap. "He's too sick to leave the hospital, which means he can't go to my graduation on Thursday, which sucks ass cause I really wanted him to see E and I graduate from college... Like I know he's going to be alive and that it could be worse, but he won't be able to physically be there to see E and me in our cap and gowns..."

"I can record the ceremony for you, and you can always go visit him straight afterwards with your cap and gowns still on. I could go with you if you'd like, but if you want alone time with him I get that, I don't have to go."

"That's not the same, Syd, I want him to physically be there." His eyes started to water up as he looked up at me. "This isn't fair." His voice cracked. "He doesn't deserve this. He's the strongest person I know, but at this point I don't think he's going to be able to beat cancer's ass. I can't see him go, Syd. It scares me."

"I know. But you have to take advantage of the time you have left with him," I spoke softly. "Take it from a girl who's lost the person closest to her. Take advantage of time. I spent every single day with Aubrey, yet I still wish I got to spend more time with her and cherished what I still had a little longer."

"It's hard seeing him so sick though..."

"I know, but you're going to regret not visiting him if you don't. You can't change the fact he has cancer, you can't change the fact he can't physically be at your graduation, but you can make sure you make the best of what you have left."

"You're right" He let out a breath. "E and I do need to visit him on our own, though." He spoke as he pulled me over by the west so we were chest to chest as he sat on the bed and I stood between his legs.

"I get that"

Grayson moved one of his hands from my waist to my cheek as he kissed me softly.

"What did I do to deserve you?" He whispered against my lips.

"Everything."

I kissed him again. He broke the kiss for a moment, wrapping an arm around my waist, picking me up and laying me down gently on the bed before reconnecting the kiss, holding himself above me with his elbows.

"I love you, Syd" He whispered.

"I love you, too." I smiled.

"I don't know what I'd do without you..."

"Oh, just shut up and fucking kiss me again, Gray."

I gripped the back of his neck as I kissed him again, this time the kiss was filled with love and passion. There was twice as much electricity rushing through my veins than usual. Grayson chuckled through the kiss, probably shocked that I'd say that. I'd be shocked too, but I loved everything about that boy to an extent I had never experienced before. He brought out every single hidden parts of my personality, even the parts so hidden that I didn't even know they existed. And it only made me fall for him harder.