Two Ways to Make Me Smile (Dolan Twins)

16. Grayson's Second Strategy

"Grayson..."

He glances at me worryingly, then nervously stares outside his window before making a sharp turn down an unfamiliar street.

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'm taking us to a dead end road, from there you're gonna have to hike back to the house. I'll give you the address to search up on Google Maps."

I raise a curious brow, surprised at his abrupt change in plans. "And then what?"

"And then-" he reaches to my side as we slow down in his Porsche, "-then you use this," a red tube drops out of his car's little compartment into my lap. "It's fake blood if you're wondering," he tells me.

"Lemme guess? Your backup prank plan?" I turn to him. He nods profusely, parking his car in a deserted area, yet still in view of a local residential street.

He places the car into park and takes the tube from my hands.

"My second plan is to get you to cover yourself in this, and then sneak into our backyard. Just make sure you lie down somewhere E can't see you, and I'll take care of the rest," Grayson winks.

I narrow my eyes at him. "Why do I feel like you're getting me tangled inside a spider's web?"

He clicks the unlock function of his car, allowing for me to exit.

"Just...j-just trust me will ya?" He makes an awkward smile. "Just do as I've said and the prank will run smoothly."

"Fine." I bluntly agree, somehow forcing myself to be his accessory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ethan's POV

What the fuck was Grayson doing out in downtown LA? He told me that he was going to stay home and do his household shit...

Something nags at me- not in a good way- that he has something up his sleeve. It's so suspicious to me why he'd even be roaming around LA like that on his own. Although, I swore that I saw something in his passenger seat. Maybe it was just too quick of a glance, and I just mistook some video prop for a mysterious object.

I decide it's best to just not let it bother me as I get back home, silently putting away my motorcycle in our car port. My helmet hits against the handle of the bike when I hang it there, but my thoughts distract me into not paying attention to it. I walk to our front door, casually unlocking it and then stepping inside my home, gently shutting the door behind me.

"Yo, Grayson?" I call out, only for a echo to return back to me.

I guess I made it home first?

It's not much of a victory in my eyes. Making it back to the house first doesn't really satisfy me, there's other things that I'd be able to do that can easily give me the feeling of sweet glory. I already know that feeling I guess, being the older twin between Gray and I. Plus I'm way smarter than he is, but then again, the older sibling should be more intelligent by default anyway.

My bedroom ends up being my destination, where Fortnite is my haven away from the outside world. So that's where I end up- alone in my bedroom- with the intention of getting a victory royale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to Alexis' POV

Wow...Grayson and Ethan have a lot of choices for hiking.

It's beautiful up here though. I can't even imagine how spectacular it would be to see the sun set here.

"Shut up and get your ass up the mountain," I grit through my teeth, panting furiously from the heat and sheer exhaustion.

A source of shade is finally spotted by my squinting eyes, a place where I can finally take a rest break and check my map to see how far I am from the Dolan Twins home. The blue dot, silently pinging on the screen, reveals that I'm not far, with only a few blocks left to hike. It's surprising how Google Maps can work all the way out here, but then again, the phone signal is already much better than most mountainous areas.

My trek continues onwards after a brief break, though my feet throb from the amount of steps that I've taken so far. In my hand, a red tube of artificial blood- presumably fresh and unused- waits for me apply it gruesomely. The only feeling of bleeding that I've ever had was an embarrassing experience back in seventh grade, when I accidentally slit my arm while trying to use gym equipment. Ever since, I haven't had much major injuries.

At last, finally, the long journey to the home of the Dolan Twins comes to a satisfying end. It's visible from my distance, and it gives me enough time to think about how to sneak into their backyard undetected by Ethan, if he's arrived at the house yet. Not wanting to take any chances, however, I start crouch in stealth as I approach the vintage home, attempting to stay out of the window views.

I notice the familiar Porsche in the driveway, meaning that Grayson's likely in the house and has his twin distracted. Although...there's the possibility that he's hiding himself from Ethan, meaning that I can't take a single chance and risk being caught. It's one thing to be exposed trying to prank Ethan Dolan, but it's also even worse if he tries to call the police on me, thinking that I'm a burglar trying to creep around their house.

Maybe I can scale the fence at the side of their backyard...

...but that seems too obvious.

"But does Ethan Dolan have a higher IQ than me?" I whisper to myself.

Probably not.

My decisions ends up being settled on a blind spot by the fence. By blind spot, I mean completely out of view from one of the windows of the house's back side. The only problem I face is the fifty-fifty chance that Ethan is standing there. However, a single buzz of my phone gives a solid confirmation that I have the green light to go right ahead into the backyard.

graysondolan: Ethan's working out by himself right now. Get into the backyard now or else he'll see you.

Let's go.