Player (Grayson Dolan)

21 - Beaches and Bonfires

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Emily
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As Malia helped me pack my bag for the beach, I felt an instant rush of nerves come over me, making me realize that this is really it, I'm seeing Grayson today.

"How you feeling Babe?" Malia asked as I closed my bag, slinging it over my shoulders.

"I'm nervous, but excited. And I can't wait to see Grayson, but I also just want to curl into a ball and hide." I sighed and fell back on the couch inside my dorm, growing even more anxious as time went by.

"Hey, don't worry, it's gonna be good, we'll meet new people, hang out, just chill laid back." I watched her tie her thick curly hair up and pick her bag off the ground, and walking to the door. "Come on, it's gonna be fun." She opened the door and I groaned following her out to her car, and throwing my bag in the backseat.

"Ugh. It's such a gorgeous day out." I looked up at the sky and admired the summer weather, and how the hot sun beat down on my skin.

"Emily get in the car or I'm leaving without you." Malia jokes and I smirked, getting into the passenger's side of the car and making our way to the beach.

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As the car came to a stop, my heart started to beat faster, getting out and grabbing my bag from the back seat and walking to where the sand began, barely able to see our friends by the water.

"You ready?" Malia asked as she stopped next to me, locking the doors to her black Lexus.

"As ready as I can get." We started walking to the group of people and I felt instantly more nervous, if even possible.

"Hey, Babe." Gavin said as he walked up to Malia and kissed her lips. "Emily! Hey!" He gave me a tight hug and walking me over to everyone else, Grayson standing awkwardly behind everyone. "Okay guys this is my girlfriend Malia, and one of my best friends, Emily."

Malia and I went around making small talk with everyone, Grayson staying close by Gavin and a taller guy, dark curly hair, freckles and an infectious smile. Noah.

I turned around facing some of the girls as we all got to know each other, laughing and joking around, talking about random things.

"Hey." I turned around to see Grayson awkwardly standing there, his hands in his pockets and his hair falling loosely over his forehead.

"Hi, Grayson." I smiled at him, unsure of what to feel or think, but the pit in my stomach giving me an extra boost of anxiety.

"Can we walk?" He nodded his head in the direction of where he wanted to go, which I agreed to.

The two of us silently walked until we were far enough from the group to feel comfortable enough to start talking. "It's funny, I thought of a million ways this could go, but none of them included me having no idea what to say."

I smiled at him, feeling the exact same way. What do I say to him?

My feet stopped and after he took a few steps, he noticed I wasn't next to him, so he too stopped, and turned to me. "These last seven months have been extremely hard without my best friends." I said, that being the only thing I could think of saying.