I park in my parents driveway and sigh. My phone buzzes and I see a text from Grayson.
brudda🤪: hey, happy thanksgiving bro. miss you even though you've been an ass lately. super thankful for you; tell mom and dad I love and miss them.
I lock my phone and roll my eyes. I get out of the car and knock on the door. My dad opens the door and his smile slowly turns into a frown.
"Where's Alyssa? And Grayson?" He asks as I walk through the door.
"Alyssa and Grayson went to Texas to go see her family. I stayed behind. We're giving each other some space. We're still dating but we need time a-"
"I get it, don't worry son." We go sit on the couch and I sigh.
My dad put on a Christmas movie and my mom sits down.
"Ethan, I want to show you something. Come with me." She gets up and gives me her hand.
We go upstairs and I sit on the bed. She pulls out a book and hands it to me.
"Go ahead, look through it." I open it and I start to look through the photos.
"Who are all these people?" I ask.
"Everyone in here are people whom your father and I dated. If you look at each page, there's a date. If you keep looking, you'll notice that there are different years with photos of your father and I."
I close the book and sigh.
"Mom, what are you trying to say?" I groan.
"As many times as your father and I broke up, we always found our way back to each other. We met new people but we missed each other way too much to be apart. I know that there's more to the story than you want to explain. You don't need to tell me now, but I'm here when you're ready." She pats my shoulder and smiles. She walks off and I stop her.
"Let me explain. You should know." She nods and sits down.
I start to explain everything and her jaw drops.
"Ethan, are you being serious? You grabbed her wrist and bruised it? That's not who-"
"Mom. Please. Let me finish." She nods and I continue.
"I tried to apologize and the words wouldn't come out of my mouth. I was pissed and heartbroken with no one to help me calm down. Grayson was helping her and he's been doing a good job. He's giving her what I should've been giving her." I sigh and my mom rubs my shoulder.
"You know, this is only a minute in time. This is going to go away real quick. I promise you th-"
I feel my phone buzz and look at the notification.
[ethandolan]: alyssaparker posted a photo
I open Instagram and my eyes widen.
Instagram~
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@alyssaparker: happy thanksgiving my lovelies 🦃♥️ pc📸: @peytonsmith
@peytonsmith: ahh what cuties!!
@graysondolan: wOaH wHo'S tHaT gUy😱
@alyssaparker:@graysondolan idk but he was pretty dreamy🥰
@dolansarebabes: wow what just happened. i'm not mad about it but i'm confused?
@aparkerisahoe: damn, grayson better not be sucking her toes
"Excuse me, mom." She nods and I get up and go to my room. I get in my room and lock the door.
I sit on my bed and throw my phone across the room. I start bursting into tears because I can't breathe.
I go to the other side of the room and pick up my phone.
Surprisingly, it's not cracked and I call her.
"Hello? How are you, Ethan?" Alyssa asks with that sweet, genuine voice she's always had.
"I'm fine. How's your thanksgiving?" I say, swallowing the lump in my throat.
"It's been really good. I'm tired though, probably going to head to bed in an hour or two. How about you?" She says with a little cringe in her voice.
"It's been alright. Listen, I gotta go. My mom just called me downstairs to eat. Tell Grayson I say hi."
"I definitely will. Tell Lisa and Sean that I love and miss them, please?" She asks and I sigh, remembering that my parents gave her the right to call them by their names.
"Of course. Goodnight Alyssa."
"Goodnight Ethan." She hangs up the phone and I sit down again.
All of a sudden, I feel this anger and decide to text Grayson back.
me: screw you. thanks for taking my girl.
I lock my phone, leave it on the bed, and head down for dinner.
I sit down at the table and smile.
"Shall we?" My mom says and she smiles.
I smile back and look down.
*flashback*
thanksgiving 2015
Alyssa and I are laughing our asses off while Grayson has this mouth guard in his mouth from this game we have.
"Take the damn thing out of your mouth already, Grayson. It's enough already!" My mom says and she laughs. He takes it out and he laughs.
He glances at Alyssa and smiles at her laughing.
"Okay, okay. That is enough from that game." Alyssa says and I laugh.
I give her a kiss on the cheek and she giggles. I pull away and notice Grayson frowning.
I shake it off and Peyton claps her hands together.
"How about watching a Christmas movie while decorating the tree?" She smiles and Alyssa stands up.
"YES!" They high five each other and Grayson and I laugh.
*flashback over*
How did I never notice before...
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okay so this was just a filler, but I have a lot more coming. promiseeeee!
