Again | g.d

Part Six

I searched my brain for something to say, but as seconds passed and I found myself speechless, I knew there was only thing to do.

I sighed, opening my mouth to admit the truth.

"Aves, I need to tell you someth -"

"She doesn't." Ethan piped up.

I looked at him in surprise. While I was grateful for the support, I knew digging a deeper hole would only make this whole thing worse in the end.

However, this is what me and E's friendship is all about. If we're going down, at least we're gonna go down together.

This time Cameron spoke up. "Yeah, um, she actually got here a couple of minutes ago," she hesitated. "I was just... showing her around."

Oh, and it looks like Cameron wants to go down, with us!

"Because she has never ever been here before." Ethan stated slowly.

I held my breath as I looked back at Avery, who was giving me a weird look.

I think everyone in this room knew Ethan, Cameron, and I were some of the worst liars in the world. I just hoped Avery wouldn't pick up on it.

After a moment she nodded her head, a smile forming on her face. "That makes a lot more sense," she laughed lightly, throwing her hand over her heart - like she was relieved. "I seriously don't know what I was thinking."

She looked at Grayson, wrapping her hand around his forearm. "You guys almost had some explaining to do." She chuckled, motioning in between us two.

Little did she know she was thinking the right thing. And I felt so guilty that I was too scared to tell her that.

I gulped as Lisa stepped forward. "How about we head to the dining room? Dinner's ready!" She said quickly, switching the subject.

"That sounds amazing, mom! Yes, let's all go do that!" Ethan shouted, clearly still nervous. "Right now!"

"We second that!" Cameron exclaimed, grabbing my arm and pulling me down the stairs and into the dining room behind Lisa and Ethan.

That was too close.

•••

I think everyone at the table could feel the tension in the air - except for Avery, who was still talking.

I had been picking at my food for minutes now, forcing myself to tune her out. Listening to her talk about how her and Gray fell in love was like torture. Each sentence a separate stab to the chest - and every word only cut me deeper and deeper.

I tried not to show how hurt I was. So far I was succeeding simply by keeping my head down and keeping my eyes on my plate.

And just when I thought I would be okay, just when I figured that I could make it through dinner without breaking down, Avery said something that proved me wrong.

"I have to tell you all how he proposed!"

For the first time, tonight, I looked up from my plate as my entire body tensed up.

"Actually," Avery leaned her head on Grayson's shoulder, filling me with jealousy. I bit down on the inside of my cheek. "Why don't you tell them how you did it, baby?" She said sweetly.

"Yeah. Uh, sure."

Grayson's eyes flickered to mine for a split second - telling me that I wasn't going to like what he was about to say.