You're mine|Ethan Dolan

Part 24

(Maddison's p.o.v)

My heart sunk at the sight of Grayson like this. I panicked, not knowing what to do. Grayson looked up to see me standing there. He immediately got up off the floor and pulled me into a tight hug. I run my hand through the hair on the back of his head as he rested his chin on my shoulder.

"It hurts so bad." He says faintly "I don't know what to do." He sighed

"Gray, talk to me please." I say, unaware of why he was so upset. I pull away from the hug and pull him to sit next me on the benches inside the changing room.

"He's ill. He's so sick and he don't tell me and neither did mum. I don't know what I would do if he goes." He started to seem more angry that sad now, but tears still poured from his eyes.

"Who's sick?" I ask softly, not wanting to anger him. I wrapped my arm around him and his whole upper body went limp, hugging into the side of my body. His head was rested on my shoulder.

"d-dad" is all he managed to get out. My head sank at the thought of their dad being sick. Their dad was like a father to me growing up. When both our mums were working, he would be the one to take care of us. But as much as it makes me sad, I don't want to make this about me, Grayson is clearly distraught about this. "He didn't come home last night, and my mum called and said they were in the hospital" he stopped and sighed again, another tear rolling down his damp cheek "He has cancer Maddison".

A tear rolled down my cheek, and Gray continued to cry on my shoulder. Charlie walked back and forth in front of us, running his hand through his hair. "I can't lose him Maddison." He's voice was so weak.

"Grayson, look at me." But he didn't, he continued to cry. I know how bad his anxiety gets in moments like these, i knew I had to find a way to calm him. "Gray please look at me." I could hear him attempting to take deep breath in order to steady his breathing.

I swung my leg over him slowly, straddling his lap. Not in a sexual way, in a way to calm him. This something I would do when we were younger to calm him. I held onto each side of his face, wiping way his tears with the pads of my thumbs. "Your dad is a strong strong man, I'm sure what ever happens, he will be fine." I say.

Things started to make a lot more sense now. The fact Grayson was up so early, he said he 'had a reason' to be awake. The fact that he wanted to talk earlier, he didn't really want to talk about what happened the other night, he was trying to tell me. This was the reason Ethan was so late to lesson and it explains why he was crying after my exam, he knew the lyrics where about my dad, and he understood what I was singing about.

"Gray. Why are you in school?" I ask pulling him into a hug, his head resting on my chest.

"Because i want to act like it's not happening. And I want to be here for you because of what happened the other night." He mumbled into my chest. I traced circles on the back of his head before talking.

"Grayson. As much as I like that you care about me, you have got to stop worrying so much. You have got to be more concerned about your personal life." I pull away from the hug I was giving him and looked him in the eyes. "This is way more important than me right now. So I want you to find Ethan and go home, because you don't deserve to go through this all at school." I say calmly

"Why should I find Ethan. He's not even in school." He says quietly. I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head, giving him a confused look

"Yes he is, he came into class late and then walked out really early." I say. "And then I saw him crying outside class."

"Oh. Okay then." He says as I slowly remove myself from his lap. "I just didn't expect him to come in because all he did last night was drink and cr-"