Later that night, I ate dinner with my mom as I weighed the pros and cons of dating Evan, not because I seriously wanted to date him, but because I was so intrigued that he'd ever want me. Even so, I couldn't think of anything good coming from the outcome of being with him. He's okay with cheating, and I knew he still wanted Sasha. So Evan wishing to date me must be a ploy, like in Grey's dream, that Evan is pulling to make Sasha, and dare I say it, Grey, jealous.
"Hazel?" I heard.
I wasn't listening to her the whole time. My head snapped up.
"Sorry," I signed.
"You all right?" she asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"You're not listening to what I'm saying."
"You want to have Jared come over and have us all spend some time together one of these nights," I signed, which was the only thing that filtered through my deaf ears.
"I guess you were listening," she said and laughed. "Yeah, I'm still thinking about it and him. I want to make sure he's a good guy before inviting him over to spend more time with us."
"Sure," I signed and had nothing else to say.
Once dinner was over, I went upstairs to finish the rest of my homework.
Stop thinking about Evan! I angrily scolded myself. My mind, though, had plans of its own and gave up on the pointless problems on the sheet.
I tried taking a break and scrolling through my Instagram feed when an unknown number interrupted a video I was watching. I opened the message, which read: hey... is this Hazel?
Me: who is this?
Unknown number: it's Grey.
Whoa. That's not who I was expecting.
Me: Oh. Hi...?
My heart couldn't help but flutter in excitement. There have been many times when I've wanted Grey's number to be housed in my phone so that I could have the ability to text him. It finally became a reality.
Grey: How are you?
I rolled my eyes at his painful small talk.
Me: Is there something you need?
Grey: I heard Evan asked you out. I don't think it'll be best for you to date him, in my personal opinion...
Me: Why's that?
Grey: Well, you saw what he did to Sasha and me. If he's okay with cheating, he'd most likely be okay doing the same thing to you.
I paused for a second, his words ringing as truthful. Reading that someone else thought the same thing as me validated my concerns.
Grey: Anyway, besides warning you about him, I have a question for you, Hazel, and I'd really like it if you answered honestly.
My heart sped up in my chest the minute my eyes soaked in those words. A question? About what?!
Me: Ok
Grey: Have any interesting dreams lately?
The questions sent a shiver down my spine. It couldn't be that Grey's talking about the dream we shared? He couldn't possibly remember that dream!
Me: Sure.
Grey: What about?
Me: None of your business.
Grey: Listen, I'm sorry we've been treating you like crap. Sasha can get a bit jealous at times, but she's a really sweet person, and I think we should all start over. We both feel pretty awful about the fact that we read that poem about your dad. I really didn't know, even if the context clues were pretty obvious.
If he wanted to start over, I would need a little more than just a few words of apology.
Me: If you're so sorry, you'll delete that Instagram post Sasha wrote lying about me and replace it with a post saying that she did it out of jealousy or anger or whatever the hell reason she did it for and admit that those texts were not genuine
He didn't respond to me for the rest of the night. I didn't know if I scared him off or if maybe it was Sasha who was texting me and not him, but it was what it was. I stopped checking my phone, achingly hoping for a response from him. It frustrated me that I felt something for him when I shouldn't have.
Wait no... I can't believe I have feelings for Grey. I didn't want to admit it to myself, but I was tired of being in denial. It was true; I felt some attachment to him. I was hoping that it mainly just had to do with the dream Grey, who was completely different than the actual Grey.
***
Sasha stopped me in the middle of the hallway at school the next day before homeroom, a fake smile on her face. "Can I speak with you real quick? I know the cat tends to have your tongue, so you'll just have to listen to me." Anger was already boiling over in my chest. I ignored her and pushed past.
"Oh, so you don't want me to clear your name!" she called after me. I stopped in my tracks and reluctantly looked over my shoulder towards her. Her phone was in her hand, and she waved it around smugly. Then, swallowing my pride, I walked back towards her.
"So, no, I'm not going to say that this was all due to jealously or anger, as my boyfriend suggested," she said, "but I will say that you apologized and that we're good friends. Deal? It's the least I could do for reading that humiliating poem out loud." She wasn't genuine at all. It disgusted me.
I knew her offer was too good to be true in the first place. So I walked away from her faster this time, even after she called after me again. I should've known Grey couldn't resist Sasha's damn charms and that he would've settled for that compromise for her.
For her.
I don't know why that made me jealous. Grey still loved Sasha. The dreams meant nothing to him. They were just dreams.
And it hurt a lot to know that.
YOU ARE READING
Little Sweet Dreamer
Teen Fiction"Oh," he said, as my back hit the wooden wall. Damn it, of course. With nowhere to go, his arms locked me in between him and the wall. He stared down at me as he said, "So you're trying to piss me off?" His lips were surprisingly close to mine. No g...
