a long way from home ; g.d.

f i f t e e n

(A/n, totally irrelevant but today was my boyfriend and i's 11-month anniversary so im feelin' pretty sappy rn)

At about 4:30, I began getting ready for whatever Grayson had planned for tonight. I took a quick shower and shaved my legs, since Lord knows I hadn't done it in a while. Also, I mean, you never know.

Grayson didn't give me any idea on where we were going, so I had no idea how to dress. I spent a good 15 minutes searching through my shopping bags for some sort of casual dress. I eventually found a blue and white sun dress in one of my Forever 21 bags. (pic above.)

I combined it with some low top white converse, and added a pair of small pearl earrings. I played some music on my laptop as I did my hair and makeup. I straightened it and just put on highlighter since I wasn't in the mood to go full glam.

It was about 5:25 by the time I had emptied some stuff out of my backpack and added the basic things I needed, messed with my makeup a little mord, and picked up the clothes laying all over the floor.

A few minutes later, I heard a knock at my door. I slid my small, leather backpack straps onto my shoulders and opened the door. Grayson stood in the hallway, with a big smile on his face. "You look beautiful."

I smiled down at the ground and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. "Thank you, sir."

"You ready?"

"Ready."

The weather outside could not have been more perfect. It was sunny, and warm, and probably the nicest day (weather wise) we've had in a while. Once we were out of the building and on the streets, I began asking questions.

"So, where are going?"

"Can't tell you."

"How far is it?"

"Can't tell you."

"Is it fancy?"

"Can't tell you."

I sighed. "Well I don't like surprises so you should just tell me."

"Well you're gonna like this one, so no."

I didn't ask any more questions after that, and decided to just trust him. After walking for about fifteen minutes, he finally stopped and turned to face me. "Alright, do you trust me?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why? Is this the part where you kill me?"

He laughed. "No, you just have to close your eyes for this part."

I rolled my eyes and closed them, then put both hands over them. "This good?"

"Good enough," he said. He came up behind me and put both hands on my elbows. He lead me forward and inside of a building. I heard a sea of voices, and felt more and more nervous with each step. I heard him talking to someone, but I couldn't really make out what he was saying due to the voices around us. He then led me into an elevator, and as the doors shut, it got very quiet.

"Grayson seriously, are you gonna kill me?" I asked.
He laughed and put his forehead on my shoulder for a split second. "No, I promise I'm not. Just a little bit longer."

I heard the elevator ding, and the doors slide open. The voices got quieter and quieter until there were no voices at all. I sighed softly, sounding a little more annoyed then I meant to. He pushed me forward a little. "Just relax, Elle, we're almost there."

I few more elevator rides later, and I could tell we were at out destination. We took a few more steps forward and he removed his hands from my elbows. "Alright, you can look."

I recognized where we were immediately, Rockefeller Center  observation deck. I took an online tour of it a few years ago, and I remembered and recognized every detail.

Across the isolated room, were two beanbag chairs with a huge blanket underneath them. Bottles of soda and a tray of fruit sat in front of them, and beside both of the chairs were two Polaroid cameras.

"Oh my God, Grayson, this is adorable," I gushed. I took a few more steps into the room to get closer to the window and admire the view. The sun was just starting to set, and the clouds were all beautiful shades of orange and pink.

"I took what you said that one day into consideration. That list of things you wanted to do while you were in New York. So this is a combination of a few. Take pictures from a high place, visit Rockefeller Center, watch the sun set... so I called the owner of this building and asked if I could rent the room for a few hours."

"This really is amazing, thank you so much," I said, turning around and hugging him. He hugged me back briefly, then led me over to the chairs. We sat down and poured ourselves glasses of Pepsi.

"Kinda sucks that we aren't 21, huh? We could be getting fancy-drunk on some red wine right now," he said.

I laughed and took a sip of my drink. "Wine is gross anyway. I'm more of a champagne girl."

"Huh, we've got an under-aged drinker over here."

"I wasn't always young and boring."

He chuckled and set his drink down right next to the camera. He picked it up and turned it on, then started turning it in all different angles and examining it. "So how do you even work these things?"

I reached over and took it from him and flipped a couple of switches. "It's not that complicated, you just adjust it to the lighting, and..." I turned the camera in his direction and snapped a picture of him, catching him off guard. "Snap."
He covered his face with both hands. "Real funny."

I smiled and took the picture from the picture slot. I slid it into my backpack pocket to let it develop.

We spent the next few minutes talking, taking pictures, and staring at the sky. It was great how we never ran out of things to talk about. And even when we thought we had, we always came up with something.

After a few more minutes, this time in silence, of sipping on our drinks, he sat his down and sighed. "So, we've knocked out a couple of things on your list, but there was another one you mentioned," he said.

I sat mine down as well, and leaned forward in my bean bag. "I named a lot, so which are you referring to?"

He stood up and took me by the hand, leading me to the window. At this point, the sunset was at it's most vibrant point, and I couldn't help but admire it for a second before I looked forward to admire him.

He then reached down and took my other hand in his, facing me. He stared down at them for a second, then looked up to meet my eyes. The sun was lighting his entire face up. He looked like an oil painting that you'd pass in an art gallery, but always go back to look at. He was beautiful.

"This is probably gonna sound extremely weird, and it may be a little too fast or early, but you need to hear this. Chavelle, I've been crazy about you from the second I saw you in Forever 21. You've been on my mind every moment since then, and even now, when you're standing right in front of me, you're still all I can think about. You've changed my life. Even in the short span of just two weeks."

My whole body was weak. I stared into his eyes, letting every word he said just soak in.

He let out a deep sigh. "And I don't know exactly how you feel about me, but I hope you like me enough for this."

And before I could even begin to form words, he pressed his lips to mine. For a second, it was calm, and slow, and after a few seconds, he separated our faces by only about an inch, and stared into my eyes, looking for a reply. I answered by reaching up and wrapping my hand around the back of his neck and pulling him back down to me.

He put both of his hands on the side of my face as our lips moved together in perfect sync. I stood up on my tippy-toes to wrap both arms around his neck, as if he could somehow be any closer to me. My hand began to make it's way through his hair, and his traveled down and hooked around my waist. Once we pulled back for air, it felt like static was traveling through my whole body.

Our faces were still only inches apart, and as I took a second to take another look into his eyes before reconnecting our lips, I knew life would never be the same after this.