a long way from home ; g.d.

t w e n t y - o n e

The next morning I woke up with my face pressed against Grayson's chest, feeling his breath on the top of my head. He was still asleep, and I couldn't help but admire him. The sunlight hit his face perfectly, and he looked so peaceful. I looked around the room for Emma, Ethan, and James, since we were in their apartment after all.

I let my gaze turn back to Grayson, who opened his eyes shortly after. He smiled as soon as he saw me, then closed his eyes and again and raised his hand to the side of my face, running it through my hair. "Good morning, baby."

I buried my face in the pillow and giggled quietly. "Good morning."

I felt my eyes begin to drift shut again, until I heard the loud, piercing ringtone on my phone ruin the peaceful silence in the room. My eyes shot open, and I jumped out of bed, wrapping the bed sheet around my body. I startled Grayson by moving so suddenly, and he was automatically awake and sitting up in bed.

I picked up the phone from the nightstand on his side, and almost dropped it when I saw the number. It was my mother. I honestly didn't think that she would call me again.

He must've noticed how scared I was because he kept asking what was wrong and if I was okay.

I returned back to spot on the bed and with a shaky hand, I raised the top part of the phone. "H-Hello?"

"Okay, Chavelle. It's time to come home."

I gulped, and started to feel my heartbeat quicken. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a worried look growing on Grayson's face. He moved closer to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Mom, I'm not coming home," I said sternly, even though my voice was weak.

"Yes, you are. I've let you have your fun a few weeks but it's time to come home."

I sniffed, and wiped a tear from my eye. It sucked that even something as small as hearing her voice is enough to make me cry. "Mom, stop. I'm not coming home, I'm happy here."

"Okay that's enough, you better b-""

I shut the phone. I threw it to the foot of the bed and put my hands on my knees, running them through my hair. My breathing began to quicken.

Grayson heard everything, and immediately started rubbing my back and staring at me, but I refused to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry, baby," he said quietly.

I rubbed my eyes a few times and sighed. "It's fine, it's fine. Probably won't be the last time she calls, I'll just deal with her later."

I stepped out of bed and walked over to Grayson's side, picking up the closest shirt I could find laying on the floor and found my joggers, slipping them on as well. The shirt I put on was Grayson's, and I could tell because of the cologne.

"Let's go back to my place, I think I just need to draw for awhile."

He gasped lightly. "So I get to see the artist at work?"

I laughed, and started to feel a little better, although my mother's voice was still orbiting around my head. I've been doing so many new things here, maybe my next thing should be to stop letting that woman get in my head.

"I guess so," I said. He stood up out of bed and threw on his sweatpants, then followed me out the door. "Oh, and um, Ethan, Emma, and James walked in last night after um ... and I told them to go to your apartment for the night. That cool?"

"Yeah that's fine. You think they'll still be there?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know, probably."

We rode the elevator to my floor and I unlocked the door, then shut it behind us. The 3 of them were sitting all around the room, on their phones.

"Ooooo, hey guys," James said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Have fun last night?" Ethan said as he walked up to Grayson and hit him with his elbow.

Emma had her airpods in and was laying across my bed.
I ignored both of them and reached into my backpack and grabbed my sketchbook, a pencil, and an eraser and headed out to the balcony.