Friends Don't

Chapter Eighteen

It was around noon when I finally got out of bed, not by my own will. Grayson had forced me out of bed saying he was tired of me sleeping all day. I don't know why I was so tired but I was.

I let Grayson drag me out of the dorm to go have lunch. As we sat there I noticed a girl a few tables behind us that looked familiar. Then it hit me, she was the girl, leaned back against the wall, talking to Grayson not long ago that he ditched to have lunch with me. That must have been why she was shooting daggers through me the whole time I tried to enjoy my food.

I mentally laughed thinking she, probably, thought him and I were dating.

After lunch we parted ways. I shoved my hands further into my coat pockets as I took a corner and let it lead me into town. I walked past the stores peering in, thinking about what gifts I would get Lana and my brother, Aaron, for Christmas.

My brother was a few years older than me but I didn't see him much. After he graduated high school our parents were adamant on him coming to work in the family business but he took the first flight out to the west coast.

When I stood in the airport saying goodbye to him before he walked through security I studied his carry-on for a good five minutes to see if I would fit. It was stupid though, I had already studied his suitcase and determined I couldn't, what made me think I could fit into his small carry-on?

After an hour I headed back to the dorm tired of the cold, stopping first to grab a hot chocolate. Back inside I jumped in the shower to warm myself up and then put on an oversized sweater; one long enough to hit mid thigh.

I was home alone and bored, crazy enough. So, I went to Lana's side of the room to her scattered books. She had been working on some paper for class and I looked over it, lightly marking with a pencil the answers she had wrong so she could fix them.

Then I grabbed a blanket and cuddled up on the couch to watch a scary movie so I could shit talk the people about their bad decisions. After the second movie was nearing the end, my phone rang interrupting me mid sentence as I was yelling at this person for being stupid for running into a dark room instead of out the front door.

"Hey, Aar-Bear!"

"El-Bell," he exclaimed, and I smiled at hearing his voice.

It has been three years since I've seen him, and we don't talk much but when we do it makes me so happy just to hear his voice. "How have you been?"

"I've been good," he said. "How about you?"

"Good. Just trying to make it through this school year."

He scoffed. "You're way too smart to be trying to make it." He was about to speak again but the front door swung open and Grayson yelled, "honey, I'm home!" To which Aaron said, "who the hell is that?"

Grayson noticed me on the phone and mouthed 'sorry' while I listened to Aaron.

"No, he's not my boyfriend," I told him while rolling my eyes even though he couldn't see, but you could sense in my tone I was rolling my eyes.

My words grabbed Grayson's attention as he sat beside me on the couch.

"He's just staying with me for a few days, Aaron, there's nothing to worry about." When I said Aaron Grayson turned to me again but I ignored him. "Yes, I know all about that. I'll talk to you later." I paused before saying, "I love you, too." Then I hung up.

"Who's Aaron?" Grayson asked me.

"My brother."

"Oh."

"Yeah." I set my phone on the arm of the chair and pulled the blanket tighter around me. "He also wanted to remind us to use protection and if you get me knocked up he's kicking your ass." I started laughing but Grayson held a straight face. "What?" I asked him.