Carter.

43.

I wake up cold. The TV is still on but the bed is empty. The room is still dark so I know it's still night. I glance at Grayson's clock and see it's 11:34pm. Gray probably just went to pee or something. I roll across Gray's queen sized bed and grab his phone off his nightstand. I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep without him in here so I might as well do some social media stalking.

I pull up Instagram first and scroll through his feed. I see a picture from this weekend of all us on the snowmobiles, Sam posted it. Gray already liked and commented on it. There are a few more pictures the boys posted from the cabin. All sober of course not wanting to mess with their reputation. Snapchat gets all the drunk stuff from what I've heard.

I go to the search bar and look for Miciah. I don't know her last name but luckily Gray already follows her so her profile pulls up.

Her most recent picture is of me and her. It's a selfie we took in Ray's backseat. It's blurry and really dark but you can see our smiles. I really like her, maybe we could become real friends. I could definitely use a friend. She captioned it "Late night adventures with my favorite mystery girl!❄️🏔❤️" Grayson already liked it.

I would like a friend so I go ahead and message her. She won't know how to get in touch with me otherwise.

Hey Miciah! This is Carter. I don't have a phone or social media so I kinda just use Gray's lol. But I just wanted to say I had a lot of fun this weekend!!❤️❤️

I hit send before I can think twice about it. Grayson sure is taking forever to go to the bathroom. Maybe he's showering? I'm pretty thirsty though. I glance around the room and don't see any water. It's pretty late so his mom is probably asleep. Just in case she's not I slip on some shorts.

I open the door and notice the bathroom's door is open and the light is off. That's strange. I walk towards the top of the stairs and hear voices. It's definitely Grayson's voice. I creep down half the stairs since the way the stairs bend he won't be able to see me but I'll be able to hear better.

I sit on the step and listen for a second. I just want to know if he's on the phone or talking to his mom. It's not ease dropping, it's just investigating if I can walk downstairs or not.

"We don't have the best relationship though." Is he talking about us? It sounds like he's pacing, he always does that when he's stressed and trying to figure something out.

I hear a female voice but I'm not sure if it's his mom or someone on the phone. I can't hear her words nearly well enough.

"I guess a call..." He walks farther away and I have to strain to hear him.  "He'll be mad." Who?

"It's too late now." What is he talking about?

"There is the time difference."

"Okay I'll call dad now..." Call dad? My throat dries a little more than it was. Is he going to talk to him about me? He would never.

"I'll go talk to him outside." I hear footsteps and the back door opening and closing. I wait a minute and don't hear anything else so I decide to grab a glass of water.

I walk as quickly and quietly as I can down the remainder of the stairs. The back door to the backyard is through the living room so he won't be able to see me in here. I glance around and don't see his mom anywhere so I walk into the kitchen. It's pretty dark in here with the only light on being over the kitchen table. Luckily I know where everything is already so I quickly grab a glass and start to fill it with the fridge water.

"Oh I thought you were sleeping!" The voice surprises me and I splash water all over myself and the floor.

I turn around and realize it is in fact Grayson's mom. Fuckkkk me bro.

"Oh dear, here let me grab you a towel!" She's so cheery and I'm too stunned to talk at the moment. My brain quickly recovers.

"I'm so sorry, let me clean up the floor." I go to grab the towel from her.

"Oh no sweetheart, dry yourself off. Who cares about the floor. Just be careful not to slip!" She hands me the towel and throws a dish rage on the wet spot on the ground.

She has the same smile as Gray. Her eyes are a deep brown but so warm. Her hair is in a pixie cut and it definitely suits her dirty blonde hair. She's gorgeous and looks so kind. And here I am in a soaking wet shirt not wearing a bra underneath. I mentally face palm myself. I thought of shorts but not a bra. Great job Carter.

"I'm so sorry-" I say kneel down to clean the floor.

"You really don't need to! Here let me grab you a clean shirt, I have G's laundry done and folded in the laundry room." She rushes off and I'm left cleaning the floor like a mess. I quickly finish and stand back up covering my chest with the towel she grabbed for me.

"Here you go!" She rushes back in the room. "There is a half bath behind you." She smiles handing me black shirt.

"Thank you." I half smile and take the shirt, quickly heading towards the bathroom.

I switch out of the wet shirt, thankful for the dry one. I might as well get this over with. Deep breath Carter.

I walk back into the kitchen with the wet shirt and towels.

"Here. I'll go put this in the laundry." She takes the wet clothes from me.

"Thank you so much."

"Take a seat dear, I put a full glass of water on the table." And she walks away. Fuck I was going to try to run upstairs. I sigh and sit at the table. Drinking half the glass. I'm too fucking nosey, if only I had just stayed in bed...

Grayson's mom, Sally, joins me at the table once she returns.

"It's so good to finally meet you in person dear! Facetime doesn't do you justice!" She's so kind.

"Thank you! I'm sorry we had to meet like this..." I trail off.

"No biggie!" She waves her hand in front of her. "My schedule is crazy so it's my fault this is the first time we've been able to properly meet."

I shake my head, "I'm sorry. I should had made more of an effort to meet you in person sooner."

"Enough of that! I hope we didn't wake you?" She shrug off my earlier comment and takes a sip of what looks like tea.

"Oh not at all. I woke up needing a drink." Well and the bed was cold...

"Oh good. G's just outside on the phone with his father." She motions towards the backyard.

"This late? Is everything alright with his dad?" I may be prying a little...

"Oh yes of course, and they're a few hours behind us so it's not too late there."

I nod. "It's pretty late." I glance at the clock, "I don't want to keep you awake if you were heading to bed."

"Oh no not at all. I'm a night owl with my crazy schedule." Great... wasn't like I was trying to end this conversation or anything. "Plus I want to wait to see how G's phone call goes. But please don't let me keep you awake, if you need please go back to bed." She looks so sincere.

"Thank you, I am quite tired." I stand up with the water. "It was great meeting you in person."

"You too dear! Sleep well!" She smiles so bright. I smile back and head back upstairs.

Could this night get any worse?