Friends Don't

Chapter Twenty-six

The last day for me to stay with Lana and her family had come and gone. I had such a good time with them I didn't really want to leave, but I knew I had to. They would be leaving for their ski trip in the morning and I promised Grayson I would spend time with him and his family.

It was nearing noon when I slid into the driver's seat of Lana's car waving goodbye to her and her parents. Mrs. Young was tearing up which made me want to cry. Not even my own mother cried when I left for college. Actually, she wasn't even there when I left.

I hit the road dreading the six hours I had ahead of me. My back was still hurting just a little bit, thankfully not as bad as it did when I woke up that morning after hurting it. I never thought the pain would last this long. I was more out of shape than I thought, or maybe it was the fact that I let Mr. Young talk me into another game of Just Dance two days later and hurt myself again realizing that I never need to play that game again in my life.

Traffic was horrible. I guess everyone waited to leave for vacation until I was out on the road. When I finally got back to campus, an hour later than I should have, I jumped out of the car and ran into the student lounge to pee. I held it for two hours not daring to get off the freeway in fear it would take too long to get back on it with the backed-up traffic.

When I got back in the car, I checked my phone and saw a text from Grayson asking if everything was okay. I should have been at his parents' house by now, and I let him know I was fine and on my way.

When I pulled up to his parents' house, I sat in my car in the large driveway looking up at the house. It was big, not as big as my parents', but then again not many were. My parents liked to outdo everyone. It was still big though.

I called Lana to tell her I was freaking out. I don't know why I was, but there was a lot of cars parked in the driveway, letting me know it was more than just his parents behind that door. After listening to Lana tell me to quit being stupid and get out of the car and go inside, I hung up.

Opening my car door, I stuck one foot out taking a deep breath and then stepping out completely. I grabbed my bag from the backseat and started my way up the drive to the front door.

My fist hovered in the air for a few seconds before I knocked, then stood there waiting. It didn't take long for the door to open and Grayson stood there looking down at me with a smile.

"Took you long enough. I thought you weren't going to get out of the car."

"You saw me?"

"Everyone did," he said and I looked passed him at all the people standing and sitting around. "Don't be nervous," he said. Nervous? Could he tell? I thought I was hiding it pretty well.

"There's a lot of people here," I whispered.

I still didn't know why I was so nervous. I've spent my whole life surrounded by a large amount of people, but they were usually my parent's business friends so I didn't have to socialize with them too much, but this was different. I was going to be spending days with these people and I was going to have to socialize.

Grayson grabbed my bag from me just as I heard his mother's voice. "Ellie! You made it!" She had a wide grin as she made her way over to me and pulled me into her embrace.

"Hi, Mrs. Pierce."

"Oh, please. We've known each other long enough, now. Call me, Rhonda," she said when she pulled away from me. "I know there's a few people here, but they came from out of town so they're staying with us." She took a step and waved for me to follow. "Come meet everyone."

I looked to my side at Grayson who just gave me a warm smile.

I followed Mrs. Pierce into the room and let the introductions begin. First was his grandparents from his dad's side; Georgia and Walter. Then came his aunt and uncle from his mom's side; Frank and Sylvia, along with their three kids; Heather who was a freshman in high school, and their twin boys, Max and Lucas who were in fifth grade. They were identical twins, and honestly, I wasn't sure how you were supposed to tell them apart. They said Max had a small speck of brown in his green eye, but you couldn't see that from a distance, and I didn't think it was appropriate to get up in each of their faces every time just to see who was who. Aside from that Max was into sports and a flirt, while Lucas was quieter and into books.