Friends Don't

Chapter Thirty-One

A/N: I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been so patient with me even though I haven't updated in awhile. Like I said before, I just couldn't find the motivation to write even when I wanted to, and I'm sure ya'll have been just as annoyed as me about it, lol, so I'm sorry for that.

But anyway, the next chapter is here! It's a pretty short one, so don't hate me.

***

Christmas was, officially, over, and Grayson and I were, now, on the hunt for an apartment.

The first place we looked at came furnished which seemed like a great idea, but when we walked in it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, and there was only one bedroom, which made me look back at the listing because I was sure it said two bedrooms. Turns out it said "two beds" which was true. There was a bedroom with two beds in it.

While I thought two beds setting in a small bedroom was weird, Grayson didn't seem to have a problem with it. In fact, he thought it was great and wanted to grab the apartment right away, but I refused.

Then we walked into the second apartment and it was bigger than the first we looked at, and did have two bedrooms. It, also, came furnished but the furniture looked like it had been through a beating. Grayson said we could just sell it and buy new, but honestly, who would buy furniture that looked like it had been picked up by a tornado and destroyed?

"Okay, Ellie, this is the third place," Grayson told me as he pushed open the door. "Please just give it a chance."

"I would have given the others a chance but they weren't deserving of it," I told him as I walked inside.

I stood in front of the door and looked around the open area which consisted of the kitchen and living area. "No," I said shaking my head.

"Why?" he almost whined sounding defeated.

"There's no light." I waved my arm around showing him the lack of windows, but he didn't seem to find a problem with it.

"We can just buy more lighting. It's not that big of a deal," he said, and honestly, I think he really believed it wasn't, but it was.

"Of course, it's a big deal." I turned on my heel and looked up at him. "Natural light is the best light."

He sighed. "Ellie, is it really though?"

"Yes!" I placed my hands on my hips. "Besides, how can you see me in the new sweatshirt you got me if there's no light? I mean, honestly, there's no point in wearing it if there isn't good light to see it."

"That's, seriously, the worst excuse I've ever heard."

"But did it work?"

He wet his lips and sighed. "Fine."

I gave him a wide smile before skipping out of the apartment, hearing him following a little way behind and him shout, "I better see you wearing it all the time!"

The last place we looked at, from the moment I stepped foot inside, I knew it was the one, it just gave off this feeling of home. It had one bathroom that sat right in between the two bedrooms. The kitchen and living room were opened up, an island separating the two, and the number of windows lining the wall in the living room gave the perfect amount of light, that honestly, during the day, the lights didn't even need to be turned on. It looked new, from the furniture down to the paint on the walls.

"So, you like it?" Grayson asked me. I guess he could tell from the smile I wore as I eyed the place taking it all in.

"This is perfect," I told him, looking up at him just in time to see him smile, but that was probably from being excited that I, finally, agreed on a place and the search was over.

After talking to the landlord, who was a man that looked to be in his late fifties and one of the nicest people I'd ever met, we were told we could move in in the morning. Moving in right away would have been amazing, but honestly, I was fine with the morning because after looking at places all morning and afternoon I was tired and it felt too late to get much done anyway.

* * *

Later that night I was lying in bed back at Grayson's parents' house. I was thankful for them letting me stay this long and acting as though I wasn't a bother, though having someone you barely know staying with you for a few days might make you feel a bit uncomfortable, but they never acted like it.

I was more than ready to get out of their house and move into the apartment. I wanted to live in a place where I wasn't worried about what and what not to do.

Grayson was already lying beside me in a deep sleep, but I couldn't keep my eyes shut. All I could think about was what I was going to do about school and a job. I knew that I wouldn't be able to live in the apartment for very long if I didn't get a job, because I wasn't going to allow Grayson to pay for it on his own, even though I'm sure he would do it without batting an eye.

I, also, wanted to keep going to school, but I was going to have to pay for it myself since my mother refused to help pay for it, and it seemed as though my father would take her side on the matter. I hate how my father is like a little puppy to her. He works just as hard but yet my mother makes all the calls and he just follows along.

I knew it would be hard to pay for school and half the rent on the apartment, but so many people have done it before and I knew I could do it, too.

In the morning I was going to go job hunting with Lana coming along for support, while Grayson and Derek moved stuff into the apartment. It would only be some smaller boxes since the apartment came with the furniture, and I'm pretty sure they were both happy about that.

After job hunting Lana and I were going to grab my stuff from the dorm room. After having it all packed and then being talked out of flying across the country, I decided to leave it there and pick it up later. Lana still had the dorm so it wasn't that big of a deal to leave it, and I made sure to pile it on my bed to keep it out of her way, even though she hadn't spent much time in the room with Christmas break, anyway.

I turned the lamp on to light the room just a little bit.

"Grayson," I whispered but he didn't budge. "Grayson!" I was a bit louder and made sure to shove his arm this time.

"Hm?" he mumbled.

"Are you awake?" I asked him even though I knew he only was because of me.

He rolled over onto his back, but kept his eyes closed. "I am now."

"Do you think us moving in together is a good idea?"

He opened his eyes, slowly but fully, and turned his head to look at me. "You woke me up just to ask me that?" His voice was calm, but it didn't take an expert to hear the slight annoyance.

"Mhm."

I watched him reach over and grab his phone, lighting up the screen.

"Ellie, sweetie, it's three in the morning," he said setting his phone back down. "Can you please save your dumb questions for later?"

I blew my breath. "I was just asking a simple question." I crossed my arms staring down at him. "You don't have to be so rude about it."

He laughed, and the lamp gave just enough light to see his soft features crinkle at the sides of his eyes. "I think it's a great idea." He stared into my eyes. "Honestly, it is. Quit overthinking it."

"Okay," I said, staring at him for a few seconds before rolling over and turning out the light. "Goodnight." I laid down and closed my eyes to try and get some sleep.

"More like good morning," he said.

***

First of all, I just want to say sorry for this chapter being so short. I've had half of it written for about a month now, and couldn't decide how I wanted it to go. I debated whether or not to even keep this chapter, but I thought it would be fun to show a little on how the apartment hunting went.

Secondly, thank you so much to everyone who has been reading this story! It's amazing the amount of you that have been reading, and thankfully, enjoying the story!