| Ephemeral |

nine

Alex 

The slowly fading peace was really nice while it lasted, now with a looming mortel return, I have more to think about. Except for today. Today Hazel is dragging me to shop for prom dresses, prom is about two months away. It's currently almost the end of March, our prom is towards the end of May.

Usually, it's at the beginning of April, but the school needs time to come up with enough funding and people to sign up to help. I can almost promise you Hazel will make me sign up for the prom committee. 

"I'll be in the car in a sec!" I yelled at Hazel who was already walking out of the door. It was kind of early in the morning, so I checked to see if Grayson was already training. He sure was, and he was hitting the bag like his life depended on it.

He had sweat dripping down his bare back and headphones jammed in his ears. I could almost hear the music from here. I needed to tell him that I would be back later for our tutoring so he didn't think I was ditching him.

I walked through the thick training room door before I called his name at a decent level of loudness, but he still didn't hear me. I walked over to him slowly and saw how tense his back was. All of his muscles looked as though they could pop out of his skin. The punching bag was swinging visibly, it was worrying me a little.

I tapped his shoulder, but I once again got no response. "Grayson," I say again, I finally chose to grab his arm, but I would find out a few seconds later that it was a mistake.

His arm pushed me abruptly, sending my entire body onto the floor. I tried taking a breath in, but the air was knocked out of me when my back hit the floor.  

I sat up on my elbows and my eyes connected with his. I began to try to back up quickly when he reached out for me, probably to help me up but I couldn't tell. I heard the training room door swing open, causing me to turn and see Ethan's angry persona coming towards us. 

"Get away from her!" Ethan yelled, shoving Grayson backward. "What's wrong with you? Are you drunk?" He asked loudly. 

Grayson's eyes were slightly widened as he looked down at me. He leaned down to attempt to help me up again but before he could get to me, Ethan shoved him back again. He looked down at me, he himself was surprised by his actions. Just like I was.

I stood up and brushed myself off, also brushing gazes with Ethan. "It's okay, Ethan. He didn't mean to, he was training and I might have snuck up on him and startled him or something." I explained quickly. Ethan scoffed in my direction before turning back towards Grayson.

I cleared my throat and fixed my clothes. I am in no way trying to be dramatic, but I did hit the ground hard. He isn't a small guy.

"Alex, I'm really sorry." Grayson spoke genuinely, and I nodded in response to him. "Hazel is waiting on me, I need to go." I spoke, pointing towards the direction of the door. "I came in here to tell you I'll be back later for our tutoring lessons," I slightly whispered as I turned around and took a much-needed breath in. I then walked into the fresh air and met with Hazel in the car. 

-

Hazel was already waiting for me in the dress shop, I wanted to grab us a coffee before we started our long journey. 

I brushed shoulders with someone before I got to the entrance of the dress shop. "I'm sorry," I said quickly, looking up to be met with a middle-aged man. I furrowed my brows at the familiarity of his face. He also gave me a weird look, making me laugh.