The Man on the Moon ~G. D.

PART 1

GRAYSON'S POV

"Why are we eating here again?" Ethan asked, annoyed.

"It's my favorite place, E. They have the best avocado toast in LA," I answered as I held the door open for my twin.

"Yeah but you have literally ate breakfast here everyday for the past month and half and sometimes even lunch," Ethan said as he rolled his eyes and walked to a booth in the section I wasn't looking to sit in.

"E, this side. I always sit over here, remember?" I said, pointing behind me.

Sighing, Ethan nodded and followed me to my usual seat.

"Hey, Grayson. What can I get you today?" the older, red haired waitress name Mary asked as she walked up to our booth.

Everyone here knew my name by now and I pretty much knew all of theirs. That kind of happens when you're here as much as I am.

"Oh, hey Mary. Where's Nora?" I greeted the sweet woman as I asked for the one person I actually came here to see.

"Oh, Grayson, I'm sorry. Miss Nora Jane isn't feeling well today. Oliver sent her home before she could even get those tired feet in the front door," Mary said, shaking her head, "That precious girl works too damn hard, ya know. You want the usual?"

"Um, yes ma'am, if you don't mind," I answered.

"Make that two," Ethan added.

Mary nodded and left to put in our order.

"So, Nora Jane, huh?" Ethan mused with the quirks of his eyebrows.

I chucked, embarrassingly, "Its just Nora, E. Mary's always called her by her whole name. She said she likes the way it rolls off the tongue."

"I'm sure. So is she the real reason you come here so often?" E asked.

I shrugged, "If I said that I came here just for the toast, I'd be lying. Nora works so fucking hard, bro. She has a lot on her mind. I worry about her. She's kind of become pretty special to me."

"Dude, don't get all cheesy on me before I've had any coffee, please?" Ethan grimaced, "And when do I get to finally meet this girl?"

"Well, I was hoping today, but that's not happening. I hope she's okay. She's really in no condition to be working as hard as she is," I said watching as Mary walked towards us with two cups of coffee.

"No condition? What do you mean?" Ethan asked.

But before I could answer Mary set our coffee on the table and the thought had been forgotten as we both sighed in pleasure as the warm caffeine hit our lips.

The next few days I continued to go to the diner for breakfast, but each time, the girl that caught my eye had yet to be there.

I was beginning to worry until finally, one morning, I saw her black Nissan parked in the lot. Pulling in next to it I got out and began to walk to the front of the diner, only to be met with Nora walking out.

"Hey NJ, you don't look so good," I said to her, worry sinking to the pit of my stomach at the pale look on her face.

"I'm not doing so good, either, Grayson. I keep coming in to work and Oliver keeps sending me out the door. If only he knew how bad I needed the hours," she said as her voice cracked with the threat of tears.

Walking up to her I put my arm gently around her back, seeing that she was in no shape to even walk to her car, let alone work, "Nora, let me take you home. You can't work like this."

She shook her head trying to walk to her car, "No, Grayson, I'm fine. Just in a little bit of pain. I'll be okay."

"No you won't, Nora. Let me take you home. I'll bring my brother back to help me get your car," I urged as I tried to steer her to my Porsche.

"Grayson, really I'm — AAHHH!" she yelled as she bent down clutching her stomach.

Fear rushed through my body like snake venom, "NJ, what's wrong? Tell me what you need!"

She continued to cry out, not seeming to care who could hear or see and before long her cries were mere whimpers as she tried to catch her breath.

"Grayson?" she finally spoke.

"Yeah, sweetie?" I asked, thankful that she could at least tell me what to do.

"I need — I need you to take me to the hospital. The — the baby's coming," she stuttered.

"You can't be fucking serious.."

I had never gotten someone in my car, seat belted and on the road so fast in my life.

"Nora, do you need me to call anyone? What about the father?" I asked in a rush.

The pain in her eyes was replaced with a fear I'd never seen before, "No, Grayson! Please no!"

"Okay, okay. What about your parents? A friend? Anybody?" I asked, reaching over to place one of my hands on hers in an attempt to calm her, keeping my other hand on the wheel as I rushed us to the hospital.

"No, Grayson. Nobody knows I'm here. My ex can't find me, Grayson. Please, don't call anyone," she said as tears finally flowed down her face.

"Um, okay. I can handle this. You're gonna be fine, Nora. We are almost there," I reassured her.

What the fuck I was gonna do when we got there? I don't know. All I did know was that Nora was important to me and there was no way in hell I was going to leave her to do this alone.

Pulling up to the entrance to the hospital Nora squeezed my hand tighter to stop me from getting out of the car, "Please don't leave me, Grayson. Please. Just until this is over. I need someone here that I trust."

It broke my heart to see the sadness in her eyes at a time when they should be filled with joy, "I'm not going anywhere, NJ. I promise. I'm right here. Just let me go in and get a nurse, okay?"

She nodded and closed her eyes in relief before letting go of my hand.

It wasn't long before I was back with Nora, a nurse at my side putting her in a wheelchair.

"I'm just going to move the car and I'll be right in, Nora," I assured her before the nurse interrupted.

"I'm sorry sir, but you can't come back with the patient unless you're the father."

"He is," I heard Nora say from beside her, not an ounce of hesitation in her voice.

"Um, yeah I am. I promised her I wouldn't leave her. She's scared. It's our first," I said, the lie coming out like word vomit.

"Okay, that's great. Do you mind getting her registered when you come in and then they'll bring you to her room?" the nurse asked, seeming to believe the shit we just threw at her.

Nodding I got in my car, in a hurry to get back to Nora.

When I got to the front desk I was greeted by a friendly woman with dark brown hair, "Hi, I'm Megan. My nurse said you needed to get your wife registered?"

"Um, yeah what do I need to do?" I asked nervously, running my fingers through my hair.

"For starters I need to get her name and birthday?" She asked politely.

Oh fuck. All this time I knew her I never learned her last name. By some miracle I remember her birthday. It was a conversation her and I had one morning. Her birthday had been that day and her coworkers had put up a banner for her. But her last name? No.

I started with her birthday to try and buy myself some time to think but when I said her name it came out like I'd said it a million times, "Nora Jane Dolan."

"Okay sir, that's all for now. I'm going to bring you some paperwork in a bit but I'll take you to her now," the woman said, smiling, leading me down the hall to my "wife".