It was around noon when I finally got out of bed, not by my own will. Grayson had forced me out of bed saying he was tired of me sleeping all day. I don't know why I was so tired but I was.

I let Grayson drag me out of the dorm to go have lunch. As we sat there I noticed a girl a few tables behind us that looked familiar. Then it hit me, she was the girl, leaned back against the wall, talking to Grayson not long ago that he ditched to have lunch with me. That must have been why she was shooting daggers through me the whole time I tried to enjoy my food.

I mentally laughed thinking she, probably, thought him and I were dating.

After lunch we parted ways. I shoved my hands further into my coat pockets as I took a corner and let it lead me into town. I walked past the stores peering in, thinking about what gifts I would get Lana and my brother, Aaron, for Christmas.

My brother was a few years older than me but I didn't see him much. After he graduated high school our parents were adamant on him coming to work in the family business but he took the first flight out to the west coast.

When I stood in the airport saying goodbye to him before he walked through security I studied his carry-on for a good five minutes to see if I would fit. It was stupid though, I had already studied his suitcase and determined I couldn't, what made me think I could fit into his small carry-on?

After an hour I headed back to the dorm tired of the cold, stopping first to grab a hot chocolate. Back inside I jumped in the shower to warm myself up and then put on an oversized sweater; one long enough to hit mid thigh.

I was home alone and bored, crazy enough. So, I went to Lana's side of the room to her scattered books. She had been working on some paper for class and I looked over it, lightly marking with a pencil the answers she had wrong so she could fix them.

Then I grabbed a blanket and cuddled up on the couch to watch a scary movie so I could shit talk the people about their bad decisions. After the second movie was nearing the end, my phone rang interrupting me mid sentence as I was yelling at this person for being stupid for running into a dark room instead of out the front door.

"Hey, Aar-Bear!"

"El-Bell," he exclaimed, and I smiled at hearing his voice.

It has been three years since I've seen him, and we don't talk much but when we do it makes me so happy just to hear his voice. "How have you been?"

"I've been good," he said. "How about you?"

"Good. Just trying to make it through this school year."

He scoffed. "You're way too smart to be trying to make it." He was about to speak again but the front door swung open and Grayson yelled, "honey, I'm home!" To which Aaron said, "who the hell is that?"

Grayson noticed me on the phone and mouthed 'sorry' while I listened to Aaron.

"No, he's not my boyfriend," I told him while rolling my eyes even though he couldn't see, but you could sense in my tone I was rolling my eyes.

My words grabbed Grayson's attention as he sat beside me on the couch.

"He's just staying with me for a few days, Aaron, there's nothing to worry about." When I said Aaron Grayson turned to me again but I ignored him. "Yes, I know all about that. I'll talk to you later." I paused before saying, "I love you, too." Then I hung up.

"Who's Aaron?" Grayson asked me.

"My brother."

"Oh."

"Yeah." I set my phone on the arm of the chair and pulled the blanket tighter around me. "He also wanted to remind us to use protection and if you get me knocked up he's kicking your ass." I started laughing but Grayson held a straight face. "What?" I asked him.

"How big is this guy?"

My brows raised in amusement. "Yeah, he could probably kick your ass."

Grayson had muscle for sure, but Aaron was a body builder. He had moved to LA and opened up a fitness center.

I reached over patting Grayson's thigh. "Good thing we're not having sex." I laughed.

He let out a flat short chuckle. "Yeah. Good thing."

After the third scary movie I was, finally, tired of yelling and getting annoyed with the people in the movies. I think I've just spent my whole life watching scary movies in hopes that I would one day stumble upon one that hard smart people.

It was late when we both decided to go to bed. I laid there trying to sleep but Grayson spoke from across the room. "Hey, Ellie."

"Yeah?" I questioned, my head still on the pillow and eyes still closed.

"How many people do you think I've slept with?"

"What?"

"It's just you think I'm some huge player. So I was just wondering how many girls you think I've slept with."

"Um, I don't know." I paused before saying, "15?" I decided to low ball it.

"Wrong."

"How many, then?"

"How many have you?"

"I asked you first." I shifted slightly. "And you brought it up." I laughed.

"Five," he said matter of fact.

"What? This week?"

"No. In all."

I shot up to a sitting position and stared through the darkness at him, as if thinking I could read his face. "Are you lying?"

"No."

I got up from my bed and walked to the door flipping the light switch on. He was staring at me with a straight face. "Seriously?" I searched for the truth in his eyes.

"Seriously."

I let me head fall back as I closed my eyes letting out a groan. "Does that make me just as bad as you?"

"You've only been with five, too?" I could hear surprise in his voice. What? Did he think I sleep with everyone?

"Yup" I popped the "p"

"Maybe that just means I'm not as bad as you think I am."

Opening my eyes, mine met his. "But you flirt a lot. So what? That was just flirting?"

"Well, no." His eyes moved from mine to the door then back to mine. "Except for that one girl that day before we went to lunch together."

"Well, I would say sorry for being a cock block, but you came after me."

"I know."

I turned the light back off and got back in bed. "Well, I guess I'll stop with the player jokes, then. Thanks for ruining all the fun."

He laughed. "You're welcome."

**

The next morning I woke up around seven. I don't know why I woke up so early on a weekend but I did. I decided to take advantage of it.

I grabbed my phone and cord before quietly walking over to Lana's side of the room, plugging my phone into the speakers and making sure the speakers were as loud as they could go. Then I shuffled through my music finding the most random song on my phone; some screamo song Lana had downloaded three years ago when she was angry and wanted to scream her heart out.

I set my phone down, hitting play, and quickly covered my ears. The screams, along with the drums and electric guitars, came bursting through the speakers.

Grayson sat up so fast his head darting from one side to the other, landing on me. The scared look vanished, and his eyes narrowed as he glared at me. His hand reached up to his heart while he breathed heavily.

My hands had fell from my ears to grip my stomach as I laughed, ignoring the screams from the speakers. I watched as he grabbed my phone and ripped the cord out.

"What the fuck was that for?" he said, his voice raised.

His hand was back at his heart, and I stopped laughing just enough to reach up and replace his hand with mine. "Oh shit. Please don't die on me," I said as I felt just how hard and fast his heart was beating.

"If I do it's your fault."

My hand was still on his chest and I could feel his heartbeat begin to slow down and his body became less tense. "Wait, I think you're going to be okay."

Once I knew he would be fine the laughter started again. "It's really not that funny," he told me with a straight face.

"That's what you get for waking me up," I said and then nodded, "and yes, it really is that funny." I tried to bite back the laugh when I noticed the scowl on his face. "You should have seen yourself."

He reached over and grabbed me by the waist tossing me onto the bed hovering over me. "So, nearly scaring me to death is funny to you?"

I bit my lower lip, again, not daring to let the laugh so eager to escape come out, as I stared up at him.

"It's not funny," he said.

A small chuckle escaped my lips and I cupped my hand over my mouth. "You're right, it's not funny," I mumbled into my hand.

He leaned closer, our noses almost touching. "Just wait," he told me. Then he pushed himself up and crawled off the bed.

I watched him walk into the bathroom, and then I stared at the closed door wondering what I had coming my way.

We stayed in the room all afternoon. Every so often I would feel his eyes on me and I just knew he was planning on how to get me back.

"Aren't we even?" I asked as we sat on the couch watching some comedy movie, and he had looked at me for the millionth time.

"Not even close, babe," he said and then turned his attention back to the movie.

The rest of the afternoon and night was fairly quiet. We watched TV and then moved to sitting in bed, every so often glancing over at each other from across the room. I tried to rack my brain for what he had planned but I couldn't think of what he could possibly do.

I wanted to sleep with one eye open, and I even tried to, but sleep finally took over and I closed both eyes waiting for whatever I had coming.

***

Again, I usually read the chapter before posting but didn't this time, so let me know if there are any mistakes.

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