nathan dawson's pov

I was sitting on a swing in a deserted playground in the middle of the night with Gray Eyes. The horizon was swaying, even though I just sat on the swing. I was as drunk as a skunk. The question of the day would have been: how the hell did I get there? 

Let's rewind a bit.

I always want to say no. In fact it's my first reaction, the first thing that pops in my mind, if anyone asks me anywhere. The tricky part is to actually say it out loud. I get this nagging fear of offending people or simply coming out as rude, so I often ended up doing things I really didn't want to do.

This time I should have said no to Nicholas, Liam and Audrey Grace. The first two would have been easy if they hadn't kept insisting, but after the seventeenth time I somehow ended up giving in. To Audrey Grace I probably wouldn't have been able to say no, so I would have fixed the problem by ghosting her, but let's not go to that.

It had been early in the evening and I had just finished showering, when Nicholas had shoved a stack of clothes in my hands and told me we should get going. I said no, of course. But then, for some witless reason I had let him talk me into it.

"I won't let you out of my sight."

"Come on, it's going to be fun!" 

"I'll tell the guys to behave."

Well, fuck you, Nicholas Dawson. Somehow he managed to break all those promises by disappearing after the first hour. Before that it had actually been almost tolerable. Surely Liam had started drinking like a sailor the minute we walked in, but to be honest I had expected nothing more. Audrey Grace had been glued to my side, although we didn't really talk that much. 

But then Alex had asked me if I had been drunk before, to which I had unsuspectingly answered that I hadn't. My only experience with alcohol was a small beer we had shared with Nicholas a couple of years ago, but that didn't actually do anything to us. 

Neither had I planned to get drunk this evening, but as I was having my typical trouble saying no, I eventually agreed for one beer. Which of course led to another and then another. Then I was already blabbering my thoughts without a filter.

I only realized how hammered I was when Gray Eyes lifted me up from the couch and the room was swaying like a sailboat in a storm.

"God, I hate Nicholas." I didn't even notice how intently Gray Eyes was staring at me before I lowered my gaze from the sky and gushed the words. Somehow feeling the piercing gaze of those dark gray eyes didn't indimitate me at all.

"And god, how drunk I am. When did that happen? How did that happen?" I complained, the words flowing out of my mouth like I had zero control over them. Gray Eyes looked at me curiously, a small amused smile on his lips, but he didn't say anything.

"Please say something or I'm just going to keep talking nonsense." I demanded, making Gray Eyes chuckle. Oh well, at least one of us was having fun tonight.

"I like it when you talk nonsense." He noted casually. Only then it actually hit me: I was sitting in a deserted playground in the middle of the night with Gray Eyes. 

"Wait, why did you take me here?"

"Oh, about that.." He began. "Well, the obvious reason is that someone needed to save you from those idiots."

"Okay, I get that. What's the less obvious reason then?"

"I still owe you an apology." Gray Eyes halted for a moment and let out a chuckle. "And you're not exactly the easiest guy to talk to."

"You already said you're sorry." I sighed, feeling warmth rising on my cheeks when I remembered how I had been running away from him like some scared mouse.

"Yes, but I wanted to do it properly. Okay, so.. I'm sorry I punched you." Gray Eyes was still staring at me intently.

"What did Nicholas do to you?"

"Huh? You knew?" His eyes widened from genuine surprise.

"I was about 70% sure. Was it about Audrey Grace or what?" Apparently there were plus sides in being drunk as well. I could talk freely and I wasn't stammering.

"The lipstick girl? Nah, I just hate Nicholas' guts." Gray Eyes shrugged. I had a feeling he wasn't telling me the whole story, but I decided to let it go.

"You and me both." I huffed, still angry at Nicholas for leaving me alone with his idiot friends. "He promised not to leave my side and he knows I don't like his friends, but I guess he just doesn't give shit about me."

"Oh, I bet he does. In fact, he's probably going to kill me for stealing you from that party." Gray Eyes laughed humorlessly. 

When he looked away, as if he was nervous, I thought he had really nice eyes. It wasn't just their color, but the way they could change from piercing to amiable in just a matter of seconds. The beer was definitely doing something to my judgment, because when my eyes strayed to his lips, I thought I really liked them too. They were kind of thin, but soft looking, curving up from the corners.

"Is there something on my face?" Gray Eyes frowned in confusion.

"What? Why?" I gaped at him.

"You're staring at me." Then he smirked.

"I'm not." I quickly turned my head to hide the embarrassment I was feeling. 

"I don't mind." Gray Eyes chuckled, the smirk never leaving his lips. Well, I can't say there's anything wrong with being confident. After that we were quiet for a long while, but it wasn't awkward or oppressing. 

Then an idea popped into my mind and I let out a heavy sigh: "My parents can't see me like this." 

Neither me nor Nicholas were allowed to drink, but mom or Jeffrey never suspected such behavior from their perf*ct golden boy.. from me then? They would be waiting at the front door to smell my breath and make me walk a straight line. The fun part was that I had never gotten myself drunk before that day and Nicholas did it like once a week.

"I can keep you company, until you sober up. I have all night." Gray Eyes flashed me another smile.

I wasn't sure if my parents would like staying out all night any better, but frankly a part of me just really, really wanted to stay a little longer.