Billie

'Hey girl!' Maddie said as she opened the door to her house. I had a bag on one arm and a pillow under the other.

'Hey!' I hugged her before walking into her house.

Maddie and I were taking advantage of the school break and had decided to have a sleepover. Our sleepovers usually consisted of watching movies, eating food and gossiping. I doubted it would be any different tonight.

I said hello to Madison's parents in the living room before heading upstairs. I dumped my stuff on Maddie's bed and then jumped onto it myself.

'So...' Maddie laid on the bed next to me. She was on her front, her head was propped up on her hand and her feet were swinging behind her. She wiggled her eyebrows at me so I gave her a confused look, pretending I didn't know what she was thinking.

'So?' I copied.

'Tell me everything!' She squealed, clapping her hands together.

'About what?' I was still acting clueless. I felt awkward talking about my feelings, especially these feelings.

'About Grayson of course!' She playfully slapped my arm.

I groaned and rolled over onto my front. I buried my face in my pillow and tried to block her out. But I couldn't. She was poking me in the ribs and I knew she wasn't going to stop.

'Spill.' She said as I looked up at her.

'Fine!' I rolled back onto my back and let out a huge sigh. 'Obviously we spoke in the kitchen. We had tequila shots. That's why my head was so bad in the morning.' She rolled onto her back and kicked her legs in the air in celebration. I shoved her arm to make her stop before carrying on. 'And then you all came in and we were just chatting. Then he had to save you from smashing your head on the table.'

'Oh god.' She covered her face. 'I was awful wasn't I?'

'You weren't that bad!' I reassured her. 'You didn't kiss Ben did you? That's an achievement for you.' 

'I really like him, so I didn't want to just make out with him while I was absolutely hammered. I thought I'd wait for a better time.' She explained.

'I'm proud of you.' I said sarcastically. She slapped my arm again.

'Anyway! Back to you.' She returned the subject to Grayson.

'Well, I didn't really remember much after the tequila shots.' I admitted. 'But it has started to come back to me in bits. And I remember when you all went back out to the garden, I jumped off the counter and I stumbled a little. He grabbed me to stop me from falling and then we were just standing quite close to each other.' I looked at Maddie, her eyes were full of excitement. 'Nothing happened, but he did say something that was quite sweet.'

'What was it?' She squealed. I cringed at the thought of sharing the lovey-dovey details with her. But I guess she was my best friend and that's what best friends do. 

'He said he likes my eyes.' I forced out. It wasn't really natural for me to express my emotions, so I was finding this quite difficult to share. 'And then I said it back. And then we came outside and that was it until the morning.' 

'That's so cute!' She was clapping her hands together now. 'I don't blame you for liking him. He is hot. And you're right, he does have nice eyes.' I blushed slightly. 

She was right. Grayson was hot, which is why I felt a little uncomfortable about the whole situation. He was way out of my league. 

'I don't think he really looks at me in that way though.' I said, trying not to let my sadness show.

'What? Why?' Madison frowned as I said it.

'Because after we dropped you off, we were talking and we exchanged numbers and everything. Then we got onto talking about the concert and he said he would have done that for anyone.' I told her.

'That doesn't mean he doesn't like you.' She tried to reassure me. 'You can tell what he's like. He's one of those boys who acts like he doesn't give a shit, but he secretly does. Don't worry, next time we see them we'll find out what he's really thinking.' She snuggled up the me on the bed.

'I don't know. It just kind of ended on a bad note.' I said.

'It'll be fine.' She said, she gave me a hug and then laid back down on the bed.

'Anyway, tell me more about Ben!' I decided that we'd spoken too much about me.

'He's so sweet! He was looking after me all night and he's been texting me everyday.' Maddie sat up in excitement and began rambling on about Ben. I listened to every word because I appreciated her. She was always there for me, even when she was acting boy crazy. 

*

After Madison and I had finished gossiping, we put Netflix on her TV and watched so many episodes of Friends that I lost count. We'd been running up and down the stairs, grabbing snacks to eat in the kitchen and eventually decided to put a pizza in the oven, along with some garlic bread. Our favourite. 

After all the food was cooked we took it upstairs and sat on Maddie's bed. I began flicking through Netflix looking for a movie for us to watch. Suddenly, Maddie's phone pinged and she grabbed it to see what the notification was. She began smiling down at her phone as she read the message. 

'What is it?' I asked, curious.

'It's Ben.' She said. She began typing a reply to his text. Once she pressed send she turned to me. Her smile was beaming. 

'What did he say?' I asked. It must have been good news because her smile was only growing.

'He just invited us to another party!' She said excitedly.

'He's having another party?' I was surprised. 'He just had one last weekend.'

'No, it's not his party. It's someone from his rugby team but apparently they're allowed plus ones.' She was still texting Ben, obviously she had accepted on both of our behalves. But then my shoulders dropped as I realised that a plus one doesn't mean you can bring two people.

'Mads, you're the plus one, not me.' I reminded her. She looked up from her phone, her smile had now gone.

'Shit. I don't want to go by myself.' She said. 'We have to get you invited.' 

'You won't be by yourself, you'll have Ben.' I was trying to hide my disappointment so that she didn't feel too bad. 'It's fine, don't worry about it.' 

Maddie let out a long sigh, she was obviously trying to figure out a way to get me into the party. Suddenly, her face lit back up and she began smiling at me. I gave her a puzzled look.

'You can be Grayson's plus one!' She gasped. It took me slightly by surprise, but then doubt flooded my mind.

'I don't think he'll want to, Maddie.' I admitted. 'Don't say anything to Ben, I don't want any one to pressure him to ask me.'

Just as I finished speaking my own phone pinged. I picked it up and unlocked it. I had a text. I opened the app and saw that Grayson had sent me a message.

'Who's that?' Maddie was beginning to get her hopes up. I could tell she knew it was Grayson.

'It's Grayson.' I said, my voice barely came out. My finger hovered over his name until I eventually clicked on it. I read the text in my head.

Hey, sorry for being a prick the other day.

My stomach flooded with butterflies and I grinned at my phone. Before I knew it, Madison had snatched my phone out of my hands and was reading the text. She looked up at me with excited eyes before giving me my phone back.

'Reply!' She squealed. 'Now!' 

'Alright, alright. I'm doing it.' I said, holding my hands up in defence. I began typing.

It's fine, we were both just tired.

I sent the message and Maddie and I waited impatiently for a reply. Within about a minute he had texted back.

So my mate's having a party on Saturday & I know Ben's invited Maddie so I thought you might wanna come with me? It's only about 30 mins away and my groups going so you'll know people there.

'Yes!' Maddie jumped up onto the bed and started dancing. She had obviously been reading the text over my shoulder. 'Say yes! Right now!' I laughed. I felt relieved. I knew he was a nice person after all.

Sounds good, I'd love to come :)

I replied. I started over thinking about the smiley face that I'd added on the end. Was that uncool? Would he think that was weird?

Cool. I'm not gonna be drinking because I have a rugby match the next day so I can drive you home if you want? :)

Phew, he sent one back. The butterflies only intensified in my stomach as he offered a lift home.

'He said he can take us home after the party.' I said to Maddie, who had now turned her attention to her own phone. She looked up at me when I spoke.

'Oh, well, actually Ben said he could take me home. He's not drinking because he's got a rugby match on Sunday.' She said, she looked like she felt guilty.

'Oh, that's fine, as long as you have a way of getting home.' A part of me felt weird about not being with Maddie, but the other part was excited for some alone time with Grayson. 

I replied to his last text:

Okay, thank u. Can't wait :)