Grayson's Point of View: Chapter 6

“Where are they?” Carson shouted from the living room.

“I don’t know. They’re supposed to be here by now!” Shane responded from the upstairs bathroom. He was stocking up on toilet paper.

“Maybe they decided that Carson’s face is too ugly to look at so spending hours here beforehand is too much to handle.” Kyle suggested.

“Maybe you should shut your mouth.” Carson responded.

“Maybe you should make me.” Kyle replied.

“Is that a request?”

“Nope, just a mere suggestion.” Kyle smirked sardonically as Carson went after him.

Suddenly, a car sounded from the driveway and Shane raced down the steps, towards the door. Carson let go of Kyle after telling him that no lady can resist him. I continued lifting the packs of beer out of the cooler until they were all aligned on the counter. Shane’s cousin had bought them last week and left them here. Shane also raided his parents’ liquor cabinet, taking everything that wasn’t too expensive.

I didn’t bother to go to the door. It’s just Audrey and her two friends. My stomach clenched at the idea of Audrey being here. I heard voices from the doorway and I didn’t bother to listen to them or pay attention. Put the drinks away. I continued stuffing the drinks into the fridge. I heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen and the urge to kill Shane was strong.

I heard Audrey’s voice from the distance, followed by a groan. “Does he ever shut up?”

“Unfortunately not.” Shane replied, standing behind Audrey.

“Don’t act like you don’t like my voice, Audrey, I sing like an angel.” I began harmonizing like my true form. Audrey groaned and covered her ears. Shane formed a heart with his fingers and winked at the back of Audrey’s head before winking at me. I shot him a glare.

“The horror, the pain, the agony.” She complained, covering her ears once again. Shane started laughing and she practically ripped her hands from her ears in order to hear his chuckles. I wanted to scowl but I held it back. I glared at her instead.

“You know what, how about we tell my good old pal Sha-.” She punched my shoulder, pretending to be playful as I grinned. Shane raised his eyebrows at me. He already knows but she doesn’t know that.

“Oh, Grayson, you know I was only joking.” She punched my shoulder again, harder this time. I let out a pained whimper. Shane smiled at her, probably glad that she caused me physical harm.

“Well, Audrey, since you’re here to help- why don’t you help Grayson unpack the drinks?” Shane asked and despite her grimace, she nodded. I bet she’d rather help explore his mouth. I instantly frowned at the thought, wiping it away before she can see.

“Okay Shane.” She dreamily said as he walked into the living room.

I decided to mock her, figuring the best way to get over whatever emotion just took over me was harassment of the girl that caused it. “Okay, Shane.” I raised my voice a few octaves. She glared at me and began shredding open a pack of sodas that I didn’t lift from the cooler. “I totally love you, Shane, but you’re so oblivious.”

She glowered at me and lowered her voice. “I’m Grayson and I can sing. La-la-la-la-la. But I’m really bad at it.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I also like to dance.” She started spinning around like a ballerina with her eyes closed, spinning and twirling on the floor. Trip, fall, break your arm or something. Wait, don’t. I’d be the one that has to clean up blood. It makes Shane nauseous. “Tee-hee-hee, I’m Grayson the ballerina and I like to dance and sing.”

I noticed Carson and Kyle walk into the room, staring at Audrey with confused yet interested looks. She was standing directly in front of them, her face practically rubbing against their chests. Once she opened her eyes, her cheeks tinged red. She allowed her leg to drop down towards the floor and she backed up a few steps. She let a breath escape from the corner of her mouth, her cheek enlarging before slowly going back to their normal size. “Sorry about that.”

Their intimidating expressions obviously scared her. That was until they practically died from laughter. Kyle was hunched over, his hands on his knees. He looked up and pointed at me. “That’s… so true.”

I had my arms crossed as I glowered at Audrey, who was smirking in satisfaction. Carson was red faced and breathless. “’Tee-hee-hee’… priceless.”

Audrey began laughing, too, joining in with my two idiot friends. Why am I even friends with them? Probably because they have no other friends, and I can’t just let them live like that. I mean, who wants to live a life without me? I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re stupid.” I bit. It was the only thing that came to my mind other than, ‘you’re pretty,’ but that’d make things awkward, right? She’s my mother’s best friend’s daughter. She’s bound to tell her mom and her mother will tell mine, who won’t let it go. She’ll do the opposite of that Disney movie.

I expected her to yell something at me, but instead, she went with the stupidest thing that was floating through her mind. “Tee-hee-hee.”

Despite the pure stupidity of the simple word, I found myself nearly smiling. I bit the inside of my mouth, trying to hold in my smile until I was out of her line of vision. I quickly left the room, not bothering to excuse myself. I could faintly hear one of the boys complimenting her.

They better not say anything. After our brief discussion a few days ago, they’ve been threatening to say something to her. Even though I don’t know if what I feel is a crush, or what, they’ve been holding it over my head. They would force me to beg them not to say anything. We would be down the hallway and she’d be going to her locker. They’d slowly walk towards her, their voice rising as they said stupid stuff like, “hey, Audrey, Grayson here wants to kiss your face.” It was stupid things that fifth grade boys did.

After my short, useless trip to the bathroom where I grinned in the mirror (note to self, never do that again-it’s creepy), I walked back into the kitchen. Audrey was practically taking a nap on the kitchen island, squeezed in between the beer and soda. I sucked my teeth, shaking my head slowly. “Audrey, the party didn’t even start yet and you’re already drunk.”

She quickly sat up and scowled at me. “I’m not drunk, you imbecile.”

I winced and held my chest. “That hurts, Audrey that really hurts.”

~~~

“Where’s the bathroom?” Audrey whined. She’s barely been here for forty minutes and she’s already annoying the life out of me. I definitely don’t have a crush on her. How could I? She’s one of the most annoying people I’ve met in my entire life. Also the prettiest.

I sighed, turning towards her. “Go down the hall, up the stairs, take a right; it’s the first door to your left.”

The moment she was gone, Shane slid into the room, without shoes. He was wearing only socks and tiled floor, we all know how this is going to end. His presence was brought to my awareness by the sound of a body hitting the floor. I turned around, my eyebrows furrowed. I watched as his hand clutched the kitchen island, followed by the rest of his body. “Dude…that was so awesome! You have to try it!”

I nodded. “And get brain damage? I’d rather not.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “So…any progress with your crush?”

“Shut up!” I snapped, looking towards the entrance to the living room, where Kyle and Lola were excitedly talking about whatever nerds talk about. “They can probably hear you.”

“Who? Sandra and Lola?” Shane asked, earning a hasty nod from me. “I doubt they care. They’re too busy drooling over Dumb and Dumber.”

I snorted. “I don’t know what they see in them.” I muttered absentmindedly.

“Are you going to kiss her tonight?” Shane asked.

My eyebrows furrowed as I continued unpacking the last of the drinks, filling up the fridge. I had slowed down because Audrey was constantly picking arguments with me. “Who?”

“Who did you have in mind?” He questioned.

“Well, Chad’s cousin is visiting from college and he’s bringing her. I’ve seen a picture of her; she’s pretty hot. I’m going to try to kiss her.” I told him.

“Well, don’t you want to kiss Audrey?” Shane asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

His statement earned a snort from me. “No, why would I?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you like her?” He brought his shoulders up once.

“I never said that.” I told him.

“Oh yeah, you said, and I quote, ‘whenever I see her- I get these weird butterflies in my stomach. She’s pretty and funny. I just don’t know how I feel about her. I can’t like her.’ So yeah, I presume that you have a crush.”

“Shut up.” I told him. “She likes you, remember?”

“She’s cute and all, but she’s all yours. You’ve had your claim on her since, what, birth?” He asked.

I scowled at him. “Go back to the living room and do whatever it is that living room people do.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Blame yourself for your girly emotions.”

I threw a wet sponge, which I used to wipe the counter down, at him. It hit his back and he laughed. A few seconds later, Audrey entered the kitchen with a grin on her face.

“Why are you so happy?” I asked her as I perched on the cleared kitchen island. I narrowed my eyes when I realized that she had makeup on. I’d seen her with makeup on at the football game, which was understandable-because she was going to be on the ‘jumbotron.’ She’s probably wearing it to impress Shane. For some reason, that irks me. “Are you… are you wearing makeup?”

Her cheeks reddened as she shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

The corners of my lips lifted into a smirk. “I never thought I’d see the day when Audrey Peters wears make up.” For a guy. To get a guy’s attention. To attract male attention.

The small smile was gone immediately. ”Shut up.”

I just hopped off of the island, the deflated feeling in my chest helping me follow her instructions. “Will do.”

~~~

“I’m so bored.” Audrey complained, yet again. She’s full of complaints. ‘I’m hungry; I’m tired; I don’t like those chips; Stop punching me in the face, Grayson.’ Okay, so maybe she didn’t say the last one, but she will if she doesn’t shut up. She was seated between her two friends, Sandra and Lola. We have about half an hour before the guests start arriving. I don’t understand why Shane planned so much time before the party. Usually he starts them at ten.

I decided that, since everyone else is quiet, I should offer up a suggestion. “We could always play truth or dare.”

Carson and Kyle nodded their heads quickly and Audrey scoffed. “No thank you.”

I noticed Sandra reach over and Audrey winced, glaring at her friend for a second before rephrasing her statement. “Or at least, I don’t want to play.”

“You’re no fun.” I responded, saving her from another pinch. “I bet you’d play if Sh-.”

She hastily cut me off. “You know what Grayson? I’ll play.” I gave her a satisfied smirk. I can have some fun with this.

Shane entered the room and handed out the drinks. He gave Audrey her drink last and sat down beside her. She had this stupid look on her face that was a mixture of happiness and giddiness, mainly because of Shane’s presence. I rolled my eyes at her and pretended to choke myself. “So, Shane, we were going to play truth or dare, you in?”

Shane looked around at us, his eyebrows furrowed as he counted the amount of people. “Sure, why not?” He grinned and I noticed Audrey practically faint at the sight of his smile. She’s so far gone.

“Great, I’ll go get the stuff.” Carson practically leaped off of the couch and darted towards the kitchen. We all moved onto the floor. Shane, sending me a smirk, sat next to Audrey. He’s leading her on. I wanted to say something to him, or to Audrey, but decided against it. I’d have to get Shane alone before I say something like that. I know he won’t do anything that could hurt her, other than playing her feelings, but it’s still not good to mess with a girl’s feelings, even I know that.

Carson, the usual fat kid he is, came back with a half filled ketchup bottle and a bag of chips. He quickly hugged the chips to his chest before frowning. “I’m hungry.”

Audrey’s as readable as a book. She’s going to choose truth every time, or at least one of the girls will. I learned from watching Shane’s games of truth or dare that a girl always does. So, I changed the rules up a bit. I slowly shook my head at Audrey. “The rules are: you can only choose truth three times before you automatically have to do a dare. If you refuse to answer a question, you have to do a dare and if you don’t do a dare… there’ll be… consequences.” I don’t even know what the consequences will be. I winged it, if I’m being completely honest- which I am.

Everyone quietly nodded. “I’ll start.”

Kyle quickly spun the bottle, watching as it slowed to a stop on me. I frowned, my nose wrinkled. I could tell that he wanted it to land on the girl with the name from Zoey 101, Lola or whatever. “Truth or dare, Grayson?”

“Truth.” I shrugged. I noticed Audrey scoff.

Kyle rubbed his chin. “Is it true you dated Kayla Romano for 4 minutes?”

I smugly smirked and shook my head. “It was 3.”

Audrey narrowed her eyes at me. I didn’t like Kayla, and it was a dare that I couldn’t date her for less than five minutes. I agreed to be her boyfriend, despite the fact that we hadn’t gone on a date. I called it off a few moments later- 3 to be exact. Most of the people claimed that I was a jerk because of that but I didn’t really care. In those three minutes, I kissed Kayla, so she seemed satisfied.

I grinned as I spun the bottle. It landed on Lola, who had an anxious look on her face. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” She didn’t even hesitate.

I tried to offer her a kind smile. “When did you get your first kiss?”

Audrey looked shocked, so did Shane. Lola did, too. What do these people expect of me? To ask her if she would ever murder small children for money? “Ezekiel Manning in the 9th grade.”

“Your turn.” I nudged the bottle towards Lola, who had a suspicious look on her face.

The game went on and on; I didn’t pay attention to whatever was going on unless it landed on Audrey or it was Shane’s turn to spin the bottle. And, of course, if I had to admit something or do a dare. After I told Shane that Audrey liked him, he said that I better pray that he never gets her to play truth or dare. He said he’d dare her to kiss him. He claimed that it would help me decipher my feelings. When it would land on me, I’d awkwardly tune back into the game, trying to make it look like I wasn’t in lala land for the majority of the time. I gave innocent dares and stupid truths, mainly because I didn’t care about the answers. I did remember that Sandra could sing, so I dared her to sing a song for the amusement of everyone else.

Once it was my turn to spin the bottle, I quickly grinned as it landed on Audrey. Just what I was hoping for. Carson moved away from me, muttering something under his breath about my hasty facial transition but I didn’t care. “Audrey, truth or dare?”

It was obvious that she was over-thinking my words. She probably assumed I’d make her kill children or something like that. To my utter surprise, she didn’t choose truth. “Dare.”

While in lala land, I managed to build up the perfect dare. It couldn’t fail. She didn’t have to kiss stupid Shane, and I’ll still find out whether or not I actually like her. “I dare you to kiss the first guy to walk into the door, on the lips.”

“Starting when?” She asked me and I licked my lips, thinking.

“Starting now.” I stated, earning a nod in response. She would have to wait a bit, but it’s better. The worry can simmer in her stomach.

I was counting down the time until the guests started arriving. The moment a horn sounded from outside, I jumped out of my seat, grinning over my shoulder at Audrey, who had a worried look on her face. “I’ll get it; get ready to kiss someone Audrey.”

I pulled open the door, stepping outside. I tried to find the creepiest guy outside, hoping that she wouldn’t enjoy the kiss if it were a complete creep. Once my eyes landed on a big, burly guy, I waved him over. “Come on in! The party is this way.”

I made sure the guy was in the front of the line that was walking towards the house. I stepped into the house, holding open the door for them as they piled in. Her facial expression changed from hopeful to completely terrified. I would laugh if she wasn’t going to kiss a guy right in front of me. She glanced behind her, sending a worried look to her friends who looked disgusted. Kyle gave her a pitiful glance before glaring at me. Shane had his hand over his mouth, trying to hide his two back fillings which would show if he allowed his mouth to hang open. Carson, on the other hand, was practically dying from laughter.

She had a nervous look on her face as she slowly approached the doorway. I noticed the burly guy look at her with his upper lip curled upward, as if ready to attack. Once she was a few feet away from him, my stomach started to clench and I watched as she inched closer to the creep. I was about to yank her away from him and revoke my dare until she turned in my direction. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Is she going to beg me to take back the dare?

Once she was a foot in front of me, she inched forward slightly, standing on the tips of her toes. My voice caught in my throat as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me closer. Her eyes met mine before they trailed down to my lips. “If you think I’m kissing him, you’re insane.” She pressed her lips against mine and I swear, for a second, I died. My arms were instinctively around her waist, holding her in place. Her lips were soft and her mouth tasted like soda and gum, a surprisingly good mixture.

I forgot to remove my hands from her waist as she pulled away. My breathing was heavy and my heart was beating rapidly. I managed to pull a smirk onto my face when all I wanted to do was lean in and continue to kiss her. And I swear I was going to if I hadn't seen the look of pure and utter horror on her face once she realized what she had done.

But it was no match for the feeling that weighed down my shoulders when I realized that I’ve fallen for her, and I can’t get up.

Okay, let’s try that again.

I think I like Audrey.

__

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