As I back out of my driveway, Violet and I wave goodbye to my mother. Her slim figure stands in our doorway, her hand gesturing us a warm farewell. Arriving early allowed all three of us to sit down and talk over a late lunch. From the looks of it, my mother couldn't have been more happy to see us one last time before her flight.

As I accidentally roll over the pothole that plagues our driveway, I wince. My bags rumble around in the trunk. I don't remember much of my dad, but when I was little, I recall him planning to fix that pothole— but then the accident happened.

With a flight to catch, I watch as my mom blows a kiss before hurrying back inside. It feels painful to drive away, knowing that I won't see her again for a long six months. That's half a year without her warm touch and homemade pancakes.

Pulling onto the main road, my fingers dance across the steering wheel. If I'm being honest, I already miss her. As I'm contemplating turning around, Violet breaks the silence.

"We should stop by Joe's Ice Cream Shop," Violet suggests, throwing her feet onto the dashboard. "That place never fails to cheer us up."

A small smile sneaks onto my face. I glance at her yellow polished toenails as she kicks her shoes off. "But what about Grayson? He'll probably be wanting the car by now."

She rolls her eyes, "we should bathe in this freedom while we have it. After all, we lost the bet..."

I scrunch my nose. "Oh yeah... we did. So are you really giving him the car for a whole month?"

Violet sighs, "there were witnesses there. We lost. I have to."

I make a last minute turn towards the ice cream shop. "In that case, we're definitely going to get the most out of this freedom while we have it."

*****

When we arrive at Violet's house, the sun is already setting. Violet offered to drive us home, and with the music blasting, she bops her head around while singing along to the lyrics. I can tell she's soaking in the last minutes of radio freedom.

As she turns into her rounded driveway, the tire rolls over the thick curb. The plastic spoon I'm chewing on nearly flies down my throat.

She quickly turns the radio off and gives me a funny glance that says 'oh well, let's pretend that didn't happen'. Once the car is parked, we hop out and start towards the large double doors to her house.

As we enter, Mrs. Foster is scurrying around the living room, presumably tidying things up. When she see's us, her face lights up.

"Hey girls!" She pipes. "I didn't know when you'd get here, don't mind the mess."

I glance around and can't find the mess she's talking about. Violet chuckles at her mom's perfectionism.

"Claudius! Grayson! The girls are here." She shouts back towards the rest of the house. "Come help bring Madison's bags in."

"Oh, there aren't that many bags. I can get them." I wave my hand around.

"Nonsense, sweety. Let the men do the heavy lifting." She smirks.

With the staircase in view, I watch as white socks step down stair by stair. When Grayson takes his last step, I look away as he lazily rubs his eyes. He must've just woken up from a nap, his messy hair falling over his eyes.

"Where is your father, Grayson?" Mrs. Foster asks.

Grayson yawns, "in the shower."

As Grayson wakes up, his posture straightens. I can't help but wonder how he is feeling after what happened earlier. After a few moments, my eyes latch onto his.

They're low, emerald and unreadable. Like usual.

"Well, what're you waiting for, snap snap!" Mrs. Foster taps her duster on Grayson's back lightly. "Be a gentleman and help Maddi with her bags."

Without much to say, Grayson steps past me and towards the outside.

"There's leftover pizza in the fridge and anything else you can find." Mrs. Foster smiles before disappearing behind a corner with her duster.

Violet grabs my hand, pulling me towards the stairs. "We need to organize my drawers and closet if your clothes are going to fit in them!"

"More like your whole room," I laugh.

As we speed up the stairs, the front door shuts behind us. The stairs creak as Grayson carries the weight of my bags on his shoulders.

Just as he is about to place the bags down in front of Violet's room, his father turns a corner in the hallway. Ruffling a towel on his head, he smiles at us three.

"Hey guys," he continues to dry his hair.

"Hi, Mr. Foster." I smile.

Mr. Foster looks down at my bags that Grayson holds and then towards Violet's door. "Oh, your mother didn't tell you yet?"

Violet's eyebrow raises. "Tell us what?"

From behind, light footsteps climb the stairs. "I forgot, I completely forgot!" Mrs. Foster cuts in quickly. Standing next to her husband, she takes the wet towel from his hands.

"Claudius and I have decided that Madison won't be staying in your room, Violet."

"What!?" Violet's jaw falls open. "Why? Is this because of the detention I got—"

"No, no, honey." Her step-father shakes his head. "With school-nights and homework... we feel it's best if Madison and you stay in different rooms to sleep. Sleep is very important, and we know you two girls won't be getting much of it if you're in the same room."

"Throughout the day you guys can hang out whenever, though." Mrs. Foster nods.

"Then where is she going to sleep, on the couch?" Violet crosses her arms.

Mrs. Foster explains, "no, because then you two could just stay up all night down there, like you did when you were little. Instead, Madison is going to be staying in Grayson's room. There's a very nice futon in there."

This time Grayson's jaw is the one to drop, and mine is right behind his.

No, no, no... this can't be happening.

"The hell?" Grayson drops the bags onto the floor heavily. "I didn't agree to this."

Mrs. Fosters expression changes drastically. "And I don't agree to you bringing random girls into my house when your father and I aren't home."

I bite my thumb, glancing at Violet. She has the same bewildered expression as me.

"This solves a lot of issues," Claudius intervenes. "With Madison in your room, you won't be able to have any random girls over late at night. You guys have known each other since you were little, and while you don't always get along, we think this is the best solution, and on the weekends she can stay in Violet's room."

Grayson doesn't take any more time to listen, and instead stomps down the stairs. Meanwhile, Violet has a sad, yet understanding expression on her face.

"He'll come around." Mrs. Foster says before turning on her heal and taking her husbands towel towards the laundry room. Mr. Foster gives a smile before disappearing into his room.

"Well, this blows..." I mumble.

Violet nods and just as she is about to say something, her phone rings. By the brightness of her face, I can tell it's her boyfriend, Austin. Austin Snare, an average yet kind boy that goes to our school. He's been in our classes since kindergarten, but it wasn't until high school that Violet noticed how the little boy who sat quietly in class, was now a man. They've been dating for over two years now.

She gives me silly look before answering the phone and politely closing her door. With no motivation to go anywhere, I stand still. A few seconds pass before I hear Violet's voice talk to me through her wooden door, "you might not want to listen in on this, Maddi."

Her voice was full of seduction.

I shiver, pulling my bags from the ground. They actually were sort of heavy... I'm glad I wasn't the one carrying them up the stairs. After a moment of debate, I place the bags down and drag them towards Grayson's room instead of carrying.

The already cracked door sways open as I nudge it with my foot. A wave of Grayson's smell brushes against my face, and once again, I'm greeted with dark walls and vague memories of that night. Despite knowing Grayson all my life, I've never been in his room very often. It feels weird... seeing the place where he is most comfortable. And now it was suppose to be my place too.

I place my bags near the foot of his bed. My eyes wander around. His dark curtains and sheets are bare, no patterns anywhere. I pull my shoes off, not wanting to disturb the surprising cleanliness of his room. When I scrunch my toes together, I notice that his carpet is dark blue, unlike Violet's which is a blush pink. There's a lot of details that I missed when I was last here...

He has a desk in one corner that holds a laptop, and his open school bag. Stepping closer, I notice an open notebook. It looks like he finished his homework from today... homework that I still have to do. I would say that it's unexpected that he's on top of his studies... but he has to be in order to maintain his spot on the football team.

In another corner of his room, there's a multitude of movie posters that are pasted on his wall, along with his dresser and a mirror. Up against the wall opposite of his bed, there's a small futon... also known as my bed. Aside from that, his room is pretty bare... and dark.

Too dark.

Making my way for his bedside table, I flick on his lamp. My eyes linger on nightstand and my hand slowly reaches for the small drawer on it.

Does he still have the box of condoms that I saw—

I quickly stop myself. What am I doing? Invading his privacy is really uncool, no matter how much of a jerk he can be. Why do I care anyway? I guess if the box wasn't there, a part of me would begin to believe that night never happened...

Sighing, I rub my face. Falling backwards onto Grayson's bed, I let out a light groan. A puff of his scent launches into the air, and I begin swaying my hand around to make it disappear. No matter how hard I try, I'm engulfed by everything that is him. How am I suppose to act like that night never happened when I'm stuck in here—

"What do you think you're doing?"

The sudden presence scares me to the point where a muscle in my chest jerks upward. I sit up so quick, that strands of my hair get stuck in my mouth.

"Don't sneak up on people like that." I growl at Grayson, pulling my hair from my lips.

"So, I have to state my presence whenever entering my own room now?" He asks, standing in his doorway.

My eyebrow twitches, my heart unable to calm down from the sudden scare. "It's my room too now."

"We might be sharing the room, but that's my bed." Grayson says lowly.

I ignore his comment, leaning back again. With my spine pressed against the softness of his covers, I shield my face with my arms, almost as if unseeing him will make him go away.

There's only a moment of silence before I hear the floor creak beneath his steps. Before I can react, he grabs my arms, pulling them away from my face. Lightly pressing them both to the bed, he leans over me, his messy hair falling from his forehead.

"Just because I let you into my bed once, doesn't mean I'll do it again." His eyes are just as tempting as his voice. I gasp as his hands drop to my waist. One moment I'm dazed, and the next I'm being shoved off of his bed. In a matter of seconds, gravity takes over and my face hits the softness of his carpet. I watched as he plops into my previous spot.

"You're unbearable, you know that?" I pull myself from the floor.

"I'd watch what you say to a person you'll be sleeping in the same room as." He says coldly. "Don't think I've forgotten what you and Violet did earlier."

I swallow, the air becoming uncomfortably tense.

Grayson doesn't wait for a reply. Instead, he turns his outstretched body away from me, pulling his phone out from his pocket. The covers wrinkle beneath him as his arm searches his nightstand. I watch as he puts in his AirPods and turns the volume up to a point where even I can hear it.

I stare at his back and the nape of his neck. Sighing, I drag my bags over to his closet.

"Other than your physicality" I grumble aloud, his music draining me out completely. "I really don't see what all the girls see in you. One minute you're a complete joker, and the next you're unreadable..."

I snap open my bag, pulling out a shirt. Grayson's closet is neatly organized, yet no where near as crowded as Violet's. There's more than enough space for a handful of my outfits. After putting away my clothing, I plop down on the futon. It's so plush, that I sink right in.

As my eyelids grow heavy, I realize that I still haven't done my homework. I'm not one to care about my grades intensely, but I always try to keep a B or higher. Usually, as long as I turn in every homework assignment, and do semi well on the tests, I do just fine.

Willing myself from the futon, I drag my school bag over to Grayson's desk. With the sudden realization that Grayson was still in the room, I stop in my tracks.. As I slowly look over to him, it appears that he's fast asleep, music still blaring.

Will his ears be okay? Jeez...

Hesitintaly, I stalk over to his bedside. Just a quick few taps won't wake him...

Tapping on his screen, I wake his phone. While it's still locked, the music player was still accessible. To my surprise, he has quite a few text unread notifications. As I go to press pause, a new one flies in just below my finger. My eyes fall on it, and all the ones below it.

He has a few from Justin, one from his mom... and the newest one from Amelia.

You awake? Wanna facetime ;)?

Okay. Ew.

Amelia? He talks to her? He didn't strike me as the type to like them snobby. Violet can't stand her, and she can't stand Violet. At the party though, she was being oddly kind to me...

A light groan comes from Grayson and my heart drops. I freeze. If he were to wake up, this would look like something it's not. Like I'm a snooper. As quick as I can, I tap the pause button and shuffle back over to his desk.

His ears will thank me later.

Pulling out my homework, I shove his notebooks aside. While all the answers are right there... I know that if I don't actually try to work them out myself, I won't understand them.

For what feels like forever, I scribble half-assed answers down and even smack my head to the table a few times as I doze off. Eventually, I realize I can't function properly any longer... despite only completing 2 problems and writing my name at the top. Leaving my stuff where it is, I stomp towards the beautiful futon.

I can hear the crickets from outside, and they sing me songs as I fall asleep.

*****