Eleanor & Grey(25)

I walked over to Greyson, who looked so handsome in his suit. There were a ton of people standing around the entrance of the school, dressed up and laughing.

“Nervous?” he asked me.

“Terrified,” I replied.

This was kind of our first outing in public. Our reveal, of some sorts. Sure, we ate together at lunch, but Shay was always there. We never looked like we were a thing, but walking into that building together would definitely make it seem that way.

I didn’t even really know what we were, but I didn’t see a need to find out, either.

It was pretty simple, actually.

He was him, I was me, and we were us. This was our story.

“Don’t worry, Ellie. I got you. And also—” he took my hand into his, linking us together as one— “you look beautiful tonight.”

Chills.

Chills all across my body.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready,” I replied.

When we entered the gymnasium, a few people whispered about the two of us being together, but Greyson didn’t seem to pay much mind to it. I didn’t either, because if he didn’t mind, it didn’t matter.

He looked at me every now and then like I was the only girl in the room, and that meant everything to me. In a room filled with Stacey Whites, his eyes were on Eleanor Gable.

“Do you want to dance?” he asked as an upbeat song began.

My heart started pounding against my rib cage. I shifted my feet. “Oh, no. I don’t know how to dance.”

“You don’t have to know how to dance in order to dance.” He stood in front of me and started kicking his arms and legs around like a wild man. “You just do it.”

I laughed. “You look crazy!”

“So?” he said, still kicking, still jumping. Then he held his hand out toward me. “Look crazy with me?” he asked with the silliest smirk ever and I swear, I just thought about kissing him in that very moment.

I took his hand in mine and stood up.

Okay, Greyson.

Let’s go crazy.





The night was perfect in every way, shape, and form. When it came time for the last slow dance, we walked to the dance floor and Greyson placed his hands on my lower back. We swayed back and forth just like every other couple around us, not really doing anything, but feeling like we were doing everything.

“Why did you want me to come to the dance with you?” I asked him.

“Because there’s no one else I’d want to go with. Plus, well, I kind of got the idea from your mom.”

“My mom?”

He nodded. “When we were painting, I asked her what she was looking forward to with you. You know, like your wedding someday, or your college graduation, or things like that. And she mentioned school dances. So, I wanted her to have that experience.”

My eyes filled up with tears as I stopped swaying. “You did this for my mom?”

“Yeah, I mean, it seemed really important to her.” He paused and cringed a little. “But I mean, just to be clear I did it for me, too. I really wanted to dance with you, Ellie.”

My mouth parted and my sigh fell between my lips as I went back to swaying with him. I rested my head on his shoulder and breathed him in. “Grey?”

“Yes?”

“Would it be all right if I kept you forever?”





When my parents picked us up, we dropped Greyson off first, and when he was out of the car, Mom turned around and gave me the biggest grin. “So, how was it?” she asked.

I sighed, and I was certain she could see the stars in my eyes and the cheese in my smile.

Her grin widened as if that moment was the happiest moment she’d ever lived. “Yeah?” she asked.

I sighed, smiling with the kind of delirium that could only be described as happiness.

Yeah.





12





Eleanor





One day during the first week of November, I walked home from school, and when I headed inside, I was surprised to see Mom and Dad sitting in the kitchen. “Hey, I thought you had a doctor’s appointment,”

Mom rubbed her tired eyes. “We decided to miss it.”

“Miss it? You can’t just miss treatment like that, can you?”

Dad frowned. “We actually came to the decision to stop treatment, Eleanor. After getting some results back, we realized this was the best choice.”

“Well, what do we try now? What do we do?”

“Honey, I’m tired,” Mom confessed. “I’m so tired, and nothing we’re trying is working. I’m only getting worse, and I don’t want to spend these days feeling like this. I just want to be with you and your father.”

“You’re giving up?”

“No. I’m giving in. We’ve exhausted all of our options.”

I went quiet. I didn’t know what they wanted me to say. I didn’t know what to even think.

Dad rolled his shoulders back and cleared his throat. “I asked Paige what she wanted, and she said the water. We found a nice place on the beach down in Florida. It’s beautiful, Ellie.”

“You want us to go to Florida? For how long?” I asked.

Mom smiled. “For however long we’re able to be down there. I know that changes things for you. You’d have to switch schools during your senior year, and things with Greyson—”