Eleanor & Grey(7)

I guess I’ll be having his kids someday.

Those stupid butterflies in my stomach wouldn’t leave, so you can imagine my relief when Greyson stood up to go. My skin was pretty pale and when I blushed, it was obvious. I turned into the ripest tomato known to mankind. I didn’t need him to witness that.

“Whatever, man. Let’s go,” Landon said, looking past me like I didn’t even exist. That was fine, though. I looked at him the exact same way.

“I’ll talk to you later, Eleanor.” Greyson waved goodbye as he walked away. “Enjoy the book.”

Under my breath, I said bye before going back to my novel. Every now and then, though, Greyson would float around in my head along with Ron Weasley.

Not much later, Shay reappeared, and we started our walk home. “So, it seemed you and Greyson were having a good conversation,” she remarked.

I shrugged. “It was fine.”

“He’s a really nice guy, Ellie. Nothing like Landon. Greyson is genuine.”

She said it as if she was trying to talk me into allowing the butterflies in my gut to remain, while I was trying to somehow rip off their wings.

I shrugged once. “He’s fine.”

“Just fine?” she mocked, nudging my arm, probably seeing my reddened cheeks.

“Yup.”

Just fine.

Shay was crashing in my room that night, and when we walked into the house, the living room television was glowing bright. Some horror movie was playing so I hurried over and grabbed the remote, quickly shutting it off. There they were, passed out on the couch. Dad was lying out flat and Mom was wrapped in his arms.

“Should we wake them?” Shay asked.

I grabbed a blanket and covered them up. “Nah. They always end up in bed by the morning.”

This was a normal sight with my parents—Mom wrapped in Dad’s arms after they’d fallen asleep watching television. Whenever she would shift around on the couch, Dad would smile, readjust his arms around her, and get comfortable again. I’d never seen two people who’d merged so completely as one. If it hadn’t been for my parents, I’d have thought soul mates were a lie.





2





Greyson





“I’m just saying, I don’t get it. I’m real good-looking, she’s real good-looking! I just don’t get why she wouldn’t want to be with me,” Landon said, tossing his hands around like a madman as we walked home from the party. “I mean, we’re pretty much the Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson of Raine, Illinois. We’re meant to be together!”

He said it so passionately, I could hardly tell if he was kidding or not.

Honestly, he would’ve done a lot better dating Shay if he’d been this obsessed with her while they were dating. He pretty much shot himself in the ass by acting like one.

“I think you should let the idea of you and Shay go, man. I don’t think she’s interested.”

“She just doesn’t know she’s interested yet. You’ll see. You’ll all see!”

I rolled my eyes, but let him keep talking. There was no point in trying to reason with someone as wasted as he was right now.

“Anyway, sorry I made you talk to her weird cousin,” he said, running his hand through his hair.

“She’s not that weird.”

“Cardigans every day. Head always in a book. Weird.”

“Just because someone is different doesn’t make them weird,” I said, getting a bit defensive about Eleanor. Sure, she had her quirks, but so did Landon. He bit down on forks and pulled them out of his mouth, making an unbearable sound. He couldn’t watch a movie without going “Wait, rewind that, I missed something.” He couldn’t get the hell over his infatuation with Shay because she bruised his massive ego.

Sure, maybe Eleanor wore a lot of cardigans, but at least she wasn’t a jerk.

“Alright, alright. I see you made a new friend today,” he said, tossing his hands up. “I still think she’s a weird loner, but whatever.”

I guess in a way Eleanor was a loner. She was a professional at keeping to herself, outside of Shay.

Sometimes I wished I could be more like that.

It seemed less complicated.

Landon lived on the same block as me, and when we walked up to my house, his over-the-top chatty persona faded as he took in the howling that was coming from my house.

Mom and Dad were home.

That was always a treat to partake in.

Landon stuffed his hands in his pockets and he gave me a pathetic smile. “You wanna crash at my place tonight?”

I shook my head. “Nah, it’s fine. I’ll just hurry to my room. I’m sure my dad will find a reason to storm off soon enough.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Night.”

He scratched the back of his neck, hesitant about my choice, but he started walking away. “All right, night, Greyson.” He paused, then turned back to me. “I’ll leave the window to the first floor guest room open tonight if you need it, okay?”

Even though he was sometimes a crappy human, he was a damn good best friend.

“Thanks, Landon.”

“Yup. Night.”

Once I reached my front porch, I hadn’t gone inside. I knew nothing good would come from walking into that place.