Page 24

It rang once, twice.

“Jess?” he answered. His voice sounded almost as soothing over the phone as it did in person.Almost.

“Hey, Greyson. Can I…do you think I could come over for a little bit?”

I could hear him shuffling around, hear the rustling of fabric. Was he in bed? Was he changing?Was he naked?

“Jess?” Greyson asked, snapping me back to reality.

“What?” I replied. I hadn’t heard anything he’d said.

“I said, ‘Are you okay?’ You sound off.”

“Oh. Yeah. I’m okay, I just… I really need to get the hell out of my house,” I told him honestly.

There was more shuffling around on his end of the line. “Just give me a couple of minutes, and I’ll come get you. We can go for a drive or something.”

At his offer, I felt half of the tension slip away from my body. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” he said, genuine, like it really wasn’t a big deal at all.

And it was ridiculous, the way that I fell in love with the words that came out of his mouth.

Twenty-one Before

GREYSON JUST DROVE.He drove and drove and drove, drawing out the silence, somehow knowing that I needed it. He didn’t say a word. Just played song after song and kept driving.

I had no idea where we were headed, but I didn’t care. Because just being in his car with him relaxed me. It was as if the last time we’d been in his car together had never happened. It wasn’t awkward, or tension-filled, or forced. It was simple.

Quiet. Comfortable.

It gave me time to process. Time to come to the conclusion that I was angrier than I realized. I was holding anger inside of myself like a poison. Allowing it to fester. The most frustrating part was that I didn’t knowwhy.Not really.

It just lingered. A steady, churning ball in the pit of my stomach, and I didn’t have the first clue how to get rid of it, or at the very least, how to begin chipping away at it.

But I thought to myself,at least I know it’s there.That had to be a start, right? I thought so; it was a good enough start for me.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I noticed the ocean peeking at us from in-between the buildings and houses we were passing by. I looked down at my phone, checking the time, and realized it had been over an hour since we’d left. The sun had almost fully set.Had it actually been that long already?

We still hadn’t said anything to each other, and I couldn’t help but start to think that while things didn’t feel awkward or strained on my end, that maybe they did on his.

I looked over at him, for the first time since we’d left. He was in dark swim trunks and a white tee, a slow smile curving his lips as he quickly glanced over at me and then focused his eyes back on the road again.

So, no. Not awkward. And I guess he’d known where we were headed all along, too.

He rolled his window down, the wind forcing his hair to dance around his face. I rolled my window down, too. The salt-thickened air blew into the car, coating my skin, whipping my dark hair all over the place. I could already smell the sand and waves from where we were.

I closed my eyes and soaked it in. The salty air, the smell and feel of it caressing my skin, the sound of waves crashing as we got closer.

When we were as close to the beach as we could get, he pulled into a spot along the street. He didn’t open my door for me, but that might have been because I hadn’t really given him the chance to. I’d hopped out of his car so quick he barely had his door shut before I’d shut mine too.

I watched him, purposefully, as he slid some coins into the parking meter. He was so calm, so sure of himself. In a completely non-arrogant way. I found that I admired that about him—a lot.

We both started walking down the sidewalk and towards the darkened shore without a word, but still, it wasn’t awkward.

We made our way down the steep stairs that led to the beach, and Greyson hopped down the last three-foot drop into the sand and turned around, holding his hands out for me. I grabbed them and jumped down in front of him, looking up into his eyes with a small smile.

That smile felt weird on my lips. Out of place. A contrast to the way I’d felt since waking up that morning.