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In truth, I’m not okay…
And I don’t know if I ever will be.
***
Grayson’s aunt opens the door, and she smiles at the sight of me. “Oh, Riley! How are you doing, sweetie?”
Mrs. Hale was skeptical of mine and Grayson’s relationship in the beginning. I wasn’t her first choice for her nephew. I think she would have been happier if Grayson was dating Oaklynn. She had been pushing for it to happen, until the moment Grayson told her that he was dating me.
I’m glad that she eventually warmed up to me.
We even went out for brunch once. Mrs. Hale was the one to suggest it. “I want to know the girl who stole Grayson’s heart,” she had told me that day. “You make him smile, and it’s a rare, beautiful sight.”
I smile, stepping inside. “Hi, Mrs. Hale. I’m good, how are you?”
She closes the door and quirks up an eyebrow. “I’m alright. Grayson is upstairs. Does he know you’re coming?”
I shake my head. “No, I didn’t tell him.”
“Well, go on then.” She’s grinning. I like her smile, there’s something comfortable about it. And her eyes — the warm look in them, is not fake.
“Thank you!” I rush upstairs to Grayson’s room. He still lives at home with his aunt and uncle, only ever going to his penthouse when we want privacy or to spend the night together.
I pause at his closed door, knocking softly.
“Come in,” he answers right away.
I open the door and peek my head inside. He’s lying on his back in his bed, shirtless, with a thick book in his hands. There’s just something sexy about men who read. Men with glasses, specifically.
I walk inside and the door closes behind me with a quiet click. “What book is that?” I ask, biting my lip. His head snaps up, and he drops the book at the sound of my voice.
His eyes widen in surprise, and then his grin steals my breath. “Riley!” Grayson jumps off his bed and closes the distance between us in three long strides. His gray sweatpants hang low around his hips, and my throat is suddenly parched. His arm curls around my waist, tugging my body into his.
His lips claim mine in a heated kiss. Oh, wow. God, the butterflies he gives me.
“You missed me already?” I murmur, giggling into his mouth. The moment I’m in Grayson’s arms, I forget all about today’s mess. My father’s threats and the anxiousness that has been eating me up on the inside.
“Fuck,” he groans, his hands going to my ass, “you said you would be out all day with Lila.” Grayson lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist. He carries me to his bed and we fall back onto the mattress, a tangle of limbs. “Yeah, I fucking miss you, Goldilocks.”
Grayson rolls over on his back so that I’m lying on him and practically using his body as a human mattress. My head is tucked against his chest, his heartbeat resonating in my ear. A blanket of calmness settles over me…and I am safe. In his arms.
My throat grows thick with sadness when I remember he won’t be going to Harvard. I don’t know how I’m going to handle a long-distance relationship. I’m barely holding myself together now…what am I going to do when Grayson is not there with me? What will I do when his warmth isn’t surrounding me anymore, keeping me safe and sane?
He has nurtured the emptiness in my heart with his sweet love and tender adoration. Grayson found me when I had been yearning for something more from my hollow life, yearning to be loved… and he filled my longing with his heated kisses and whispered caresses.
“Are you still sure you don’t want to go to prom?” Grayson asks, his fingers brushing over my arm.
“No,” I tell him. We’ve talked about this. There’s no reason for me to go to prom. I hate crowded and loud places. Going there would only trigger my anxiety. Maybe three years ago, Riley Johnson, the Cheer Captain, would have loved to attend prom.
But this Riley?
She wants nothing to do with it.
I lift my head. “Wait, do you want to go?”
Grayson shakes his head. “No, I really don’t care for it. But I want to make sure that’s what you want. If you decide to go, we will, and I’ll make it an unforgettable night for you. You deserve nothing less, Goldilocks. But if you don’t want to go, then that’s fine too.”
I bury my face into the crook of his shoulder, inhaling his scent. “I don’t want to go.”
