15. Noah
“What happened to you?” Greyson started his question when he was in the hall, still a couple steps away from my room and finished it when he stood in my doorway, his eyes touching every corner of my space before they sought me out.
His expectant gaze settled on me and I met it before looking away.
He only had on red pajama pants and his glasses, a change from what he’d been wearing at dinner. It was crazy how the color immediately filled my mind with thoughts of True.
Red hair.
Red lips.
Red wine .
The color was hers at this point, but it looked good on Greyson too.
“What happened to me?” I repeated, too tired to act like I didn’t know what he was talking about, but smart enough to buy myself some time before I had to answer.
“Yea, your face is wrong.”
Your face is wrong.
A joke sat at the tip of my tongue about his insightful word choice until he held up a Twix I hadn’t seen before.
For a minute, the rustling wrapper was the only noise in my room while he opened the chocolate with pure concentration on his face.
“Want half?” he offered, holding it in my direction.
Without hesitation, I accepted the left Twix and bit into it, feeling Greyson’s stare on me the whole time.
“What happened to you?” He was back to his original question. “You were quiet at dinner and after when you won Uno against me and True twice. You’re usually a sore winner, so what’s up?”
“Long day.” I bit into the Twix and shook my head.
“Parents?”
“Sister,” I amended.
Greyson frowned at his half of the candy bar and my first real smile in hours curved my lips. He didn’t like sweets, so he always offered to share them with me. But it was obvious he’d only brought it in here tonight to break the ice.
“What did she do?”
I recounted our talk from earlier and guilt sat in my gut like a lead weight because I was lying by omission. The conversation with my sister had left me tight but I had mostly gotten over it once I left Soulstice.
My real problem came later. When I had my heart in my throat and the nerve to ask True to be my date before it got snuffed out by that message coming through on CarPlay.
Greyson one upping me and asking True out first shouldn’t have mattered, especially when he didn’t know I was planning to do the same thing.
He finally raised the chocolate to his lips and sank his teeth into it.
“Mmm.” I didn’t know if it was a sound of appreciation or disgust but it made me smile again.
“Speaking of your sister, I invited True to the reception with us.”
Us ?
“What did she say?” I asked, playing into the fact that he didn’t know we’d been together when he messaged her.
“Yes. Here.” Greyson held out his half of the chocolate and looked relieved when I took it.
“I thought it would be good for her. Get her out the house. And reduce the number of strangers we have to share a table with. I love you and your sister but the rest of your family is nosey. The less of their questions I have to answer, the better.”
He pushed his frames up on his nose, watching me. “I don’t know if she has anything to wear though. Maybe we should take her shopping? Do you think she would say yes? I could have my shopper buy her a dress but that seems…”
“Controlling?”
He cut his eyes at me. “ Heavy handed .”
“Hmm.” It was bad enough that I’d been sulking because he’d asked her out. It was worse how much relief I felt when I realized he’d just done it so the three of us could go together.
“Is it fucked up that I kinda don’t want her to get over this writer’s block?”
“Yea, nigga,” I laughed. “It’s fucked up.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean I don’t want her to leave before we…” He trailed, adjusting his glasses again and shook his head. “Never mind. I’m going to bed.”
There were a million different ways his thought could have ended and I would spend too much time thinking about it before I fell asleep tonight.
Before we what?
Who was we?
Was it him and True?
Was it me, him and True?
Wait.
Why would it be me, him and True? Did he feel the same hope tugging at him as I did whenever I was around our neighbor?
I chewed the inside of my cheek and shook my head as he turned to walk out.
When he got to my door, he hesitated before walking out and gave me a soft smile. “You feel better?”
Sticky caramel coated my teeth and the heaviness sitting on my chest had dissipated. Thanks to him.
Yea, I felt better.
“Night, Greyson,” I said as my answer.
“Later, Noah.”