I trail behind the two boys as they reach the balcony. I can't help but admire the stars shining brightly, illuminating both of their features as if they were in a movie. I didn't make a move, wanting to know what they were discussing. Grayson is the first to speak, "what do you want Kennedy?" The irritation in his voice is crystal clear, making sure Abacus didn't miss it.

"I want you to stop messing with my girlfriend."

Grayson lights a cigarette as if without a care in the world, leaning against the smooth balcony. "Stop causing a scene and let's get back to my mother's ball."

"As soon as you promise to stop messing with my girlfriend," Abacus then turns him around and grabs him by his jacket's collar. Grayson is leaning against the balcony, cigarette still in hand and a smirk.

He blows the smoke in Graysons face and says, "make me." Abacus is clenching and unclenching his fist, trying hard to not hit Grayson. I can see the internal turmoil going on in his head through his brown eyes. "Just admit it already, you were using Amelia to hurt me."

Abacus shakes his head and crouches down, "No. I wouldn't do that."

"Yes you would Kennedy. You think I'm a fuck up, but you're just as fucked up as me. We let two perfectly sweet girls get caught up in our own drama and bring them down because of it. I did that with Sienna and you're doing that with Amelia."

"That's not true."

"Really?" Grayson says flabbergasted. "When are you going to just admit it?"

Abacus stands up, "I wanted to hurt you. I did, but I care about her."

"I care about her too," Grayson says softly. I can feel an involuntary smile make its way to my face.

"She wouldn't forgive me if she knew," Abacus says, lost in his own thoughts, and then points at Grayson, "you never did."

"You ruined my life, how could I forgive you?" Grayson's words come out harsh and with no mercy.

"I didn't mean to," Abacus says.

"That doesn't make anything better. My dad died believing something that wasn't true. I can never change that."

Abacus yells and hits the balcony. "Then what do you want me to do?" he yells, "do you want me to go downstairs and get a microphone? Announce to everyone how I got you kicked out by planting steroids in your bag." He has lost control and sits on the edge, placing his head in between his legs. "I can't believe I did that," he says through tears.

Grayson shows no mercy as he responds emotionlessly, "I can't believe it either." He sits down next to him with a grunt and continues smoking.

"You have to understand Grayson, my dad, he wasn't in a good place," Abacus says pitifully. Grayson looks at him with no hint of giving anything away. Abacus takes the chance to talk. "Freshman year, I was the best until you showed up with your own dad always wanting to make sure you were better. You had a higher connection with your dad's money, the school loved you."

"Football was never about money and you knew that."

"I know, but my dad didn't. You had Sienna with you, and that only made him madder. If I couldn't be with her, I should have at least pulled my weight and done better at football and beat you. He started training me harder, but when it wasn't enough, he started making me take steroids." Grayson just shakes his head. "I refused for as long as I could, but then, the day you got the quarterback position, he was so mad and went ballistic when I refused them again." We both narrow our eyes at him as Abacus looks out into an abyss, cold and heartless as he must have felt at that moment. "He left me badly bruised that day when I went to Sienna, she cried as she patched me up. I swore her to secrecy and she never told, hasn't."

Grayson is left speechless as I am. Unlike me, Grayson places a hand on his shoulder, letting him know it was okay. I gently sit down on the stairs and lean on the wall. In my eyes, they looked like 13-year-old versions of themselves. The ones that they could have been had their parents not pinned them against each other. They could have leaned on each other long ago, but they were doing it now. They let the silence speak for a moment before Abacus continues.

"That day, I heard some guys talking about the coach finding steroids on the field. I panicked. If they found them on me, I didn't know what would happen. What would happen to my dad?" He looks at Grayson, "you were already down a dark road. Everyone knew it. Alcohol, smoking, fighting, that I figured-"

"Why not blame the fuck up? What's one more thing?" Grayson finishes, void of emotion.

Abacus purses his lips, "I felt like I had a lot to lose Grayson, to me, you had already lost everything. So when I had the chance, I quickly slipped them into your bag and next thing I know-"

"The locker searches. I remember standing there, all lined up. The coach was walking up one by one as we emptied our containers. I was calm because I knew it was you, not me. I thought, 'The golden boy is going to fall from grace.' Caught me by surprise when he pulled them out of my bag. I detested you at that moment. I hated you."

"Yet you never told," Abacus says.

Grayson scoffs, "Who would believe me? My own father didn't."

My heart goes out to them. Grayson didn't have someone on his side who would have defended him and Abacus didn't know how to be imperfected. I finally knew the story of their feud and understood their all-consuming hatred of each other. Grayson would never get the chance to show his father the truth and Abacus still had the pressure to be better than the one guy he didn't want to compete with. I understood both of them a little bit more tonight than I had in the last couple of months.

The silence is shattered by the sound of Aurora, who had gotten a mic. "Has anyone seen my son? He was going to sing me a song, like every year. Grayson?"

By the time the boys get downstairs, I'm already sitting and pretending nothing happened. I figured that it was the best option because this wasn't my fight. I give Abacus a small smile which he returns as Grayson takes a seat next to me. "Did I miss anything?" he asks.

I shake my head, making sure to give nothing away.

"Grayson," Aurora says, finally noticing him next to me. "Why are you hiding from your mother?"

She extends the mic to him and gives him a gentle smile. He grimaces and takes it, walking over to the piano. I watch him stand at the mic and say, "This is dedicated to my father."

"May I have this dance?" Abacus says and I take his hand. We walk to the center as Grayson starts playing the tune of a song I recognized. Before you go by Lewis Capaldi. His mom sits next to him, swaying at the beat and holding the mic for him. Grayson starts to sing and I stare in amazement at his voice. How could this boy have so many hidden talents? Abacus places a hand on my waist and I lean my head on his chest, as he moves us back and forth. I look at Grayson who seems to be entranced in the song and watches his fingers glide over the keys masterfully and delicately as if he could break one at any moment.

"I fell by the wayside, like everyone else

I hate you, I hate you, I hate you

But I was just kidding myself."

I close my eyes, getting entranced in his voice and skill when something starts nudging at the back of my head. Abacus twirls us around as other people have joined, but I try to find Grayson amidst it all.

"Our every moment, I start to replace

'Cause now that they're gone

All I hear are the words that I needed to say."

I can see his mom crying beside him, while those who aren't dancing, are quietly singing along. The pain in his voice jots a signal that I felt I heard before. The song he was playing reminded me of another one I had heard 3 years ago. I close my eyes again and that's when I see pieces of the memory buried from so long ago. The first night I met Grayson Archer. 

>>>>> 

Ooooo, big reveals going on and now the next chapter is about how they met? 

Any guesses on what happened? 

Also, I wanted to ask and tell, because I feel like it might be anti-climatic how we found out what Abacus did to Grayson, but I wanted to clear it up. So, at first, it was going to be a fight, but you also have to take note that they had a friendship and never truly wanted to physically fight. They wanted to be mean and sulky but never actually fight. So, I wanted to ask your thoughts. 

Ps. I did want the gif to be like a handsome guy smoking over a balcony but figured this worked too. 

Please comment, vote, and share!

Phoenix <3