Us by James Bay

Tell me how to be in this world. Tell me how to breath in and feel no hurt. Tell me how cause I believe in something. I believe in us.

With working and school and rehearsals for the show I've barely had a second where I'm not busy. However I still manage to make time for meeting up with Grayson. As friends. I think.

Today I'm closing up the cafe. My last customer is a rather stubborn one. I make my way to the table, I pick up the guys drink and take a sip. 

"Your 'hot chocolate not too hot' is cold." I inform Grayson as he types on his laptop.

He looks up at me to reply and then his gaze jumps around the empty room, freshly mopped floors and tables glisten. 

"I'm so sorry. Are you closed Mademoiselle?" Grayson asks with a French accent. The quiet sound of the smooth jazz radio station plays from the old speakers.

"For you, we stay open forever." I reply, matching his French accent with a smirk.

"Tu as de la farine sur le nez" he replies, closing his laptop over. "Oui oui. La baguette es bien." i reply the only french words I know.

"You have flour on your nose." He translates, standing up and stepping closer to me. I almost think he'll lean in for a kiss but instead he brushes flour off my nose with a smug smile. 

He packs up all his things in his bag and places it on his back. He throws out his old coffee cup. 

"How long were you waiting on me?" Grayson asks. "Not long, I just worked around you." I tell him.

It's Friday night, as much as I'd like to stop working as soon as possible and head home, I wouldn't dare interrupt Grayson Hawthorne's study binge. 

"Theres another party tonight at that Frat house we were at last week." Grayson comments as I wipe off the table he was sitting at. 

"Oh really?" I raise a brow, "That almost sounds like an invitation?" I hint. 

"That almost sounds like a yes." He suggests. "Very well." I nod.

I switch off the radio and turn the lights off as he uses his phone flashlight to keep some light whilst I lock the door.

I crouch down and place the key under the doormat like always. "Very secure." He mocks. "Well now you know the secret to robbing a stash of stale muffins." I gasp.

"And you best believe I'll be using it."

He walks me back to my house and waits downstairs as I get dressed. I wear a two piece set. A bright red satin bralette and a matching short skirt with a small slit. I curl my hair and wear some red lipstick as well as black heals. 

I look for my friends but find a note on the upstairs table saying they went to a frat party and I should come along. 

I walk down the stairs and meet Grayson in the hallway by the door. He tries not to let his eyes wander but he fails for just a second and immediately flicks them back up at my face. 

We head out and walk together to the frat house. When we arrive his friends greet him with fist bumps and chest bumps. From what Grayson has told me, a lot of the boys in this frat house pretend to be dumb so they get away with more but really they're all just as smart as him. 

Grayson and I walk into the kitchen passed all the dancing sweating young adults and he offers me a beer, I happily take it. He takes my hand and leads me out to the garden. 

I find all my friends already out there with his friends setting up for a game of flip a cup.

"Bronco!!" Tristan yells, "Sup dude." Grayson jogs over, still holding on to my hand. I hold back a laugh, college Grayson is so funny.

"Rooney, you look so hot!" Maddie squeals. I give her and Rachel a quick one handed hug as Grayson fist bumps his group. 

"We're playing flip a cup you should join." Rachel invites. I glance over to Grayson for a second, "You too Bronco, you can both play so numbers are equal." Another of Grayson's friends convinces. 

He looks at me to check if I want to and I nod. "Yeah, why not." Grayson agrees. 

They start filling up two more cups. I look down at our still interlocked hands only now realising we're still holding onto each other. 

He looks too and we both immediately drop hands and head to the end of both sides of the table. 

"Okay it's just like normal flip a cup but you can't use your hands." Tristan explains. 

We start on the count of three and I watch as each person drinks and struggles to flip the cup. My friends are in the lead until Maddie's turn. She's surprisingly bad and takes minutes to flip it, so now both teams are tied with one person to go. 

Grayson and I glance at each other for a moment before grasping our cups with our teeth and drinking it quickly. 

We start trying to flip as both teams cheer for us. I manage to flip the cup first and my friends all erupt into cheers as we jump around. 

After a while of drinking and joking around both of our groups retire to the sitting room together. "Can we play never have I ever?" Maddie bounds excitedly, sitting on her boyfriends lap. 

We all agree and start playing, every time it's a yes you drink. "Never have I ever cheated on someone." Maddie starts.

A couple people drink and we all laugh a little as Tristan watches Maddie carefully. 

"Never have I ever had a threesome." Rachel asks. I burst out laughing when Tristan and Maddie both try to subtly sip. 

"Oh my god, who?" Wyatt asks desperately. "Just some girl we met at a party.. it was like a year ago." Maddie admits.

"Never have I ever said someone else's name in bed?" Wyatt asks now. Rachel looks to Hayden knowingly. Hayden rolls his eyes and takes a small sip. "Wait what?" I laugh looking between the two. 

"Hayden and I were hooking up a couple years ago and he said his ex's name." Rachel says bitterly. He puts his hand up in surrender, "Mistakes happen." He shrugs.

Wyatt and I both burst out laughing, holding onto each others hands. 

"Never have I ever went down on someone you didn't even know the name of." One of Grayson's friends asks. 

I take a sip of my drink and Rachel nudges my shoulder gently. "What?" Wyatt laughs shocked. 

"Some guy in a club, we danced then he took me to the bathroom and I.." I trail off and Maddie does a hand gesture describing what I did and I nod. "Did you ever find out who it was or was it a blow and go?" Rachel asks.

"His name was Yoda and he was 23." I bite my cheek embarrassed. Everyone laughs at me and I go a little red. 

"You're so mysterious babes, I can see why everyone wants a piece of you." Maddie nudges me.

"Never have I ever had a pregnancy scare." One of Grayson's friends asks, everyone turns to look at the only 5 girls (Me, Maddie, Rachel, Grayson's friends girlfriend and Grayson's friend).

Grayson's friend (Anna I believe) drinks and everyone waits for her to explain. "I hooked up with this guy who never wore a condom and then my period was late so I sort of thought I was but it was cool." Anna explains.

I make eye contact with Grayson whilst she talks, neither of us really listening as we focus on each other. Neither of us break the eye contact. 

"Never have I ever kissed two brothers in 1 day." He smirks. I scoff and take a sip, "Never have I ever been arrested." I tilt my head. He sneers and takes a sip. 

"Never have I ever got drunk on the Fourth of July on live television." Grayson raises a brow with a smirk. I take a sip. "Never have I ever fired a gun." I raise both my brows. He drinks.

We both stand up in perfect sync and slowly walk towards each other until we're face to face. 

"Never have I ever got a tattoo involving inserting something in somewhere." He seethes. I take a drink. Everyone seems to be watching us in anticipation of something. None of us are sure what that something may be, however we do not break the eye contact as things get more and more heated. 

"Never have I ever gone cliff diving." I speak slowly. I see his jaw clench before he sips. "Never have I ever been shot." 

I take a sip.

In this fiery moment I can't tell if I want to kill him or fuck him.

"Truth or dare." I speak randomly. "Dare." He replies sharply. "I dare you to kiss me." I speak lowly for only him to hear.

I smirk. 

He scoffs.

Then when I think he'll back down, he connects our lips. His hand goes to my back as the kiss deepens into a desperate and fierce kiss. My hands reach into his hair. 

He kisses me like he's on fire and I'm the only source of water. He kisses me like I'm the last drop of air in the room. He kisses me like he's dying and I'm the cure. He kisses me. And that's all that matters. The one kiss that simultaneously starts my life and ends it all at once. 

Butterflies devour my stomach. Chills crawl up my spine. The rest of the world disappears and all that counts is him. Him and me. Here. Now.

The adrenaline coursing through my veins feels euphoric. 

He's the one to separate our lips, which I'm secretly glad about because I don't think I could. Both our eyes stay shut for a moment after separating.

I carefully open my eyes and suddenly I'm staring into his gorgeous light gray eyes. Have they always been this majestic?

Every part of me wants to lean in again but I stop myself. I can't help but look only into his eyes. 

"I'm sorry.. What just happened?" Maddie gasps. 

Immediately Grayson and I both push each other away and jump back a few feet until we're fully separated.

He brushes his hands on his shorts and I subconsciously readjust my skirt. "I need the bathroom." He speaks suddenly in a thick hoarse voice and jogs out. "Boner alert!" One of his friends cheers and everyone laughs.

"I need some air." I barely manage before walking outside to the garden. 

The air outside is polluted by cigarette smoke and the sickly sweet fumes of vapes. I lean on the wooden railing surrounding the landing.

My eyes are wide and my lipsticks all smudged. That was wrong. Right? If it was so bad then why do I want to go into that bathroom and do it all again. 

I brush my hair off my face with one hand. I jump when I hear my friends coming outside in a group, "Rooney!" Maddie yells. 

They come towards me, "What was that?" Rachel asks in shock. I have no clue.

"I- I don't know." My voice is rough from the kissing. "We've kissed before. But never like that. That was- felt.. different. It felt real?" I panic, pacing back and forth. 

"It looked real. Something straight out of euphoria." Maddie giggles. 

"Can we just pretend that never happened?" I beg. "Yeah, but I think you'll need to bring it up at some point." Wyatt laughs. 

"In fact, I'm gonna just go." I shake my head and start walking through this house. "I'll come with you, this parties getting boring." Rachel smiles assuringly as she follows me. 

I tell the others to stay and after some negotiations they agree. Rachel and I head to the front door about to leave. 

"Paris." Grayson's voice speaks urgently from the end of the corridor. I turn around and find him fresh out the bathroom looking at me. 

"Are you leaving?" He speaks firmly. I nod in response. Rachel gestures to me that she'll wait outside whilst we talk. 

"You got any plans for Sunday?" Grayson asks nonchalantly. "No. Why?" I reply confused. "It's your birthday. If you aren't busy I was thinking I could maybe take you out to dinner?"

My birthday. He remembered. And he wants to go out for dinner. On a date? No. Not a date. Just as friends.

"Uhh- well, yeah I guess." I agree, sounding more flustered and nervous than I'd like to. 

 "Okay, I'll text you." He smiles a little. 

He steps a little closer to me for a hug. Right before he can get close enough to me to hug my I stick my hand up for a high five. Oh my god Paris. Stop. I mentally kick myself as he high fives me gently with a little confusion.

I head out immediately and let out an embarrassed groan the second I close the door. 

"What?" Rachel laughs. "I think he might have asked me out. But then he tried to hug me and I high fived him?" I sigh. 

Rachel lets out a small snort as we start walking back to our house. 

"So when's your date?" She nudges my shoulder a little. "Not a date. He's taking me out for my birthday on Sunday." I tell her. 

"You want us to leave the house for the night?" She raises a brow. "No. Because we're just friends. And it's completely normal for friends to kiss." I speak urgently. 

"Okay girl." She scoffs.

(a/n. NEXT CHAPTER Y'ALL. Next chapter. I'm telling y'all, it's the one. I'd been planning the next one since I first read Final Gambit. So excited to see everyone's thoughts on this one and the next. I'm also falling asleep writing this no joke my eyes can't stay open more than ten seconds.)