common ground | hayes grier

4

Allie

"You're so bad at this," I laugh making Hayes frown. We were playing Just Dance 4 on his xbox Kinect and he was losing by a lot of points.

"Hey, I'm trying my best," he defends. I look at him and realize that he's still doing everything wrong.

"That's not an excuse," I tease. He shakes his head but still does not give up. I just don't understand how a person with this much determination can be so bad.

About 50 seconds later, Super Bass ends & I, of course, am announced as the winner. No surprise there, I didn't have any actual competition.

"This game is rigged," Hayes decides comforting himself. He takes a seat on the couch the rests his feet on the coffee table.

"No it's not, you just have no talent, Grier," I smirk before taking a seat next him. Me sitting down suddenly gave him the idea that his feet belonged on my lap instead of his lovely coffee table. "Hayes, get your grotesque feet off my lap!" I scream attempting to remove his feet from my body.

"Nah, your lap is comfy," he concludes fighting to keep them on.

//

"Seriously guys? Skipping school?" Elizabeth exclaims. "Well I expect it from the guys, but really Allie, you agreed to skip school?"

Elizabeth received a call from the school about the four of us not attending class, that was a call she was not to pleased with. She began to chew us out as soon as she entered the house.

I lower my head in guilt. "I'm sorry, that wasn't the plan, it just kinda happened and I'm ashamed for going along with it," I apologize to her.

"Well I'm sorry but I have to call your dad and tell him what happened," she frowns still looking extremely disappointed in us, well in me.

"Please don't," Ethan begs which is understandable. It's almost time for him to get his licence and he does not want anything to give dad a reason not to buy him a car & honestly I don't know how my father will react meaning he has every right to be scared.

Elizabeth sets her phone on the infamous Grier family coffee table then puts it on speaker so we all can here.

"Hello?" I hear my dad say from his end of the call.

"Mark, this is Elizabeth," she tells him, "you're on speaker with the kids," she adds.

"Okay, but may I ask the reason for this call, I'm quite busy at the office and don't have much time to spare," he states. Typical dad, always busy.

"Well I'm calling because I received a call from the school telling me that the kids ditched all of their classes, and did not even show up today," she explains.

"That's not good kids, don't do that again... But I really must be going now, there's a lot to be done at work," he tells us sounding very uninterested in this conversation.

I'm not surprised.

"Do you have anything else to say to them, Mark? This is very serious!" Elizabeth exclaims.

"Yes, this is very serious, and I have faith that you will deal with it accordingly. Now I really must go, goodbye," he finsishes before hanging up the phone. Typical Mark McAllister.

I suddenly find myself running up the stairs, into Hayes' room, away from the commotion going on downstairs.

I shut the door behind me then lie down on Hayes' bed, but no more then 30 seconds later there's a knock on the door.

"Can I come in?" Hayes asks from behind the door.

"Do what you want, it's your room," I sigh. He walks in the room and shuts he door behind himself. He goes to the opposite side of the bed than me and lies down next to me.

"What's wrong, Al?" He questions seriously.

"Are you serious?" I reply blank-faced. "Were you not just downstairs during all of that?"

"All of what? Your dad's not even mad, you're not in any trouble," he states trying to cheer me up.

"Yea my dad's not even mad... That's because my dad doesn't even care," I snap and Hayes' reassuring smile drops.

"All he cares about is his work, and couldn't give a crap about me and Ethan. Even if I was missing for 3 months he wouldn't notice until someone brought it to his attention... and even then he would probably say I don't have time for this I'm working."

"Allie. I've known you basically my whole life. You're at my house basically every day. I see you everywhere and all time. Even If I tried I would never be able to get away from you," he begins and I can't tell if he was trying to make me feel better or not.

"Um thanks?" I mumble but it comes out more as a question. I awkwardly shift my position on Hayes' bed to get a little more comfortable.

"All these things mean you're family. You're my sister. My mom is your mom, your dad is my dad, we're all one family. You and Ethan will never be alone and there will always be people who care about you, even if you're going through rough patches with them," he chuckles referencing our years of disputes, our many many disputes. The two of us are hardly on good terms.

"And your dad loves you. He loves you more than anything else in the world. That is why he works his butt off everyday you moron. He wouldn't do that if he didn't. He just wants the best for the family,"

"Well if on the way, he neglects the family he's got, is it really worth it?" I ponder aloud.

"I don't know Al," Hayes breaths, "I really don't know."