disorder :: grayson dolan

six

Grayson was feeling a bit better now, sitting outside as guests arrived for the barbecue. Luke and Lili were next to him bickering over a bag of chips.

He walked over to Ethan for a moment, pulling him to the side.

"Don't tell mom and dad."

"Gray..." Ethan sighed. He doesn't want his brother to have to go back, but he's obviously still not in a good place. "I'm just worried about you. You really scared me this morning."

At least when he was at rehab Ethan didn't have to worry all the time. "It- it won't happen again. It was a relapse. Just please don't tell mom and dad,"

"Bro, I have to. I'm sorry," he pats his brother on the back. "It'll be alright."

Luke approaches them before he can argue, eating the bag of chips he stole from Lilibeth with a grin, until Ethan steals them and runs away, that is. Luke chases after him, and before Grayson can move, his parents approach him.

"Is Lili still here? Could we meet her?" Sean asks with a smile. They didn't really get to talk to her earlier because they were a little busy setting up.

"Yeah, she's a little anxious so she might not talk too much at first, but she opens up." He smiles lightly, leading them to where she's pouting over the loss of her chips. "Beth, these are my parents, Sean and Lisa."

"Hi," Lilibeth smiles, nails instinctively digging into her palm. "I-I've heard a lot about you."

"We could say the same," Lisa laughs kindly. "How long have you known each other?"

"We- um, we had seen each other around for a while but didn't really become friends until about a month ago." She was doing her best not to seem awkward. She didn't know what else to say or if she should ask them anything.

Why can't she just fucking talk to people?

She found it ridiculous the way her brain would scream at her whenever she tried to do normal things. And she was so mad that she had to be like this, but couldn't fix it.

But she managed to pull herself together enough to hold a conversation with them, along with the help of Grayson. When they walked away she let out a huge breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"I think they like you."

Lilibeth pulled on a slight smile, looking down at her hands. Her nails were shorter now that they'd been clipped, so she hadn't pierced her skin, but there were still prominent marks from how long she'd been pressing her nails into her skin. It was a bad habit she had no clue how to break, or if she even wanted to break it.

A lot of people ended up coming over, so Lili mostly tried to people watch whenever she wasn't with either Grayson, Ethan, or Luke. No one else really tried talking to her much anyway, and she wasn't sure whether to be offended or grateful. She decided on the latter option.

After they'd eaten dinner, people were hopping into the pool and breaking out some board games to play and talk to people.

Luke had fit right in along with all of these people he barely knew, able to make friends and conversation so easily. Lilibeth really envied him. She was quite bored and anxious just sitting off to the side, but she didn't want to follow her friends around either.

Luckily, Grayson walked back over to her with a smile.

"Wanna get out of here?" He asked, raising a brow. She gave him a quick nod, confused as to where they were going, but didn't bother to ask. He dragged her to their garage, uncovering a red four-wheeler and tossing her a helmet before putting one on himself. "I wanna take you somewhere,"