When It Rains (Grethan)

Ice Cream & 16

The next morning was strange to say the least.
Grayson dropped an entire box of cereal on the floor while trying to avoid Ethan as they passed in the kitchen.
Ethan flooded their bathroom- forgetting to turn off the sink after shaving his non-existent facial hair because he was so conflicted about the night before.
Words weren't even exchanged between the two for a total of six hours which, in twin time, is an eternity.
Later that day Grayson was scrolling through Twitter on his phone, lazily sprawled out on his bed trying to think of anything other than Ethan's lips when his mom knocked at the half-open door.
"Knock knock", Lisa said playfully," anybody in here?"
"Hey", Grayson replied, sitting up to look at her, tossing his phone away, "how was work?"
"It was fine, fine. My boss's birthday was today so we all got to go home early. Where's Etee?"
Grayson wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, something he only did when he was nervous or uncomfortable.
"Um...I don't know, maybe in his room?"
"Are you two fighting Gray?", she asked in that concerned mom voice. You know the voice.
"No no, we're good. I think we just spent a little too much time together. Got into an argument about who forgot to bring in the good football last night. No biggie", he lies, shaking his head.
"Well, i'm sure you two will work it out. I'm about to start dinner, any requests?" Lisa asks.
"Nope."
"Alrighty", she chirps, starting for the door, but stopping at the entry way,
"Hey, you know what might cheer you both up?"
"What mom?", Grayson asks wearily. He hopes it isn't some weird bonding exercise.
"Well...you two do turn 16 in a few weeks, which means you'll be able to drive...why don't you and Ethan take the car to get some ice cream for practice by yourselves?"

•••

"I cannot for a single second comprehend the fact that Lisa let us take the car", Ethan says behind the wheel.
Ethan's one condition for going for ice cream with Grayson was that he, of course, got to drive there.
Grayson wasn't in a position to object, seeing that he desperately wanted things to be normal between them again.
"Yea, that was pretty much my reaction too...there's a stop sign up here."
"Oh, thanks. I didn't even see it!"
"I know", Grayson dryly replied, his eyes instinctively hitting the ceiling.
"Grayson Bailey", Ethan began with wide eyes,"Did you just roll your eyes at me? While I have your life in my hands?", he gestures to the steering wheel.
"Hmm. I dunno", he played, smirking,"maybe I did Ethan. But, honestly, what on earth could you do about it?"
"I could spit in your ice cream. Or, yea that's a winner, I could tickle the shit out of you while you're caught off guard. I know where you're most ticklish", Ethan threatened jokingly.
"Eyes on the road, Grant."

•••

"I'll have the dairy-free mint chip, and he'll have the chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles", Ethan told the bored teenager behind the counter.
It warmed Grayson's heart that his brother not only knew his order but ordered for him. It reassured him that maybe everything could go back to normal between them.
"Dairy-free?", Grayson's eyebrows drew together in disbelief.
"Trying something new", Ethan replied, shrugging and shoving Grayson's shoulder with his own.
When they sat down across from each other at the small table their knees brushed, making them both cringe. Grayson felt bad for some reason about what had happened that night, as if Ethan didn't want the same thing he did, which made every little touch difficult for him.
Ethan could feel his heart in his throat at the contact, little volts of electricity shooting through his body. Ethan was repulsed by the idea that he had probably put Gray in a weird situation last night, kissing him when Gray probably felt obligated to just go with it. Although, he did seem to be fine with whatever was going on last night...
"Sorry", Grayson muttered looking down at his ice cream. Ethan didn't want to make his brother uncomfortable so he tried to play it off by brushing their knees again, hoping it just seemed friendly.
Although he knew Gray didn't feel the same, he hadn't been able to take his mind off of him all day, the way Grayson's body responded to his touch-
"Don't be", he smiled, cutting off his own thoughts before he couldn't stop them.
"Wanna play catch when we get home?", Grayson asked in an effort for everything to seem normal.
"Yea Gray, of course".
Grayson looked down at his ice cream and Ethan couldn't help but watch the way his mouth contracted perfectly around the spoon, sucking at the end of it before scooping the rest out with his tongue.
Ethan suddenly felt like it had gotten ten degrees warmer in the building.
What made it worse was Grayson's eyes fluttering up to meet his own.
He had been caught.
He'd never felt so at a loss for words so he coughed and pretended like he hadn't just been staring.
"So...", he started, nervous, "did you hear about the new Cudi single coming out next week?"

•••

Over time, the boys somehow reverted back to their old ways...mostly.
They didn't talk about what had happened that night, and they acted as if it never did.
They were pretty good at keeping the act up too. There were only a few slip-ups...like when at football practice Ethan found himself glancing toward Grayson's direction when they changed jersey's in the locker room.
Or, like the time they were swimming at their friends pool party and Grayson found himself shooting bullets with his eyes at the girl who helped Ethan apply sunscreen to his back.
It didn't rain once at night. For about three weeks. It rained during the day twice, but always seemed to clear up around six p.m.
It did however, manage to rain on none other than the night of their 16th birthday.
In honor of this monumental occasion they had both gone to the DMV to get their drivers licenses, and their parents had taken the whole family to dinner.
"Happy Birthday boys", their father had said after they blew out their candles. Ethan refused to eat the cake (sticking to the dairy-free thing), but did serve everyone else. He made sure Grayson had the biggest piece with the least amount of icing because he knows Grayson hates it.
"Thanks dad", they said in unison.
As they finished eating the cake, and the bill had arrived, their waitress had come over to grab the stray plates from their table.
"I hope you guys brought an umbrella, apparently it's supposed to get really nasty out there pretty soon", she said, reaching for Lisa's empty plate.
"Oh we didn't", Lisa said, the corners of her mouth moving into a frown, "but thank you for the heads up.
Just then Grayson stopped chewing, fork in mid air, and locked eyes with his brother. Ethan was staring back with intensity.
It was a force of habit of course, and Grayson knew obviously that this night wouldn't be like the other rainy ones.
He could be strong enough to stay in his own room...without Ethan.
He tore his eyes away, put down the fork, and stood up ungracefully.
"Where are your keys, mom? I'll go get the car so no one has to walk through the rain."
"Would you really? Oh Gray that's so sweet of you, thank you", she crooned, searching through her massive purse for the car keys.
"Be careful backing out son", Sean warned.
"Yes sir", Grayson replied, taking the keys and one last glance at Ethan, who was talking to Cameron, before walking out of the doors of the restaurant.

•••

Ethan took a 40 minute shower that night. Contemplating.
Trying not to be excited at the sound of the rain pouring loudly onto the house.
He wished he could stop feeling what he's feeling, but he's tried his best.
I won't act on anything, he told himself, he probably doesn't even feel the same way.
We'll just sleep, was Ethan's last thought before finally turning off the now lukewarm shower.

•••

Grayson felt like he was teetering on the edge of insanity when it got to be around 11. Everyone had gone to sleep, he knew because the light under his door had turned to black, and the only sound running through the house was the rain and wind outside of their walls.
Grayson looked at the clock for the tenth time in one minute before grabbing a pillow and shoving it over his face.
He was going to sleep tonight.
Without Ethan.
In a thunderstorm.
This was something he hadn't done since he was 8 years old.

•••

It took him quite a long time to settle down and to convince himself that this was the best thing for everyone before he finally drifted off into a fitful sleep.
He must not have been sleeping too heavily, because he is slightly aware of a presence opening and closing his bedroom door, as well as the sound of soft feet finding their way to the foot of his bed.
The next thing Grayson knows, someone has hit him in the face with a pillow.

"Gray!", Ethan whisper shouts, "Wake the fuck up."