i like (the idea of) you • grayson dolan

six

OPAL'S POV

A few days after the party, everything is normal.

By normal, it means that Ethan and Grayson are back to their usual selves, especially at school. I'd only interacted with them both a couple of times since the weekend, but they weren't as friendly as they were when I was over at their house.

I took that as a good sign. Even if it did leave me even more confused and frustrated than before.

After my nap on Sunday, I woke up to my dad in the kitchen cooking. He thought I'd slept all day, and I technically did so I didn't fight it. But after that, Celia and I talked on facetime for hours about everything that happened.

"Julie and I kissed!" She gushes, head falling against the pillow. "Her lips were so soft. I think I'm in love."

"Love is a bit much, Lia," I laughed. I wanted to hear about Celia's night first, before I dove into mine. "But that's great! Are you gonna ask her out anytime soon?"

Celia groaned, an unsure shrug of her shoulders following. "I want to but... I don't know. She hasn't answered my texts all day. Maybe the party was a mistake or something."

"I'm sure she's just busy. Give her a little bit, I think a kiss is a good sign," she sighs, but nods slightly. "Anything else I should know?"

"No. I wanna hear all about your night sleeping in Grayson Dolan's bed," Celia grins, wiggling her eyebrows at me. "Like, the kid who has annoyed you more than anyone else in the world since like middle school? And hanging out with his brother, your second least favorite person? Hello, details!"

"There's not much to tell, Lia. He didn't even sleep in it with me. They were both... oddly nice, though. And he gave me his shirt."

Celia gasps. It wasn't that big of a deal, nothing even happened.

"Oh my god. They're both secretly nice? We have to tell everyone at school," she teases. It was funny, to think about them being so caring after everything. "Did you at least keep his shirt?"

Since that day, my life has returned to its calm state. It was nice, honestly. Though Julie had kind of ghosted Celia.

In fact, Celia was out sick today because of it. She'd been feeling really down, so she took the day off. I was planning to go over to her house after school and surprise her.

My classes without her are incredibly boring, though. So, slamming my locker at the end of the day, I leave as soon as I can.

Arriving home, I blast some music as I'm making myself a snack, slipping into shorts to get more comfortable. I'll hangout at home for a bit before surprising Celia.

Though, at the sound of a knock on my door, my heart drops. That hadn't been good lately.

I opened it to see Grayson standing there, smiling at me. Inhaling sharply, I look him up and down. He still had his bag, though I knew he didn't just get home.

"Hey, Opal," he hums, squeezing inside my house.

"Um... hey?" I'm not quite sure why he's here. He was nice last weekend, but we still weren't close friends.

"You forgot this in Ethan's room," Grayson chuckles, taking my hoodie out of his bag. "Though it was nice to see you without it for once."

I'd completely forgotten I wore it that night. As he hands it back to me, it smells slightly like his room mixed with what I briefly remember Ethan's cologne smelling like. Definitely needs to be washed. Not a bad smell but... I don't need my clothes smelling like it.