red hot | grayson dolan

seventeen

GRAYSON

After a long day of interviews, press, and fan Q&A's, the boys and I are exhausted. I let out a sigh of relief once we walk through the door of my apartment.

It's only eight thirty, but I'm ready to grab a beer and cuddle up with Avery in my bedroom. She squeezes onto my hand as we all rush through the door.

"Lily and I call the couch." Ethan yells, while Avery's best friend giggles. They practically run through the apartment to get to the living room.

Landon furrows his eyebrows and turns to look at my girlfriend. "Since when are they-"

"I have no idea, I'm just as confused." Avery says with a small chuckle.

"I need to run to the bathroom, but grab me a beer." Austin pats my shoulder before walking down the hallway.

"Do you want anything?" I turn to look at Avery.

"Just coke." She shrugs her shoulders.

"Uh, what?" My eyes widen in horror.

"Oh! Coca-Cola." She rephrases her words. Her cheeks burn red with embarrassment.

"Right, on it. I'll bring it over to you." I kiss her cheek and walk into the kitchen. Her reassurance made my muscles relax.

Avery smiles and sits down opposite of Ethan and Lily on the couch. "What a day, huh?" She laughs and looks at Landon.

"It's been pretty crazy. I can't believe the album is actually out." He shakes his head in disbelief.

"Well, you guys have been working so hard on it." She nods her head.

"I say we blast that shit and jam out." Ethan says while wrapping his arm around Lily.

"I'll grab my record player. I have a copy of our vinyl in my room." I say while tucking two beers and a bottle of Coca-Cola under my arm.

As I go to walk down the hallway, Austin emerges from the bathroom. He slightly jumps when he sees me standing in front of him.

"Jesus, you scared me." He stutters while quickly crossing his arms over his chest.

"You okay, man?" I furrow my eyebrows and look him up and down.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's been a long day of press." He inhales a breath.

I slowly nod my head while keeping my stare on him. He looks worn out, but that's probably because we've been up since seven o'clock to be on morning talk shows.

"Here's your beer." I hand him the bottle.

"Thanks, I needed one." He laughs and moves past me, walking into the living room.

I shrug it off and grab the record player from my dresser. When I pick up the Angels and Demons vinyl, I stare down at it. I can't believe our body of work is out, and people are listening to it. Comatose is climbing the carts, and so is the title track. It's unbelievable.

When I re-enter the living room, I hook up the record player and the first song comes on. It has a hard metal sound, so I automatically bop my head up and down.

"Fuck yeah, this is epic." Austin says while taking a sip from his beer.

"E, you killed the drums on this track." Landon says with a smile.

I walk over to Avery on the couch and pull her onto my lap. She sends me a grin and wraps her arm around my shoulder. I hand her the soda can and she happily takes a sip. I push a piece of her curly locks behind her ear and admire her. She's so beautiful, and she doesn't even know it.