the half of it

chapter thirteen

one month later

"this would be a lot more awkward if you still had your dick" cameron tried to lighten the mood as he helped grayson into the shower.

"you would be jealous" grayson cracked a smile, he had finally started to feel better but since he missed so many physio therapy sessions he has regressed quite a bit.

"no way man, it's the law the oldest brother has the biggest dick" cameron laughed, steadying grayson as he lifted his arm up to grab the shampoo.

"not to brag, but i'm the only who has a girlfriend here" aaron added as he walked past graysons bedroom, gracie in tow.

"i thought gracie was saving herself for marriage" grayson shouted back through the closed door.

"blowjobs don't count" aaron shouted back as gracie shushed him, running up the stairs.

"they seem happy" cameron said as he sat down on the toilet, letting grayson take over.

"hey whatever happened to that owen dude" cameron asked, a hint of a grin coming across his face.

"never called him back, i'm quite the player you know" grayson teased, although it was true. he had never texted owen back after the night and he was guessing owen thought it was a fling.

"remember when you fucked three guys in a week and they all showed up here at the same time?" cameron laughed, remembering the day when he drove grayson back home from his last day of tenth grade and there was three guys on their doorstep.

"they were all named jake" grayson added, a huge smile lighting up his face.

"they all took it up the ass" he quickly added in, earning a groan from his brother.

"TMI man" cameron helped grayson out of the shower, lending his shoulder for grayson to wrap his arm around.

"you have PT at 2, i have to run a few errands before are you okay coming with?" cameron asked as grayson dried off his hair.

"where to?" grayson asked as he rolled into his bedroom to find a hoodie in his drawer.

"grocery store, need to restock the fridge" cameron braces himself for grayson to say no, even though they lived in a town of 1500 people and every single one of them knew about graysons accident he still wasn't comfortable going out.

"sure" grayson said calmly as he pulled on a black hoodie, cameron's jaw dropped to the floor.

"but can i stay in the car?" grayson added, still a big step for him without diving off the deep end.

"yep, we'll leave in thirty" cameron smiles as he pushed grayson out into the living room.

grayson found a pack of cigarettes on the counter and tucked them into his pocket, as well as stashing the lighter on the kitchen island.

he went on his phone until it was time to leave, rolling down the ramp into the garage and letting cameron help him into the car.

the grocery store was a ten minute drive, cameron took control of the aux as he said graysons music was too "goth".

"okay, stay here i'll be back in 20" cameron said as he stepped out of the car, leaving it running to keep it warm.

"trust me, i'm not going anywhere" grayson joker as cameron rolled his eyes, turning around and jogging into the supermarket.

grayson plugged his phone into the aux and shuffled his music, hang on to yourself by palaye royale started to play through the car speakers.

it took him a minute to get a cigarette from the carton and light it but he eventually got it, taking a long drag and blowing the smoke out his window.

it had been maybe five minutes when grayson noticed two figures walking over to the car, he couldn't make out his features through the smoke but as they got closer to the car grayson immediately wanted to disappear.

"grayson?" owen leaned down my the window, alice standing beside him.

"hey" grayson offered the cigarettes and they took one, pulling their own lighter out of their pockets.

"you look good" alice said as she blew smoke out of the corner of her mouth.

"thanks, you too" grayson replied, already feeling the tension of the incredibly awkward encounter.

"you two talk, i have to um - do something over there" alice laughed and walked away, leaving owen leaning in the car window.

"so you never texted me back" owen grinned, teasing grayson as he was very obviously uncomfortable.

"yeah i'm sorry about that, it was a dick thing to do" grayson responded, lifting his sweater slightly to put the cigarette out on his side.

"i'm sure you say that to all the boys" owen said, faltering slightly when he saw grayson put the cigarette out on himself.

"do you not have an ashtray or something?" owen laughed as grayson fumbled to light another cigarette.

"brothers car, i never use ashtrays anyway" grayson admitted, shrugging his shoulders. he forgot that people found it weird he put cigarettes out on himself, it never hurt.

"okay then, moving on" owen shook his head and stood up, pulling out a piece of paper and scribbling something on it.

"this might be super embarrassing if you're not interested at all, but just in case you lost my number" owen handed grayson the piece of paper with his number on it and ran to catch up with alice.

cameron came walking out of the store 16 minutes later, carrying 9 bags on his arms. he opened the trunk and loaded them in, circling back to the front and jumping in the front seat.

"you good?" cameron asked, noticing the smoke but not saying anything about it. 

"no cam i almost died in the twenty minutes without you" grayson rolled his eyes and unplugged his phone, letting cameron take over.