the half of it

chapter seventeen

stares continued to follow them as they went to the back of the store, grayson got continuously more and more anxious with every person that walked by.

"are you okay?" owen leaned down as he walked beside grayson, a worried tone to his voice.

"yeah, yeah i'm fine" grayson smiled and continued to push the wheels forward, alice stared down a man who walked by and slowed down when he saw grayson.

"you have no idea how much fucking chocolate milk 5 kids go through in a week, its amazing really" alice said as she grabbed a 4L of chocolate milk and dropped into the cart.

"5 kids?" grayson asked in a desperate attempt to focus on something else.

"4 siblings, and my baby" alice smiled and put a couple more things in the cart.

"you have a kid?" grayson asked, owen took over pushing the wheelchair discreetly as they went over to the next aisle.

"yeah, izzy she turns two next month" alice lit up with joy when talking about her daughter, finding goldfish and snacks.

"how soon can i meet her?" grayson laughed, still painfully aware of the people staring at him.

"yes! she'd love you" alice squealed, heading down the next aisle first as owen laughed.

there was the family from before in the next aisle, a mom and dad in their late thirties with a 5 year old girl and a 7 year old boy.

both kids stopped dead in their tracks and pulled at their parents sleeves, pointing at grayson as owen stepped in front of him in an attempt to help.

"it's okay" grayson lied, holding his breath slightly and feeling his heart beat out of his chest.

"mom! mom, look at him" the boy said as the mother tried to walk away.

"what davey?" his mom said in an almost too sweet tone as she knelt down and grabbed her boys hand.

"that boy over there doesn't have legs" he said as he looked at grayson, who was trying his best not to have a panic attack.

"do you want to leave?" alice asked grayson, her voice quiet as she death glared the family.

"yeah" grayson choked out, owen quickly took the handles and started walking.

"excuse me! excuse me" the shrill voice rang out after them, heels clacking against the floor as she walked quickly towards them.

"wait" grayson said to owen, who stopped and turned around to face the woman and boy, the husband and girl standing a few feet away from them.

"hi i'm sienna, this is davey" she said and held up the hand of her little boy clasped in hers.

"grayson" he introduced himself quickly, his voice deep and quick.

"my little boy is just so curious about everything, he's an A+ student" sienna said as davey continued to stare at grayson, looking him up and down.

"okay" grayson said, not knowing what to say as he grew increasingly uncomfortable as daveys blue eyes burned into him.

"what happened?" davey asked, his voice loud and high.

"i'm sorry but i'm not answering that" grayson said, feeling owens hand squeeze his shoulder.

"oh my im sorry are you two..." sienna pulled her boy closer to her, graysons breathing got so quick he felt his heart was going to explode.

"together? yeah" owen answered, not taking his hand off graysons shoulder and rubbing it gently.

"i will - we will pray for you" sienna hugged davey close to her hip, her eyes filling with tears.

"can we meet you in the car ally?" owen asked alice as all three of them turned around and started walking away.

"yeah of course" alice replied, breaking off from the two of them and heading to the checkouts as the boys walked towards the doors.

"gray? gray" owens voice sounded far away to grayson, who felt the weight of the world setting on his chest and waiting to explode like a ticking bomb.

they got to the car and owen sat down on the passenger side and lifted grayson onto his lap, holding him to his chest and rubbing his back.

"i'm sorry, sorry" grayson sobbed, his breath so quick owen thought he was going to pass out any second.

"it's okay gray, just breathe with me" owen took deep breaths slowly and waited for grayson to join in, nearly five minutes before grayson started to join in.

grayson calmed down twenty minutes later, still in owens arms as alice sat in the backseat and stayed silent.

"are you okay grayson?" alice asked as owen switched grayson so he was sitting down and moved to the drivers side.

"yeah, i'm really sorry" grayson said, voices still sounded like they were far away and his heartbeat still seemed to sound in his head.

"do they happen a lot gray?" alice asked as she leaned over the seat and wrapped him in her arms tightly.

"not anymore really" grayson answered, slowly but surely coming back to reality as he focused on the feeling of leather oh his hands.

"i used to have them a lot when izzy was born" alice said, sitting back in the seat and buckling the seatbelt.

"they suck" alice said as owen started the car, pulling out of the parking lot and getting onto the main road.

"yeah" grayson said as he turned around and smiled as best he could at alice, who reached around to buckle his seatbelt gracefully.

"i'm going to bring izzy out, i would invite you in but it's pretty crazy" alice said as they pulled into her driveway, opening the car door and running up the steps of her house.

"i'm sorry if i freaked you out" grayson turned to owen once alice entered her house and reached for his hand, owen took his hand and clasped it tightly.

"you did freak me out, but it's just because i've never seen it before" owen said as he pulled his knee up to his chest and kept his other hand on the steering wheel.

"i get it, i should have told you" grayson said, looking to owen who was stroking his hand with his index finger.

"i don't want you to have to tell me anything, i just want you to feel comfortable enough with me" owen leaned in and kissed grayson on the forehead first, then pressing their lips together.