Think of me

twenty three: who's the boy?

Billie

In the morning, I woke up late. It didn't matter because it was a Sunday but I still had loads of homework for school the next day that I had left until the last minute, as usual. As soon as I sat up in bed I felt a familiar pounding in my head. This hangover didn't seem as bad as the one after Ben's party. Maybe it was because Grayson had bought me those brownies.

I immediately started getting flashback of last night, and my stomach filled with butterflies. I remembered that Grayson had been watching me try to dance, and then called me sexy! And he drove me to a look-out point that had a view of the whole town. I was a little disappointed when he didn't kiss me, but I understood why. It showed that he was respectful and didn't want to take advantage of me while I was drunk. 

Then I remembered that Megan girl. She was saying that I'm not the type of girl that Grayson usually went for. And that he usually went for 'pretty' girls. I don't blame him. He was absolutely gorgeous so why wouldn't he? I was a little confused as to why he was choosing me over pretty girls like Megan. But I prayed that he only had good intentions. 

When I saw those two squished up against the fence, I should have been able to tell what Megan was up to. I guess the tequila was making me delusional. I know Grayson didn't do anything, but the fact that I got jealous about it confirmed my feelings for him. I just couldn't wait for next Sunday.

I picked up my phone from the side of my bed to find a couple of messages. The first was from Grayson.

How are u feeling? x

I replied to let him know I had a bit of a hangover but the brownies definitely helped. I then wished him luck for his rugby game and sent the message.

I then opened a text from Madison. 

B! I have so much to tell you! Reply to me ASAP xx

I laughed at my phone. I could only imagine what she had to tell me. I replied to let her know I was awake. She replied less than a minute later.

OMG OMG OMG!!! Ben kissed me last night! It was so cute he literally waited until we'd got to my house and then he did it before we said goodbye xx

I was so happy for Maddie. She'd been in a couple of relationships, but they were never serious. But this thing she had with Ben just seemed to be more natural, she'd never been this excited about a boy before. I replied:

Omg I'm so happy for you! Wow that's so cute <3 You coming to the rugby game next week? xx

I soon got a reply from her.

Yes, definitely xx

I was getting more and more excited as the day went on.

*

At school the next week I couldn't really focus. My stomach was constantly feeling fuzzing, partly the butterflies and partly the nerves of meeting up Grayson when I wasn't getting drunk. On Monday morning I explained the brief details of both parties to Hailee. I felt bad about going on about it since Madison and I had pretty much forgotten about her for the past week. I realised that Hailee hadn't been invited to either of the parties, not that she would have enjoyed them anyway. She didn't seem phased by it because as soon as I was done swooning over Grayson, she began swooning over her girlfriend Lauren. 

I couldn't help but notice we weren't as close as last term. I hadn't seen her in a week but we weren't joking around as much, and it was almost awkward when we ran out of things to say. I feared that the whole Lauren and Grayson thing might have caused us to be spending even less time together than before. 

Hailee told me about all the dates she'd been on over the break and all the time she'd been spending with her girlfriend. It made me happy to see her happy, but also a little jealous that she didn't ask to meet me once. I guess some people grow apart, and if that was what was happening here, there was nothing I could do to stop it.

The week came and went and it was soon the weekend. On Friday afternoon I walked home and jumped straight into my bed. I did basically nothing for the rest of the afternoon. I put Friends onto Netflix. I must have seen every episode ten times by now, but it never gets old. I texted Grayson a couple of times and then fell asleep.

I was woken by a knock on bedroom door.

'Billie! It's dinner time.' My oldest brother, Cody, shouted through the door. I jumped up from my bed and went downstairs. I had obviously napped so long that my parents and brothers had got home before I woke up.

I hadn't really seen my parents all week since they'd been working late everyday. We hadn't had dinner as a family since before the party. I sat at the end of the table, with a roast dinner on a plate in front of me. It smelt delicious and I couldn't wait to eat it.

'So, how has everyone's week been?' My mum said through mouthfuls of roast potatoes. 

'Well, I know Billie's was good.' My other brother, Brad, said out of the blue. 'Especially on Saturday night.' My head shot up to give him a stern glare. What was he talking about?

'Oh yes, how was that party you went to Billie?' My dad spoke up. 

I forced a smile through my worried expression. I was already terrible at expressing my feelings. If Brad did know about Grayson then how would I even explain that? Oh, he's just this random boy who beat up two other boys at a concert, then happened to be at a party I went to, then we got drunk together, then he invited me to another party, I got so drunk that he had to feed me brownies before dropping me home during the early hours of the morning! I swallowed hard.

'Um, it was fun thanks.' I said. 'Me and Maddie had a great time.'

'Oh yeah? What about that boy I saw you in a car with outside the house?' Brad carried on. He was only doing this to annoy me and get me into trouble.

'A boy?' My mum said. I could tell she was trying not to sound too excited. She'd never known of me being with a boy before. I shot a deathly stare at my brother before turning to my mum and smiling.

'He was just dropping me home.' I explained. 'He's wasn't drinking so he offered to drive me home. He's really nice, you'd love him.'

'Billie's got a boyfriend, ha ha ha.' Cody laughed. I was sitting close enough to slap him on the arm before denying what he had said.

'He's not my boyfriend!' I claimed.

'What is he then?' Cody continued. I hung my head. How could tell my family that when I didn't even know the answer?

'I'm not sure.' I said. 'We're just... seeing how things go?' I shrugged my shoulders. I hated talking about this, especially to my family.

'Well why don't we meet him?' My dad said. His eyes were narrowed but his voice sounded jolly.

My stomach did a little flip at the thought of Grayson meeting my family. It all felt too soon, but at the same time, it was exciting. I knew my family would love Grayson, no matter how soon they met him. But I wasn't sure how Grayson would feel about meeting my family, especially since he told me he doesn't get on with his own.

'Maybe soon.' I said.