Little Sweet Dreamer - Wattys Edition

Chapter 22

Sasha and Evan scrambled away; Sasha yanked the sheets over her naked body, and Evan fell off the bed while throwing on his pants.

"You're both garbage," Grey said harshly. Evan ignored him and tried to push past him to get to me, looking apologetic. I took a step back and avoided his eyes.

"Stay away from her," Grey said, shoving Evan back. "You two wanted each other. So have each other." Grey led me out the door, slamming it shut. I stood still as he angrily clenched his fist and then turned and punched the door. The wood cracked beneath his weight.

He regained composure and walked downstairs without another word. I followed after him quickly, pushing past the mobs of drunk teenagers. When I finally escaped into the night air, I saw him angrily kick in Evan's car door. I ran up to him and stood between him and the car.

He looked enraged before saying, "Get out of my way, Hazel!"

"You're gonna do more harm than good!" I signed.

"She cheated on me!" he exclaimed, running his hands throughout his hair, pulling at it. "Again! And with the same person! He was supposed to be my friend!"

"You don't need them!" I signed. "They aren't good people. Don't stoop to their level."

His voice strained as he seethed, "I don't know why I got back with that skank."

I placed my hand on his chest as he took another step towards the car. His heart spasmed under my palm, pulsating so hard it could burst out of his ribcage. He flinched and took a step back, swallowing.

"Why won't you let me do this?" he asked. His voice sounded too vulnerable, his eyes unable to meet mine as I stepped closer to him. He didn't move. I hesitantly wrapped my arms around him, encasing him in a hug.

For a moment, he was still—his heart was the only thing that seemed to still stir in him. But then, his arms hesitantly wrapped around me.

"Why are you being nice to me?" he asked.

I pulled away. "I know you're hurting."

He chuckled bitterly and shook his head. "You're kind, Hazel, but come on. You know nothing about me. And I'm not even hurting. I'm just angry."

"I know a lot more than you realize." Hazel, you're giving away too much. Bite your damn tongue-fingers.

"Yeah? Like what?" he pushed.

"You obviously have trauma from your past."

"What, and you don't? We're all just the trauma we experience in our childhood." He scoffed. "Are you a therapist or something? Dissecting my childhood has nothing to do with how I'm feeling now."

I don't know why, but his words burned.

"I just don't want you to do something you regret."

"That's not your choice, Hazel," Grey said as he stormed to the other side of the car. He got a few good kicks in before I shoved him back and signed, "This won't help!"

"Says who?" he shouted. "He'll have to deal with getting a new car, and I get the satisfaction of knowing that. Move!"

"Why does this have you so angry?"

"It's not only this, Hazel. It's everything. I'm angry at everything that's happened in my life. You just don't get it. You don't know what I've been through."

"Yes, I do."

"You know nothing! Stop trying to play mediator. You're just making me angrier." A shout of frustration escaped his lips. He continued, "You think you can understand because you're compassionate or whatever you think you are, Miss Goody Two-Shoes, but I know you're nothing but a non-verbal girl who's angry at her circumstances, too, damn it!" He kicked the car harder than before, and I yelped slightly.

"Grey, please..."

"I'm so fed up. Sasha was the only one who helped me. She understood what I went through. Evan, too. And what did they do?" He laughed bitterly. "And now you want to help? Why? You're just like them."

"I know more than Sasha and Evan what it's like to witness a parent die. Seeing your mother drown... I can only imagine—"

"How the hell do you know my mother drowned?" he asked coldly.

I didn't even realize I slipped. I froze, and Grey stared at me, waiting for an answer. We stayed like that for a moment. My eyes were glued to the floor in panic.

"How... do you know that?" he asked. My eyes remained staring down. "Hazel." His voice was too calm and collected. "How do you know that? Evan told you?" I shook my head.

"Then how else would you know?"

"I don't know."

"I'm going to beat the hell out of him," he growled and started towards the house. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all my strength.

"Please, don't go after him," I signed desperately. "I can't tell you how I know, but I promise you he didn't tell me."

"Then you need to tell me how you know," he snapped.

"Grey, I can't." Thorough angry breaths, a change came in his facial expression. His breathing slowed, and we locked eyes.

"Your father died," he mumbled. I swallowed. He searched my face. "At a Mobile gas station." He stepped closer to me. "Your father's killer wore sunglasses and a ski mask?"

I let out an audible gasp of panic; he remembered our dream together. His eyes were wide, as if he hadn't expected such a reaction from me. We stared, shocked, and I wracked my mind for ways to twist this into something else, anything else.

"You know my mother drowned," he said, gently pressing me against the car with renewed confidence. I shook my head. "Don't lie now, Hazel. If it wasn't from Evan..." He took a moment to let his hands encase my face, causing my breath to hitch in my throat. "Then was it from a dream—"

"What are you doing?" Andy shouted. A relieved sigh escaped my throat as Grey released my face and took a step away from me. I steadied myself as Andy came to my side. Ana, Blake, Mindy, and Arnold followed suit.

"You okay?" Ana asked me. I nodded and leaned into her as she wrapped her arm around me. Grey didn't spare them a second glance. Instead, he walked away from us, his hands in his pockets. He gazed at me longingly for a second before sauntering off.

"What was he doing to you?" Andy asked. I shook my head and waved the question away.

"You're sure you're okay?" Arnold asked as Mindy rubbed my back. I nodded, too shaken to pull out my phone.

"Well, our plan worked," Blake said. "Good job, everybody."

"I feel so bad for him," Ana said. "When I gave him ideas about dates he could have with Sasha, he seemed genuinely happy to hear about them. Big oof."

"If anything, he'll get back together with her," Blake said. "But we've freed Hazel from Evan, and that's all that matters."

"Are you sure Grey will get back together with her?" Mindy asked, causing us to all look at her. "Like... what was going on over here, Hazel?"

I pulled out my phone and wrote, He was angry, so he took it out on me.

"That's not my definition of taking it out," Mindy said. "It seemed like he was full-on, ready to kiss you passionately." I felt my cheeks heat up, but I shook my head and hurriedly typed, "Trust me, he wouldn't have. He was being intense."

"Sure," Mindy said with a smirk teasing her lips. I turned away before she was able to read too much. In all honesty, I didn't know what Grey wanted to do. He was so close to me.

The thought of his lips touching mine sent a flood of butterflies swarming into my stomach. My steady breathing broke for a second, and I hoped nobody noticed.

"Well, now that this party has officially crashed, you guys want to go home?" Ana asked.

"Nah, let's hang out somewhere else," Andy said. "There's a nice lake around here we can go to."