"Wow, that sounds pretty intense. Do you ever hear him say anything to you?" I asked inquisitively. I wasn't really into the whole idea that dreams always meant one specific thing or another, but it did seem interesting to me that this was a recurring one, and that it always ended the same way.
"I don't think so. That's just it, I think I wake up the second before he's about to speak."
"How often do you have these dreams?"
"I don't know, they're sporadic. But I feel like it happens when I have a big decision to make, or when I'm really stressed out. Like I'm expecting an answer from him on what to do, as if he's ever answered me before. But then I jump... and there's nothing," he said, shaking his head. "So sometimes I go up to that spot on the mountain. Just to sit. Just to listen. It kind of reminds me of the cliff. I don't know, it makes me feel better. It's the only place I can feel him around me. Can we stop talking about all of this now? I feel my estrogen level rising. It's like I'm turning into a woman, talking about my feelings and all that."
I slapped his arm, pretending to be offended by his comment. I looked over at him and he smiled, seemingly just as happy as I was to be sitting together under the stars without a care in the world. Everything seemed so ordinary, as if we had done this so many other nights.
Chapter 13
Bacon. The glorious, unmistakable scent of bacon. I slowly opened my eyes and glanced around Greyson’s room. Soft sunlight made its way through the sides of the curtains and I smiled, happy to be waking up in this bed.
I changed into my clothes for the day, just in case his roommate Ben was home. The last thing I wanted to do was traipse around in the mirco shorts I wore to bed last night if we had company. I made my way out to the kitchen where Greyson stood, shirtless with his tan chiseled body expertly making his way around the kitchen.
“Good morning,” he said, giving me a swift kiss. “Make yourself comfortable on the deck,” he said, handing me a mug of coffee. I smiled, genuinely happy to be in this moment. I made my way out to the deck, pleased to see the patio table was already set for breakfast. It was a perfect August morning. The sun shone bright as it made its way over the mountains, and although it was a little brisk at the moment, I knew it would be a perfectly warm summer day.
Moments later Greyson came out carrying two plates of food, smiling as he set a plate down in front of me. “Chef’s special,” he said with a wink as he sat across from me.
“What is it? I mean, I can see that it’s an omelet. But what’s in it?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t want to tell you in case you’re skittish about unusual foods,” he responded, picking up his fork. “The rules state you have to try it either way, so you may as well dig in.”
I took a bite of the eggs, carefully trying to decipher all of the unusual flavors. I had to admit, it tasted amazing.
“What is that flavor?” I asked. “Is that goat cheese?”
“Wow, I can’t believe you picked that out. There’s also some homemade salsa in there and some diced bacon. I love goat cheese in my omelets, but I wasn’t sure if that would freak you out. But it’s good, right?” he asked confidently.
“Yes, very good. I suppose you can continue to cook me breakfast. A girl could get used to this arrangement,” I said, devouring my plate.
“I guess that means you’ll have to stay over more often then,” he responded with a sly smirk.
“So this ‘us’ day, what exactly does that mean? What are we doing?” I asked, sipping my gourmet coffee. In that moment with the good food, coffee, and magnificent view, I was pretty sure I wanted to start every day like this forever.
“Well, an ‘us’ day can be anything as long as we’re together. We can go for a hike, take a road trip, stay at home all day for a Godfather movie marathon, whatever,” he said shrugging. “Today I already have planned though. When we’re done eating we need to throw on our swimsuits. We need to be down to the docks by ten-thirty.”
“Are we going on a boat?” I asked eagerly. It was one of my favorite things to do, but since none of my close friends currently had a boat, I rarely did it. Griffin’s family used to have a few boats we used pretty frequently. But once his father had a mishap with the law earlier this summer, everything was seized so those days were over.
“You’re always pressing for information, aren’t you? Don’t you ever want to just blindly trust me and go with the flow without having to know all the details?” he said playfully.
“No. You should know by now that I like to know what I’m getting into,” I retorted, finishing up the last bite of food on my plate.
“Well, Mal, unfortunately I don’t like to give too many details. At some point you’re going to have to give up a little control and just enjoy this ride,” he said, staring at me intently. “You’re gong to fall for my charm sooner or later, so you may as well just let go and let it happen.” Greyson stood up from the table and gathered our plates, kissing me on the top of my head. “Suits on. We have to go,” he said warmly.
I shook my head and threw my hands up. “Whatever you say, boss.” As much as I hated to admit it, Greyson was right. His charm, however much it aggravated me, was starting to wear me down quickly. It had only been a few days, but I knew I was already falling pretty hard. Falling into whatever this relationship was. Rules or no rules, I knew I was quickly losing any willpower I had to go against the grain on whatever this was becoming.
We made it to the boat docks on time, and I was ecstatic when Greyson led me onto a small white boat. There was probably room for eight to ten people on it, but I was happy that it was just the two of us. It was finally a chance for us to really get to spend a large amount of time together beyond just a couple of dinners and late night conversations.
“So, I’m guessing this isn’t your boat?” I asked as he fired it up. We slowly made our way out from the docks towards the center of the lake. The tree-studded mountains on either side of us looked commanding and beautiful, and this guy standing before me at the wheel somehow looked majestic in his own way.
“No, it’s not mine. But I know some good people and I have access to it pretty much whenever I want,” he said, gazing over at me. “So if this sweeps you off your feet, I could make these arrangements whenever you want.”
“Well aren’t you the guy to know,” I said mockingly, looking around the boat. Greyson increased the speed, probably trying to show off. The wind blew through my short ponytail and the crisp air felt perfect. Once we made our way out to the middle of the lake, he cut the engine and dropped the anchor.
“Want to go for a swim?” he asked, taking off his grey t-shirt. Without waiting for my answer, he stood up on the back of the boat and dove into the water. I did the same. The water was pretty cold due to the depth of the lake, but it still felt good and refreshing on my skin.
We swam around the boat for a bit, laughing at some water skiers in the distance as they fell on their faces while skiing. For a moment I felt guilty spending a weekday like this in the sun, totally carefree with no responsibilities instead of at work growing my business. But as I stared at Greyson with his wet messy hair and perfect face, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
We eventually swam back to the boat and dried off. Greyson laid some towels down on the bow and helped me climb up onto it so we could lay out and get some sun.
“So,” he began, turning towards me, “it’s you and me in the middle of the lake. Nothing to do, no where to be. No ex-boyfriends stopping by,” he said as he slowly kissed me.
“Greyson,” I said as I pulled away, “there are boats constantly driving by. We can’t…”
“Whoa, that’s not what I mean,” he said laughing, interrupting me. “I would have kept you home all day if those were my intentions. Besides, what happened to our discussion about keeping the physical stuff light until you’re completely crazy about me?”
I could feel the heat of embarrassment on my cheeks as he laughed.
“I thought we
could actually talk, as crazy as that sounds,” he said sincerely. “I mean, I already know all the important stuff about you. Your poor math skills and love of carrot cake and all that. You definitely hit me with all of the big stuff when I first met you.”
I smacked his arm playfully and he pulled me in and kissed me.
“But if you’re going to fall for me, like really get crazy about me, then we should learn more about each other,” he said with a pretend seriousness. "I felt like I did all of the talking last night."
“Well, I’m an open book. I don’t really have any skeletons in my closet. So what do you want to know?” I asked.
“Twenty questions, let’s go. How old were you when you first kissed a boy?” he asked, smiling as he stared at me.
“I was eight and I got detention for it. Apparently I forced it on him and he wasn’t a willing participant,” I answered. “Geez, I haven’t thought about that in ages. Sounds more like something you would do, forcing yourself on someone.” I looked at him with narrow eyes. “What about you?”
“Oh never. I’ve definitely never kissed a boy. It was never my thing,” he responded with a smirk.
“You know what I meant,” I said, squeezing his arm.
“Promise you won’t laugh?” he asked sincerely. I nodded. “Eighteen.”
“What?” I asked with an exasperated tone in my voice. “How is that possible?”
“I know, because I’m so charming, right? I wish I could say it was because I was so selective or something. But the truth is, I was kind of a nerd. Like, president of the biology club nerd,” he replied.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Really?”
“Are you judging me right now? Because that face looks like judgment,” he said pointing at me.
“No, sorry. I’m just surprised, that’s all,” I said sympathetically. “I guess I just pictured you as one of the popular douchy jocks who always got the girl.”
“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not,” he replied, lying back on his towel.
“Next question,” I said, changing the subject. “What’s one of your favorite childhood memories?” I asked. I genuinely did like having this alone time with Greyson. It was such a good chance to really learn more about him.
“Geez, there are so many. Cooking with my mom. Camping up at the lake with my uncle. This,” he said, pointing to a scar on his left shin.
“That looks like it was a serious injury. What’s so great about that?” I asked.
“Exactly. I already told you I was a nerd, right? But this proves I was brave for about eight seconds in my life,” he said nostalgically. “I was twelve and I got in a fight at school. Some kids were making fun of me for not having a dad. I was a really soft spoken kid, but that really pushed me over the edge. I just snapped and punched one of the kids in the face. Just like in a movie. It was so unlike me, but that was just my reaction. He pushed me into a fence, and then it was over. A teacher broke it up. The fence had some metal sticking out of the bottom of it, and it cut my leg pretty deep. There was blood all over the place. It was actually really gross. But I was proud somehow. I don’t know, like one of those moments where a boy feels like a man. I know that sounds stupid,” he said, staring up into the sky.
“Not at all,” I said sincerely. Greyson seemed so vulnerable in that moment, and I liked him even more as he spoke.
“Now you tell me something stupid,” he said softly, touching my face.
“I think I like you,” I whispered.
“Do you think by saying it quietly, it doesn’t really count?” He kissed me, and although the sun was shining directly on us, my body shivered.
Chapter 14
As evening rolled around, Greyson steered the boat towards a small cove area where there were other boats tied up to some buoys close to shore. He anchored the boat and tied it to a buoy as well. Within a minute a small metal boat with a young teenaged kid pulled up to the side of our boat, offering us a ride to the shore to eat at the outdoor restaurant on the beach. We got in the kid’s boat and made our way to the outdoor eatery.
“Have you ever been here before?” Greyson asked, taking my hand as we walked to a table overlooking the lake.
“No, I had no idea this place even existed,” I said, taking in the beautiful view and the sunset in the distance.
“It’s always been one of my favorite places. Kind of a hidden gem not too many people know about. They have really good food too,” he said, picking up his menu.
We placed our orders and Greyson continued to ask me more questions, still intrigued and wanting to know everything possible about me. We had already talked about my studies abroad in Europe and Australia, my family growing up, and my long term plans for the bakery. I had learned quite a bit about him as well. He loved the outdoors, loved his family, and he was a very spontaneous person. On numerous occasions he would just head out camping on his own in the wilderness, or hitchhike a ride somewhere, anywhere, just to experience a new place. He was so genuine as he spoke, and I liked him more and more as the day went on.
“So, tell me one more thing about you,” he said, eyeing me as the waitress set down our food. “Something you’ve never told anyone before.”
I thought about it for a moment, trying to recall something secretive about me. I had such a close group of friends, so I really struggled to think of something Megan or Steve didn’t know about me. It seemed like they knew it all.
“I really don’t have any secrets,” I said, shaking my head.
“Oh come on, everyone has secrets,” he replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, there is one thing. But I don’t know if I’m ready to say it,” I said shyly.
“Come on, you can say it. You have to be comfortable with me by now, you’ve been talking to me for the last seven hours. Well, minus that one brief hiatus we took from talking,” he said winking at me.
“Well, you know how you asked about the bumper of my car yesterday? I didn’t exactly tell you the truth,” I said, biting into my club sandwich.
“Ah, so you do have a dirty little secret. Did you run over someone’s cat or something?” he asked playfully.
“No. It’s worse,” I said, embarrassed to be talking about it.
“Something worse than killing someone’s beloved pet? Mallory, I hope this story isn’t so terrifying that it makes me want to leave you alone here on the beach,” he teased. “I’ll sail away in that boat, I’m not afraid to do it.” He smiled at me and paused, holding his sandwich in one hand and waiting for my explanation.
“Well, it pains me to tell you this. But that night I was supposed to meet you at Eastwick’s Pub, when I stood you up,” I said awkwardly. “I wasn’t going to meet you, I swear. But for some reason I wanted to see if you were really there waiting for me. So I just did a quick little drive by hoping I could see in the window,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
“You were the car that rear-ended the Miata?” he said, laughing.
“What? You saw that?” I asked, even more mortified that he had witnessed the entire thing.
“Yeah, I was sitting close to the window in the bar area. That was really you?” he said, sounding a little shocked by my confession. “Come on, you really weren’t going to come in?”
“Honestly, no. I really was resistant to the whole thing. I mean I was just dumped that morning. And then you came along, all pompous with your desserts and all your confidence like I was into you immediately. I was trying to prove a point,” I said valiantly.
“Well, here we are,” he responded, motioning around to our beautiful surroundings. “Do you feel like you made your point? You still couldn’t resist me,” he said with a cocky grin on his face.
“Oh come on, maybe I’m still just humoring you,” I responded. “Maybe I’m just here out of guilt because I’d never been so mean to a guy before and I felt a little bad.”
“No, I’m pretty sure you still hated me at the bar that night when we ran into each other
again. What was it exactly that changed your mind about me?” he asked with a raised brow.
“Alcohol apparently,” I said with a giggle.
Greyson stood up and sat down on the chair right next to me, grabbing my face and kissing me passionately.
“Best summer romance story ever,” he said, pulling away from me. “Girl meets boy, hates boy until she’s drunk, and then the girl has the best summer love of her life.”
As he said the words, I was surprised they actually seemed true for the moment. I still wasn’t sure what even made me fond of Greyson in the first place. I had to admit though, I was glad I turned the corner on that. This day was perfect. Breakfast on the patio, a boat ride, jumping into the lake, learning about each other in the sunshine, then frolicking on the beach for a sunset dinner. It all felt like an eerie, love-drunk haze. A cool breeze swept by as the sun dipped below the mountain top. It seemed there were always romantic tales of summer love. There were songs about it, movies about it. The problem was, August was almost over. The chill in the air hit my skin, and I couldn't help but wonder if things would still feel this way once our contract was up.
Chapter 15
Greyson was going to be out of town the next few days, prepping for the wedding job he had this upcoming Saturday. We were as giddy as teenagers to talk on the phone every night, recounting our days. I genuinely missed him. I had some big orders at the bakery, so at least I was pretty busy as well.
On Saturday Addie and I had to prep for six different birthday parties, a record for us in one day. We also had plans to hang out at our friend Johnny’s house that night. Everyone had been so busy over the last couple weeks. We hadn’t all gotten together since the night we found out Addie and Griffin were engaged.
Saturday night was wonderful, just like old times with all of my best friends. Megan and Steve arrived together, as they usually did. I was convinced they should date, but we had all been such good friends for so long, they acted as if that idea was repulsive. Johnny was a sweet, genuine guy, but despite having a few relationships here and there, he was perpetually single. And then there was Addie and Griffin, still very much in love. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. It was just the six of us, reminiscing, drinking, and discussing our busy schedules.
Six Rules: Book Two in the SIX Series Page 8