Dating: For the Block

by Stephanie Street

  Hearing those words just reinforced all the guilt I’d been feeling for judging him so harshly. Grayson was a good guy. I should never have based my feelings for him on some catty comments made in the girls restroom. I knew better than that, I’d been taught better than that. But I’d been hurt by Jonathan. I didn’t trust my own beliefs anymore. But Grayson was right. What Jonathan did was on him. I didn’t make him do what he did. He did it all on his own and while I was a victim, I didn’t have to always be one.

  “Well, he wasn’t trustworthy. When I told him I was moving, I expected him to be as distraught as I was. I mean we’d been dating awhile and I thought things were going really well. I thought he cared about me.” I shook my head with a small laugh. “I was so wrong. He didn’t care about me. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

  Looking up, I caught Grayson watching me, his eyes so compassionate my own burned with emotions I tried to hold back. The last thing I wanted to do was cry.

  “So, what happened?” he asked, his fingers tightening around mine.

  “He told me not to worry about him. He had plenty of other girlfriends around to keep him company after I was gone. I was shocked. I had no idea he was seeing any other girls while we were together. But apparently, he was. A lot of girls.”

  “He told you that?” Grayson asked, his jaw twitching.

  I nodded. “And so did a few other people. People I thought were my friends.” I snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m sorry. That sucks. What a douche.”

  “It does suck. And he is a douche. In the end, I was glad I found out what a jerk he was sooner rather than later, but it was a blow after everything else. Finding out I was going to have to move. Feeling angry and betrayed by my mom.” I shrugged, feeling vulnerable.

  “I’m sorry that happened to you, but what does that have to do with me?”

  Taking in a deep breath, I pulled my hand from his under the guise of tucking my hair behind my ear.

  “Well, as you can imagine, I was a bit tender when I came here, still hurting from what Jonathan had done. And well, it was the first day of school. I was feeling overwhelmed and ducked into the bathroom to collect myself. I overheard these two girls talking about a Grayson Levitt who was a player and a jerk. They were saying all the things about this guy that I’d been thinking and feeling about Jonathan and I hated him on principle. Then I left the bathroom to find my locker-”

  “And found me kissing Kylie in front of it,” he finished for me. “Jeez,” he breathed, running his hands through his hair.

  “Yeah.”

  He looked up at me. “But you didn’t know I was Grayson?”

  “Not until you told me your name. But I was already in a bad mood and annoyed that I had to break up your make out session to get to my locker-” I shrugged, because really what else was there to say?

  “Right.” Grayson sighed and stared at his half eaten dinner.

  “It didn’t help that you’re so popular with the ladies, Gray.”

  His head snapped up. “That’s not my fault! I like girls. So do most guys.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “That doesn’t mean you can take advantage of your ability to charm them!”

  “I don’t!” he cried, surprising me by jumping to his feet.

  I stood as well, unwilling to just let him tower over me. “Yes, you do!” I’d seen it myself.

  “Mia.” His voice held a warning. His jaw twitched. “No. I. Don’t. It’s not my fault that by being a nice guy girls fall for me. I never lead them on. I never let anything go beyond friendship.”

  Skirting around the table, I met him toe to toe. “What about Kylie?”

  Grayson frowned like he couldn’t remember.

  “You know the girl you were kissing the day we met.” I folded my arms across my chest and cocked my hip, so sure I had him.

  “We’ve been over this. That wasn’t-” he broke off with a growl and rubbed his hand over his face. “I thought I told you to stop doing that.”

  “What are you talking about?” What was I doing?

  Grayson yanked on my long-sleeved t-shirt uncrossing my arms. “That.” He glanced away and pointed toward my chest. “It’s distracting.”

  What? But then I remembered. That wasn’t the first time he’d pulled my arms away from my chest. Was that what he was talking about? Crossing my arms over my chest?

  Heat began to build. I imagined a line of red slowly rising from my toes and up my body all the way to the top of my head.

  “Gray?”

  “What? You’re gorgeous, okay?” He ran both hands through his hair this time, a sure sign he was distressed. “I don’t want to disrespect you, but it’s not easy when you…do that.”

  As embarrassing as this whole awkward situation was, it was kind of cute. Grayson was as flustered as I’d ever seen him. It thrilled me to know he was attracted and melted my heart that he was trying to be a gentleman. Who was Grayson, really?

  “Kylie kissed me. I didn’t stop her, I guess. But she came after me. I’ve only ever talked to her two or three times including the time you saw us together.” He tilted his head until our eyes met. “I am not Jonathan. I am not my father. I’m Grayson and I refuse to be held accountable for someone else’s sins. I have enough of my own to deal with.”

  He was right. I had been judging him harshly and unfairly. Grayson wasn’t Jonathan.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Look, it doesn’t even matter. This whole thing was a show for our parents anyway, right?” His eyes were cold, guarded. His words hit their mark, however, right in my heart. It was all pretend. We weren’t a real couple. What he did or didn’t do was none of my business.

  “Right,” I whispered, turning away from him. We were suddenly too darn close. My eyes caught on our half eaten dinners. I was definitely not hungry now. I sat down anyway. Mostly because my legs wouldn’t hold me anymore.

  Grayson sat as well and began picking at his food, not appearing as hungry as he had been before. “Look, I know what we did was wrong. Lying to our parents, and I think we should do something to make it up to them.”

  “Like what,” I asked, still working to get past his rejection.

  Grayson shrugged and took a bite. I waited patiently until he’d swallowed it. “I don’t know. Something, though. Like a grand gesture. Something to let them know we won’t stand in their way and maybe help things move along since we were responsible for them stalling out.”

  He was right. We should do something for Dad and Michelle. Things might be over between Grayson and I, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t work to help get our parents together. “Like plan a date for them? A surprise?”

  Grayson nodded. “Yeah, exactly like a date.”

  “But where? Doing what?” I had no idea what people did for fun in Indiana except go to basketball games.

  “I have no idea. Other than parties, the last thing I did that was anything like a date was when we messed around in the gym the other night.”

  “Hmm.” I had an idea. But it would require some stealth on our part and a little bit of help. “I think I got something.” I told him my idea.

  “That is awesome. Let’s do it. But when?”

  “When is your mom’s next night off?”

  Grayson’s brow pinched as he thought. “Um. I think it’s Tuesday. And then she’s on again for three days. But she has Saturday night off.”

  “That’s perfect. You guys have a game early on Saturday, right?” There were some benefits to being the water girl, like knowing the game schedule.

  “Yeah, we should be done by four or so,” he said.

  “Okay, well, that gives her enough time to sleep. It’s perfect.” Just like I said. “We on?”

  Grayson nodded. “Yeah, we’re on.” He reached across the table, his hand ready for me to shake and agree to our plan and I wanted to cry. We were officially done, Grayson and I. Because if we weren’t there was no way he would seal this deal with any
thing less than a kiss.

  With my heart breaking and the last little bit of hope I had left deflating like a balloon, I took his hand.

  Grayson and I were over.

  21

  Grayson

  How had things gotten so complicated? After we finished eating, or I finished eating, Mia didn’t do more than push her food around, we discussed how we would handle our break up with our friends. Our parents, of course, knew the truth, but none of our friends, except Noah, did. Mia finally convinced me we should just come clean. But we were done. Officially over.

  The next day at school, instead of waiting for her by her locker which had become our habit, I went to open gym and shot around with the guys. I didn’t say anything then, figuring I’d wait until lunch. I wanted to make sure Noah was there.

  It was difficult to pay attention in class. I was distracted by my feelings for Mia. Mia, the girl who thought I took advantage of my ability to be a nice guy by luring in girls. Just thinking about it made me furious. I’ve spent the last four years being ultra aware of what I was doing, making sure I never did exactly that. I never wanted to be that guy and the fact that Mia thought I was capable of it made me sick.

  Every time I thought we were getting somewhere, something would happen to tear us apart. Maybe I was stupid to think there could ever be something between us. At least, that’s what my head told me. My heart was a whole different ball game. My heart was convinced we were meant to be together. I just didn’t know how to make that happen, how to prove to Mia we should date for real.

  “Hey, man. Where’s Mia?” Noah asked as soon as I set my lunch tray on the table beside him.

  “We’re done, dude.” Falling heavily into my seat, I pushed my food away. I should have saved the money and not even gotten any. But I needed to eat.

  Noah set his fork down and sat back in his chair. Tierney, beside him, looked up from her phone.

  “Why? What happened?”

  “I blew it, man.”

  “I can believe that, but how?”

  “I really want to hit you right now,” I sighed, covering my face with my hands.

  Noah laughed. “I imagine so, but seriously, what happened?”

  By this time Mateo, AJ, and Will had made it to the table. They still had no idea that Mia and I weren’t a real couple and I knew if I started telling Noah about what had gone on over the weekend after our group date without filling them in, it would just be mass chaos at our table. So, I started from the beginning.

  “I’m gonna tell you guys everything, but you have to keep it together until I’m done. No outbursts.” I gave them my most menacing glare.

  “Fine, whatever,” Will said. “Just tell us what’s going on.”

  And I did. From start to finish. And amazingly enough, not one of them interrupted me. Probably because they had been stunned into silence. I took a moment to appreciate it once I was finished because that had never happened before.

  “Are you kidding me?” Of course, Will was the first one to speak. “Your mom and Coach Tillman?”

  “Dude,” Mateo said, drawing the one word out into three syllables.

  “I don’t get it. You pretended to date Mia to keep your mom from dating Coach for real?” AJ never got anything the first time.

  “Yes, AJ.”

  He sat back, shaking his head. “I don’t believe it.” He pointed at me. “You like her.”

  I rolled my eyes. “We all like her. We established this the first day she moved here.” There was no way I’d ever admit the intense wave of jealousy that swept over me every time I thought about that fact.

  “No,” Will jumped in. “You really like her. You love her.”

  He wasn’t wrong. “No, I don’t. It wasn’t real. And now it’s over. Just thought I should come clean.” And now let’s never speak of this again.

  But I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

  “So, what about Coach and your mom?” Mateo asked, sitting forward. “Are they together?”

  Will whistled low under his breath. “Go Coach!”

  Frowning, I punched him hard on the shoulder. “Dude, that’s my mom.”

  Will laughed, completely unfazed. “Man, your mom is hot. Coach isn’t stupid. Nobody would let her go.”

  Yeah, except my dad. But I didn’t say that out loud. “Just stop talking, Will.”

  “They’re right, though, man. What’s the deal? Are they together or not?” Noah asked. Tierney had been suspiciously quiet during all of this. I glanced over to see her watching me with a curious expression on her face, like she was trying to analyze me but kept coming up short.

  “Well, Mia and I have a plan. That’s another reason I had to tell you guys. I think we need your help.”

  I took a few minutes before the bell rang to tell them the plan we’d come up with last night.

  “Dude, that’s awesome. I’m in. Just tell me what I need to do to help,” Mateo said, rising from the table. The bell had just rung signaling the end of lunch.

  “I’ll start a group chat. I don’t care if we tell the guys on the team, but that’s it. I don’t want this getting around.” I knew my friends would keep this on the down low. They might be idiots, but they were good idiots and loyal, too. They wouldn’t screw this up for me.

  They all nodded.

  And Plan to get Michelle and Coach Together was a go.

  Seeing Mia was awkward. Mostly because I had to restrain myself from moving toward her whenever she was near. There was this pull, a force, drawing me closer if she was in the same room. Even if that room was huge, like the gym. Coach wanted us to talk yesterday, clear the air so I wouldn’t be distracted. Ha. Little did he know, Mia herself was the distraction. I just couldn’t seem to shake the need to be close to her and it was messing with me big time.

  It was a good thing, talking to the guys, getting things off my chest. But there was one person who still wasn’t talking to me. And that person was Mom.

  It didn’t help that she’d been working nights while I went to school, but I could tell she was avoiding me. She’d made breakfast two mornings in a row, but had left it on a plate for me in the kitchen while she went on to bed.

  I didn’t get a chance to talk to her until Saturday, the day we hoped to execute our plan. Sitting in our small living room, I waited for her to get out of the shower. Mia and I had been working all day getting things ready for our grand gesture. We’d roped in a couple of the guys and even some other outside help. Now, all I had to do was get Mom there. Glancing at the time on my phone for the tenth time in as many minutes, I saw I had about forty-five minutes to accomplish my goal. Good thing I was already dressed and ready to go.

  Finally, the water shut off to the shower.

  I knocked on the door to the bathroom. “Hey, Mom.” I spoke softly and my voice cracked. Those were the first words I’d spoken to her in almost a week.

  It was a few seconds before she responded, long enough I wondered if she hadn’t heard me. “Yeah?”

  “I forgot to tell you, but there’s a thing tonight at the school. For basketball. Parents are supposed to come.”

  “Gray,” the door opened. She stood in the steamy room in her old fuzzy bathrobe she’d been wearing since I was little. We’d been so distant this week, I had an overwhelming desire to be five again, a time when I was certain she’d forgive me of anything and snuggle me close. I knew without putting my nose to the fabric of that bathrobe what it would smell like. Home. Love. Forgiveness. Mom.

  “I’m sorry.” For so many things! “I know I should have told you.” I shrugged letting my voice trail away.

  She pushed past me with a growl. “When does it start? How long do I have to get ready?” she called over her shoulder as she made her way to her bedroom.

  “It starts in about forty minutes.”

  She stopped in the doorway to her room and looked me over. I had on a pair of black slacks and a black button up shirt, my standard awards banquet attire. Of course, awards ba
nquets happened after the season was over, but sometimes we did have dinners with the team and all of our families. It was a perfect cover for what we had planned.

  “I need to dress up?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Nothing too fancy.” I had no idea what Coach would be wearing. Mia planned to tell him she’d forgotten something in her locker she had to have to finish her homework over the weekend. Chances were he’d be dressed in the warm-ups he usually wore to practice.

  “Okay. I’ll hurry,” she said, closing her door.

  Breathing a sigh of relief to have that part done. I ran into the kitchen to check on the dish I’d prepared for the ‘team dinner’. We’d decided on pasta since it would hold for a while once it was cooked without getting gross. The cold stuff was already there. I just had to bring the pan from the oven. And Mom.

  I sat back down on the couch to wait, my knee bouncing, shaking my whole body. This had to work. I’d seen the error of my ways. I didn’t want to be the reason my mom missed out on a chance at love. Not after realizing how much I cared for Mia. I’d stampede past anyone who tried to keep me from her. Too bad that person was me.

  “You ready?” Mom asked walking into the room as she swiped the wand from her lip gloss over her lips. She really was pretty.

  “Almost,” I said, rising from the sofa to take her arm and pull her over to sit down.

  “What are you doing? I thought we had to go?” Her mouth pulled down in a frown.

  “We do,” I said and sat down beside her. “But first, we need to talk.”

  Her face clouded. “I’m not sure I’m ready.”

  “I’m sorry, okay!” I cried, jumping off the loveseat to pace in front of her. “I’m such an idiot.”

  Mom crossed her arms in front of her. “Yes, you are. Grayson, what were you thinking?”

  I stopped walking so I could look her in the eye. “I don’t know.” I did, but it wasn’t going to be easy to admit.

  Mom shook her head. “I’m so disappointed in you, Gray. You lied and you pulled Mia down with you.”