Chapter 2: Re-introductions

"Sabrina I swear to god I am going to dig a hole and crawl in it" I yelled into my pillow as she just laughed. 

"Abigail it's just a name. Do you know how many Grayson's they are in the country alone?" She answered in order to try and help me. Oh honey, I already had this thought process an hour ago. 

"Yeah. I've been there. Since 1880 there have been around 31,000 Grayson's in the US" I muttered back, the fabric was muffling my words but I still got my point across.

I felt the weight of her body next to me in the bed and I just stayed still while she played with my hair. She knew it helped me calm myself down and right now I needed that. "It's not gonna be him, and even if it is by some coincidence of the world he can go and kiss your ass. Do not go and overthink about this asshole who made it pretty clear he didn't care about you or your feelings".

Well damn, years later and it still hurt to even think about.  That complete indifference towards me the remaining months from the school year. You think you know someone and then they treat you like shit and never speak to you again. 

I mean it's not like I even wanted for him to try to explain but he didn't even try.  I think that hurt me even more than the cheating, the thought of forgiving him even crossed my mind. I loved him so much that I didn't even want to lose him. If he would've followed me out that day I would've. And yet he did nothing, he saw my terrible state for weeks and he didn't do shit.

That's when I discovered that there really was a fine line between love and hate. A really thin line and it only takes one cheating asshole showing his true colors for me to cross over. 

"It's okay, I'm just going to drown my feelings away tonight. What time is it?" I asked and she looked at her cellphone before telling me it was almost 7pm. 

We live down the hall and we like to be fashionably late always but I'm trying to look good and I still have some of my last night endeavors as evidence from the exhaustion on my face. 

It took us almost 2 hours between washing our hair, makeup and picking out an outfit. "Should I go all black or do a splash of colors with the red boots?" I asked dangling my two choice of shoes for her.

"Oh definitely the red, it looks hot as fuck" She said as she checked herself out in the mirror. Well Lucas certainly was in for a treat because she definitely looked better than me. As if on cue her phone rang and her newly pronounced boyfriend's face popped up on the caller ID. 

 "Put on those boots, I'm going to get Lucas" She said picking up her phone and walking out of my room. 

I lowered my leather skirt because well no explanations are necessary. I make bad decisions daily but at least I can look good for a night. I could her the bass of the music already at my room and that pre-party buzz was eating at me. I'm already tired of being fashionably late, I just want to go already. Especially after all the memories that have resurfaced from just hearing one name. 

I just need a drink. 

We had to wait for Lucas to go to the bathroom before we could leave the apartment, but as soon as we did we could see the hallway crowded with people and the lazy decorations of the disco balls and the changing lights made by Spencer or Rodriguez probably an hour before the "party" started since when I got back from the stores the hallway was as clean as a whistle. 

We pushed past people until we finally reached the drink station, we placed down our contribution to the party and opened up a few can beers for ourselves. I downed that first one in under a minute. Yeah tomorrow is not going to be good for me. 

I downed like 2 shots of a tequila mix before I was loose enough to dance to the high paced song that was currently playing. Once I got bored of the dude that was just humping me not even to the beat of the song I excused myself to do absolutely anything else. 

"No, I'm not inviting you to hook up. Go away." I had to yell at the guy who clearly thought me trying to run as far away from him as possible was an invitation for him to follow me. 

He stood there with a dumb look on his face, as if I had totally said 'let's fuck' and then told him I never said that (which I never did). "I'm not joking dude, I'm not fucking you" I clearly had to say so that the guy whose name I didn't even know finally got the hint. 

"Fucking slut" he murmured before stomping off. Well I'm certainly not missing out on anything. 

I hadn't noticed I said that out loud until I heard someone laugh beside me. I turned around to see Rhyland looking at me amused. "I mean you're kind of a slut" He said as if he was agreeing with the asshole. 

"You prick" I said hitting him in the arm softly as we looked at each other mad for a second before laughing it off. He knows how much I hate men use that word against me. 

"Come here, I promised I'd introduce you to my new roommate" He said loudly to me as the music suddenly got louder than before. He grabbed me by the wrist and led me out of the huge pile of people that were inside of the apartment. I was trying to not meet anyone right now especially with that name but he couldn't hear my objections and I certainly couldn't hear as he was trying to explain his new roommate's life story to me. The only thing that entered my brain was his name as he kept on repeating in his barely audible sentences. 

We finally got out of the loud music and group of people before heading to a bunch of guys that were talking with beers on their hands and we were headed straight towards them. I was focused on the ground trying not to fall because of Rhyland's fast pace so I didn't see anyone until we were right in front of them. 

"Hey Grayson, I wanted you to meet one of the best people in this whole floor who just so happens to be a woman..." Rhyland began to introduce me but sincerely I zoned out from his talking once I saw exactly what I had feared. 

We locked eyes with each other at the same time, immediately my breath got stuck in my throat and I could feel my stomach turning. I recognize those eyes anywhere, especially that look of surprise. 

He looked so identical to the last time I saw him at prom, but so much had changed about him at the same time. It was probably because I had blocked everything and everyone related to him on social media so I wouldn't have to see his face again. That had worked so well for me in these last few years  but unfortunately it was probably visible in my face just how much I was observing his facial features. 

I tried to look away but I honestly couldn't help myself, after loving someone as much as I did and then not seeing that face that I had kissed every inch of for years, I just had to memorize it somehow. 

His eyes were analyzing me in the same way, but it felt as if it wasn't really him. I felt like I was looking at a picture. All I could see were those eyes that I had always tried to figure out their true colors but somehow they seemed darker than before, he always said they were boring brown eyes; but I knew that they weren't so common, they seemed grey to me. They were just some type of mix that made them seem different every time I looked into them. They also seem to fit in with his thick lashes that shape his face along with his freckles, his pointy noise and full lips. 

His brown hair had different shades to it or maybe it was the light that was behind us that made it look that way, it didn't matter though because it was all messy on the top of his head with it becoming of lower height as it went towards the back. He looked as if he had recently gotten it cut, he probably still went to the same barber. Which he's probably going to cheat on with another one since he clearly moved here, this boy could cheat on just about anyone. 

He was also taller now, I had to shift my head up slightly more than I used to before. I tried not to look downwards because I could already see how much more in shape he was than before. I could see his broad shoulders even as I'm not looking away from his face. 

I could hear Rhyland clearing his throat and that's when I could finally snap out of the trance I was in. My fist clenched slightly behind me as I tried to control myself and not just burst out crying in the middle of a party, which I somehow forgot I was in. I had completely sobered up in those seconds that felt like hours. 

I looked at Rhyland to see him observing our interaction happily, he completely thought we had just fallen in love at first sight thanks to his incredible matchmaking skills. Boy, do I have a surprise for you. 

"Are we interrupting something?" Another boy asked laughing from behind him.

"Abigail was my girl in high school" I want to lie and say that hearing his voice had no effect on me but it wasn't true at all, especially those words since I remembered exactly why I wasn't his "girl" anymore. He's a cheating asshole no matter how handsome he was. 

"Oh well this is awkward" Rhyland said scratching his head. Well the environment shifted drastically due to that revelation. "I'm just going to let you guys catch up, em yeah" They all retreated and left us alone. 

When I finally had the courage to look back at him I saw that he had never stopped looking at me. His eyes were now observing my body and the outfit I had on. I looked good tonight so it's okay for him to see what he missed. 

I also took the quick opportunity to take a quick look at his body and saw that my suspicions were true, he got ripped as fuck. 

That's when I noticed that neither of us had spoken to each other and this was just a staring contest by now. "What are you doing here Grayson? I thought you were all the way over in San Francisco." I finally spoke up, his eyes snapped in surprise to see that I was the one who spoke up. 

I had to clear my throat since my voice came out groggy. 

"Got a better scholarship here" He kept his answer short as he explored my face with his eyes. Not gonna lie, I have also changed. My face was more defined, I had also gotten fitter than when I was with him. 

"So out of all of the universities and out of all of the housing options you just ended up moving to the same one I was in" Maybe my tone showed a little bit of hostility but I honestly couldn't care less right now. Being so involved looking at him I had forgotten that he was going to be living down the hall from me since we graduate college, unless I move which I know isn't going to happen.

"What's wrong Abby? You can't resist yourself knowing I'm just a few doors down from you?" He said taking one step closer to me, closing half the distance with his body. He certainly thought I was going to step back but I didn't, I straighten myself and looked at him right in the eye. Which seemed to caught him off guard. 

Oh yeah, my attitude is different now too.

I took a step towards him, closing the rest of our distance. I suppressed myself from shuddering at the feeling of his warmth meeting mine and raised my hand slowly placing it in the back of his neck. I pushed him down so my lips were right beside his ear. 

He took a deep breath once I curled my fingers on the hair at his nape. "Just so we're clear, you don't know me and I don't know you. I'm not your ex-girl, I'm Abigail from now on and the only time we will actually acknowledge each other is when we're forced too. So stay the hell away from me." I gripped his hair a little tighter than I intended once I was done but I just couldn't help it. 

I backed away from him and only took a last look at his mad expression before I headed back into the center of the party to drink what I had just sobered up. And to be honest I don't remember anything else I did for the rest of the night.

"Now I know I've got a heart, because it is breaking"

- Tin Man