"The Devil watches over his own." - Wardaddy, Fury 

"What do you mean Grant is missing?"

I leaned against the side of Grant's car - which was still in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot - and took a deep breath, refusing to meet Griffin's eyes. He was staring at me, clicking his tongue impatiently, but I didn't know what to say. How the hell was I supposed to explain what just happened? How was I supposed to explain that Grant just had a sudden, extreme, emotional outburst and stormed off?

"He just left," I said, letting out an exasperated sigh. My nerves were fried, and the way Griffin was staring at me wasn't helping, "He just - I don't know. He just had an outburst and took off - he just kept going."

Griffin tugged his fingers through his hair and groaned loudly, eyes closing. He leaned back and let out another loud noise of frustration, one that I completely agreed with. I had been waiting at Dunkin Donuts for a half hour before Griffin showed up, and now our conversation wasn't going quite like I expected. Griffin almost seemed more annoyed than worried, which wasn't something I had been prepared for.

"Well, why did he snap?" Griffin asked, dropping his head back down and opening his eyes. He quirked an eyebrow in my direction and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Did you say something? Grant doesn't just snap for no reason, Emmy."

Part of me didn't want to tell Griffin that I had told Grant about our... situation from the other day, but I know I had to. Griffin needed to know why his brother had suddenly flew off the rail, and I wasn't going to lie to him about what had happened. This was for Grant's safety, and I wasn't going to lie - even though I really, really wanted to.

So I took a deep breath and quickly blurted it out: "I told Grant that I accused you of - um... you know, being schizophrenic. And he accused me of picking sides and flipped out, Griffin. He flipped."

Griffin stared at me, jaw slack, blue eyes filled with complete and utter shock. Griffin stared at me for a few minutes before he began laughing. Laughing. Griffin let out a loud, humorless laugh and stared at me, blinking, the same look of complete shock on his face. I stared right back, not sure what he thought was even mildly funny about this situation.

"Why the fuck did you think it would be a good idea to tell my brother you called me schizophrenic? Did you not see how that went over when you said it to me?"

He had a point and I knew it, but I refused to admit it. I knew it was stupid of me not tell Grant about what I said, but it still didn't justify his outburst. What Grant did - that wasn't just brought on by him being angry about what I said. It was something else entirely, and Griffin, for some reason, couldn't seem to grasp that. 

"Griffin, this is serious, don't you get that? He left his car and just took off - "

"This is not serious, okay?" Griffin said, softening his tone. He bent down a bit at the knees so he was looking me in the eyes and put two fingers under my chin, gently pushing my head up, "Grant does this when he gets overwhelmed. He's at my mom's grave - he goes whenever he does this. This is not your fault and it is not serious. It's fine. I promise."

Griffin dropped his fingers from under my chin and stood up straight, pulling his car keys from his pocket. I stared over at him and took deep breaths, trying to calm my slightly racing heart down. It felt wrong - letting Griffin comfort me while his brother was missing - but I tried to assure myself that he was right. This was Griffin's brother, and if he wasn't completely freaking out over this apparently normal incident, then I shouldn't have been either.

"We'll go get him. Right now. And you'll see that he's okay, yeah?" Griffin asked, jiggling the keys between his fingers. He clicked a button of the key-chain and the lights on Grant's car flashed, "I have a spare key for when this happens."

Griffin walked over to the drivers side door and pulled it open, pausing when he realized that I wasn't following him. He tossed the keys onto the seat and turned to me, raising both of his eyebrows in a silent question.

"Do you want me to come?" I asked quietly, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer.

Griffin's lips twitched up into a dry smile, "No, not particularly," he admitted, "Just get in, Emmy."

Griffin's answer stung, but I swallowed and walked over to the passenger side and reluctantly got in. Griffin adjusted the seat and mirrors to his liking and then we took off, headed down to the cemetery where he assured me Grant would be at. Neither of us said anything; I didn't want to talk and clearly he didn't either.

I didn't know why I expected Griffin to want me to go - not after what I did. I accused him of being schizophrenic, and then expected him to treat me like I had never said anything to him. It was stupid and selfish of me. I hurt him - very clearly - and yet I expected him to ignore that and still treat me like he always had.

"I'm sorry," I said when Griffin took the ramp onto the highway. He didn't respond, so I continued, "This whole situation is just really messing with me. I'm sorry, Griffin. I honestly didn't mean what I said."

His grip on the wheel tightened, "It's fine. I never should have gotten you involved."

"I didn't mean it like that - "

"I did."

I sank down into my seat and crossed my arms, biting my lip to make sure not a single peep would escape. I clenched my jaw and stared straight ahead, ignoring the pang in my chest at his words. I wanted the Griffin I had gotten used to. Not this. Not the Griffin who seemed pained when he had to look me in the eyes.

Sure, my experiences with Griffin hadn't been the best. He was rude and blunt, and his emotions changed way too fast to keep up with. Griffin said things on impulse and shut me out, but he was also an amazing guy. He was there when I needed him to be and I could genuinely say that I never met someone as passionate as him. 

I hated this, though. I had blurted something out stupidly, and now I had forced Griffin to shut himself off to me. I was stuck with a boy who didn't want to talk to me, let alone even look at me. This wasn't the Griffin Cutkosky I had grown used to, and it was so, so painful to see how far our relationship had regressed so quickly. 

"You wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it, Emmy," Griffin said, tone surprisingly soft. He slowly stopped at a red light and turned to me, blue eyes filled with an honest innocence, "Don't lie to me about that, please."

My mouth was moving faster than I could keep up with, "No - God no, I didn't mean it! I just said it - "

"You might not mean it now, but you did when you said it," Griffin said, and I realized what he was doing. I was trying to make excuses, to justify what I said and get passed it, but he wasn't going to let me, "You psychoanalyze everything, and I guess that's the conclusion you made about me. I can accept that, but don't lie to me."

"I'm sorry."

Griffin turned back to the wheel and didn't say anything, instead opting to focus on driving instead. We sat in silence, and I knew something had just happened. I didn't know how to explain it, but something had just happened between Griffin and I. Whether it was a rift between our relationship that couldn't be fixed, or a new understanding between us I wasn't sure. But it was certainly something.

We pulled up to a Jewish cemetery a half-hour later.

Griffin pulled onto the gravel road and I instantly saw Grant kneeling in front of a gravestone. His hair was whipping in the wind, but he didn't seem to notice. There was a flower in his right hand, and the left was gently placed right in front of the gravestone.

I went to get out of the car, but Griffin put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me. I dropped my hand from the door handle and turned to him, waiting to see what he had to say. Griffin turned to look out the window at his brother and then back at me, a hesitant look in his eyes. Eventually he dropped his hand from my shoulder and sighed.

"Wait in the car," he decided on, pulling the keys from the ignition and stuffing them awkwardly in his pocket, "I don't know if he's still angry or not."

I nodded, because I had already done enough damage and had no place to argue, "Oh yeah, of course. Of course."

Griffin pursed his lips and sighed again before opening the door and getting out. I leaned forward in my seat, heart racing with each step Griffin took towards Grant.

Griffin dropped down next to his brother, and Grant's head turned to him. I could see the confusion on his face, and then the understanding when Griffin started talking. I watched as the two brothers talked - Griffin, with his back to me and Grant, with his complete and utter attention focused on his brother. Grant kept tugging his fingers through his hair, light blue eyes darting to the gravestone.

It seemed to be going good, and then it suddenly wasn't.

Grant shot up, foot coming down and stamping on the flower he had previously been holding. Griffin stood up too, obstructing half of my view, but I could still see what was happening. Grant's mouth was wide, the veins in his neck pulsing, and it only took me a few minutes to realize that he was screaming. Griffin kept raising his hands slowly, but Grant shot out his hand, pushing Griffin's arms down.

Griffin grabbed Grant's shoulder and pushed him back, an angry look on his face. Grant was still shouting, but now his eyes were pooling with tears. Griffin flung his leg forward, sending a mass of dirt all over his mom's gravestone. Grant shouted something again and then dropped - his whole body collapsed to the ground and, even from inside the car, I could hear his sobs.

Griffin was back at the car in a matter of seconds, tugging the door open to face me, "I need you to do me the biggest favor."

"What's going on?" I asked, voice teetering on the edge of frantic, "Is he okay?"

"Here's what you're going to do," Griffin said, voice deathly calm. He leaned into the car and stared straight me before dropping the keys onto my lap, "You're going to drive this back to the apartment, okay? Grant and I are going to catch a bus back to his house. You're going to drive this home and leave the keys in my apartment. Okay? Can you do that for me?"

"What?" I asked, processing the words Griffin had told me. It made no fucking sense. If anything, I should have been the one taking a bus, "My car is still in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot, plus this is Grant's car - "

"We'll take my car out later tonight to pick yours up, I promise. Please, Emmy, just do this for me. I'll explain when I come home. You just need to leave."

Griffin put his hand gently on my thigh and looked at me, a look of complete vulnerability on his face. I couldn't say no - there was no way in hell that I would be able to tell him no. Not after what I did to him the day before. Griffin was asking me for such a small favor and I just couldn't find it in myself to say no. 

"Just be safe."

And with that, Griffin slammed the door behind him and took off towards Grant.

</ I love writing this story haha. I started Spring Break this Wednesday, and then I'm off to the Bahamas April 1st-4th, so expect a TON of updates between that time frame! love you guys, hoped you enjoyed this chapter :-)