June 25

Loon Call Island, Lake Rosseau, Muskoka

Hovering in that sweet spot between dreams and reality as you wake up is one of my favourite moments. Especially when I can feel Elle's warm, soft body pressed to mine.

I'm distracted only slightly by the constant buzzing of my phone. I slap my hand down on it to silence the device, so I can savour the feeling of Elle sleeping next to me.

I probably shouldn't have let myself convince her to let me stay overnight. But, here we are. I need to sneak back to my cottage before her family wakes up, then swing by again to get her for work. It's worth it though, to have these small, quiet moments with her.

Kissing her forehead, I slide my hand down her side, brushing my fingertips over the soft, bare skin of her ribs exposed by her skimpy silky pajamas. Her eyes fly open and she blinks several times rapidly. Elle usually goes from fully asleep to fully alert, which I find amusing, like her brain forgot it shut down for a little while.

I kiss her good morning, scattering kisses across her cheek, down her neck before returning to lips. I speak against them as she sighs, "I'm going to head home, it's still early. I'll pick you up in a couple of hours for work, okay?"

"Okay." Elle snuggles into me, wrapping her arms around my ribs and all I want to do is stay, but I kiss her once more and slide from the bed, untangling myself from her grip before dressing quickly and letting myself out.

With a groan, she slides out of the bed and follows me. I watch her head down to the dock for her morning swim as I walk back through the dense forest. Part of me wishes I could go with her. But, I'll see her soon enough.

Later, when we're at work, I'm distracted by Elle. I find myself watching every move she makes, smiling when she does, laughing when I hear her joyful shrieks of laughter as Hunter teases her.

I feel a pang of jealousy when Hunter snatches her fresh popsicle, stealing large bites for himself, laughing as she tries to jump up to grab it back. She ends up clinging to his back, and he reaches the popsicle back over his shoulder, offering her a bite, only to snatch it back at the last minute when her mouth is centimeters away.

Elle pulls his hair, wrapping tighter around him until she manages to get his arm close enough to take a big bite. I laugh when I hear her complain of brain freeze, dropping down and pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead. Hunter laughs and rubs her shoulder in sympathy, gobbling up the rest of her popsicle without remorse.

I fill a boat with gas, keeping up a casual conversation with the family that's come in, and my phone buzzes in my pocket. I don't need to see the ID message pop up to know it's Chiara, again.

Chiara won't stop texting and calling me. I've deleted her messages without reading them and dodged her calls for nearly a week. I don't know how to make it clearer to her that I don't have any interest in picking up our friendship again. Even if Elle weren't in the picture, I'd feel the same way.

I glance over at Elle, again, and see she's scooping ice cream for a group of kids, laughing as they beg to taste the different flavours.

Her cheeks are flushed with enjoyment as she hands the kids their tasting spoons, marvelling at their exclamations that the flavors they're trying are the best in the world.

She's been my anchor these past weeks, and she doesn't even know it. Her bottomless supply of happiness, laughter, and love keeping my head above water through my tough weekly visits with Liam and the aftermath of my grief and stress over the unfairness of it all. She'll be coming with me tomorrow and I'm equal parts relieved and apprehensive.

When she waves the group off, I see her scoop two flavours into a cup, grab two spoons, and walk towards me.

Dipping my hands in a large bucket of water, I rinse my hands clean of the grease from the inboard motor I'm working on with one of the mechanics.

I hop down as she approaches. "Time for a ten-minute break?"

I nod, taking her hand and pulling her to the end of the dock to dangle our legs in the water.

"Is some of that for me?" I tease her gently, tugging her ponytail.

"It'll cost you," she laughs, pretending to think about the exchange. "I'll share it with you for the price of a kiss."

Grinning at her, I press my lips to hers, kissing her gently, tracing only the tip of my tongue against her bottom lip before pulling away. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes heated when she opens them, pouting just a little.

"Why did you stop?"

Laughing, I take one of the small spoons from her, "I'll give you a proper kiss later, Elle, when we're not here, at work."

Satisfied, she takes a small bite of the mint chip scoop. I take a larger bite of the chocolate flavour.

My phone continues to buzz over and over in my pocket. I finally pull it out, flip it open and I immediately see Chiara's sent me the same attachment probably fifty times.

Sighing, I open the message thread and select the image. When it opens on my screen, I see red for a moment. Elle, blindfolded in the middle of the crowd, being kissed by Hudson. She's clinging hard to his wrists as he does it, I can see the whites of her knuckles gripping him. Chiara's nasty comments below. "Guess she's not exactly a one guy kinda girl, so why should you be a one girl kinda guy?."

Elle looks over at me, looking down onto the screen of my phone. She pales a little, but looks up at me, directly. "Who sent you that picture, Greyson?"

I grit my teeth. "What the fuck is going on in this picture, Elle?"

My tone seems to startle her a little, and she jumps as I flip the phone shut with a snap.

She takes a deep breath, no hesitation, no excuses. "It was a party at Mads' boyfriend's place, at the beginning of summer. A game Mads, and that girl called Guess Who. They blindfold one person, then someone kisses them so they have to guess."

"Your friend, Chiara, called my name, and Mads dragged me out there before I could say anything. I was so nervous that a stranger would kiss me, Greyson."

My guts clench at the idea of anyone else kissing her, touching her.

"Hudson got there before someone else," her voice is shaky, earnest, but a little nervous, like she can't quite tell how I'm going to react. Good. I'm not sure how I'm going to react, she should be nervous.

"He only kissed me, because he didn't think I'd ever been kissed before, he didn't want something like that to be my first kiss. He did it as my friend." She waves down at my phone.

My anger towards Hud lessens, just slightly.

"I told Hudson everything, Greyson, our first kiss last summer, I told him about the confusion between us at the start of summer, meeting Chiara in town with you, Ryan and Theo. He thinks Chiara might have called my name on purpose, to stir the pot, when I told him she was your friend."

I close my eyes. "Why didn't you just say no, Elle?"

"You know how these girls can be, Greyson. I have to go to school with them, be friends with them. If I show that kind of stress or fear, they'll use it against me forever. It's better when I have Vi and Jules there, we can stay out of it, united, and normally I don't even let myself be roped into those situations but this one got away from me."

I do know how those girls can be. My sister went to school with them too. "What would you have done if Hud hadn't been there?" My stomach drops when all she says is a quiet "I don't know," in response to my question.

"You need to be careful. You have to say no when you feel like that. Please promise me, no more parties without me, preferably, or Hudson or Theo until you're confident you can say no if you want to. I don't want anyone else touching you, kissing you. You're mine."

The force of my voice shocks even me. Her eyes look up into mine, filled with uncertainty, nerves but also, pleasure? She's wringing her hands tightly, anxiously.

Taking her face in my hands, I place a hard kiss to her lips before standing and walking back to the mechanic bay. I need to leave her be for a bit, so I don't snap at her and say something I regret.

I watch her from under my eyelashes as she picks up the melted ice cream, tosses it into the trash, then with one last backward glance at me, she walks out to the gas pumps, preparing for a boat coming in. I continue to watch her through the afternoon as she works.

The only things I hate about the schools we go to are the overly entitled kids who attend them with us. Typically there are only a few in each grade, but the peer pressure they exert over their classmates can be extreme. It's so much worse at the girls' schools.

I know exactly what kinds of girls she's surrounded by. Some of them are great, but a lot of them lash out, trying to ensure they don't end up as victims of the mean girls themselves, mean girls like Chiara and her friends.

Having seen the peer pressure in those groups firsthand, I can understand why Elle hadn't stopped the game, but it's only going to get worse as they get older. If she doesn't speak up, she'll be put in that position again and again. At some point, it won't be fumbling high school boys anymore. It makes me a little sick to think about.

I plan to talk to Hud, he's not totally off the hook, he could have put an end to the game easily, or made sure she'd not been roped into it in the first place. The guys always have an easier time of it, saying no, and he could have, should have stepped in.

Looking over at Elle, I sigh. Maybe my anger with her is misplaced, but I can't help it. Just the thought of anyone else's lips on hers, a stranger's hands touching her, makes me want to punch something or someone.

I spend the rest of our shift cooling my temper before I even think about going near her again. Rationally, I know it isn't her I'm angry at, but the thought of her being victim to cruel, thoughtless peer pressure makes me insane.

The only silver lining I have to hold on to is that the party was before we agreed to spend time together, and she'd revealed to me that she's told Hud about us, sort of. That last fact is a soothing balm to my temper.

- - - 

Do you think Greyson's anger is justified? If so, towards whom/what? Elle, Hudson, Chiara, or the environment? 

Greyson has a serious issue against peer pressure which we'll learn more about later.  Any ideas?

Hope you like the story so far, I hope to see you in the comments section! Please consider voting if you're loving the work so far!

Xx Toria