☕︎☕︎☕︎

"Okay, what's wrong? Reese. Reese!" Sarah yells and I break out of my daze. Everyone at the table is staring at me.

"Yes?" I question. Why are they all staring at me?

"You've been oddly silent the whole day," Jake concludes.

"You noticed?" I ask shocked. Jake notices me? Damn.

"Uh... yeah?" he replies.

"What's up with you? We haven't heard a single remark or sarcastic reply," Everleigh complains.

"Nothing, I just skipped breakfast this morning so I'm not energized."

"That is a blatant lie. I can see the syrup stain on your shirt," Philip says. "That and I can smell the coffee from your mouth."

"Actually?" I ask as I breathe out on my palm and try to smell my own breath. He was right. My breath does smell like coffee.

"Okay, you-"

"Hey, Reese," Roman says placing his hands on my shoulder. I look up from the corner of my eyes and spot him standing over me from behind. "Hey to you all too."

Everyone else nods at him quietly.

"What's up?" I ask him.

"You left early this morning. So did Gray."

"Yeah," I reply.

"Did you guys talk it out?"

"Nope."

"Oh."

"Yup."

"Well... that's it I guess. I'll see you after school? Landon's driving us home."

"Okay."

"Okay," he bobs his head before leaving to go sit at the table with his own friends.

"Someone really hurt you, huh?"

"You could say that," I shrug. Not in the mood to talk anymore, I start peeling the banana that was on my tray and eat it.

☕︎☕︎☕︎

"You okay?" Landon asks as we walk to his car. Landon's walking in between Roman and I.

"I'm breathing."

"That's as good as it gets, for now, I guess."

"Yup."

A car blocks our way and we all stop. The window rolls down and a man dressed in formal attire indicating that he is a chauffeur reveals himself.

"Mr. Price has requested Reese Price's presence at the office," he speaks. I look at Roman and Landon. To prove his legitimacy, the man pulls out his company card and displays it. As I read it off, I realize that it is real.

"Go, Gray probably wants to talk it out," Landon says.

"Yeah. You know you can't stay mad at him for too long anyway," Roman adds.

"Why couldn't he just pick me up or text me to give me a warning?" I question.

"Stop overthinking it. Just go with the flow," Landon suggests.

"Fine," I reply as I open the back door and take a seat. I set my bag on the seat next to me as the driver starts on the route.

It takes about an hour and fifteen minutes before we're at our office. It's weird considering a place I've never been to mine. Also, the office is a place I don't see myself spending a lot of quality time in anymore.

"Good evening, Miss Price," another employee opens the door for me and I exit giving him a nod.

"Hi..."

"Gregory. Greg for short."

"Hi, Greg," I smile shaking his hand.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Price."

"Call me Reese, please."

"Whatever you'd like, Reese," he smiles back.

He starts walking and I follow behind.

"I am Grayson's assistant. I run his schedule, what he wears to his meetings, who he sees, when he sees them, where he meets them is all in my hands," he explains. He scans his pass on every security clearance level. Even to work the elevator he must first scan his pass.

It's not surprising though. Our company specializes in new technologies, especially in security. We take up new ideas and designs that other companies or even people pitch. If we, and by we I mean Grayson and his board of members find that the product is worth investing in, they will fund or buy rights to whatever product it is.

"Now, Grayson and Jaxon always talk about you, so it's really nice to finally meet you. What took you so long to finally bless us with your presence?" he asks.

"Just been busy with settling in and getting used to everything."

"True. I mean from Singapore to LA is a big change. It's taken me a while to adjust too. I do miss Singapore," he claims. For the last two years, I hadn't paid much attention to what goes on in the office. When I was in rehab, I started going again with dad until he passed away and after that, I never went back. Grayson must've hired Greg thereafter our parents' death and probably moved him to LA too.

"Yes it is, but I'm slowly adjusting. I do too."

"Hopefully you start to feel at home soon, I know I have."

Before I can reply, the elevator dings open and he escorts me to Gray's office. We walk over to the little seating area and I take a seat on the couch putting my bag to the side.

"He'll be back in about five minutes. He's just finishing up a meeting. Anything I can get for you until you wait?"

"Uh... no. I think I'm good. Thank you, though."

"Well, one last thing before I take my leave," Greg says as he squats down in front of me. "I don't know what the fuck Grayson fucked up between you two, but he made me wipe the rest of his schedule clean today and I never do that for anyone. So for my sake, whatever he has up his sleeve to make up for whatever he did, just be open-minded about it and give him a chance. I've never seen that man so sad before."

I don't know what to say so I reply with a small smile and bob my head in agreement.

"Well, that's settled then. Have a great rest of your day and I know my husband will be delighted to see me home early for once," he says blowing me a kiss as he rises up and heads out of the room.

The office is giant as usual, but a lot different than the way our dad kept his office. Our dad had more colour and life in it, but Gray's office is more monotone with a very somber feeling. It fits his aesthetic, so I can't really complain.

"Good, you're here," Grayson says bursting through his doors. "I have one more meeting. The man is the most stubborn piece of shit I've ever met and wouldn't push the meeting to another day."

I watch as he walks over to his desk and takes off the cover from the cup of water and chugs it down quickly.

I stand up and grab my bag.

"Leave your bag," he says as he struts past me.

"Okay," I say as I follow him out the office and into the elevator. He uses his card and punches in the seventh floor which is where all the meeting rooms are. "What's the meeting about?"

"It's about an app. I don't know much about it yet, but it's highly feminist-oriented," he explains.

"Cool," I reply once again giving in to the awkward silence. Once the elevator doors open, Grayson leads us into the meeting room where our team and the other team is already waiting for us. As we enter the room, they stand.

"Sorry about the late arrival, had to go get our special guest. This is my sister Reese Price who will be providing us with her two-sense based on personal experience," Grayson introduces.

"It'll be a pleasure to present in front of you," a tall blonde extends her hand out to me. I shake it back. She's dressed in a navy blue pantsuit with lace peeking through under her blazer. Her hair is let down in beachy waves and she's wearing only a minimum amount of makeup, enough to bolden her blue iris'.

When she walks over to Grayson, he seems starstruck.

"Astrid Garcia," she introduces herself. It takes a minute for Grayson to realize that she's indicating a handshake when he finally shakes it.

He clears his throat.

"Sorry, I just thought that-"

"I was a man? It's not your fault, my assistant takes most of the calls and he forgets to mention that he is my assistant. We're still working on that."

"Well, he's probably good at something. That's probably why you hired him," Grayson jokes.

"Yeah, he did get me this meeting," she laughs.

"Of course," Gray says as he takes his seat at the end of the table. I sit at the corner on his right. "Please, begin with your presentation."

"Thank you," Astrid starts off by handing out files to each of the members on the table. As the lights dim, she starts her presentation and everyone follows along while reading through the file for more details.

Overall, her app is for women who feel like they are in danger of being stalked. A lot of women who are courageous enough to report their stalkers or their experiences to the police often get handled poorly. In most cases, the women get no justice, end up hurt or even dead.

This app will allow women to upload their stories not only to share their experiences, but these apps will directly be run by multiple police stations all across the country and the world. Police officers will able to interact with the victims and if they feel like the police department is not handling the victim's case correctly, they can take control and aid in the process.

"Great presentation, Astrid. The thought process behind this app is really uplifting and positive, I do have to give you that. There are a couple of concerns I do have, such as when you say victims, what victims are you talking about? Just female victims? If so, that creates another issue of not being inclusive. It's a fact that men do experience abuse and stalker situations just like women do. It might not be as often, but to completely wipe them out of the equation would be disrespect towards them," Grayson explains.

"Yes, that's true. For now, our plan is to keep it exclusively for women. Registration would be using your social insurance numbers or driving license number, things that someone couldn't fake. This would also prevent any predators from entering the app and causing fear," Astrid explains.

"That's a good point, but who says that females can't be predators as well?" a person from Grayson's team points out.

"Hate and predators cannot be eliminated completely from the app or anywhere from the world, we as the human race accept that. Our goal with is app is just to minimize the hatred and strengthen the power within women who have been abused in the past," a person from Astrid's teams explains.

"What do you think Reese?" Grayson asks. Everyone turns their heads towards me and I freeze like a deer in headlights.

You got this, Reese.

I didn't really follow along with the file, but from what she had explained, it did leave me wondering a few things. This can't be that hard. I just have to think out loud.

"Uh...m, I think the app has a lot of potential. I personally haven't heard of any sort of apps like this before and so it seems unique. There are a few holes like he mentioned about who would be allowed on the app and who wouldn't. It also brings up things such as people being able to screenshot or screen record videos of the victims sharing their experiences. You know if it's safe then it should be kind of like what happens in the app stays in the app kind of thing. I think as you put more thought into it, it is missing a lot of small details. The broader picture makes it seem pitch-perfect, especially for someone who has experienced a-abuse in th-the past, but to create something like this, you must think like the victim. And victims do have a lot of anxiety when it comes to sharing their stories. I know I rarely speak about it. Actually, I don't think I even have spoken about it since I've been out of rehab. Sorry, I'm not trying to make this a sob story about me. But it's just to give you a perspective on where I'm coming from. I think if you were to brush up on the details and clean up a few things, this app could be really popular and helpful."

"Yes and I totally agree. These are things that my team and I would have addressed if the meeting was still done when it was supposed to be, a month later. We were informed this morning that it had been moved up to today, we got what we had ready and came," Astrid shares.

I arch an eyebrow. That's weird considering Grayson told me that Astrid was the one who wanted this meeting to happen today.

"That's fair," Grayson speaks. "How about, you get a trial of the app up and running in the next two weeks and then we can use it. See how we like it. If my team and I like the app, then we will be open to discussing a contract in which we'll highlight the best possible outcome for the app and of course for you as the creators of it."

"Perfect. Will Reese be joining us for the rest of the way through?" Astrid questions. I look at Grayson who looks at me to answer.

Bitch, of course!

"Yes, I will be," I smile. It comes out a lot more monotone, but eh. Grayson and I get up from our chairs and so does everyone else. We head out and stop at Astrid on our way.

"Great, thank you," Astrid shakes both of our hands and we head out.

"What's next?" I ask.

"Dinner? I was thinking Indian," Grayson says.

"At a restaurant, just the two of us?"

"Yup," he replies.

"Down."

"Good, I already had the reservations made."

☕︎☕︎☕︎

"Thanks for bringing me to that meeting," I say as I munch on my garlic naan and butter chicken.

"I knew you'd bring a lot of insight to it," Grayson says. "I was going to ask you to come to that meeting next week, but after what happened yesterday, I needed a way to make things up to you. I realize I was too harsh on you. Even though you should have informed us about your whereabouts and gotten in touch with us somehow so that we knew you were safe, but you didn't, it gave me no right to speak to you the way that I did. I also should have not embarrassed you like that in front of Sebastian or even talk about him the way I did. For that, I also apologize."

"It's okay, Gray. I know I was partially at fault. You had every right to be concerned and even though I am not my past, it still lingers with us. It's not going to just go away and I understand that. I should be on top of things. I'm sorry for not fully doing my part yesterday. I know you already have a lot on your plate with the business, I should be better."

"No, Reese. Really. You were just trying to be normal and I should let you be. After mom and dad died, I just think that I've been fucking up. I've given my all to the business and in the process, I think I'm losing touch with my family. I want the business to thrive, but not at the expense of us as a family. I've decided to work from home more and have the weekend's off, one hundred percent free from any work."

"Actually?"

"Yeah. It'll help me stay more in touch with what everyone's up to and we can have our famous family movie nights and weekend outings. Even if this isn't Singapore and mum and dad aren't here, doesn't mean we can't keep their legacy going. I've been trying too hard to keep their legacy going that I forgot their legacy doesn't start with the business. Their legacy only starts with us and it ends with us too."

"Wow, you really did feel that guilty, huh?"

"Yeah, Reese. It's never happening again, I swear," Grayson promises.

"I don't talk about it often, but everything that happened with the drugs and Silas, it was because I felt like a failure. Compared to you guys, I really had nothing going for me. I thought I really couldn't disappoint them more, but that night, I woke up in the hospital bed. I remember mom's face. Tears just stained her face. It looked like they hadn't slept in days, which they hadn't. I felt guilty about that too, for fucking up even more than I already did my being a failure at birth. As I went through therapy and rehab, I realized that they really didn't see me like that. It was me who saw myself as a failure and it was my own demons that I had to overcome to move on from whatever I felt. The point of me saying that is, even after everything I did, mom and dad loved me and they loved themselves. They knew that some kids turn out to be easy and some just turn out to be hard. They didn't blame themselves for every mistake we made and I'm just trying to say that, the rest of us will continue to make more mistakes. We're not perfect and neither are you. I know you want to take care of us and be there for us, but just be there for yourself too. Our mistakes are not a reflection of your lack of authority or presence."

"God, this food is spicy," Grayson sniffs as his eyes brim with tears. I scoot my chair back and stand.

"Oh come on," I say opening my arms. Grayson gets up and engulfs me in a hug. "I love you."

"I love you," he replies.

After about a minute of hugging, I whisper into his ear.

"Everyone's staring at us. I think they think you're my sugar daddy."

"Way to ruin the moment," Grayson says breaking the hug. I wipe away my tears as I laugh.

"Hey, I'm just saying it does look like that. An old man dressed in a suit and a young girl hugging, saying I love you to each other after a deep conversation? Couldn't get more sugar-esk than that."

"The fact that you even know what that is, concerns me. I'm gonna have to add parental control on all electronics in the house," Grayson says.

"Do that and all the boys in the house will be coming to your door a lot more often than you'd like and it'll get real awkward real fast," I reply.

"You... oh my God. I cannot believe you are only sixteen."

"I lived with six men at a point in my life, give me some credit. Come on."

"No. I just- ew. I don't even wanna eat anymore."

"Oh, stop acting like a kid."

We both laugh and continue to eat as we talk about the meeting and just life in general.

"You know I'm really proud you talked about your experience at the meeting today," Grayson says.

"Even though you put me on the spot with that which was a bitch move, I know you didn't have any bad intentions so I forgive you. Also, it does feel good to just talk about it even if it was in the vaguest way possible."

"A little goes a long way. I just wish something like that was around when you needed it and bringing you onto this project, I just have high hopes for you and the project."

"Well, thank you for not thinking I'm a failure."

"You know, I've never thought of you that way."

"I know, I was just joking."

"Don't even put yourself down in a joking way either. You're too intelligent and beautiful for that," he says.

"Alright, dad."

"Shh, not so loud. You don't need to feed their suspicions any further," he whispers causing me to laugh.

No more of my past was brought up for the rest of the night. Even during dessert, our ride home or when we got home.

A/N:

I knew I said I would get this up earlier, but I just finished it like two minutes ago and it probably needs to be edited more but I'll edit it after.

How was it?

Silas, drugs, rehab and abuse is her past... damn.

No more sad emotional chapters, I need the corky and sarcastic Reese back ASAP!!! Am I right or am I right??