SQUIRM

GRAYSON STROLLED INTO THE TWIN'S HOUSE, running up the stairs and falling down onto Elise's bed, causing her to jump. He had walked around town, stopping by the gas station to clean up his very bloody nose before coming there once school was out. There was so much to tell and he needed to make sure both of the girls were up to date.

"Boys..." he began, squinting his eyes as he thought, "...are confusing. And also the worst."

"What happened?" Emma peeked her head into the doorway before entering and closing the door behind her, "Also, your nose looks broken, did you wanna get that checked out?"

With a shrug, he poked his nose where he got punched. He didn't feel any extreme pain and he couldn't afford hospital bills, so he was just going to live with it. He felt more energized and revitalized than he had in a long time. He couldn't remember the last time he was this happy about something.

"It's probably fine, do you guys wanna know what happened?" Both girls nodded eagerly. "Okay, so, I'm just walkin' around town brooding, you know, as one does. I didn't feel like going to school because my life has been a hot mess lately. Anyway, I see Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers and I'm like, 'okay, weird couple, but that's not my business' and then I see some very sexist graffiti directed towards Ms. Wheeler and she sees it, too! So, she finds Tommy, Steve, Carol, and Nicole in an alley. Tommy is pressuring Steve into doing mean stuff because Steve saw Nancy with Jonathan the night before, I'm pretty sure. I don't know, I wasn't really listening, but the whole thing was really entertaining. Anyway, words are thrown and then Jonathan tries to walk away and I'm like 'oh, damn, this got boring," but then Tommy brought me into it and now they all know that Steve and I were, like, definitely a thing—"

"Hold on," Elise interrupted, "How can you say that so casually? Tommy's an asshole, he's gonna tell the whole school probably! How did he even find out?"

Grayson shrugged, "I don't know, but that doesn't matter because he knows. Carol was surprisingly calm about it, which was unexpected. Anyway, so they brought me into the mess even though I was just trying to spy on them and get some entertainment. So, Steve is like, totally egging Jonathan on, it's kinda hot when he's all tough like that—"

"Really, Gray? That's the one detail you're going to give us?" Emma raised her eyebrow disapprovingly.

"It's important!" he argued before continuing on, "Anyway, Jonathan whips around and punches Steve. It was really bad form, but I don't think that Byers kid has ever interacted with any human before, like ever, so I'll give 'em that. Steve fights back and a whole thing breaks out. I tried to get in the middle and get them apart, but I just got caught in the crossfire and Jonathan nailed me in the nose, hence the broken-looking nose and blood on my shirt. And then, the fight is in full motion and the cops come."

"Grayson!" Elise spoke in a chastising tone, "Why do you keep getting mixed up in bad shit?"

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but I didn't get arrested, did I? I'm fine and I definitely will keep getting mixed up in bad shit. Stop interrupting me, you want the full story and then you don't let me finish."

"Fine, fine, okay."

"Okay, cops come, Jonathan gets caught and Nancy stays with him, but the rest of us run. I'm running with Steve, he's holding my hand, we're like on some Bonnie and Clyde shit and I love it. I am such a sucker for this boy and at this point, I'm just gonna let it happen. Anyway, once we're a safe distance away, Steve stops and he just kisses me! It was amazing, it reminded me of the first kiss with him and when we—"

Emma held up a hand, "I'm going to stop you right there. So, what? You left and came here?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Grayson finished, sitting up and moving so he was sitting up against the headboard, "I mean, things with Nancy and Steve are pretty much wrecked and he seems like he might actually wanna make things work and call me an optimist, but I think things might actually be looking up for me."

"Grayson, I love you and I want you to be happy," Elise sighed and just with that premise, Grayson knew something bad was coming. "but how often do things work out for the other person in this kind of love triangle? I mean, for lack of a better term, how many times does 'the other woman' come out on top?"

With a sigh, Grayson said, "I know, I know, but for once, I have hope. That's been a rare thing lately, you know how rough it's been. I mean, junior year is hard enough, but all this drama has made it almost unbearable."

"I think," Emma began, her eyes avoiding her friend's, "before you do anything more with Steve, you need to apologize to your ex. Even though things have more or less worked themselves out relationship-wise, you still cheated and you're still a villain, for lack of better word, to him. I think you should at least clear your conscious before pursuing anything serious."

"I'm scared, I don't wanna talk to him," Grayson whined, "Ugh, my life is a tragedy again, thank you guys for ruining my euphoria."

"Anytime," Elise joked, pulling her friend into a hug and rubbing his back as a sign of comfort, "I think you can do it. I mean, how much can he really hate you for it? This is high school, we all leave for college in a year, what's the point in holding grudges? We all leave for college in a year anyway, why leave on a bad note?"

Grayson scoffed, "Tell him that! He's the one who hates my guts!"

"Maybe it's because you cheated on him," Emma shrugged.

"Okay, fair," Grayson sighed, knowing what he had to do. Part of him knew he had to make things right with Matthew, no matter how much it would absolutely suck to revisit that mess. There was still a part of Grayson that hated himself for cheating on Matthew and no matter how many times he kissed Steve as a single person, it wasn't going to go away. "Oh, God, I don't wanna do it, but I know I have to."

"You have to," Elise and Emma nodded, both trying to convince him to do the right things. Grayson was glad he had them as a moral compass or else he would definitely be more of a mess than he already was. He was grateful for every moment he had the twins by his side, even if sometimes they were nosy or caused fights. He couldn't bear the thought of being without them, of being on his own. He hoped they would stay by his side even throughout senior year and college and everything after that. He didn't even know how to live on his own or be his own person without them. They were his moral compass, his support system, his everything.

"Ugh," he grumbled, crossing his arms for a moment before sighing, "Okay, I know what I have to do. Thank you, guys, for listening and for being here."

"You never have to thank us," Emma rolled her eyes, a smile on her face, "That's what best friends are here for."

Okay, I know this was short and a ton of dialogue, but there's gonna be some DRAMA with Matthew next chapter and then we'll get into the last few episodes where Grayson will get involved with the Demogorgon and all that jazz! Ahh, there's only eight chapters left! I'm shook!