The drive back was quiet after I had answered with a small, "good," and neither of us had tried to initiate another conversation. I kept looking at his arm as he drove us home, looking at the tattoos that trailed up and past his sleeve. My eyes trailed up and saw the tattoos peeking out against his neck too.

"Is there anything you want to ask me?" Greyson asked, his low voice making me jump.

"I, um..." I pulled my knees up to my chest and took a deep breath.

"How many tattoos do you have?" He smirked.

"A lot. My sleeve isn't finished yet though, so I'm going to get a few more." I stared at him in amazement.

"Don't they hurt anymore?"

"Hurt, past tense, yes. Currently, no." I didn't want to bother him with all my questions, so I hummed and sat back, twisting my fingers into the hair tie I kept on my wrist.

"Go on, Little Love, ask me." I stared at him. Even Kaiden didn't call me that, and my brother only called me that really to annoy me.

"Are you sure? I'm not annoying you am I?" He chuckled.

"Don't worry, Love, your questions are entertaining at worst." I tilted my head.

"What's your next tattoo going to be?" He was quiet for a few seconds.

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe flowers?"

"Flowers?" I hadn't expected the six-foot-something giant with a body full of tattoos who glared at the everyone but his closest friends (and their little sister) to say flowers.

"Why flowers?" He went quiet again.

"For my mother. Her favourite flowers used to be water lilies, before she changed. I was going to get them here," He reached over and lifted his shirt so show a blank space on his side.

"Oh." There wasn't really much I could say to that. He reached over and switched on the radio, so I settled back as soft rock music started playing. I could feel him looking at me every so often, but I leant against my seat and stared out of the window. I loved car rides, as it seemed to give me a break from the busy world. The ride was over quickly though, and he jumped out, and waited for me on the other side as I grabbed my bag. I was surprised he walked with me.

The house looked empty, but I knew someone was home, as there was still a pair of shoes on the rack. I shoved mine next to them and began walking up to my room, not really knowing where else to go as Greyson had already disappeared into the kitchen. I leant my bag against my desk and pulled out my phone, sitting on the edge of my bed. There wasn't too much homework, and I knew I needed to re-write my notes otherwise I'd never remember them, but I wanted to check my social medias first.

The person who had ordered my most recent commission had tagged me in her story, and I opened it up to find that she had also bought a set of cute stickers I had designed. I grinned at the thought of people enjoying my art as much as I enjoyed making it. Throwing my phone backwards, I went and sat over at the desk and pulled out my notes, ready to start writing, but couldn't help but feel the emptiness.

Back in England, I would always be surrounded by friends, no matter what I was doing, and had gotten used to studying in louder conditions. At this point, not having people surrounding me at every moment felt lonely and strange. I went and grabbed my phone again, this time pulling up Spotify and playing music, connecting to my speaker. Every few seconds I reached over and turned it up just a little bit more, until it was on full blast, and only then did I feel a little bit better. I picked up my pen, and started writing.

An hour or so later, I had finished, and packed up. I sat still for a minute, listening to the music still playing far too loudly, then sighed. There was nothing else for me to do. Maybe I could go out on a run?

Nope. Other people would be out, and they would bother me.

Call my friends? Or would they still be in class? Would they even want to talk to me?

I decided on going downstairs instead, heading into the kitchen to find a snack. Greyson was sat at the counter, flicking through his phone with a glass of something that looked similar to my father's favourite scotch. All he needed was a cigarette and some kind of fancy important book, and he would be a splitting image.

"Um, hi..." He hummed, but didn't even look up at me, entranced by something on him phone. Something inside of me felt funny, but I ignored it, and started searching through the fridge for some fruit. I found a pot of pre-cut mango, and decided on that, going through the draws to find a fork. When I finally turned around, I found Greyson looking at me.

"Come sit with me?" Slowly, I nodded, padding over to him and sitting beside him on the counter as there were no seats opposite. I could feel the warmth radiating off of him as I awkwardly pulled off the top layer of plastic, slipping off my seat to throw it away. His eyes followed my movements until I was sat next to him again, where he continued to scroll through his phone. I had actually bought mine down, so it was thankfully not too awkward as we both sat next to each other on our phones.

Camilla was online and she sent me a message as soon as I opened Instagram, ranting about some boy from the other school who had snuck in and spent the night with her. I felt another wave of homesickness when she was telling me about McKenna, who had helped sneak the boy in, knowing that if I was still there, it would have been me helping instead.

"Hey, anyone wanna play a game?" Someone stood in the hallway in only sweatpants. Obviously he was the one who had stayed at home. I looked at Greyson, who was looking at me.

"Well, Love? Want to play a game?" I shrugged.

"Come on then, before the others get home and push you off." The other boy cut it. I stood up and followed after him, Greyson trailing behind me.

Guess we were playing some games then.