The last day for me to stay with Lana and her family had come and gone. I had such a good time with them I didn't really want to leave, but I knew I had to. They would be leaving for their ski trip in the morning and I promised Grayson I would spend time with him and his family.

It was nearing noon when I slid into the driver's seat of Lana's car waving goodbye to her and her parents. Mrs. Young was tearing up which made me want to cry. Not even my own mother cried when I left for college. Actually, she wasn't even there when I left.

I hit the road dreading the six hours I had ahead of me. My back was still hurting just a little bit, thankfully not as bad as it did when I woke up that morning after hurting it. I never thought the pain would last this long. I was more out of shape than I thought, or maybe it was the fact that I let Mr. Young talk me into another game of Just Dance two days later and hurt myself again realizing that I never need to play that game again in my life.

Traffic was horrible. I guess everyone waited to leave for vacation until I was out on the road. When I finally got back to campus, an hour later than I should have, I jumped out of the car and ran into the student lounge to pee. I held it for two hours not daring to get off the freeway in fear it would take too long to get back on it with the backed-up traffic.

When I got back in the car, I checked my phone and saw a text from Grayson asking if everything was okay. I should have been at his parents' house by now, and I let him know I was fine and on my way.

When I pulled up to his parents' house, I sat in my car in the large driveway looking up at the house. It was big, not as big as my parents', but then again not many were. My parents liked to outdo everyone. It was still big though.

I called Lana to tell her I was freaking out. I don't know why I was, but there was a lot of cars parked in the driveway, letting me know it was more than just his parents behind that door. After listening to Lana tell me to quit being stupid and get out of the car and go inside, I hung up.

Opening my car door, I stuck one foot out taking a deep breath and then stepping out completely. I grabbed my bag from the backseat and started my way up the drive to the front door.

My fist hovered in the air for a few seconds before I knocked, then stood there waiting. It didn't take long for the door to open and Grayson stood there looking down at me with a smile.

"Took you long enough. I thought you weren't going to get out of the car."

"You saw me?"

"Everyone did," he said and I looked passed him at all the people standing and sitting around. "Don't be nervous," he said. Nervous? Could he tell? I thought I was hiding it pretty well.

"There's a lot of people here," I whispered.

I still didn't know why I was so nervous. I've spent my whole life surrounded by a large amount of people, but they were usually my parent's business friends so I didn't have to socialize with them too much, but this was different. I was going to be spending days with these people and I was going to have to socialize.

Grayson grabbed my bag from me just as I heard his mother's voice. "Ellie! You made it!" She had a wide grin as she made her way over to me and pulled me into her embrace.

"Hi, Mrs. Pierce."

"Oh, please. We've known each other long enough, now. Call me, Rhonda," she said when she pulled away from me. "I know there's a few people here, but they came from out of town so they're staying with us." She took a step and waved for me to follow. "Come meet everyone."

I looked to my side at Grayson who just gave me a warm smile.

I followed Mrs. Pierce into the room and let the introductions begin. First was his grandparents from his dad's side; Georgia and Walter. Then came his aunt and uncle from his mom's side; Frank and Sylvia, along with their three kids; Heather who was a freshman in high school, and their twin boys, Max and Lucas who were in fifth grade. They were identical twins, and honestly, I wasn't sure how you were supposed to tell them apart. They said Max had a small speck of brown in his green eye, but you couldn't see that from a distance, and I didn't think it was appropriate to get up in each of their faces every time just to see who was who. Aside from that Max was into sports and a flirt, while Lucas was quieter and into books.

Lastly was Grayson's sister, Leanne and her husband Will, who had a two-month-old baby boy named Bradley. I didn't even know Grayson had a sister, let alone a nephew who was the cutest baby I'd ever seen, well except for my nephew, Liam, of course.

"I'm surprised Grayson even found a girl who would want to put up with him," I heard Heather say from across the room.

"Hey! I heard that," Grayson yelled to her and she just shrugged. I chuckled at her words, receiving a glare from Grayson but I didn't care.

"Oh, they're not dating, honey," Grayson's mother told Heather. "They're just friends," she said and I could hear it in her voice, she was mocking us without making it too obvious, but I could hear it.

"Well, since you're just friends," one of the twins began as he started walking over to me, but was pulled back by his shirt from his dad. "Hey, I thought I'd shoot my shot," he said as he was plopped down on the couch. That must have been Max.

My purse started vibrating beside me on the couch and I pulled my phone out seeing Aaron's name on the screen. "Oh, Aaron's calling," I told Grayson as I stood up. "I'll be right back."

"Hey, Aaron," I said as I stepped into the foyer taking a seat on the second step of the staircase.

"Hey, I just wanted to see if you made it to your boyfriend's safely," he said through the phone.

"He's not my boyfriend," I said peering through the archway to make sure no one was paying me any attention. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Yeah, you said Sean wasn't either, and then he took your virginity, so," he said. I still remember when he found out. He nearly kicked Sean's ass until I stepped in and made him leave him alone. Sean broke up with me not long after that and I blamed Aaron for a while until I realized that if he left me that easily then he wasn't worth it anyway.

I laughed. "Well, that's already gone so you don't have to worry about him taking that."

"That's not funny, Ellie."

"Don't worry, Aar-Bear, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." I stood up. "But I really need to go. I love you." I waited for him to reply before hanging up.

I walked back into the living room to see almost everyone was gone, except for Grayson and his mom. "Where did everyone go?" I asked as I sat back down.

"They're around somewhere," his mother said.

"How is Aaron? Still working out all the time or what?" Grayson asked me.

I laughed. "Yeah. Why? Are you still scared?"

He shook his head. "No," he said but his tone of voice said otherwise.

"So, I wanted to talk to you two about sleeping arrangements," his mother chimed in stopping our conversation, and we gave her our attention. "All the rooms are filled up and the kids are sleeping in the living room, so you two can stay in your old room," she told us, but looking at Grayson.

"We can?" I asked.

She nodded. "It will be good."

"It will?" I asked.

"Of course. I think it will be for the best."

"You do?" I asked and then was nudged by Grayson making me realize I kept answering her with a question. "Oh, sorry."

She ignored me. "I think it would be better than you two sleeping in separate rooms and sneaking around in the middle of the night to spend time together, if you choose. There are young kids here."

"I'm sorry, what?" I questioned her again but this time I didn't care. What was she insinuating exactly?

"Mom," Grayson said surprised.

"I'm sorry, honey.' She held her hands up. "I'm just taking precautions." She looked around the room and then back at us. "I know how it was when your father and I stayed at your grandparents house for the first time together. We were sneaking around every night."

"Holy, shit, mom. Stop," Grayson said with disgust.

I looked over at Grayson and he looked sick to his stomach. "You did, huh?" I looked at her again. "I bet it was pretty exciting though."

"Oh, it definitely was." She smiled like she was thinking back to that moment. "The rush of thinking you might get caught."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Grayson said sounding nauseous. "Why do you have to egg her on?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "Not my parents." That and the fact that seeing the way Grayson reacted was just a little funny. I gave his thigh a hard pat. "Well, looks like we're roomies."

"Awesome. Can we go bring your stuff up to my room, then?" he asked me but he was already standing and headed over to my bag, escaping from the conversation.

I jumped up and followed him out of the room and up the stairs. I walked into his room after him and looked around. It was pretty empty except for the bed and a few other things. Kind of like Lana's room, most of his stuff he probably took to college with him.

"Oh good. A nice big bed," I said as I jumped and fell onto my back on the bed. "Now you won't take up most of the bed all touching me, and I won't have to crawl over you just to get out of bed."

"Why do you have to upset me like that?"

I propped myself up on my elbows and looked at him as he walked over to me. He leaned onto the bed his hands on either side of me as he hovered over me. "You know you like it." I could feel his breath on my lips.

My brows raised. "Excuse me?"

"Just admit it," he said and licked his lips.

I slid out from under his arm and off the bed turning around to watch him push himself from the bed and turned around to me. "Someone's full of them self," I told him.

"So, you do, then."

"I never said that." I crossed my arms over my chest eyeing him.

"You didn't deny it."

"I don't have to admit or deny anything. You're so annoying." I let my arms fall to my sides and turned around walking towards the door. "I'm going to sleep in the living room with the cool kids."

He grabbed my arm stopping me and spinning me around, using his free hand to swing the door shut. "No, you're not." His hands grabbed my waist and I was lifted off the ground and sat on the bed.

"You did not just do that." I pulled my legs to me sitting cross legged and leaning back on my hands looking up at him. "What are you going to do? Hold me hostage?"

"If I have to."

We were interrupted by his mother's voice yelling that dinner was ready and I jumped to my feet racing to the door but was stopped by him grabbing me and spinning me around pushing me up against the wall. "This isn't how being held hostage works."

"I'm hungry. Are you really going to deny me food?" I bit my lip.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"You know what," he said and let go of me.

I wiggled my brows with a smirk, then I slipped out the door hearing him let out a breath and his footsteps following behind me.