I feel my head pounding before I can even fully open my eyes.

No, no, no.

I leap out of bed and rush towards the bathroom. The second that I lift the toilet seat, I begin throwing up. Everything from last night comes back up with the awful reminder of how drunk I actually was.

I hear a soft knock on the bathroom door that I left wide open. I look over to see Natalia standing in the doorway with a concerned look on her face.

"Don't come in. It's gross." I mutter, leaning my head against the toilet seat.

"I know it's gross but I don't care." She says, coming into the bathroom and sitting on the floor next to me.

"It's embarrassing." I reply before throwing up once more.

She rubs my back as I try and catch my breath. I don't even remember the last time that I threw up. It was probably a little over ten years ago. I don't get sick often. When I do, it's usually just a cold. It's never something that involves me throwing up like this. This is absolutely terrible.

"Can you get me something to drink? I feel like I'm about to pass out." I say quietly.

"Of course. Hold on." She says, walking to the kitchen quickly. No more than twenty seconds later she returns with a cup of ice water and a cold rag.

I shiver slightly as she runs the cloth against my sweaty forehead.

"You're so sweet." I mutter as she runs the cloth from my forehead to the back of my neck and down my back.

"I just want you to feel better." She replies, rubbing my back soothingly. I can't remember the last time that someone took care of me like this. I don't even think my mom ever helped me like this when I was sick. Natalia is the first one. Natalia is my first for a lot of things.

"I was so drunk last night." I groan. "I don't even want to know about the shit that I did from Shane and Sofia."

"I'm sure it wasn't anything too bad." She assures me.

"I don't remember a single thing." I admit. "Which is concerning to me."

"Shane wouldn't let you do anything bad." She reminds me.

She's right. He wouldn't let me do anything that I would regret. That's for sure.

"I'm sorry you have to start your morning off like this." I sigh. She brings the water up to my face and I take the cup from her hands and sip. It feels absolutely amazing going down my throat. It's the best feeling ever. Despite the horrible taste in my mouth, the water feels amazing.

"Don't apologize. You would do the same for me." She tells me.

I would do the same for her. I would do anything for her.

"Did I majorly embarrass myself when I got home last night?" I ask.

If we're being completely honest, I'm not exactly sure how I got home last night.

"No." She laughs. "Shane brought you inside and got you into the bed. You talked for a little while and ended up falling asleep on me."

"Did I hurt you?" I asks with concern. I swear if I somehow managed to hurt her because I was drinking, I will never drink again. Right now, I don't really want to ever drink again anyways.

"Not literally. I just mean you fell asleep while we were talking." She laughs.

"Oh." I reply with a sigh of relief. "Good. I didn't want to squish you."

I lean my head against the toilet seat, not finding the strength to hold it up myself.

"Don't put your head there. It's unsanitary." She says, lifting my head gently with her hands.

"I need a shower but I'm afraid that I might pass out if I try." I mutter in complaint.

"Just take a bath. I'll run some water for you." She replies, standing up and offering me her hand.

"I guess you're right." I nod. "I'm going to brush my teeth first."

I hold myself up and use the counter top for support as I grab my toothbrush and drown it in toothpaste. The taste in my mouth is absolutely awful.

When I finish rinsing my mouth, I go over to the tub and slip out of my boxers. I'm too exhausted to even begin to feel insecure or embarrassed. As I sink into the water, I feel my body begin to relax. Even with the pounding still going on in my head, I feel instantly relieved. Moments later, I feel the puffy loofah that I keep in here run across my back.

"You're so sweet." I mutter to Natalia.

"I just want you to feel better." She replies.

"I'm feeling better." I assure her.

She continues to wash my back and run her fingers through my hair ever so often. It feels amazing. I never want to leave this bath tub, but know that eventually it will get too cold for me to stay. We stay in silence until my phone rings loudly on the counter, causing the both of us to jump at the noise.

"Can you get that for me?" I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose as my head continues to pound from the noise.

She grabs my phone and hands it to me, careful not to drop it into the water.

"Hello?" I ask, dreading this conversation before it even starts.

"Grayson, Hun. Why haven't you returned any of my calls?" My Mom asks with disapproval in her tone.

"I just get busy, that's all. What's going on?" I ask.

"Your Dad and I want to plan on coming out to see you and Sofia. She hasn't visited us since moving back to LA. We figured that we could stay with the two of you while we're in town." She says.

"Sofia is living with Shane." I tell her.

"Wait, what?" She asks.

"Yeah." I reply.

"Since when were those two living together?" She asks.

"I don't know, a few weeks now." I reply.

"She did not mention that to us. She told us that she was living with you." She explains.

"Oh." I mutter in response. I now understand that this is something that I was not supposed to mention.

"Are you still living alone or do you have that new girlfriend of yours living with you?" She asks.

"How do you even know about that?" I ask. I haven't told my parents about Natalia because I know that they were going to hound me with questions.

"Sofia tells us everything except the fact that she's living with Shane." She replies.

"I mean...she'll probably be there with us." I mutter in response. I hope Natalia can't hear anything that my Mom is saying. I turn the volume down, just in case.

"That's great! I'd love to meet her!" She exclaims in excitement.

"So is Dad going to be here, too?" I ask.

"Yes. He said that your brother might come by for a visit as well." She replies.

"God, Mom." I groan.

"What?" She asks.

"Don't you think you should give me some warning before inviting the entire family over?" I ask.

"Grayson Parker!" She scolds me.

"I'm a grown man, Mom. You have to realize that I might need some...privacy." I explain.

"Well in my defense, you've never really minded in the past." She reminds me.

"You guys can come stay, it's fine." I reply. "I have a killer headache and just want to relax for a bit. Mind moving this conversation to text messages?" I ask.

"Fine. Love you." She says, waiting for my reply.

"Love you, too." I reply before hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" Natalia asks, running her fingers through my hair.

"My Mom." I sigh, leaning against her touch.

"Oh. What did she want?" She asks.

"To stay with me while her and my Dad come to visit." I sigh.

"Oh." She nods. "I thought they lived here."

"They did. They moved to San Diego when me and Sofia moved out of the house. They haven't seen her since she's moved back home. They just don't want to make the drive back home so soon once they come to LA." I explain.

"Oh, that makes sense." She nods.

"So just a pre warning." I sigh. "My parents can be a lot to handle." I explain.

"Is that your way of telling me that you want me to meet your parents?" She asks with a smile.

"If you don't stay here with me while they're here, I might not make it out alive." I say. "They're a lot to handle." I repeat.

"I'll stay with you." She replies.

We stay like this for about half an hour. I only decide to get out of the water once Natalia points out the goosebumps forming on my arm.

"I need to talk to you." I say as I'm slipping into sweatpants.

"Okay. What's up?" She asks, laying back on our bed.

My bed. God, I want it to be our bed.

"I love you." I tell her as the start of the conversation.

"I love you, too." She laughs.

"I want you to move in with me." I say in a rush.

She smiles at my confession and opens her arms for me. I slip a T-shirt on and crawl into bed with her.

"I know." She laughs.

"You do?" I ask, leaning up to look at her.

"Yes. You asked me last night while you were drunk." She giggles.

"Oh." I say. "Was it embarrassing?" I ask with a slight cringe.

"No. It was cute." She smiles.

"Well....what did you say last night?" I ask, cocking a curious brow.

"Before or after you told me that we should also have sex?" She laughs.

"Oh my God." I groan.

"It's fine." She laughs. "I said yes."

"Wait, really?" I ask

"Yes. Let's talk about it, though."

"Which part?" He asks.

"Both parts." She replies.

"Okay." I mutter nervously.

"So...what did Shane tell you?" She asks.

I let out a sigh and feel my stomach turn at the nervous feeling that's coursing through me. Why am I so nervous? It's just Natalia. I can tell her anything. It's okay.

"He told me that he thought it was too soon. Especially since we haven't like...had sex yet." I admit. "He told me that we should explore....that. You know, before we move in with each other."

"Assuming that I move in." She adds.

"Yes." I nod.

"And do you think that way?" She asks me.

"No." I answer immediately. "I mean...clearly, I want to have sex with you. I mean, of course I do. I just don't feel any rush to do that yet. I want to make sure we're ready. Both of us. I can wait for as long as that takes. I mean...I've been celibate for twelve years now." I remind her.

"I don't feel any rush either." She says.

"However...I like you being here. You've been here for weeks now and I'm kind of used to it. I miss it when you're gone. I like coming home to you. I like waking up to you. I like making dinner for someone other than myself. I like watching TV with you, even if it's something that I'm not into. I just want you here. I don't think having sex with you is going to change that. I don't need to sleep with you to know that I love you." I explain.

"What about my apartment?" She asks.

"What about it?" I ask.

"I have a lease. I can't just move out." She replies.

"Keep your apartment. You can continue to keep your apartment until you're sure this is something that's going to work out and something that you want to do. If you want to, that is. That way if you think it's truly too soon and we need to take a step back and slow back down, you have somewhere to go." I say.

"I'm a lot to handle, Grayson. You're going to be the one who gets tired of me. Not the other way around." She sighs.

"No. I won't." I say confidently.

"Grayson." She sighs.

"No, Nat. I'm telling you right now that you don't have to worry. I have thought about this. I want you here. I want you to feel at home here. I want you to feel like this could be your home, too." I reply.

"I do feel at home." She whispers.

"Here." I say, getting up from the bed and walking towards the dresser. I open the top drawer and pull out the silver key that I had made a few days ago when thinking about all of this. I wanted to wait and give it to her when she was sure, but maybe this is best.

"A key?" She asks as I hand it to her.

"Yes. To the apartment. Although, I always use the keypad. I just want you to have this. You are more than welcomed to be here at any time, okay? You don't have to say that you're moving in or even think of it that way. Just consider this an open invitation for that if you want to, at least." I say.

She holds the key in her hand and flips it over, running her thumb over the slick metal.

"What if I want to stay?" She asks with uncertainty in her voice.

"Then you can stay." I reply.