"Maybe I can drive for Uber." I sigh, waiting for our plane to board.

"Or you can just talk to Shane." Grayson shrugs.

"I'm not talking to him. Even if I was a bitch, the way he spoke to me was completely unprofessional." I reply.

"Yeah, and the way you spoke to him wasn't any better. Just talk to him." He says.

"I don't want to do that." I mutter.

"Well I dont want my girlfriend and my best friend and my sister all hating each other. So can you please just swallow your pride and realize that although you were hurt, you said things that were completely out of line?" He snaps in reply.

"No, Grayson. I can't. Because for the last few weeks, I have looked like a complete fucking idiot. And yes, it's my fault. That doesn't mean that i'm ready to face this yet. So no. I'm not just going to swallow my pride. Not yet." I spit back.

"Forget it." He mutters, shaking his head in frustration.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing." He replies.

"You clearly want to say something so just say it." I reply.

"I'm not about to fight with you over this." He replies simply. "I just want to get back to California. That's all I want right now. Once we're back, we can talk about everything. I'm about to get on a plane-which I hate, by the way- and all I want is to relax until then. So unless you're going to say something that completely relaxes me, then I mentally can not handle this conversation." He replies, sounding completely exhausted.

I guess I haven't really considered what all of this is doing to him. He hadn't ever been on a place until now. I'm the entire reason he got on one in the first place, and now I'm stressing him out.

Again.

"You're right." I sigh, rubbing his arm gently. He closes his eyes and inhales deeply once we hear the woman on the intercom call for our boarding number.

"Ready?" I ask.

"No." He replies. "Maybe I can just walk home."

"No can do, Sir." I reply with a laugh. "Come on, we'll get seated and I'll get our drinks out of the bag."

"Okay." He replies, getting up from his seat.

As we board, I can tell how uncomfortable he is. I don't exactly know how he handled the flight over to Mexico, but I can only pray that he doesn't throw up on the way back.

"You have the laptop, right?" Grayson asks.

"Yup." I reply with a nod. "Don't worry, I have everything. We've checked like three times in the last ten minutes."

"I just don't want to forget anything." He mutters.

"I know. It's fine. It's a fairly short flight." I remind him, following him over to our seats.

First class isn't as nice as I always thought that it might be. It's probably just this plane, but I expected much more when I was a child. Despite this, I'm still glad for the extra space in our seat and more leg room. I'm sure he's thankful that we don't have to sit next to anyone else, either.

"Okay." He says, buckling himself into the seat and leaning his head back against the headrest. "Will you hand me my bag?" He asks, gesturing down to his briefcase.

I reach down and grab the bad underneath the seat and hand it to him. I wait as he unzips the case and pulls out a pill bottle.

"What's that?" I ask curiously.

"Valium." He replies, popping two of the pills into his mouth and swallow them without even a sip of water.

"I didn't know you even took Valium." I mutter.

"I usually don't do anything that causes me any sort of extreme anxiety." He replies.

"We'll begin our flight to Los Angeles, California in just a few minutes. We're expected to land at 3 P.M. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight." I hear in the muffled airplane overhead speakers

"I love you." I mutter to Grayson, taking his hand in mine.

"I love you, too." He replies, giving me a tight smile. I know he's nervous. Hell, I'm pretty nervous too. Not nearly as nervous as him, though.

"It'll be a short flight. Only three hours or so." I remind him.

"I'm just waiting for the Valium to kick in and knock my ass out." He replies.

"I'll wake you up when we land." I reply.

-

Thankfully, Grayson was able to sleep for the majority of the flight. Waking him up was another story.

"Grayson, wake up." I mutter, shaking him gently.

"No." He mutters, tucking himself further into the seat.

"We landed. Let's go home." I say, tugging his arm gently.

He lets out a yawn and a long stretch before fully sitting up. He looks around and sees some people standing up before letting out a long breath.

"Finally." He sighs in relief.

"I just want to go home. I missed LA." I reply.

"LA missed you." He replies with a small smile.

"I'll get us an Uber once we get to baggage claim." I tell him.

"Actually, Sofia said she'd pick us up." Grayson replies.

"Wait, what?" I ask.

"Sofia said she's pick us up." He replies.

"Okay, I heard you. What I mean is...why would you have her pick us up?" I ask.

Is he insane? After the way I acted when all of this happened, I am in absolutely no way prepared to face Sofia. I'm not ready to see Shane, either. I know that both of these interactions are going to be terrible.

"Because I know that besides you, she's the only person I want to see right now." He replies honestly.

I can't blame him for wanting to see his own sister. I can't even be mad that he did this without telling me until now. I'm sure that he knew I would selfishly talk him out of it.

"She said she's here. Just waiting for us outside." He says as we walk off of the plane.

We walk in silence to the baggage claim and I wait for the confrontation of the first person I screwed over in my own moment of stupidity.

When we walk outside, I see Sofia leaned against a Tesla.

"Hi, big brother." She says with a big smile before rushing over to him and giving him a hug. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks. I'm just glad to be back on the ground." He replies, hugging her back.

When they pull away, Sofia gives me a small smile before clapping her hands together.

"Ready to go home?" She asks, skipping to the drivers side.

"Yes." Grayson mutters in relief.

The ride home was tense. Actually, it was so tense that I would have to cut it with a chainsaw. Sofia refuses to acknowledge me. Really, I can't even blame her. Thank God the LA traffic wasn't too bad today.

"Are we going to the apartment...or?" Sofia asks Grayson.

"You're coming back over, right?" Grayson asks, turning his head to look at me from the front seat.

"Yeah. I don't have my car, though. I left it at my parent's place." I reply.

"We can stop and get it." He replies. "Is that okay?" He asks Sofia quietly.

"Yup." She says, popping the last letter.

"Do you know where you're going?" I ask, knowing that she doesn't but not exactly knowing how to just tell her where to go.

"Don't exactly know how I would know where I'm going." She says sarcastically. "Left or right?" She asks in a dry tone.

"Left." I mutter.

Yeah, this is going to be a long drive.