All It Is, Is Just A Name

Skye's P.O.V.
Daises & Rainbows

I got up from the bathroom floor and washed my face. Looking at my reflection made me grimace. You could tell I'd been crying and the confusion I felt was evident in my eyes.

Fucking daises and rainbows.

Grumbling to myself I opened the door and left the bathroom making my way across the bedroom before walking slowly down the staircase. At the bottom of the stairs sat Bert a forlorn look on his doggy face. For a moment I sat on the last step scratching behind his ears while he whined softly and nuzzled my palm with his damp black nose.

"Skye." My father's voice startled me and I looked up to see him holding Bert's leather leash a slightly triumphant look on his face. "Go take the dog for a walk and make sure to bring Grey with you." My eyebrows rose but before I could protest he continued.

"He's on the back porch having a smoke and talking with Lucy. Get ready and I'll send him out front when he gets off the phone."

Feeling a sudden need to postpone being alone with Grey for as long as possible I comb my mind for something. "Uh... Its already dark outside and-"

"Your 17 Skye, you know jui-jitsu and you were the one who decided to put Bert through guard dog training. Besides, we practically live in old folks home central!"

I cough to cover up my embarrassment and wrack my brain for a real reason, "But what about the food I don't want it to get cold."

A smug smile crossed my dad's face, "Its been sitting in the microwave, still in their containers staying nice and hot, don't you worry. Now go get your shoes on!" He said before dropping the leash next to Bert and heading off to his study.

With a sigh of defeat went back up to my room. Taking my black and grey Ezekiel jacket from the closet I pulled it on and zipped it halfway up. Then I slipped into my favorite Chuck's and laced them up. On a whim I went into the bathroom to apply a fresh line of eyeliner and pick up the mess left from this morning. Once I'd procrastinated for as long as I deemed safe I went back downstairs, knowing that if I didn't dad would drag me down there himself.

Xxx 8:27 p.m. The Empty Streets of Downtown Sequim xxX

Grey's P.O.V.
Where To Start

We'd been walking for a good ten minutes and nothing had been said. I want to talk to him, I really want to... but I'm not sure where to start, I mean we're practically strangers. No, we're not strangers. We're just two people who haven't seen each other in a few years.

I have a feeling this wouldn't be so damn difficult if we'd gotten off to a different start. I mean we kind of just ran into each otherthough I was actually praying for an encounter and then we kissed. After that we didn't say anything of much significance. I think I told him about Lucy and my trip up here yet nothing too meaningful was spoken of. Then he came out of the closet to his father with me sitting right beside him. Tonight feels like three days squished into a one when really I'd only been with Skye for five hours two of which spent sleeping and that...incident.

God, I should have known better! You can't just waltz back into someones life and start acting as if no time had past, no matter how much you missed them and no matter that your body, heart, and soul feel as thought not a day has gone by. Because years have gone by, time changes people. I can only hope that the way we are together, who we are, when we're together hasn't changed.

The mind is a powerful persuader when dealing with emotions. I'll admit the analytical approach to painful memories is indeed less painful. Though only for the mind, your heart and subconscious still ache as they struggle to get through the pain but you don't have to think about it.

I exhale audibly and look at our surroundings. There is a little "park" a few yards ahead of us; really its just one bench, a water fountain and two small patches of foliage. I clear my throat then quietly suggest toSkye Lyris that we stop here. I see him nod slightly but he doesn't say anything back. Once we reach the park he simply unclips Bert's leash and takes a seat on the far right side of the bench. I take a seat directly in the middle while trying to contain the sigh that's dying to escape the cage of my mouth.

Another couple minutes passed in which nothing was said. Bert did his business and then laid down underneath the bench to wait. I heard a sniffle and looked over to find him on the verge of tears but trying to hide it behind his brown locks and hunched shoulders. I didn't say or do anything just pretended I didn't hear him let out that pitiful sound. He hated it when I saw him cry. So I continued to sit there looking but seeing nothing because what right did I have to try and comfort him.

He probably has a group of friends that helped him get over my disappearance and would comfort him later when he walked to their house later tonight. We weren't lovers, we'd never been loversthough how I wished otherwise and currently it feels as though he thinks of me as a mere acquaintance. Fuck I'm not even sure what we were back then and I don't have a clue what we'll become now.

When we were younger, like eight or nine, he once told me that if he cried in front of me he felt unworthy of being my friend because I didn't cry and I apparently had better reasons than him, he'd called me strong and said he didn't want to be weak that he wanted to be just as strong as I was.

"I'm sorry, Grey." The sound of his voice startled me and I looked over at him, he was staring at the ground face hidden behind his hood, "I mean I... I apologize. You didn't do anything wrong and I overreacted. I should've told you..." He trailed off.

"There is nothing to forgive. I'm in the wrong not you. I shouldn't have -"

"Don't you dare say that!" Now he was looking at me his blues eyes swirling with emotion, "I didn't say stop, I never told you I-I" Then the tears overflowed and streaked down his face.

Screw it.

I was quick to move over to him wrapping my arms around his frame and cradling his upper body against mine. He attempted to pull away but I wasn't having any of that. In two swift movements my lap had become his seat and my chest his pillow then looking into his eyes I said to simple words, "I'm here." Thats all it took.

His arms wrapped around me and he buried his face in to my jacket sobbing openly while I rubbed small circles on his back and ran my fingers through his hair soothingly. Pressing my lips against the top of his head I whispered again, "I'm here."

Xxx 8:39 p.m. The North's Front Porch xxX

Skye's P.O.V.
Anything For Me.

Once I'd my tears had dried for the second time today we walked home in a companionable silence as if there was a mutual agreement to wait until we were in a more personal place to say what so obviously needed to be said.

And we did, once we got back to my house Grey walked over to the front porch swing and took a seat patting the spot beside him as a hint. I unclipped Bert's leash and sat down beside Grey leaving a few inches between us.

Grey was the first to speak, "We didn't exactly get off to the right start," I wouldn't go as far as to say that.I've wanted to kiss him again ever since that first time in our childhood.
"So I want to try it again. What do you think Lyris?"

With a sigh I look at Grey dead in the eye and said, "First off, don't ever call me that again! Please and thank you. Second of all, I think not. You can't just take that back, I won't let you. Life is not a dress rehearsal." He blinked a few times then a soft almost solemn look came over his features as he waited for me to continue. "Lets...lets just start with what happened while you where gone. I know its sort of illegal for you to tell me about it but I pinky promise I won't tell nobody." I say the last part with a childish grin on my face while holding out my pinky to him.

His pale callused finger loops through mine and we shake on it a smile similar to mine now proudly displayed on his features.

Xxx 9:12 p.m. xxX

So lets count up all the things I hadn't been planning to do with Grey when I first saw his at 3 o'clock this evening:
1. Cry on him
2. Unintentionally make him feel guilty
3. Let him see me cry in general
4. Tell him what happened while he was gone
5. Talk to him about my sexuality
6. The list goes on...

On the brighter side I did learn quiet a bit about him as well. Like the fact that he considers himself pansexual and that just like me he's spent the last two and a half years trying to play the part of Average Joe as well. We gave each other brief overviews of life seeing as it was getting late and he had to get back to his hotel room eventually. Though a part of me wanted him to stay just so that if I woke up in the middle of the night I could run down stairs and make sure it wasn't all just a dream.

I was so happy when he told me that Cindy and Doug were going to adopt Sierra, even though I hadn't ever met them the way Grey looked when he talked about them let me know that they were genuinely good people. He'd also told me a bit about his friends, school and such. By what I heard it didn't sound as if he had much luck in the friendship department as I had until just recently. Learning that he was going to school online was a relief, now I wouldn't have to think about him having to leave soon to get back to school. I'm still envious that he's graduating this year.

Shit! I have a school tomorrow and I told Marissa I'd be there to tell them about my "old friend". Just thinking about introducing them to Grey made a large smile cross my face. Though that was only until I realized that I would still be introducing him as my friend.

Ya, after I told him about my fake friends, my two separate wardrobes and the happenings of this last week he'd asked about me running into the bathroom. I'd told him the truth, that I was overwhelmed by the whole situation and that I freaked out. I really emphasized the fact that it wasn't his fault and I was just being stupid. But then he emphasized the fact that we hadn't been in contact for a long while and it was not his right for him to act the way he did. Though he never said it was wrong per se just not his right and that we had to act as though we were getting to know someone new. He explained that as we re-learned what we had known, and learned for the first time the things about each other that had changed our relationship would grow. For some reason the things he said stung. They made since but knowing that he wouldn't be so quick to casually touch me and be touched the way we were as friends before hurt.

Shaking my head I looked over at him a brilliant idea suddenly springing to mind.

"Hey, Grey. Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything I can, I will do."

I look up at him at his reply, "Then will you please get the Thai food and some Coke from the kitchen and bring it out here?"

"Skye, your gonna have to face him sometime."

"I know but its so damn embarrassing."

"Don't tell me your that ashamed of being homosexual." His eyes were half sad, half hurt and his tone of voice sounded so disappointed that I felt myself flinch.

"No! Its not that! He just must have found my...gay porn. And ya..." Shit. I was blushing like a frickin' rosebush, again

My eyes widened as his lips met my cheek, "I missed seeing you blush."

Then he got up those long legs unfolding as he stood to his full height. Flashing me a small smile he turned and left me sitting on the porch swing staring at the starry night sky while Bert lay by my feet acting as a sentinel.