California Girl's

When Grayson woke up Monday morning a feeling of dread had settled deep into her stomach. She didn’t want to go to New York, let alone by herself. She was really hoping that Zack would be with her because he seemed to calm her down and put her at ease.

Now she was about a second away from a panic attack and Annabelle hadn’t talked to her in two full days. The little girl was pissed to say the least that Grayson got to go ‘home’, not fully understanding the situation, seeing as Grayson didn’t bother explaining it.

Grayson put the final things in her black duffle bag and picked up her hoodie that she was sure she was going to need once she landed in New York. She slipped on her new bright yellow Nike Dunks that Jack had convinced her to buy and headed towards the stairs where she could here Annabelle giggling as Jack and Alex played with her.

“Thank you so much for doing this, guys.” Grayson breathed out when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“No problem Gray,” Alex waved her off as Jack and he smiled at her. Grayson smiled and brought her suitcase to the front door and walked into the kitchen were Annabelle was sitting and eating a bowl of Cookie Crisp.

At the sight of the box of cereal her heart dropped into her stomach as it sunk in further that she really had to make this trip by herself.

“Are you excited to spend a couple days with Alex and Jack?” She asked Annabelle as she grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the marble counter. Annabelle looked up at her sister briefly before going back to eating her cereal.

Grayson stared at her sister for a long time before sighing sadly and heading to the door as Alex and Jack met her there.

“Have a safe trip!” Alex exclaimed as he hugged Grayson tightly.

“Call us when you get there!” Jack exclaimed next as he hugged both Alex and Grayson tightly.

“Don’t burn down the house!” Grayson scolded them to while they both smirked at her.

“Annabelle!” Jack shouted. “Want to come say goodbye to Grayson?”

“No!” They heard shouted from the kitchen and Grayson looked down at her bright sneakers as Alex and Jack gave her a sympathetic look.

“Bye guys,” Grayson muttered as she headed out the door with her heavy duffle bag over her shoulder and rounded the large house to her car which was parked in the drive way.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted the tall dirty blonde guy standing next to the passenger seat of her car with a red suitcase sitting next to his feet. He was staring at Grayson intently as she stared right back completely shocked at his sudden presence.

She didn’t say anything as she hit the trunk button on her keys and the trunk popped open as Zack quietly walked over and put his suitcase in as she approached him slowly. Once she was next to him he took her bag and put it in the trunk along with hers.

She walked around the car and got in the driver’s seat quickly and Zack climbed into the passenger seat as they began the drive to the airport. It wasn’t necessarily awkward, it was just weird. Grayson was just really confused as to why Zack was here.

They went through check in and security without a single word exchanged between the two of them. Grayson was gripping the strap of her messenger bag tightly as they sat side by side in the waiting area trying to figure out what to say.

There flight was called shortly to Grayson’s relief and they boarded the plane and she took the window seat and crossed her arms across her chest. She was uncomfortable and feeling really self conscious as Zack sat down next to her and their arms brushed up against each others.

The plane ride was long and the entire time they didn’t say a word to each other and about halfway through the flight Grayson fell asleep.

Zack watched the girl who was now curled up next to him with her head resting on his shoulder. He was surprised she had let him come with her, but at the same time he knew that she was still very upset with him. He wasn’t even sure what possessed him to be waiting at her car, but he was here and he had a lot of explaining to do.

~x0x~

Grayson was walking a couple feet in front of Zack as he held both their bags. She had tried to take it but he beat her to it so she let him and instead headed towards the car rental.

Zack stood off to the side as she got the rental car and texted Alex telling him that they had just arrived. Once they got a car they headed out into the cold March air and Zack instantly regretted not bringing a jacket as he watched Grayson pull her hoodie on.

They walked over to a blue Range Rover and she opened the trunk and left Zack to put the bags in. He had a feeling this ride was going to be as uncomfortably quiet as the entire flight had been.

About an hour later they pulled into a long drive way with a metal arch way that said ‘Williams’ across it. The drive way was long and Zack’s jaw dropped when they pulled up in front of the large house. Grayson got out and smiled at the two adults standing on the large porch as she walked up the steps.

Zack gulped as he got the bags from the trunk and slowly walked up the stairs. He stopped next to Grayson who was chatting quietly.

“You must be Zack?” The man questioned as he held out his hand which Zack gave a firm shake.

“You definitely look like you’re from California.” The women joked as she took in his attire that was more appropriate for warmer weather.

“Nice to meet you.” Zack said quietly having not used his voice in several hours.

“I’m Matt and this is my wife Theresa,” Matt introduced himself.

“Let’s get you guys inside!” Theresa exclaimed as she ushered them into the large house. Zack tried to keep his jaw from dropping but the house was huge. He watched as Matt and Theresa walked around a corner out of sight and then looked up the winding staircase to see Grayson already half way up it.

He grabbed both their bags and rushed up the stairs where he followed her into a large off white room with a balcony that over looked the large property. Setting the heavy bags down, he walked over to the glass door and looked out it, until he heard some rustling from behind him.

Turning around as he watched Grayson quickly pull on a pair of short tan Uggs and a black North Face before looking at Zack for a brief second before turning and leaving the room. Zack let out a dramatic sigh as he sat down on the large bed.

He knew he needed to talk to her but he was scared to. She deserved an explanation and Zack wasn’t sure if he would be able to open up to her enough to make her understand his actions. But he wanted to be with her, he really did, so he supposed he was going to have to suck it up.

Zack quickly grabbed a zip-up hoodie and headed back down the long stair case. He followed the sound of voices and he found himself in a large kitchen where Matt and Theresa were sitting at a large table with papers scattered all over the place.

“Do you know where Grayson went?” He asked and both adults looked up at him startled.

“She was heading out to the barn I believe.” Matt answered him as he pointed to a back door. “The barn is straight back.”

“Thank you.” Zack said as he headed for the door.

“Dinner will be ready in about an hour!” He heard Theresa call as he closed the large wooden door behind him.

He stepped out into the snowy grass and scanned the line of fences until he finally spotted her sitting on the fence as she watched the several horses run around in the snow. Zack took a deep breath and began to walk slowly towards her as he tried to figure out what he was going to say to her.

Once he was next to her he leaned against the wooden fence and stared out at the three large brown horses as they ran through the muddy snow. He wasn’t use to this, growing up in an urban area and living on the ocean, huge farm houses and horses were new to him.

“I’m sorry,” Zack breathed out quietly as he reached for her small hand and grasped it tightly in his much larger one. She didn’t pull away but she didn’t grip his hand back, she simply continued to watch the horses.

“You hurt me,” Grayson mumbled as she looked down at their entwined hands. It was as simple as that, he had hurt her. She wasn’t good at letting people in, but she let Zack in, and he ignoring her broke her heart.

“I know,” Zack mumbled as he ran his thumb gently over the top of her hand. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Why?” Grayson asked quietly as she finally looked at him. She watched his face form into a frown and she saw and felt him tense up. Whatever was going on was really having an effect on him.

“It’s hard to talk about,” Zack mumbled as he pulled his hand out of hers and gripped the wooden fence tightly.

At the loss of contact Grayson’s anger melted away as the pain that Zack was in shown through on his beautiful face.

“Zacky,” She mumbled as she turned around on the fence and grabbed his hand and held it tightly in hers. “You can talk to me.”

Zack sighed as he looked up into her eyes as the sincerity in them shined brightly. He wanted to tell her, open up to her completely, but the memories hurt.

“I don’t know,” Zack mumbled as his voice cracked.

Grayson frowned and pulled Zack’s hand gently towards her as he cautiously stepped in front of her and she wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders as he leaned against her. She could tell he wanted to cry but he was trying his hardest not to.

“Zack, you can tell me.” Grayson mumbled in to his dirty blonde hair as he finally wrapped his arms around her small waist and held her to him. “You can trust me.”

“I know I can,” Zack mumbled and he pressed his nose into her collar bone. “I just don’t like thinking about it.”

“Please tell me,” Grayson mumbled as she gripped his chin in her hand and pulled his face up so he was looking at her.

At first his eyes darted everywhere, but her face until she gripped his face gently between both her small hands and he finally looked into her bright eyes.

“Please,” She breathed as Zack stared into her eyes that held nothing but sincerity.

Grayson wanted to make him feel better, make him smile, but she couldn’t do that until she found out what was going on with him. Zack’s watery eyes stared back at her and all she wanted to do was take his pain away, it’s what he had done for her and now she wanted to return the favor.

“Zacky,” She cooed gently as he ran her fingers through his hair gently and he shut his eyes and let out a shaky sigh. She was relaxing him and he leaned into her body more and held on to her waist tighter.

He needed to tell her, tell someone, get it off his chest. Then maybe, just maybe he could finally move on.