California Girl's

When Grayson woke up the next morning the house is quiet, which immediately confuses her. She climbs out of her bed quickly and walks to the room across the hall where Annabelle had been staying. She opens the door quietly and peeks her head inside to see the small girl still sound asleep on the large bed.

It was almost ten thirty and Grayson was very surprised that she was still sleeping. Yesterday on the beach must have tired her out and Grayson made a mental note to keep that in mind next time her sister was out of control and wound up with energy.

“Annabelle,” Grayson states softly as she walks over to the large bed. “Wake up.” She tried again and the little girl rolls over slowly to face her sister.

“Morning Grayson,” She says with a smile on her face.

“Morning,” Grayson says back, “You hungry?”

The little girl nods before jumping out the bed and heads for the stairs in her Nemo pajamas. Grayson followed her and once they reached the large kitchen she pulled out the package of S’mores Pop tarts that she had learned where Annabelle’s favorite.

“Mommy would never let me have these for breakfast!” Annabelle giggled as she chewed on her breakfast happily. Grayson shot her a small smile and turned away from her sister only to nearly have a heart attack when she saw Jack and Alex pressed to the balcony window.

“What the fuck!” She exclaimed as she walked out of the kitchen and through the living room and Annabelle quickly followed. She unlocked the door and slid it open.

“Morning!” the two boys exclaimed.

“How did you get up here?” Grayson questioned. The balcony didn’t have a stair case and she was completely confused as to how the two boys got up here.

“That doesn’t matter,” Alex shrugged her off. “Everyone’s being boring at Zack’s so we decided to come bother our two new best friends!”

Grayson smiled slightly; these guys were strange. She had learned yesterday from the several hours they spent together that Jack and Alex were a bit out there, but pretty much harmless. They had played with Annabelle and seemed to be genuine about it.

“Alex! Jack!” Annabelle exclaimed with chocolate smeared around her mouth.

“Hi, cutie!” Jack exclaimed as the two let themselves in the house. “Can I have a pop tart?”

Annabelle nodded her head enthusiastically and pulled Jack into the kitchen as Grayson and Alex followed. Annabelle handed Jack the box and he wasted no time in ripping open the package and shoving half of it in his mouth.

“Do you guys go back into the studio tomorrow?” Grayson asked Alex, who nodded.

She had learned yesterday that they were in a band and the reason for their prolonged stay in L.A was due to them recording their new album. Grayson found this fascinating and had had a good hour long conversation with Rian about all the things they got to do. She learned that they lived in Maryland, well besides Zack, who lived two beach houses down from her.

“Can I have one too?” Alex asked and Annabelle smiled and nodded her head ‘yes’. Alex cheered and took one out of the box. Jack and Alex quickly started up a conversation with Annabelle as Grayson watched on awkwardly.

She still didn’t get it. They barely knew her and they could easily talk to her, regardless that they were almost twenty years older than her. It frustrated her to know end, but she still wasn’t ready to except the fact that Annabelle was here to stay and that she didn’t have a choice in the matter.

“Guys?” Grayson said softly and Alex and Jack looked at her, “Could you do me a favor?”

“Sure, Gray,” Alex said, “What’s up?”

“Would you mind hanging with her for an hour or so?” She asked softly. She felt bad doing this, but she needed to clear her head. She barely knew these guys and if she was thinking rationally she shouldn’t have left Annabelle with almost complete strangers, but she needed to get away.

“Of course!” They both exclaimed simultaneously. Grayson thanked them profusely and informed them that she was just going to surf and would be back as quick as possible. Alex and Jack didn’t mind and told her to take as long as she needed.

~x0x~

Standing on the mostly disserted beach Grayson finally felt at peace. She knew she was overreacting, but at the moment she didn’t really care as she grabbed her board and headed towards the water.

Surfing was the only place she ever felt free, even before Annabelle was dumped on her. She didn’t have to worry about anything else and could just focus on her board. Grayson had only been surfing for three years, but it came easy to her and she fell in love with it quickly.

Once she had caught several decent waves she sat on top of her board with her feet dangling in the cool water. She was facing her beach house now seriously doubting her decision to leave Annabelle with Jack and Alex. She trusted them, but she felt like it wasn’t the responsable thing to do.

She shook her head and turned back towards the waves and prepared to catch another one. She rode it out easily for several seconds before she completely lost her footing and she was sent tumbling through the crashing waves.

She finally stopped tumbling after she felt her knee drag harshly against the rough sand and rocks. She was left breathless and sitting on her butt in the shallow water. She had let her thoughts get to her and now had a huge gash in her knee becasue of her lack of concentration. She bent her legs up slowly because the salty water was burning the gash. The blood left the water with a light pink hue, but once her knee was above the water the blood kept flowing.

Grayson was breathing heavily because that fall had scared her and the pain in her knee was just beginning to register in her brain.

“Are you okay?” A voice asked to which Grayson whipped her head to the left to see Zack standing over her with his own surf board in hand.

“I-I don’t know,” She stuttered out as she watched the blood spill from the cut in long, deep red drops and slide down her shin where it met the water.

She heard Zack sigh quietly before she was suddenly being picked up and she squeaked in surprise, which was quickly followed by embarrassment from the noise that had just left her mouth. Zack silently carried her towards her house and quickly climbed the stairs to the back door before sliding it open.

“What happened?” Jack’s voice boomed through the house when Zack and Grayson came into view.

“She fell,” Zack stated simply, “Be careful, there’s blood and water dripping everywhere.” As he looked over his shoulder at the trail of sand, water, and blood droplets behind them.

“Are you okay Grayson!” Annabelle exclaimed as he small face scrunched up in worry.

“She’s fine Annabelle,” Zack reassured her quietly. “I’m just going to get her a Band-aid.”

“Okay!” the little girl exclaimed.

Zack wasted no time in walking up the stairs were he easily found the bathroom. Grayson held onto him tightly; her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She may have been a nurse, but when it came to herself getting hurt she turned into a big baby and the throbbing in her knee wasn’t helping.

Before Grayson could say anything Zack stepped into the shower and sat Grayson down on the edge on tub. There was now a good amount of blood on Zack’s arms and chest from where he was holding her and it was making Grayson nauseas.

Grayson didn’t need to tell him how to turn on the shower, or the fact that the shower head was detachable, he just seemed to know. She remained quiet as he washed off his arms and chest quickly before turning his attention back to her.

He picked up a wash cloth that was hanging on one of the racks on the wall before running the warm water over Grayson’s bloody leg. She cringed, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the salt water had. Once it was clean Grayson could see that she had fucked her knee up pretty bad but it wouldn’t need stitches.

“I don’t think it needs stitches?” Zack asked as more of question than a statement, as he pressed the washcloth to her knee firmly to stop the blood from continuing to pour out.

“I-It” Grayson cursed herself for her stuttering and swallowed what little saliva she had in her mouth hard. “It should be fine.”

Zack just nodded and kneeled down in the tub in front of her and held the wash cloth to her knee. He was looking at her knee intently while Grayson was watching him. The other day on the beach she got the vibe from him that he wasn’t fond of her, but now he was helping her.

“So, where are your parents?” Zack asked as he removed the wash cloth slightly to see the white fabric now colored bright red and quickly pressed it back to her knee.

“Not here,” Grayson stated quickly, hoping that he would just drop the subject.

“Oh, are they on vacation or something?” Zack pressed still not looking up to meet her eyes. Grayson sighed shakily and leaned back against the bathroom wall.

Zack heard her sigh and looked up to see Grayson staring at the ceiling. She had a far off look in her pretty blue eyes.

“Grayson,” Zack mumbled and her eyes snapped to his. Grayson pointed upwards slowly as Zack gave her a confused look.

“What?” He asked.

“You asked where my parents were didn’t you?” Grayson shot out harshly.

“Well, yeah, but…” Zack trailed off as realization dawned on him. “Oh Grayson, I’m sorry. I didn’t m-“

“It’s okay,” Grayson said quickly, “Has it stopped bleeding?”

“What? Oh-“ Zack composed himself quickly and pulled the wash cloth away. “Yeah, let’s get it bandaged up before it starts bleeding again.”

He felt bad for bringing it up and making Grayson angry so he was glad she changed the subject. It really wasn't any of his buisness and he shouldn't have stuck his nose where it didn't belong. He picked her up and set her on the long light marbled counter and began rummaging through cabinets quickly.

He turned to ask Grayson where the first aid kit was to see her staring at him with the kit in her hands. He smiled and pulled it open and pulled out a large Band-aid and gauze. He put disinfectant on the Band-aid and placed it over her scrapped knees. Just in case he also wrapped some gauze around her knee and stood up to face her.

“Does it hurt?” Zack asked stupidly to which Grayson gave him a ‘duh’ look.

“Hurts like a bitch,” She grumbled, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Zack shrugged off.

“If you hadn’t have helped me I would still probably be sitting in the water bleeding,” She mumbled as she slowly straightened out her leg and cringed at the twinge of pain.

“That was a lot of blood,” Zack said. He once again wanted to hit himself, he was making himself look like an idiot and he wanted to sew his mouth shut.

“I know,” She mumbled, “Can you do me one more favor?” She asked quietly.

“Sure,” Zack answered quickly.

“I’m really tired now,” She started as she looked up at him. “Could you carry me to my room?”

Zack didn’t answer but instead just picked her up and walked to the door Grayson pointed at. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and stepped into the large room. He looked around briefly before gently setting Grayson on her bed.

“Can you ask Alex and Jack if they’ll stay and watch Annabelle for a little bit?” She mumbled as she snuggled into her pillow. She looked adorable, and as that though passed Zack’s mind he almost slapped himself.

“I’m sure it will be okay.” Zack shrugged, knowing the two boys wouldn’t mind. At the moment he was only concerned about getting away from her as quickly as he could. She was suddenly making him feel things he hadn’t felt in months; stirring up feelings he didn’t want to feel.

“Thank you,” She breathed out as she shut her bright eyes.

Zack didn’t answer and practically ran out of the room and quickly walked back down the stairs, where he looked for cleaning products to clean up the blood, sand, and water.

“Is Grayson okay?” Annabelle asked as she ran up Zack and gripped his striped board shorts. Zack bent down to her level as he looked into the little girls worried blue eyes that were identical to Grayson’s.

“Yeah,” Zack told her, “But she’s sleeping now, so we have to be quiet.”

“Okay,” Annabelle whispered and Zack smiled at her before explaining the situation to Alex and Jack who agreed to hang out with Annabelle. He went back to cleaning and as soon as he was finished he rushed out of the house as quickly as he could.

~x0x~

Grayson woke up about two hours later and slowly climbed out of her bed. Her knee was throbbing slightly and it hurt to bend it, but she climbed down the stairs slowly to see Annabelle, Jack, and Alex watching Finding Nemo.

“Hey guys,” She greeted them, but immediately began looking around for Zack. The first thing she noticed that the mess of sand and blood was cleaned up.

“Gray!” Annabelle exclaimed.

“Where’s Zack?” Grayson asked quickly.

“He left,” Alex stated as he intently watched Dory and Nemo jump over the jelly fish.

Grayson frowned, upset that he wasn’t there. She didn’t like the feeling that settled in when she realized that Zack wasn’t there. She didn’t like that she wanted him to be there.