---Eli

The banks were damp as they recovered from a spell of thunderstorms over the last few weeks. Everything was still glossy with dewdrops as the sunrise fell over Avondale. I grabbed my keys, awake as early as I'd been all year, all because Gray was back in town. AJ surely had already picked her up, and naturally her mother would be a helicopter, wanting to see her precious daughter before I could get the chance.

I exited my apartment, careful to lock my door before sliding across the floor and keeping myself from slipping down the stairs. I glanced at the watch on my wrist, the silver glimmering in a complement to the ring on my finger. I cracked a huge smile and skipped every few steps, feeling my feet seem to slip out from under me. I caught my balance every time, swinging open the door into the mild atmosphere.

My apartment was only a few blocks from the Eldrichs' neighborhood. The drive was short, but with so much anticipation, it felt as if it dragged on for an hour. I barely had my car in park before I hurried out of my seat, up the driveway, and to the brick house set in the woods.

AJ's car was already in the driveway, so Gray had to be there. I didn't care what happened from that point forward, I just wanted to give her a big hug and hear her voice in some way other than through a phone screen.

I didn't bother knocking, rather I slipped in through the large, wooden door. The distorted stained glass panels were so familiar to my eyes, seeming to be a smile from the modernized old house. It held so many memories, bringing my smile back to my eyes.

I heard Gray's laugh immediately as I turned the corner. Her bag was on the floor and her tote was hung from the hook on the edge of the kitchen. I noticed a fraying braid as I came around the corner.

It'd been almost 4 months since I'd seen her last, and I could already tell her dark hair was escaping at the roots. It was amazing; how much could flow and fade in time as short as a few months. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. It went from our tear-stained goodbye in August, all the way to the drive over. It was incredible. I never thought I'd have the capacity to miss a person in the way I missed her.

There she was, all legs and an oversized sweatshirt. I carefully padded over to her, fighting the emotion straining from behind my eyes. Wrapping my arms around her from where she sat on the barstool, I heard a gasp before she wiggled in my arms, turning to meet me and hopping up from her seat.

"Eli!" she cried out, her voice just as soothing as I had remembered it as. She buried her face in my chest, squeezing me tight enough to kill. Her hair was still scented from the coconut shampoo she used religiously since we were kids.

"Hey beautiful," I responded with a little laugh. Her parents had seen me far more often than their daughter in the previous months, so it was no shock to see me there in the moment. I was just another body that came and went, and occasionally stayed for dinner.

She looked at me with eyes that were lit more intensely than the midday sun, a brightness uncompared by any star in a midnight sky. I looked down at her pale skin, something so odd to me, that I had never really considered how a winter out of North Carolina could affect her. She normally gripped an unwavering tan that couldn't be shook by the winter nor the cloudy spring.

"I missed you," she spoke with a small pout of her thin lips. Her eyelashes fluttered shut as I leaned into her and pressed my own lips against hers. She smiled into the simply tender, yet sweetly placed, kiss.

As I pulled away, I replied a soft, "I missed you more." She had a way of turning me from a brick wall into the softest version of myself. All the emotions I fought to hide away from prying eyes, I displayed so willingly in front of her. I looked over at her mom, who had this look of love about her. She had always joked with me when Graylin was away. She asked when I'd be popping the most significant question of my life.

I always played coy, though I knew a blanket of guilt kept me from the action I'd intended for soon after her graduation. I had a semester remaining, while she had three.

I heard my phone buzz, and it prompted me to pull the device from my pocket. I looked at the screen seeing a new notification:

1 New Message: Alexis

I pushed the phone back into my pocket, attempting to conceal the screen from the girl in front of me. She hadn't been off the plane for more than a few hours and the last thing I wanted to do was fight with her. And in all my knowledge of the situation at hand, there would surely be a fight. I'd royally screwed up and I was still trying to find a way to solve the issue.

Much to my demise however, Gray turned back to me from her mother and asked who it was. AJ was upstairs, knowing I was there, and my other friends never texted me when I was at Graylin's place. They just respected the boundary of their time and her time.

"Who was that?" she asked in a curious innocence. I shook my head, in an attempt to dismiss any further questioning, but I knew my girlfriend and I knew she wouldn't just let it go.

"No seriously, Eli," she spoke as her features contorted from ecstasy in our reunion, into a worry she normally didn't feel. I could tell her fear was sinking in as she processed that the distance could've changed something. It never changed the feelings I felt, but I'd be a liar to say I didn't make some horrid mistakes in the time we spent apart.

I pulled out my phone and opened the messages. It was a wink and 'dont miss me too much xoxo' from Alexis. I cringed as Gray looked over and I watched her features contort into confusion.

"Who was that?" she asked in an odd tone; one I hadn't heard from her ever. It was a fresh wound over a self-inflicted one that was already struggling to heal. I stayed silent. I couldn't comprehend what would happen if I told her everything. I also looked away, noticing her mother had somehow ducked out silently.

We all knew the wrath of Graylin's temper, and she must've had an unsettling feeling that an outburst of rage was fast approaching. Like a great tsunami, the silence before the outburst showed signs of a retreating shoreline. Gray pulled away from me and sat on the barstool again, her hand extended in an effort to give me the option of honesty. I let out a deep sigh and spoke a breathy, "I'm sorry," as I placed the phone in her hand, the black screen lighting up. She flipped it around and waited for her thumbprint to open the vault to the dangerous secrets I had been hiding.