Right In Front of Me (Finished)

Chapter 11: Commence Operation 'Get The H's'

***Avalon's POV***
        That night, when Hallie slept over, we got to talking. We were all dressed down in our pajamas and sitting in my room. "So, you said you would tell me who it was that you've got your eyes on. So SPILL!" Hallie said with excitement. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you. But before I do, I want you to know that I've liked him a while, and it's not just now that I'm looking at him that way, and-" I babbled. "Who is it?!" She interrupted. I feel like I can really trust her, so I just blurted out, "Hayden..." Her eyes widened, then her jaw dropped. It soon formed into a wide mouth smile, and she screamed, "OHMYGOSH!OHMYGOSH!OHMYGOSH!" This is a better reaction than the one I imagined, where she slaps me and yells, 'He's mine, bitch!' But Hallie doesn't cuss, and neither do I. Instead, she's happy for me. And it feels great.
        "You two would be so cute together! We are totally gonna make this happen!" She yelled, then hugged me. I asked her afterward who she likes, but she said that she doesn't want Greyson to hear, and that she's suspicious that he's listening in. She said she doesn't need gossip about her. She told me she'd tell me on Monday, in the morning. So here we are now, watching Hayden sing and dance at 6:15 at school with a huge crowd of other people watching Hayden. Man, he is good...
        "So..."I say to Hallie. "So...?"She asks. "So, who is it?!" I say back. She sounds as if she wished I'd forget, and says, "Oh, that..." I say, "Yeah, that! I told you!" She says back, "Okay, fair enough. I'll give you a hint. He's really cute, super hilarious, drives a truck...-" I roll my eyes, "As do all of your dream guys. I want to hear a specific name." She sighs, "Fine. His specific name is Sir Greyson Blake Montana, the third." She giggles at her cleverness. She likes GREYSON! She likes GREYSON! And he likes her! Should I tell her!? No, that's his personal information. But, that would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it? I promised him that I'd get them together... but it just seems so wrong. I don't even make up my mind when I say, "Oh my GOSH! He likes you too!" Then I cover my mouth. Her eyes widen. "What? He does? How do you know?" I've said too much. But I can't stop. "He told me Saturday night, when Hayden was on the phone and we were upstairs." She gasps, "And you didn't tell me?" Then she giggles. I giggle, "He told me not to! But now that I have... it's a little too late for that. If you told me that night, I would've told you. Maybe. Or maybe I would've gotten you two together right then.-" She gasps. "You mean that if I had told you that night, we might already be together by now?! Gah, I wish I'd told you!" I say, "It's alright, I'll get you two together. Oh! By the way, Greyson wants to get me and Hayden together, and I don't know if he's up for help." She wiggles her eyebrows, "He would if we were dating." Brilliant! "Okay, so here's the plan. I get you and Greyson together, then you two get Hayden and I together!" I declare. "Perfect!" She agrees. There's just one flaw in the plan. Hayden has to like me for this to work...

        In second period, I talk with Yolanda, Taylor, and Greyson, and Taylor compliments my outfit. "Hey, Yolanda, what's that?" I asked Yolanda, pointing at a script in her bag. "Oh, that, it's from some show I'm doing outside of school. I play 'Maid number three.' I have two lines. Exciting, right?" She says sarcastically. I love plays, so I ask her if I can read the script. She says, sure, but have it back to her by Monday. I tuck it in my bag. In third period, Hayden and I talk about everything and anything. At lunch, I stand in line with Greyson, and tell him the exciting news about Hallie. He widens his eyes and says, "Really? You told her? A-and, w-what did she, uh, s-say?" He sounds really nervous. "She said she wants to date you! Please, oh please ask her out!" I say with begging eyes. He sighs and says, "Alright, but if I-" I interrupt him with a squeal and a hug. "YAYAYAYAY! This is so perfect! You date Hallie, I date Hayden! Tell me that isn't perfect!" He rubs the back of his neck and says, "It's not perfect." He's too funny. "Oh, yes it is! Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!" I say. "Commence Operation 'Get the H's'!" I declare. We high five, making a 'BAYRM!' sound. This is so great!
        
        After school that day, Hallie comes over, and we do homework. Hallie gets the idea for us to pick out outfits each other to wear tomorrow at school, since that's when, apparently she and Greyson will help me get Hayden. But she and Greyson still aren't dating...
Hallie is holding up a skirt for me when we here music outside my window. I open the curtains, revealing Greyson standing on the bridge in a fancy outfit. He looks so adorable, and he even has about five flowers. Aww!
        Hallie gasps and smiles. Greyson says, "Uhm..." His voice cracked which made him even more adorable. He clears his throat, then says, "Hallie Landen!" Hallie chokes out a laugh. She looks like she's gonna cry. This is too cute...
        "I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, but I know it's worth it, since you're smiling... uh... I know you know that- no... Oh! Since the moment I met you- no..." He keeps interrupting himself as if what he's saying isn't good enough or the right thing to say. But the French music keeps playing. "Hallie... uhm, how do I say this... I, uh...-" He gets cut off by Hallie stepping up onto the bridge, ever so carefully; as if it may break out from under her, and she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him. At first he seems in shock, but eventually melts into the kiss and fastens his arms around her torso, still gripping the flowers. I feel a tear trickle down my cheek as they part. "Hallie, I'm bad with words... will you... do you want to...would you-" He cuts himself off and looks at her in the eyes, and the words seem to come so naturally. "Hallie, will you be my girlfriend?" She pauses for a split-second, then says, "Yes, Greyson. I will." Then they kiss again for a short second. I say, "Oh my... oh, gosh...." I wipe my eyes. I grab Hallie's phone off of my desk and say, "I'll update your status..." She nods. Greyson smiles at me nervously. I give him a smile and nod, meaning nice-job, and then a don't-be-nervous-it'll-be-great! look.

        At school the next day, Hallie is wearing the  outfit I picked for her, and I'm wearing the one she picked. All day, Greyson and Hallie were dropping hints to Hayden that he should date me, but he didn't seem like he was catching on. At lunch, though, he sat next to me, and our hands touched. He didn't move away. In fact, he intertwined our fingers. I was freaking out! But then I was like, Play it cool, and he'll be all over you. So I looked down at our hands, looked up at Hayden and smiled. I let myself blush and looked away, as if I was embarrassed. Then quickly back at him, then back to my lunch. I ate a grape with the other hand. Then Hallie said, "Avalon, show me your ring. The one you showed me earlier!" She turned to Greyson, "It's so cute." She said. Then they just sat there looking at each other, and their smiles fade. Hallie presses her forehead against Greyson's and they just keep staring, little smiles forming. So cute...
        Hallie then remembers what she asked me and says, "Oh! Right, the ring. Let's see it Avalon." She turns to look at me. I look over at Hayden, down at our hands, and back up at him. I hold his gaze for a few seconds, then say, "Sure." Still looking at him, I untangle our hands and hold out the hand to show Hallie the ring. Then, still looking at Hayden I say, "Isn't it gorgeous, Hallie?" Halley says something like, 'oh, yes' or something, but I just listen to Hayden saying, "Yeah. Sure is." He keeps looking at me, and I smile.

        After school, Greyson and I are in the parking lot, him standing on the driver's side in front of the closed door, and me opposite of him. We're talking across the top of his truck. "He hasn't done anything yet but hold my hand. What now?" I panic. He says calmly, walking to my side, "We can't force him to do anything. Then it's a fake relationship. And, trust me, you don't want that." He's right, so I nod. He stops talking and looks down at the gravel. He says sadly and quietly to himself, "Yeah, those are  the worst." I'm confused, but don't ask. He looks up at me, and steps closer. We're barely a foot apart when he leans in closer. So close, that we're only an inch away from kissing. I panic. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him into a hug. He hesitates, then hugs back. I say, "Thanks. For trying and everything. You're amazing." He pulls away a little, so that we're face to face. He says, "So are you... and thanks for getting Hallie and I together... but the truth is-" He gets cut off by Hallie saying, "Hey, Greyson!" He looks at her, then me, then back at her. He pulls away from me and says, "Hey Hallie. Where have you been?" She smiles as he walks to her. "Um, class and then my locker. How 'bout you?" They walk to his side of the truck. He answers, "Same. I'm driving Avalon and I home, and then we have to study real hard-core for a killer test." She nods, "What class?" He lifts Hallie up, so she's sitting on top of the metal cover on the bed of the truck, and he says, "Ah, just some class where they teach you something that just goes right through one ear and out the other." She whispers, only a centimeter away from him, "So, every class?" He laughs, "Precisely." And they kiss. Not just pressing lips, but not making out. The sweet kind of kiss where both of their mouths are open before they touch, but when they do touch, they instantly close and lock. It's adorable, but is also saddening for me to watch. The only time I've ever kissed anyone was, no not with Owen, but when Greyson kissed me when he was telling me that that's what Hayden would do if I sang for him. And that was one good kiss. He's got skill. But it didn't mean anything and it didn't last long. It did mean nothing, right?
        Hayden walks up to the truck where all the action is, and eyeballs the kissing couple. Then he gives me a questioning look. "What?" I ask. He shrugs and says, "You look lonely. You need a ride?" I say, "Greyson's my ride, but he got...caught up with something."
"Or someone." he counters.
"A pretty someone, to be exact."
"Good. Now I get to spend time with a pretty someone, too."
I blush.
"You need that ride, or what?"
I look at Greyson and Hallie kissing, and say, "They'll never miss me."

        That night, I went to Hayden's and studied with him instead. We got to no each other a lot better. I stayed until 6:00 and was asked to stay for dinner. I did. I got home at 7:00, and was greeted by Greyson. "Oh, hey Greyson. 'Sup?" I said casually. "You left with Hayden I had Hallie over. Yeah, I studied with her instead. But it was partly kissing..." He trailed off. I said, "Yeah Hayden and I studied, but definitely no kissing..." I sigh, "I mean, there was this one time where we definitely could've, but I could tell; he wanted me to lean in." Greyson says, "And you didn't?! Why not?!" I look down. Then I go sit next to him on my bed. "I've... never kissed anyone. I mean you kissed me, but that didn't count. It didn't last long enough for me to learn how to do it. I-I just didn't how to do it." I admitted. Greyson smirks, "I can teach you." I roll my eyes, "Yeah, right." He says, "No, seriously! I can teach you. Just... what position were you in when it could've happened?" I thought for a second. Then I laid down on my bed and said, "Well, he was laying on top of me...-" Greyson yelled, "What? Why?!" He jumps up. "Relax! He just told me he used to do wrestling, and I said that my brother and I used to wrestle, and he asked if I was any good and- he pinned me." He sighed, but then laid down on me. I looked at the door, making sure it was closed, and at my curtain, making sure that was closed, too. They were. I looked back at Greyson. He says, "What did he say before you two could've kissed?" I respond, "He said, 'Got you.' and we sat there for a few seconds. He sorta leaned in, but not all the way. He wanted me to lean in." He thinks. "So, you need to lean in when we practice. Got it?" I nod.
        "Okay." He clears his throat. "Got you." He smiles. Oh, this is happening now. I say, "Yeah, it looks like you did." We lay there for a little bit, and then I lean in, grabbing his neck, and imagined the kiss we were about to share. Our lips nearly touched when-
My mom walked in.
My mom.
Walked.
In.
I'll never live this down...
        I look to the right and see my mom staring, wide- eyed. Greyson looks at me, then I shove him off the bed and say, "Mom! Uh, we weren't- uh it's not-" Then I began to walk toward her, and looked at Greyson laying on the floor. I whisper him a 'sorry' then look at my mom. She looks like she is about to scream. I'm about to scream. But neither of us do, because my sister, Summer appears at the door and screams for all of us. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE!?!?" She exclaims. Something about her screaming makes me laugh. Then Greyson. Soon, Summer's eyes soften from terror, to about to cry from laughing. My mom cracks a smile, and soon we are all laughing. Then I think of a genius idea. "That was for some play we're doing in English class. I play 'Ruty' and Greyson plays 'Pat'. Our characters kiss, and we haven't been taught how to do a real stage kiss yet, so we were about to stop." I run to my book bag and pull out Yolanda's script. "See?" I hand it to Summer and my mom. They flip through a few pages. "Why are the lines for 'Maid number three' highlighted?" She looks at me. I quickly cover by saying, "I lost my script, so I'm borrowing my friend Yolanda's." I had to mention it was specifically Yolanda's because her name was written on the front of the script. "Why don't you use Greyson's?" She counters. "That's a good idea. I don't why I didn't think of that!" I answer. Greyson gets up and walks next to me. "Well, if you need to learn a stage kiss, I'll teach you!" Summer said. She didn't even hesitate to grab Greyson's cheeks and press her face to his. Even though she's two years older, she looks his age and like they'd be a cute couple. But Hallie and him are cuter.
        "What the?!" Greyson exclaims once they part. "Don't worry, I didn't kiss you; I kissed my thumbs." Summer said simply, holding out her thumbs in front of her, wiggling them around. "Huh?" Greyson asked. She rolls her eyes. "I pressed my thumbs to your lips, " she demonstrates on his face by pressing her thumbs on his lips, with her fingers cupped around his cheeks, "and I kissed my thumbs." She plants a small kiss on the backs of her thumbs. "When you do it quick enough, it looks real." She drops her hands." After a few seconds, Greyson grabs my face and kisses me. For real. It looks sorta like it could be what she did, but it was definitely real. It's a quick kiss, though. He pulls away, and says, "Yeah. It does look real."
        After my family left my room, I asked Greyson why he kissed me. He says, "They interrupted the first time. Do you think you can do it now on your own?" I consider this then say, "Yeah. I think so." I smile at him. We sit down on the bridge and wrap a blanket around us. He says, "Good." He strokes my hair. This guy is amazing. He's the best friend I could ever ask for.