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Grayson stood in vacant kitchen of the Grayson family household. Blocky digital numbers on the microwave blinked at him through the dark. 2:02 am. He leaned back against the marble counter, gripping a glass of lukewarm tap water a little too tight.
Sleep did not come easy. Sleep hadn't been coming easy. He shouldn't have expected anything else with a mere change in setting.
After dealing with Trowbridge's little stunt, Grayson had been sulking—as Nash puts it— around Hawthorne House. Coincidentally, Acacia had invited him to stay with the family for the weekend. She was concerned for his seemingly lonely existence. He knew that much was true, and yes, it bothered him. Still, there was something validating about being noticed by Acacia Grayson—his sisters’ mother. He had agreed to the visit, and now here he was, in their kitchen past midnight, grappling at a childhood he could’ve had.
He didn’t hear her come in. This was probably due to the fact that she’d slid into the room from the hallway with her socks.
“Whoa, I didn’t take you as the type for a mid—“ she glanced at the microwave clock, “a 2 am snack.”
Grayson straightened, and placed his glass onto the countertop with a click. “Gigi.”
His younger sister eyed the object he’d just put down, squinting at the darkness of the room. After a moment, her face brightened. “Is that coffee?”
He stared at her, eyebrows raised. “I wouldn’t be drinking coffee at 2 in the morning.” Gigi crossed the floor to join him at the island. She picked up the glass, and tilted the mouth of it towards her. Plain old tap water. Grayson had a feeling he knew what was coming, so he dryly added, “You also won’t be having coffee at 2 in the morning.”
“Darn.” She leaned back on her heels and dug into her pockets. She came up with a handful of skittles, which she popped into her mouth.
He watched her silently.
“So, what are we brooding about, Mr. Broody?”
Grayson reached for his glass again. “Nothing.” He paused. “Why are we sliding around the halls and getting high on sugar?”
“Can’t sleep,” the younger girl replied with a little shrug.
He stared flatly as she gathered more candies from her pocket. “I wonder why.”
Gigi grinned at him. Parts of her lip were stained purple. "Wanna do something?"
"It's 2am."
"It's Friday," she stated almost immediately, as if that changed the laws of the universe.
Grayson downed the rest of his glass, and went to leave it in the sink. "It's Saturday morning," he corrected. "You should go to sleep."
Mid rummage of her pocket, Gigi looked up to watch him head down the hall. She pursed her lips, left in the kitchen with her last green package of sour skittles.
Grayson had shut himself into the guest room. It was late. He didn't feel like dealing with his sister's bizarre sleeping and eating habits. She should be in bed. He himself should be in bed.
This time he heard her footsteps—after the initial slide of her socked feet. She was outside his door. There was a crinkling sound and then her packet of candy was shoved under the bedroom door.
Grayson closed his eyes in exasperation. He sighed, and reached to pick up her offering. "Gigi—" He turned the bag over in his palm. In Sharpie, she'd scrawled his name over the ingredients label.
Graysonnn
She'd added two extra 'N's to the end, similar to how she'd say his name aloud, or spam him over text when he didn't reply fast enough. He couldn't help but smile a little at her behavior.
He cracked open the door. Gigi was right there. She tilted her head, bright eyed. "You can't sleep, because your an anxious insomniac or something. I can't sleep because I had two cups of coffee earlier. There is only one solution!" she declared.
He looked down at her, unimpressed. Grayson exhaled quietly and decided to humor her. "And what would that be?"
His sister all but beamed. "Slumber party!
Grayson blinked at her. Was she serious? "I don't do…slumber parties."
"And how tragic is that? Come on, I already woke up Sav," she explained.
There was no going back. Grayson Davenport Hawthorne was going to have a slumber party with his two teenage sisters.
He sighed, moving to follow Gigi up the stairs. "Just don’t tell Xander."