HIRAETH [1] || Grayson Hawthorne

Chapter 12- Toblerone

"I know I will." -Lorelai Grambs

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I was forced into the same room with Avery for a meeting we had with Alisa, "You both will attend the same private school as Xander and Jameson." she repeated after I tried to disagree with her for the second time. "You're entering at the middle of the year so best believe people will talk. School starts tomorrow, I'm giving you a day to prep and get ready. Let's head over to the room next to this, hair and makeup will be there." she finished and walked out, expecting us to follow.

Avery sent sideward glances at me as we walked but I shrugged them off. We entered the room with Alisa and the smell of hairspray shocked me. I began coughing with a hand rubbing my back, I turned and saw Avery. I moved away from her, "I'm fine."

"These are your stylists." Alisa pointed to a team of five people for each of us. "Two for hair, one for makeup, and two for clothes. Each." she explained and patted two chairs, "Sit." she ordered us before facing the stylists. "They'll be easy to fix up, natural beauty and all." I heard Alisa say, making me smile.

I took my new phone out of my pocket and checked the time, 8:43am. Why was it so early?

Alisa came back to my twin and I, "Cancel all your plans, you'll be here all day." she commanded, "They'll take care of you, you're in good hands." she finished as she began walking out the door. "Good luck." she said lastly before exiting.

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It was 9:30am now and my eyebrows were being plucked, "What's your name?" I asked the person doing it. "Not important." she answered. I smiled at her, "Well I'm Rory, nice to meet you." I manage to say before flinching. This hurts.

My stylist hesitated before opening her mouth, "I'm Lara." she said plainly. "Nice to meet you Lara." I repeated with a small smile on my face.

After a few minutes of painful plucking, she finished and went away to let the hair team take over. They wrapped my hair in foils after putting some mixture on it. I checked the time again once they finished half of my head, 10:01am. Fuck, I was late.

My knee bounced in nervousness, I had breakfast with Grayson today. We didn't exactly make plans but we sort of did. I think? A part of me wanted to eat breakfast with him, or at least pretend to bump into him in the dining room.

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12:14pm. My hair was completely wrapped in foils now, each strand marinating in the mixture. It was lunch time and I was hungry. "Can we take a break to eat?" I heard Avery ask one of her stylists. Her stylist nodded and motioned for all the others to leave.

Soon, it was just Avery and me left in the room. I stood up, not wanting to be near her right now, afraid that I'll say something wrong. I offered her a smile and walked towards the door. My hand was already on the handle when she spoke up, "I'm sorry." she said. I turned and saw on her face that she was being genuine, "It's fine." I answered dishonestly and I think she could tell. I opened the door and left, with my sister shouting behind for me to "Wait!"

I walked around aimlessly, still feeling the presence of Mike somewhere behind. I made a left and then a right. I looked around as I walked, "Hey Mike, where's the kitchen?" I asked and he appeared out of nowhere. "This way Ms. Grambs." he said as he walked in front of me. "Call me Rory, Ms. Grambs sounds too formal." I said as I followed him. "If that's what you want Ms. Gr—" he cleared his throat, "Rory."

I smiled at him and we walked down a flight of stairs. He led me into the kitchen for the chefs. I smiled at everyone I passed by, "Hello, Hi, Nice to meet you I'm Rory." I said along the way. Mike stopped by a counter and pulled a chair out for me to sit on. "Lunch for Rory please." he asked a chef near him.

They took multiple plates of food out the kitchen and into an outdoor dining area. I followed them with Mike somewhere behind me again. "Here, let me help you." I said to a chef next to me who was struggling. I took three plates from him and carried them with ease, perks of working as a waitress.

I placed the plates down on the table with the others. "I hope you enjoy the meal." one of the chefs told me. I smiled at them, "I know I will."

They all went back to the kitchen, leaving me alone with all this food. I took a seat with my foiled hair and plucked eyebrows. The food looked absolutely amazing, they served me food from Japan and I couldn't wait to dig into the tempura and takoyaki. I took my fork and placed some food on my plate. I dipped the tempura in sauce before biting into it and feeding myself some rice.

Eating on my own was boring so I tried my best to enjoy my own company.

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I played some music earlier to try and fill the silence as I ate. The song on right now was 'Rusholme Ruffians' by The Smiths. I sang along with my mouth full of food, I thanked the Universe that Avery and Libby haven't found me.

Why did Libby even think of telling Xander? Absolute shit move. I slammed my utensils hard as I ate. I shoved two pieces of takoyaki in my mouth before someone cleared their throat behind me. Fuck, I looked like a chipmunk right now. I lifted a hand to cover my mouth as I chewed, I turned around to mumble a greeting.

"Hi." I tried to say with my mouth full. "Hiya there Rory." Nash said, accent and all. I waved and pointed at my full mouth to indicate I can't speak. "Good, so you'll listen." he said before taking a seat on the table with me. "Libby didn't mean to spread it." he started, of fucking course.

 "Believe me, you know Libby so you would most definitely know that she's one of the most trustworthy people in this house." he paused to pour himself a water. "It all came out because she was overwhelmed, she didn't know how to feel so she thought telling Xander would help her decide what to do." he drank his water. "Xander only told me because we were having a," he paused. "discussion." he continued.

"Libby apologizes profusely, she actually wanted to come here and tell you all this but I volunteered to do it instead, thinking you would just leave and not hear her out." I have completely finished chewing at this point, "And does she expect me to just accept her apology like that?" I asked, taking a sip of my water. "That was my secret. She, Avery, and Xander had no right to tell anyone." I frowned, "Did you tell anyone?" I asked and he shook his head, at least I knew he could be trusted with this. "So Jameson and Grayson don't know?" I asked and he shook his head again.

"They won't know unless you're the one to tell them." I snorted at that, "If Ave, Libby, or Xander don't beat me to it." Nash ran a hand across his face, "How would they ever get forgiven if this is the way you act when they try to apologize." I felt a lecture coming, "If you feel like talking about this, you know where to find them." he stood up and finished his water, "I promise not to tell anyone your secret, not even Jameson or Grayson." he said and walked away while I sat there, lecture-less.

I was left alone again, to enjoy my food and music. The song playing now was 'I Wanna be Sedated' by Ramones. I heard Nash talk, "She didn't accept your apology." he said to who I presumed was Libby.

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lol hi idk but i might discontinue this book ;-; grayson hawthorne no more 😔