Spectrum

14

"Ready to go?" I ask as I walk into Grayson's office quickly. He has a new shirt on and is straightening it out when I look at him.

"Yeah." He says, grabbing his wallet from his desk and following me out of the room. "Where to?" He asks.

"Let's just go downstairs and get a sandwich or something. Oh! Or we could go next door to that little smoothie place." I offer.

"I'm fine with either one." He shrugs.

"Do you like smoothies?" I ask.

"Kind of, yeah." He answers with a brisk nod.

"Well, that place has amazing smoothies. I'm sure you already know that, though." I add. Of course he already knows. He's been here for longer than I have. I'm sure he has had every single thing on their menu.

"I've actually never been inside. I've always had it delivered." He states.

"Why? It would take longer for them to deliver it than it would be for you to just walk downstairs to get it." I point out.

"I usually have everything delivered to me." He mumbles. "I prefer staying in rather than going out." He adds.

"Oh." I say with a nod. "Why?" I ask.

"I don't really like interacting with people unless need be." He informs me.

"Can I ask why?" I ask gently.

"I just don't really relate to most people." He says nonchalantly.

"I get that." I reply with a small nod. "I don't really like talking to people, either." I say with a small laugh, trying to lift the weird mood.

"I'm sure you're much better at it than I am." He says with a small smile.

Instead of adding to this conversation, I quickly change the subject to something that he might find easier to talk about.

"So, your sister is in town?" I ask, face turning red at the embarrassment that still remains at my quick assumption earlier.

"Yeah. She's moving back to LA. She's staying with me until she finds an apartment. We were supposed to go and look at places tomorrow." He says, his mood instantly changing. I can see the admiration in his eyes when he speaks of her. I remember him telling me that they were close, but this is completely apparent now.

"That's awesome. Where was she thinking about moving to?" I ask.

"I think she wants to stay pretty local. Probably somewhere in my complex." He says.

"Oh wow." I say with surprise. This entire family must be insanely rich if not one, but two of the children will be staying in an apartment that cost more than my entire life.

"I offered for her to just move into my place, but I think she wants her own space." He shrugs.

"I'm sure you probably want your own space, too. You know, in case you bring people over or whatever." I add.

"I don't ever have anyone over." He replies simply.

"Well...the same goes for her." I add. "Anyways, it can be hard living with your siblings at times. I'm close with my brother, but I don't want to live with him. Which he clearly doesn't know how to process because he's been begging me to move in with him and his wife." I say with a small laugh, rolling my eyes at the thought of living with Nathaniel.

"Why would he want you to live with him if he is married?" He asks.

"I don't know. I think he misses the family a lot of the time, but things are just...difficult." I shrug. "Plus, he's pretty far from home."