The next morning I heard a loud phone on the other nightstand, the alarm ripping me away from my dreams. My eyes fluttered, I stretched out and realised I couldn’t move freely. I looked down and saw a large arm draping over my body. Grayson was still asleep though his alarm kept going off and it started to annoy me. I sighed and rolled over him to turn the alarm off but Grayson never let me go, no, he took this as his chance to drape his leg and arm over my body, his face nuzzling into my neck. I hated to admit this but this was actually really nice. For someone with a lot of muscles he sure knew how to cuddle right.
“Grayson,” I poked him and tried to nudge him off but Grayson didn’t say anything at all.
“Mhm?” He mumbled and nuzzled his face into me, his arms loosened around me.
“Your alarm just went off. We should get ready…” I tried telling him but he wasn’t hearing any of it. Was Grayson secretly someone who couldn’t wake up in the mornings? This surprised me, I always thought he’d be the type to jump out of bed immediately.
“Mia hush,” He placed his fingers on my lips. I rolled my eyes at him, hating to admit how beautiful he was in the morning. And this glory was all mine for the following few- I had no idea how long our arrangement would actually go…
“At least let go of me so I could start getting ready,” I tried removing his hold on me, suddenly my mood had changed due to my very own thoughts. Great.
“Mhm,” He hummed and rolled over onto the other side of the bed. His cuddling was warm and comfortable, however this morning it was already hot for me. Those cuddles might be appreciated at night but not this early when I feel like burning. I checked the temperature and realised it had been reset to default. Default here is sweating.
Eventually Grayson woke up, right as I got done dressing and he went to get ready as well. I figured we’d be scuba diving so I put on my black bikini, this time the top was covering a bit more than the last one I wore for volley. I wore a sheer knitted dress as cover-up then packed a small bag with the necessities plus the dinner we’d have on the cruise boat? Yacht? What did Grayson even call it again?
I heard the shower stopping and decided to take my hair products to the bathroom. Just as I closed the door I received a call from ‘Tamia’ my old best friend? I’m not sure what we are these days after we fell apart. It’s been months since she’s called in between we’d have small conversations with small updates about our lives.
‘I broke up with Erick’ ‘I’m engaged to Arlo now’ ‘My fish died’ ‘I just found out I’m allergic to peanuts’
Small things like that but to me it felt forced and I assumed she did too because from there on out all we did was liking each other’s posts and placing comments under.
“Hello?” I answered the phone and bit down on my lip.
“Mia, how have you been?” Tamia asked sweetly, her voice as smooth as ever. Tamia had the literal voice of an angel, I could always listen to her talk and talk and talk. Karaoke was much more fun with her.
“Oh great, you? It’s been a while,” I answered, looking at myself in the mirror. I leaned over and wiped the overlined lipstick away.
“Yup I know. I saw you’re in Hawaii now?” Tamia asked. I assumed she must’ve seen from my stories and photos I’ve posted.
“It’s a work vacation thing, yea,” I answered.
“I’m here currently but in Oahu,” Tamia announced which shouldn’t surprise me. She had always talked about wanting to come here for a ‘bae-cation’ I guess that’s what she’s on right now.
“Oh ok,” I mumbled, unsure what to tell her.
“We could meet? How long are you here for?” Tamia asked me, catching me by surprise.
“Two weeks and five days now, You?” I responded. Would we meet again after so long? More importantly, how will I explain the whole Grayson situation to her? Last time we spoke she told me to push him out of the building when no one was looking.
“Oh we’re here for another week. I’ll text you some details when we could meet perhaps if you want,” Tamia replied, the wind in the background made it obvious she was a little busy but still managed to call me.
“Yeah of course,” I mumbled. Was I looking forward to it? A little but at the same time I saw no point in it if it meant she’d ghost me again after a while.
“I’m sorry for ignoring you when the pandemic hit. I just don’t know why I pushed everyone away,” Tamia apologised after she picked up on my tone.
“It’s fine, it’s all good now,” I assured her even though deep down it still bothered me a little.
“No it’s not and I’ll make it up to you in mimosas,” She was hopeful and damn she knew exactly what I liked. Years of friendship did that and she was just lucky my taste hasn’t changed.
“Now you’re speaking my language,” I laughed. “Listen I’m super sorry but I have to go,” I sighed when I saw the time.
“Of course! Enjoy and I’ll text you,” Tamia’s voice was full of hope, it would kill me to brush her invitation off.
I ended the call and stepped out to where Grayson was. Again he was wearing some shorts, this time a dark olive colored one that clung onto his thick thighs. Why did he have such great thighs and how many pairs of white button ups does he own and why does he look so great in them?
I sighed loudly and walked the mirror at the dresser and started dealing with my hair or attempting to. I couldn’t work out the kinks, it wasn’t parting right, it wasn’t even sitting right! Damn I hate myself for loving long hair.
“Do you need help with that?” Grayson asked, watching me through the mirror whilst I was still having my breakdown about my hair.
“What do you know?” I rolled my eyes and removed my hands out of the knots.
“Uh you’re forgetting this,” He pointed to the curls on his head. Sure he had curly hair too but to be fair his was a lot shorter than mine and not /as/ curly.
“You’ll ruin my hair,” I mumbled and looked for my detangling spray.
“Let’s make a bet,” Grayson walked closer to me, standing right behind me to the point I could feel him breathing down on my neck.
“I’m listening… If I do it nicely I will get the bed for the next two days. I screw up and you get it the next two days,” He offered, of course he knew how to strike an amazing, undeniable deal. Great now he wanted to kick me out of the bed after sex… Just great, or perhaps his promise of that happening again was just after-bliss talk.
“Three days,” I decided. Two wasn’t enough. “I need some insurance, I take pride in my hair,” I stared at the birdsnest in the mirror again. Where do I even start?
“Even when you can’t control it,” He laughed at me and went to sit down on the edge of the bed.
“Especially then,” I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Bring all your products and sit down,” He asked.
I handed him all my combs and hair products then sat down between his legs whilst he was on the bed. I turned on the tv and put on Thor ragnarok. My therapy movie which I probably needed, look who I turned to for my hair…
“Oh I love this movie,” He said as he made a middle part and tied one side of my hair up.
“It’s my favourite.. I’ve seen it about a hundred times,” I admitted, the opening scene making me laugh a little.
“Yeah I caught you watching it several times already in the office,” Grayson laughed and sprayed some detangling onto my hair.
“Right…” I mumbled. I remembered the amount of free time I had during work I spent watching my movie. It was the best way to pass time.
“Have you done this before?” I wondered. Of course he wouldn’t offer to do it without having knowledge because I knew Grayson. Grayson never did something without excelling.
“Yes,” Grayson answered shortly when I wanted a longer response.
“For who?” I then asked, hoping he didn’t mind.
“I have a little sister whose hair is much curlier than yours. Her hair is thick and quite a lot. My dad didn’t know how to style our hair and he was a little too focused on work to care about it so he’d drop us off at school with unruly hair. When my grandma found out she took it upon herself to learn and taught me too how to properly care for our hair. I have been doing my sister’s hair till she left for college,” Grayson began to explain. The thought of him with a little sister was just adorable. I just now realised he was opening up about himself to me in a way. Grayson has been at the company since the start yet no one really knows that much about him, even our boss.
“So hairdresser is your back-up plan?” I asked teasingly.
“Could be,” He laughed and picked up the wide-tooth comb.
“It’s great that you learned though… Neither of my parents know how to deal with it,” I admitted. I wish my parents took interest in it. Instead I was stuck with shitty products and constant messy buns till college where I learned a bit more from a roommate. I noticed how I suddenly talked about myself with ease in front of him.
“Where do you get your curls from then?” He asked.
“My grandmother from dad’s side,” I muttered.
“Hmm, we have it from my mother,” Grayson replied.
“Thank you for doing my hair,” I finally said when I realised he wasn’t tugging on it or ruining it- so far or hurting me at all!
“It’s ok,” He shrugged.
Once he was finished with my hair he let me check it out in the mirror. I walked to the mirror nervously and looked at my reflection. Throughout it all he had been quite gentle and patient with my hair. By the end Grayson had successfully managed to not only detangle my hair, but also moisturised it well. He let the shorter strands fall on the frames of my face, two rows of braiding that led up to a neat bun. I was beyond happy with how it turned out.
“I love it! Thank you,” I pulled him in for a tight hug, my face buried in his hard chest. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me as well, slowly bringing his hands to my face and cupping it, our eyes met, once again we held that eye contact. It was like he was staring straight into my soul, as if I was naked but I didn’t feel nervous at all. He had seen everything already and made me feel confident? I only now began to realise how insecure Erick made me feel all the time. The man, Grayson, who takes a good laugh at me from time to time makes me feel confident in my birthday suit.
“Thank me properly,” He whispered before leaning down to kiss me. His delicious lips moved perfectly against mine in sync and my hand slipped up to his face, enjoying the touch of his beard under my fingers. “Come on, that cruise boat is waiting for us,” He broke away from the kiss but I could tell he’d done it reluctantly.
