Hi! Thanks for giving this dumb idea a go, hopefully it's alright. Enjoy!
Broken up.
In all honesty, he'd have been lying if he'd said he'd expected that.
For four and a half years now, he'd been dating his high school sweetheart. Heather Douglas, the girl he'd figured he'd marry in a few years' time, had dumped him.
They'd met when he was barely ten years old, a fresh transfer to the local school. She'd been sweet and shy but had introduced herself and her friends to him. They'd shared their first kiss together at a stupid dance, he'd touched his first boob thanks to her, she'd even touched him over his pants one time. All firsts. It seemed oddly apt that she'd be his first dumping, too.
When Christian and Ana had adopted him, his eldest brother Teddy had tried comforting him one night as he'd been crying in his bed, telling him that he'd have girls practically jumping all over him when he was older. He wasn't too sure what kind of comfort that was supposed to bring him when he'd been worrying about the kids at his school being mean to him, but strangely it had helped.
Sitting there on the driveway to his parents' house, turning the promise ring over in his fingers that had been tearfully given back to him, he sighed and shut the engine off.
When Heather had told him that they needed to talk, his mind hadn't gone to breakups. He thought that maybe he was going to get some. After four and a half years of no sex and barely any touching, he'd been hoping to have better company than his hand, but no.
No one else's cars were home, just as expected, though a lone motorcycle sat barely ten feet from the grand front door.
Immediately, his lips turned up a little at that. He stuffed the ring into his pant pocket and climbed out of the car.
The bike by the house was old and shabby, practically falling apart. The tires were worn, the seat was cracked with age, the faring was splitting. It was a character piece, that much was for sure. It belonged to the babysitter of his youngest sibling, Amelia. Another someone he'd known from school, though not someone who had immediately sucked up to him like the other kids had.
In spite of the crappy evening he was having, he'd have been lying if he'd said he wasn't silently pleased to be seeing her. Between working with his dad and seeing his friends, he hadn't seen her in a long time.
When he swung the front door open, there she was. Tall, athletic, hair up in a messy bun. She was cursing about something, wide eyed, holding a steaming oven tray directly out from her body. "Oh shit!" She continued yelping, though he could see amusement in her eyes as Amelia cackled beside her. "Meals, don't tell your folks about this!" She ordered playfully as she disappeared behind the walls of the kitchen.
He couldn't help the strange feeling of something akin to joy as it sparked in him. He closed the door as silently as he could manage, walking through the main foyer, directly into the huge chef's kitchen.
Amelia, looking more like him than her own parents with her dirty blond hair and her grey-blue eyes, was howling her laughter at the kitchen island until she caught sight of him.
Then, as excited as ever, her eyes lit up and she was leaping from her seat. She crashed into him with the weight of ten cart horses behind her, earning a soft grunt from him as she screamed his name.
Naturally, the babysitter spun from her spot a few feet away.
She looked startled at first, clearly not having heard the door, then she softened at the sight of him. "Greyson." Her voice was as gin-soaked as ever, sounding already bored of him as she looked across at him.
"River." He couldn't help but smile as he said her name back, watching something flicker in her dark eyes. Possibly annoyance. He always seemed to annoy her as kids, though only in the way that every kid has some annoying friend.
Greyson Grey, born Greyson Andrews, had been adopted by they Greys almost eleven years ago. Of course, he was well aware of how ridiculous his name was, but he liked being a Grey. Of course, the money was nice, but it was more than that. Until CPS had taken him from his birth parents, he'd never known what it was like to be a part of a family. They taught him that. They taught him all about life, about love, about anything he wanted to learn about.
He'd made friends much faster than he'd anticipated when he'd finally started his new school, just like Teddy had told him. He'd never wanted for the attention of any of the girls, though he'd always had it. Not hers, though.
River. River Nivalis. They'd been in the same year at school and had done a few science projects together.
In the sea of rich faces, he'd noticed something in her. She, just like him, hadn't belonged. of course, he didn't say it to her quiet like that, but they'd seen the same poor kid in one another. Sure, he had a nice rich family by then, but they'd seen one another for who they really were. They became fast friends, much to the dismay of his wealthier friends. None of them liked her, though they couldn't ever really give him a reason as to why.
As he got older, he began to understand. Their issues with her weren't their own, they belonged to their parents. They disliked that she wasn't as sociable as they were, that she couldn't afford to go on school trips like they could. Hell, they even found issue with her clothes, her school bag, eventually that she didn't have a car.
Admittedly, they hadn't spoken in a little while, not since they'd fallen out a couple of years ago. They'd not long finished high school and things had seemed like they were great, but Heather had come between them. It had been stupid, but he'd sided with his girlfriend over his friend. Looking back at it all now, he'd been a moron.
It may have seemed insane, having dated someone for so long without getting any kind of sexual satisfaction from them, but honestly? Well, honestly, when Heather had said she was waiting for marriage, he had respected her for that. Sure, he'd have had sex with her in a heartbeat if she'd changed her mind one day, but he hadn't minded waiting. A handy would have been nice but he'd got hands of his own. It really hadn't been the end of the world for him, not that it had stopped Teddy and Phoebe from teasing him relentlessly when they'd found out.
That evening, things were a little awkward between him and River until his folks got home. He knew that she babysat Amelia and that his folks hadn't stopped adoring her when they'd fallen out, but seeing her was so strange. It was nice, welcome, but strange.
They didn't really get a chance to talk all that much, not with Amelia demanding every other second of River's attention, but even their brief conversation about the freaking weather of all things left Greyson wanting more.
Most of his friends were knuckle-heads. They all just wanted to talk about money, sex, drugs or something else that he either had little interest or no experience in.
"How's Heather?" River finally asked once Amelia was in bed. The young woman, in spite of Amelia being thirteen, had physically tucked the younger girl in. There had been teenage groans of annoyance followed by almost silent mutters of thanks before River had emerged.
Across from her in the living room, Greyson was slumped into a comfortable recliner. He almost laughed when he realised that River freaking Nivalis was going to be the first person he told about the break up.
Nodding amusedly, he plucked the promise ring from his pocked and flashed it to her. "She's doing good. Free as a bird now." He muttered.
He watched her eyes change. Sure, she'd seemed genuine when she'd asked, but was that hurt in her eyes? She was hurt at... at what? Surely the idea of his breakup wasn't a bad thing for her, right? "I'm so sorry, Grey." She offered sincerely, sitting a little straighter on the couch. "God, you guys had been together forever. I kind of figured you'd be married soon." There was no pity in her voice, but it was clear from her tone that she was upset for him.
It was strange. Heather had been kind of an asshole to her in high school, yet there she was, trying to comfort him through this. He shrugged with a smile. "It's fine." He told her, though he could tell that she didn't believe him. "Seriously, it's fine. I mean, we were together a long time, yeah, but this is for the best."
He believed that, truly he did, but it didn't stop the fact that it hurt. "Okay, well then think about all the super models, right? I'll bet they'll be all too happy to comfort poor Greyson Grey." For some reason, the teasing tone that came with her words made him realise something. He's missed her. Of the women who he'd expected to feel anything for today, River sure hadn't been on the list when he'd woken up.
He rolled his eyes at her comment, chuckling.
"What, too soon?" She joked, still regarding him carefully. She still seemed a little anxious to say the wrong thing. Possibly she was waiting for the waterworks that she clearly thought were coming.
With a smile, he shook his head. "Not too soon." He confirmed easily, thinking about it. If he wanted to find someone to sleep with, chances were he'd be able to, especially post-breakup. River was right, women would be rushing to offer him comfort, just like they had when Teddy's engagement had been called off. "I'm not sure I'm ready to disappoint any super models just yet." He then chuckled, earning a raised brow.
"Do I want to know what that means?" River asked, brow still raised.
Fuck. DId he really want to tell her? Raking a deep breath in, he shrugged. "Heather and I, we never... uh..." He started, immediately regretting it. Was he really about to tell her this? Jeez, he wasn't even drunk. He had nothing to blame this stupid moment on.
Across the room though, River's face changed. She seemed immediately intrigued. "What?" She pushed, clearly not believing him, possibly thinking that she had the wrong train of thought. "Oh, come on." She grumbled in disbelief.
He knew why, of course. He was an attractive young guy, it seemed ludicrous in this day and age that he'd have had a girlfriend fro so long and they hadn't had sex. "It's true." He stated, feeling his cheeks flush a little. "She's waiting for marriage." He heard the strange bite of distain in his voice and immediately felt bad for it. He hadn't resented waiting until he'd realised that he wasn't ever going to get what he was waiting for. It was childish, he knew, but still.
A silence settled over them for a second, almost long enough for him to think that he'd made it too weird, then she spoke again. "Well, I don't know too many guys who get to have their first time with a super model. That's worth bragging rights if nothing else, right?" She was being nice, he knew. She was trying to be some kind of uplifting, but he immediately cringed at the thought.
At twenty-one, he hadn't expected to still be a virgin. Immediately, he felt anxious. After all, what if he sucked? "I can see the headlines now. Greyson Grey sucks in bed. Disappoints beautiful model." He grumbled, wishing he had a drink.
What shocked him, however, was River's laugh. It was loud and immediate, stifled quickly by a hand, not that it could stop the amused flickering in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She didn't sound even slightly sorry. "I mean, come on. Everyone's first time kind of sucks." She shrugged like it was obvious as her hand fell back to her lap.
The thing was though, he didn't want his first time to suck. See, he knew it wouldn't be magical or anything like that, but he didn't want it to be weird or awkward, he didn't want to be fumbling, to see a bored look on some girl's face. Hell, that was kind of why he'd been so fine with waiting for Heather, at least they'd have both been anxious and fumbling.
"Did yours?" He asked, immediately regretting it a little. He didn't want to cross any lines.
Seemingly unbothered though, River shrugged. "It was bad." She supplied easily. "We were both kind of drunk. He came in like a half a minute and passed out on me. Like, literally on top of me. I had to roll him off. Just don't do that and you'll be fine."
Neither of them said anything else about sex after that. They stayed in the living room together though. Greyson, or Grey as he preferred, ended up putting something on TV. They shared some takeout pizza that they'd ended up ordering after she and Amelia had burned whatever they'd been cooking and they even ended up sitting a few feet apart on the same couch.
When his parents finally got home from whatever function they'd been to, River didn't stick around long. They paid her in cash, chatted with her, then offered to drive her home. They weren't anywhere near as fond of her ratty old bike as she was, but they waved her off on it all the same when she left.
Later that evening, over a cold slice of pizza and a glass water, he told his parents about Heather. They both hugged him, they told him that everything would be alright, but his mind was still on River.
When he eventually drove home to his apartment, he felt an itching in the back of his head.
So, stupidly, he shot River a text. Having gotten her number from his parents, he asked her possibly the most mortifying thing possible.
Look, there wasn't an easy way to ask someone to platonically take your virginity and coach you at sex, okay?
Super dumb, I know, but it's been swirling around in my head for days for some reason. Anyway, please let me know what you think/if you have thoughts, I'd love to hear it. Other than that, have a great day and thank you for reading!