Thank you again for reading the last couple of chapters and for giving this one a go. I know I keep on saying it but I truly appreciate it. Enjoy!

"HOT FAME Magazine says you're distraught in the wake of your recent breakup." Teddy laughed, easily catching the ball that Greyson had thrown.

Rolling his eyes, Greyson snorted out a laugh. "You get all your news on your own brother from HOT FAME Magazine?" He asked, glad to see his older brother laugh before he tossed the ball back.

It had only been two days since he and River had spoken in her kitchen, but by God if it wasn't two days too long.

Between both of their work schedules, extra curricular activities and other engagements, they hadn't managed to organise anything as far as him losing his virginity went. He was honestly getting close to just booking a week off of work and simply working entirely around her schedule. His own right hand, it seemed, was becoming less attractive when the possibility of a real woman was right around the corner.

It was almost ironic that today, a day that they both weren't working, he had family things to do. He'd had half a mind to cancel earlier in the day, but it was a big day for Teddy and he wouldn't do that, not to his big brother.

While Greyson didn't know the ins and outs of it, his understanding was that Teddy was taking over some old dude's job and getting a hell of a pay increase for it. Not to mention the new business opportunities it could mean for the family business and Teddy's company. So yeah, it wasn't exactly the kind of day he could just skip out on, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Given the informal setting of their parents' backyard, the barbeque and the flowing champagne, it may not have seemed like much more than a family celebration to most, perhaps even a birthday. Still, it was bigger than that. It was, in Teddy's own words, him stepping out from their father's shadow and making his own name for himself.

Initially, when Greyson had been getting ready for the day, he'd considered a suit. Now, throwing the pig skin, running around barefoot, he was glad to have chosen something more casual.

With his grandad and Uncle Elliot on the grill, the food was flowing fast. It was a huge grill that barely saw enough use throughout the years, but when it was finally brought out? Well, they all knew to expect enough to feed an army. Of course, that's what it felt like, feeding the Greys.

"Dad says you're texting that girl you went to school with." Greyson could hear the question in Teddy's voice, probing, curious, but he ignored it. "Ranger, was it?"

Ranger? Jesus. Scoffing, Greyson shook his head. "River." He corrected with a level voice, trying desperately not to give anything away. After all, he didn't want to give his family the wrong impression. "Don't say it like that. We're not texting, we're just talking. I didn't really realise how many good people I lost contact with because of Heather, you know?"

They continued tossing the ball for a while, leaving Greyson sweating over whether or not his older brother believed him. "Right. How many chicks she made you ditch?" He eventually decided on, gathering the attention of a couple of nosy family members nearby.

Greyson threw the ball back a little harder that next time, glad to see Teddy grunt on impact. "River's a friend." He stated firmly. "I shouldn't have ever messed up with her how I did-"

"Messed up?" Teddy snickered, shaking his head. "Dude, you really messed up with her. I mean, shit, she was like your little best buddy one day and gone the next."

Greyson sure as hell didn't need anyone to remind him about their falling out. He didn't need to be reminded of how he'd treated her. No. He only wanted to think about how he planned to treat her in the future. Hopefully things would go well and she'd be pleased. Maybe proud. Okay, maybe he was getting a bit delusional now.

All the same, the rest of Teddy's day went well. There were a couple of speeches and toasts, plenty of drinks and Greyson had his cheeks pinched by more elderly relatives than he could count.

At one point or another, everyone seemed to find a way to offer their condolences to him for the end of his relationship, but he told each of them near enough the same thing. He said that he only wanted Heather to be happy and that, if that was without him, then he was happy for her. He didn't mention that, in all honesty, he hadn't missed her once. Sure, he'd missed the company, but it wasn't even as though he could say he was missing the making out or the sex. After all, they hadn't been doing either of those things.

He wasn't sure if it made him a bad guy, a shallow guy or something else, but for someone he'd been dating for so long, he felt pretty indifferent toward her and the end of things.

Hell, he'd propositioned River the night it had all happened, so that clearly said just how upset he was.

The way he figured it, he'd been happy enough coasting through it all with Heather, but he hadn't been actually happy. He'd just been content, thinking that he was keeping everyone around him pleased. As the only adopted one of his siblings, he'd gladly admit that he sometimes felt as though he had to do more than them to earn the family name, like working with their father, spending more time with their parents and Amelia. He was glad for it all and the opportunities, of course, but Heather dumping him and breaking down one small wall was beginning to feel like the best thing in the world.

It wasn't deep into the evening, when Teddy's business buddies and anyone that wasn't family had all gone home that he finally pulled out his cell and chanced a glance at the screen.

There were texts, emails, social media notifications and a bunch of other things. Some were from friends but most were just people commenting on that stupid magazine that he'd forgotten to mute.

Somewhere in the depths of the notifications, a text from Heather stood out. He read it, smiled to himself, then closed his cell.

In essence, she was sorry. Apparently she was sorry for how things ended. She had heard that he was distraught over their breakup and she apparently didn't mean to hurt him.

Whoever had spread that stupid rumour, honestly, Greyson kind of wanted to send them a bottle of wine. He was finding it funny if nothing else.

When he eventually went inside to pee, he found himself with his cell in his hands again, this time wanting to text River. After all, he knew she wasn't working today.

He silently cursed himself for having had a few too many glasses of champagne, knowing that even if she was willing to meet him at his place right now, she wouldn't have sex with him while he was bordering on drunk. He figured she might understand a drink to settle nerves, but she'd made her stance on either of them being drunk pretty clear, something he was glad for.

Walking to the bathroom, drafting text after text only to delete them all, he finally saw something. A huge fertility statue that his parents had gotten on one vacation or another.

It was about four feet tall and was depicting two people having sex. It was very clearly a man bending a woman over, looming over her, bent like some kinds of animals mating, caught in the throes of passion. Luckily, the forms of the people, as is the way with art, were barely distinguishable as people, so it wasn't too strange to have around the house. In fact, it would have simply looked like a beautiful mess of shapes if you didn't know what you were looking at, only for everything to snap into place like a moving eye picture.

Quickly, Greyson snapped a photo of it and sent it to River. His caption, creative as ever, was simply. They'd laughed about the statue a number of times as kids upon realising what it was.

Greyson. 19:21
"us"

He shouldn't have been as proud of it all as he was, but he was practically giggling to himself as he stumbled into the bathroom and did his business.

His phone chimed as he was washing his hands.

He contained himself for long enough to wash and dry his hands before he was pulling his cell back out of his pocket, excited to see a message from River, including a picture.

It took a second for the picture to render, but the text was simple from her, too.

River. 19:23

"Us."

The picture, once it had finally loaded, was a diagram of a vagina on a chalkboard. In the foreground of the picture, a faceless cartoon person was holding a stick up, pointing directly to the clitoris. A single bubble of speech came from the stick person's mouth, saying: "Can you find this?"

For some reason, it gave him the giggles.

He shot back a single message before locking his cell once more and re-joining his folks outside.

Greyson. 19:27

"teach me ur ways Yoda"

The smile on his face drew a few raised brows, specifically from his parents and siblings, but they all seemed to put it down to the liquid courage he'd gotten into himself.

For the rest of the night, he and River texted one another and it felt like old times again. As much as he was looking forward to having sex, he was happier to simply have her back in his life. He'd spent so long convincing himself that he hadn't missed her that now, having even this much of her back, he was finally feeling happy again.

.

.

.

.

.

Sighing, he loosened his tie just a touch before leaning back into his chair with a groan.

His back hurt. His knees hurt. His freaking fingers hurt.

As much as he loved working with his dad and learning the complexities of the family business, he didn't love the late nights of replying to a million and one emails about the most benign crap.

Seriously, he had multi million dollar customers emailing him about having lost access to their accounts. Apparently their thought process being that he was better than their entire support staff.

No one else was still in the office and only he and two security guards were left in the whole building. He knew they were waiting for him to leave, but they'd both assured him that they were happy to wait. Of course, he would tip them both for staying and personally ensure that their overtime paid out, so he didn't feel terrible, but he hated making them wait for him.

When he finally shut his laptop for the night and closed all of the physical paper files that he'd had scattered around him, it was closing in one one in the morning. Security, he knew, were only on shift until ten, so he'd make sure to tip the two guys handsomely.

Naturally, they both seemed happy to see him when he finally descended in the elevator. They'd done their sweeps of the building while he'd tidied his office up, so they only had to show him out and lock the doors behind him.

When the elevator reached the parking lot, he stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. The security guys did a fantastic job of pretending not to notice, just like kids on Christmas ignoring money as it fell out of their cards. "Guys, I just want to thank you both for staying late." He told them both, extending two one-hundred dollar bills in each of their directions. "Both of you drop me an email later on about overtime, okay? I'll see what I can do about putting a better rate on for anything past midnight."

Their thanks to him were sincere.

It was barely a minute later that he was finally back in his car, starting the near silent engine. Had he driven anything big and loud, he wouldn't have heard it. He wouldn't have heard his cell chime.

He thanked whoever the hell made electric cars so damn quiet as he checked it.

River. 01:09

"You're free tomorrow, right?"

River. 01:10

"Technically today. Whatever."

River. 01:10

"I've had a cancellation later. Afternoon's free if you want me to come over?"

Holy shit.

Holy shit!

He held his cell for a second, messages open, grin on his face.

It was finally happening.

I know this must seem a little drawn out (given the fact that I'm sure this could have just been an one-shot) but I'm having a bunch of fun writing this all.

Hopefully it was al okay. Please let me know what you think of it, I really appreciate feedback. Otherwise, have a great day!