"Oh ah thanks. I'd honestly rather be Cinderella, if nothing else to be killer in that dress. And playing around with the makeup would be fantastic." He nodded. "Plus I have to kiss Ella. And I think she has a boyfriend so it sucks on three different ends." He shrugs a bit. "Oh well. A small price to pay for a good performance. So then. What are you most excited for to do in the play? I see you helping with the backdrops props and lighting mostly."
"Probably. I prefer being in the background then actually performing.." Gray rubbed at the back of his neck, "Guess Miss thought otherwise and wanted me in the play this time. What are you looking forward to?" He was honestly surprised how well he was doing, probably his longest conversation in a while.
"Hm? Oh. I don't really know. I'd normally say makeup but the looks are so rough and rugged, I like doing more bruise makeup and such. Oh! Getting the costume together that's always fun. I don't mind playing the prince but honestly this isn't my type of play. At least it isn't Shrek The Musicale like last year." He shuddered. He had to play pinnochio in that one and hated every second of it, but he felt even worse for Fionna and Shrek. He helped with a lot of the makeup on that one.
A hint of a smile tugged at Gray's lips. He hadn't been in that play, but had spent hours designing and making the set pieces for that. Normally it would have been relaxing but the amount of stuff that had to be down stressed him out, "That is true. Why we decided to put on Shrek is beyond me."
"I think our teacher likes to torture and embarass us. I'm so glad I didn't get the lead on that. All those pillows and that paint… could've died of heat exhaustion up there. And all that singing too. I love musicals don't get me wrong, but if I was Shrek I would've stuffed Donkey's head up a beehive and left it at that." Evan said this with a firm nod, encouraging Grayson's smile to grow. He hoped that this was the start of a new friendship.
Grayson let his smile grow, but only for a moment and he made sure to at least try and hide it, "At least this year is Cinderella." He slipped his hands in his pockets, looking over Evan for a moment before down at the path, "Sorry I'm not ah, the best at conversation."
"That's alright. Ya know,you have a very handsome smile. Wear it more often, it looks good on ya. Scouts Honor, I swear you have a very beautiful smile. The type that could light up a whole room. Definitely makes me want to smile." He winked before Ella called his name with an idea for what to do on stage. "See ya around Grey!" He then walked over to Ella to talk before he had to walk home.
Gray went beat red, spluttering out some nonsense before he said goodbye and watched Evan walk away. He didn't think that he had a nice smile, maybe because he didn't smile all that often. He watched Evan for a moment longer before he turned dreading the walk back to his place but his mum might actually kill him if he wasn't home soon.
Evan quickly wrapped up his conversation and headed out the door, put in his earbuds and walked on home. He saw Grayson in front of him and wonderer if he should go up and chat with him again. The thing is,he really didn't know what to say. So he kept quiet and waited to see if the opportunity would present itself.
Gray's house wasn't a long walk from the school, luckily. His home which was once a nice place with flowers on the outside was now rundown and needed repainting badly. Unluckily, however, his mum was home which immediately made Gray tense. The door was open and there was crashing and shouting from the inside meaning one thing: she was drunk and mad. Gray didn't even notice Evan as he moved to bring the bins in.
Evan walked past and say Gray, and gave him another small wave and a smile, as well as a sympathetic look. So that was the mystery books secret. Well now Evan was sure to find a way to make Grey a little happier. He walked home,and almost ended up calling child protective services but decided against it, until he got closer to Grey. There was crashing and screaming coming from the backyard which meant a nerf gun fight had started up. He immediately threw his stuff down, grabbed the hidden gun out of the shoe bin by the door, and headed outside to join in the chaos.
On one hand where Evan was having fun with his family, Gray on the other hand was going though hell. He was six foot whatever and couldn't fight back against his own mother. There were glass bottles and plate thrown his way, a few punches and slaps. It went all all afternoon and into the evening after the sun had set. He didn't want to stay, not tonight at least. He jumped out his window and went for a walk, hood up and looking quite suspicious but it was only to hide the bruises.
Evan ,after dinner, homework,and chores, was hanging upside down from his window. This was not uncommon for anyone in the house and if someone were to look in the backyard they'd see his sister Starla doing the same thing. He enjoyed the cool breeze. Now he just wore boxers and the shirt he wore today,makeup worn off. It was pretty late at night but with his thoughts still on Greyson he couldn't sleep. Suddenly he saw someone in a dark suspicious hoody walking around, and the guy having startled him, made him fall out the window. Luckily it was only a second story window and he fell in his mother's bushes, so he only got scratched up a bit and some bruises. "Ow fuck…" He stood in the moonlight,dusting everything off. Falling out of the windows was also not uncommon.
Grayson jumped slightly, pushing his hood down as he turned towards the noise, "'Ello?" He called out, taking a small step forwards. He couldn't see who or what it was in the dark but he could see the house and didn't want to step on there property in case they were crazy and threatened to shoot him. He knew he should leave, but honestly he didn't know where to go apart from home and that was out of the question.
Evan walked forward onto the sidewalk,and checked himself out in the moonlight once more,his eyes glittering. "Pretty sure I got all the sticks and leaves off…" He muttered to himself,before running a hand through his hair. He then noticed that there was a person standing in front of him,and he looked over the dark figure. "Oh Grayson! Uhm… hi." He looked over his outfit. "Running away from home hm? Don't say I blame you. Would you like a place to stay the night?" He asked sincerely.
"I- what?" Gray frowned, shaking his head and taking a step back, "That's not.. I'm not running away," He crossed his arms, looking down at the floor. The light from the moon and the nearby streetlamp illuminated the bruises on his cheeks, "I was just going for a walk. Get some air, you know?" He shrugged a shoulder.
He laughed. "I'm an actor and I have 9 other siblings,I know how to read people and situations pretty well. Are you sure you don't want somewhere to sleep? My mom would be totally okay with it. Hell she'll probably even have PJs for you. Whaddya say? You could room with me if you'd like, if not you could always take the haunted basement. I'd offer the upstairs couch but it's gross and needs cleaning and, you deserve better treatment then that."
Gray shuffled his feet, taking a moment to think about it. Evan didn't know him well, he didn't know Evan to a good degree, either, and he was offering a place to stay for the night? He was still frowning when he looked up and asked, "Why? Why help me? You barely know me and you have what? Nine siblings? And your mother probably doesn't want another person staying with you all."
"Because I was raised on good morals and why not? See a need fill a need. And my mother could care less. If anything she'll try to help you more than I can. Look it's about to rain in oh, 10 minutes? You don't have to come inside I just want to help. If you have another place great, I'd suggest getting there soon." He shrugged and ran another hand through his hair, trying to fix it a bit.
Gray bit his lip, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "One night, then… if that's okay with you." He could have just sucked it up and went home and dealt with his mum like he normally did. But a night without being beat sounded like a gift from an angel at this point.
He nodded. "I heard the ruckus coming from your house when I walked home yesterday. It did not sound good. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like." He walked Grey inside as he talked. There was the front entrance, and a huge 4 panel picture window right next to the front door,and in that little alcove was a grand piano. There were small house plants on top of it, and a cat curled up there as well. Then there was the couch, and on the couch was strewn crumbs and Ashton,passed out on it. The floor was strewn with x box games and video game controllers. This was to the right. If you kept going straight you'd hit the kitchen which led you to the backyard. To the left was the stairwell with all the bedrooms upstairs, and then the attic and the basement. Evan walked past all of this into the kitchen,being careful of where he stepped. Crystal was reading and drinking her tea in a black and white fuzzy robe, when she looked up and immediately saw Grayson's injuries. Evan leaned down and whispered what he suspected and Crystal nodded. "Alright well the first thing we must do is take care of wounds. Cuts scrapes bumps and bruises, we wouldn't want to get them infected. Would you like anything to eat or drink dear? We have apple cider,hot cocoa, tea, coffee, uhm left over pizza, spaghetti, stuff for tacos, cereal…or you can hunt the fridge for anything else you'd like." She got up and headed to the bathroom to get the medic kit.
Grayson shook his head. He didn't think he could stomach anything to eat right now, "No, it's okay, I'm not hungry right now." He hadn't eaten much at home, but he was used to it and didn't care enough. The injury thing, though, made him nervous as he new there were worse wounds that were going to be discovered.
Crystal came out with bandages, Neosporin,even a suture kit. "Hoodie off please. This is for your personal well being. I promise,it'll be quick." She then pulled out a salve. It was clear and smelled sorta like grapes. "This is to help reduce swelling in bruises and such, so they will hurt less and heal faster. Evan go get him some pajamas from the linen closet." Evan nodded and walked off.
Gray swallowed. He knew it would be far from quick. He shrugged off his hoodie, placing it in his lap. He was only wearing a tank top underneath, and some of the other wounds were obvious from underneath, "Sh-Shirt, too, Miss?"
She nodded. "Yes please, and stop with the formalities. Call me what you wish. Crystal,Momma Rose,Auntie Crys…" She said this while Evan put the clothes on the table and began to make two cups of sleepy time tea, knowing that after this Greyson would most definitely need the extra boost to get some rest.