Page 46 of The Spotlight Effect

Me and Kenan end up just sitting there drinking our drinks, occasionally talking about small things like hobbies and favorite things.

“What are you two doing up so late?” Grayson’s voice comes from the entrance of the kitchen.

“Insomnia,” Kenan replies.

“Bad dream. You?” I say.

“Bad dream,” Grayson states. Grayson walks in and goes to the fridge pulling out a water before closing it and leaning back onto the counter.

“Same thing,” Kenan says looking at Grayson and he nods.

What’s ‘same thing’ mean? It’s probably none of my business.

“You weren't in the room when I got up anymore,” I point out.

“Yeah, I wanted to make you more comfortable, so I slept in Charlie’s room and he’s in Scarlett's room,” Grayson answers. I guess that’s fair, I mean it’s not like we’re best buddies or anything.

“I think I’m gonna go play basketball for a little while,” Kenan says, getting up from his seat. He rinses out his glass before putting it in the dishwasher.

“Thank you, Alexia. Goodnight, you two,” Kenan says.

“Goodnight, Kenan,” I reply.

“Night,” Grayson says.

“What was your dream about?” I ask Grayson. I probably shouldn’t but I’m too curious for my own good. Grayson lets out a sigh before leaning on the island. Grayson doesn’t say anything for a moment but then he opens his mouth,

“My sister. I have these dreams where I leave, and my dad starts taking his anger out on her. I know he’s hard on me and her but I take most of the heat so she can at least go to normal high school and not always put on runways and billboards for new TV shows he wants her in.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, and he shrugs it off.

“It’s fine, what was your bad dream?” he asks, changing the subject.

“Bad memory,” I answer. Grayson looks down at his hands and removes one of his rings. This one is silver, and it has a black stripe going around the middle.

“Here, this is an anxiety ring. I play with it sometimes when I get scared, nervous, or mad. It helps. The black part spins,” Grayson says, holding it out for me.

“I can’t. It seems like you need it,” I tell him.

“I can get more. You need it more than I do,” Grayson says and sits it on the counter in front of me. I smile at him, picking it and test which finger it fits on.

The left pointer.

“Now it’s yours,” Grayson says.

Me and Grayson sit in silence till we are both ready to try sleeping again. We even have a snack and then we go look outside to check on Kenan.

“Is he going to be okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, he’s been like this for a while. He’s just going through some things,” Grayson says. It looks like Kenan is putting his all into this game. He looks almost like a robot playing than a person having fun.

“He must have really been through some things,” I say.

“Haven’t we all? We all have our demons and battles, just some are longer lasting than others,” Grayson replies.

“That’s very brilliant of you to say,” I tell him.

“I’m pretty smart sometimes,” Grayson says, causing me to laugh a little.

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