Thinking âBout You // Chapter One
Grizz has returned from his scouting trip, but heâs still at odds with Sam. Heâs also confused about the current political state of New Ham, and is in quite a bit of danger.
âWhat the actual fuck, Luke,â Grizz held his fellow Guard member back by his shoulder. Grizz had just returned from his scouting expedition with the rest is the group and it had just so happened that they had returned right when Allie and Will were being arrested, by the order of Lexie and Harry. He was confused and angered, to say the least.
Luke turned, unafraid of someone he considered too âsoftâ to actually hurt him and replied, âit had to be done, Grizz. They were out of control, keeping secrets, and Harry and Lexie were elected. The office of mayor is rightfully theirs.â
âBut⊠Will and Allie were doing alrightâŠâ
âHah, thatâs what they want you to think,â Luke brushed off Grizz, walking away from him.
âWhat. The. FuckâŠâ Grizz mumbled. He collected himself, trying to suppress the boiling anger that left his ears steaming about how his efforts and the work of his search party that found land to farm, and found a viable source of food to keep the town alive and well were ignored. And not only that, he couldnât help but still feel that Sam had stabbed him in the back by making him so sure of what they, as two people in union, were. Heâd made Grizz want to keep him close forever, and the reveal of the fact that Sam was the father of Beccaâs baby was an indicator that made everything he and Sam had said and felt get tossed in the trash.
Unbeknownst to Grizz, Sam couldnât stop thinking about the look on Grizzâs face when he told him that he was the babyâs father. It had made him feel so painfully guilty, a way he hadnât ever felt before. He didnât realize it until he felt someoneâs hand on his face, but he had started to let tears fall, and Becca was wiping them away.
âWhy are you crying?â she signed to Sam, concern written all over her face.
Sam sighed, trying to collect his thoughts, and then signed, âItâs Grizz,â he started. Becca looked confused, and Sam couldnât help but laugh internally at her expression. âHeâs⊠gay, and has liked me for a long time. I spent the night over at his place at Thanksgiving, and after he came to the hospital and we told him that Iâm the father, he confronted me about it and thought that everything that he and I had was fake. I tried, I really did, to reassure him that it wasnât, but thereâs only so much I can do.â The redhead now had tears rolling down his face, and was unable to control them.
âOh my god,â Becca whispered before taking Sam into her arms. When they pulled apart she signed to him, âwhy didnât you tell me about all of this before?â
âI didnât want to stress you out since you were already worried about the baby,â he answered truthfully.
Becca looked down at little Edenâs sleeping face, the rest of her body swaddled in a clean baby blanket, and then signed to Sam with a small smile, âI donât think all hope is lost, Sam. Just try talking to him, explain, and hope that he understands.â
âI will,â Sam signed back, smiling sadly with tear stains still on his cheeks. âIâve gotta figure it out,â he thought to himself after the two returned to their comfortable silence.
The town seemed to have a heavy fog of doubt and worry hanging over it at dinner then following evening. Grizz couldnât help but notice that it seemed like everyone was on edge, keeping to themselves, muttering a word every once in a while, but not the normal, somewhat happy chatter that usually could be overheard in the cafeteria.
Suddenly, an immediate hush fell over the large room, and he turned to the end of the food line where everyone seemed to be staring. There stood Becca, and the slightly taller redhead that Grizz had been avoiding thinking about, mostly for the sake of his own sanity. âFuck,â he mumbled under his breath, taking immediate interest in the food on his plate. But he couldnât help but notice the swaddled bundle in Beccaâs arms, and the mere thought of a little ray of hope lifted his spirits for a second.
In his peripheral vision, Grizz noticed a thin body walking towards him, and then sit across from him, and they tapped his wrist to get his attention. Looking up, he saw Helena, looking like she was calculating a statement in her head.
âHey Grizz,â she smiled.
âHi Helena, why⊠do you want to talk to me?â furrowing his brows as his voice rose in pitch.
âI wanted to talk to you about the whole arrestâŠâ
âYou sure this is the place to do it?â
âI mean, everyone seems distracted anyway, I think itâll be fine,â she reasoned, Grizz nodding in understanding.
After what seemed liked ages of a backstory, Helena finally got to the point, âTruth is, Campbell wanted Allie arrested for so long, and thatâs why he pushed Harry into office. Harryâs popular, or was popular, and apparently he hated what Allie was doing so much that he and Lexie collaborated and made shit go downhill really fast.â
âShit,â he groaned, âfucking Campbell.â Anger bubbled inside of him, threatening to spill, but he contained it until he had closed the door to his deserted looking house. He went to his room and got ready to fall asleep, but not before punching the shit out of his pillow beforehand.
He slept restlessly that night, tossing and turning constantly until he decided to wake up at the crack of dawn and read a little while the sun rose. He heard the birds chirping outside, and decided that it would be a good time to head down to the cafeteria for breakfast, that was, before Lexie sent a message to the groupchat that included everyoneâs phone numbers, announcing that there was a pre-breakfast meeting at the church. Grizz grumbled and pulled his hair, which was growing out at a steady pace, into a tiny bun at the back of his head, and threw on some warm clothes, and then headed towards the church.
Entering the sanctuary, Grizz took a seat in one of the back pews, one of the two pressed against the walls on either side of the door. As people streamed through the entryway, it seemed as though he was invisible to them, as if the trip he and his group had taken didnât matter anymore. But it was because of the arrests, he knew it, and it all fell on Campbell. âThat son of a bitch,â he muttered, hoping no one heard him.
Back at the hospital, Sam had gotten the notification about the meeting, and since Becca was asleep, he wrote a little note, placed it by her head, and went for the both of them. As he walked, he thought about how he had seen Helena and Grizz deep in conversation last night, wondering what they were talking about, but refusing to torture himself even more by looking at Grizzâs tired and distraught face. When he walked into the church, he made the mistake of looking at the back walls and saw an exhausted looking Grizz sitting in the corner of a pew. They made eye contact for a split second, and then Grizz looked away, not wanting to see Sam out of anger.
Just after Sam took a seat towards the middle, Campbell and Elle walked in, Elle looking like she had just seen a ghost, but then changing her expression into a soft smile. Grizzâs blood boiled at the sight of the older Eliot brother, and when Campbell turned his nasty face to look at Grizz, he was practically fuming.
âSo a little birdie told me that youâre not exactly happy about your little girlfriend and her boyfriend getting locked up, huh,â he sneered, taking steps closer and closer to Grizz.
âSheâs not my girlfriend, but I am, in fact, mad about it. She and Will were doing an okay job. Does it look like any of us know how to run a government? No. So why the fuck would you put two of the most capable people behind bars?â
âWoah there, Grizz,â Campbell kept on smirking, and Grizz lost it. He swung a punch at the dark haired boyâs jaw, Campbell stumbling backwards before regaining his footing and raising his arms into fighting stance.
All of a sudden, everyone heard a voice say, âStop,â and it was as if everything paused. Sam was standing in front of Grizz, acting as a human barrier between his brother and the boy he cared so much about.
Grizz instinctively pushed Sam out of the way to confront Campbell himself, but the dark haired Eliot brother stopped in his tracks and said, âWait a minute, are you guys thinking what Iâm thinking?â he paused for a second and then continued, âMy buddy Grizz hereâs a fag, just like my useless brother.â
Hearing that name caused Grizz to take a step back, his arms going limp. Heâd heard it thrown around so much in the locker rooms, by his father behind closed doors, and in church, and hearing it again felt like a knife to his chest. While his mind was rushing, Campbell took the opportunity to catch him off guard and swung a punch to the side of his head, knocking Grizz out.
Sam looked up, steam practically coming out of his ears and said, âWhy, Campbell, why? If you werenât so much of a goddamn psychopath, youâd actually understand how people feel, and itâs really evident that you donât.â
More people were standing outside of the doorway to enter the church sanctuary, and the ones who were already inside were crouched behind the pews, worried that Campbell would draw a gun on any one of them for no reason.
âOkay, okay, the fuck is going on?â Luke asked as he entered the church, shocked to see Grizz knocked out on the floor with a small trail of dried blood forming on his temple. He turned and saw Campbell with his signature evil grin on his face and then hollered, âGuard!â
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