Back in School [Gray, open]

[Grayson Shepherd]

Gray saw the shift in the girl's expression but said nothing pertaining to it, mostly because he didn't know why. But he was almost certain if he did bring it up, he'll get his head bitten off once more so he decided to shut his mouth. It wasn't that he was scared of her or anything rather he wasn't going to spend the entire time quarelling over a girl who would probably forget his name after they part tonight. Sure she was pretty cute and all. And if they had started on the right foot, Gray would most probably hook up with her one way or other.

Liz agreeing put Gray in a good mood. He practically skipped all the way until he realised they were going the wrong direction. "Weren't we going to the beach? Yes we were. I think it's still empty so we can just smoke out in the open. No one would know the difference anyway. At least until I start being a bigger dick than I apparently already am." He grinned to show Liz that he was only joking, even though he didn't know if Liz was even looking at him.

"Music? Aw that's an easy answer. Beyonce, Christina, Britney, Justin, Mandy....all the good stuff man." Gray answered with a serious face. But he couldn't hold it in for too long until he burst out laughing.

"Kidding, obviously. I listen to a lot of stuff. Guns 'n Roses, Muse, AC/DC and some Nirvana. I love me some of The King as well." Gray shrugged. Elvis had to be his biggest influence.

They were nearing the beach and just as Gray predicted, it was pretty empty except for the vendors and a permanent ice cream parlour a few feet away from them. "How about you?"

[Liz Davies]

The sudden shift in direction threw Liz off a bit, but she went with it anyway. A place to smoke was a place to smoke. Plus, there were a number of great munchie shops near the beach. Just about anything a stoner ever wanted to eat could be found near the water. “Whatevs,” Liz shrugged, turning to follow Gray. “If you know a good spot, lead the way.”

A sarcastic remark was on the tip of her tongue when Gray said something about being a bigger dick, but she decided to hold back. She had been pretty hard on the boy today, and he was going to be nice and share his weed with her. She figured he deserved a small break from her normal prickly self, though it was less fun for her.

One look at Gray made it very obvious he was not into the music he started listening, and Liz wasn't falling for it. She let him has his fun, ignoring the joke. When he started listing more realistic bands, however, Liz couldn't help but start laughing to herself, and the mention of Elvis caused the laughter to explode out of her. “Seriously?” she managed in between guffaws. “You're really going out on a limb there, buddy. Sure you don't want to add in The Beatles? I bet you think Zeppelin was okay, too, huh?” So Gray was playing it safe with his choices. Was he actually afraid that Liz would judge him too harshly? Okay, so maybe it was a valid fear, seeing as how she just did for naming classic bands everyone liked. At least, everyone smart. “Sorry, I'm just kidding. Those are good choices. ” Still, she couldn't even manage that sentence without a few chuckles. She tried to calm herself a bit before continuing. “It's just you picked the biggest names in grunge, 80's rock, and, oh, all of rock and roll? Then you slip Muse in there, too. Come on, there has to be some other stuff, too.”

The pair neared an ice cream shop as Liz started in on the music she liked. “So a lot of it you probably haven't heard of, but don't worry. I promise it's good. Lately I've been listening to a band called Pomeroy, but it sounds like they might be splitting up soon.” She slipped her hands into her pockets. A part of her was curious if they were going to get ice cream or not. It seemed more like a weird date type thing to do, but she didn't want to make things weird. Who knew if Gray was even thinking anything like that. “I listen to a lot of indie stuff. I used to like Blue October, but they've completely sold out, which sucks. Mountain Goats seem to be heading that way, too. But they're still pretty good. Of Thieves rocks out, I like them. And I mean, yeah, I like a lot of more obvious stuff. Of course bands like Foo Fighters totally rock, and Zeppelin and Aerosmith and the Stones. You know, the classics.” Liz realized she had been blabbing quite a bit. Music was one of the few topics that really opened her up, and she started to feel a little embarrassed.

[Grayson Shepherd]

The sudden outburst of laughter made Gray rethink this whole smoking buddy system. If the girl was gonna mock everything that came out of his mouth, what was the use of being friends at all? Yeah sure the brutal honesty was pretty refreshing but if it went on like this, Gray was going to be a girl about it and get the hell away from her.

Then she started talking about her own music preferences and he listened attentively even though he wasn't looking at her, choosing not to wig her out any more than she probably already was by being with him then. The uncomfortable look on her face after listing down her music preferences pretty much confirmed it for Gray

"Well, there's this relatively new band The Last Goodnight which is pretty cool. CAKE, Modest Mouse and uh Saving Abel doesn't suck. And the other stuff I hear are pretty much because they've got a good beat to it. But I stick to the ones I know. I mean I don't really listen to the radio or watch MTV or whatever. Most of the stuff I get are recommendations from my band mates." He shrugged nonchalantly before heading to the hot dog stand and asking for three dogs with the works.

He wanted to ask Liz if she wanted anything but held back because he wasn't sure if she would be offended by it by paying for their food later. She might make a scene about being able to pay for herself or that just because she was a girl, she couldn't pay for herself or some shit like that. Gray liked girls who could stand up for themselves but something about Liz made him feel as though she liked poking him to get a rise from him for some odd reason. So he paid for his food and started to bite into one immediately since he didn't have lunch yet.

[Liz Davies]

As Gray listed more bands, Liz started to feel better about his musical choices. Not that his previous ones were bad, but they didn't really tell much about him other than he had heard of rock music, and that was about it. This new group, while not necessarily among her own favorites, definitely made Liz feel more comfortable around Gray. God, she would have had to ditch him on the spot if he had said something like Good Charlotte or Yellowcard.

“Okay, so that's be- wait, what was that?” Had he said something about bandmates? She chased after the boy as he walked up to the stand and started ordering food. Her hunger was momentarily forgotten as her determination to find out what all this band crap was took over her brain.She ignored the fact he was trying to order and began tugging on his shirt. “Hey, hey. What is all this stuff about bandmates? Are you in a band? Why didn't you tell me this before?” Her excitement was very obvious. She had been messing around with the drums for years, but never really had the chance to play with a real band before. The best she ever got was a few of her friends that would bring their guitars over and they'd make a lot of noise together.

After Gray had finished order, Liz turned to the vendor. “Can I get a hot dog with ketchup and relish, and uh, a bag of chips... the, uh,” Liz glanced up at Gray quickly, hoping he wasn't paying attention to the next part of her order. It was a girly move, but Liz was still concerned about her weight when she wasn't too high. “The... baked... Lays.” The word baked seemed like a whisper out of her mouth, and she peeked up at Gray once again to see if it registered in his brain.

[Grayson Shepherd]

Gray stumbled a bit when Liz started tugging at his shirt, babbling about something or other. "Oh. I didn't tell you that?" He chewed on his hot dog as he dragged out the suspense. Finally the girl looked slightly feminine with a sparkle in her eyes. "Well, yeah." He wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand before swallowing. "Worthy Understatement. That's the name of my band obviously. But I am a worthy understatement if I do say so myself. Kidding." He held up his hand in defense. He didn't want the girl to suddenly claw him to death. Although if she were to do it here at least there would be witnesses.

"Well it didn't come up. And I uh didn't want to...there wasn't a time...you were babbling about something or other. Just didn't have time." He shrugged and continued to eat his hotdog and waited for Liz to get her food, ignoring the fact that she had chosen a healthier snack. So she was obviously a very self-conscious girl. Gray wasn't sure if she should be. She was attractive. But to Gray, the more attractive a girl was, the less pride, confidence and self-esteem they seemed to possess.

He didn't say anything about her choice of food of course so he just waited for her to pay for her purchases and then they walked down to the beach. "You should come by for our jamming session sometime. We might be having one next week." Gray suggested before plonking himself down gracelessly on the sand and taking out his bag of weed and setting his hot dogs down on top of his bag.

Rolling up two sticks, he slipped his lighter out of his pocket and lit his first and threw the lighter to Liz and handed her the stick before taking one slow drag from his, his thoughts immediately clouded by the weed. "Good stuff..."

[Liz Davies]

“Worthy Understatement...” Liz let the name roll off her tongue as she thought about it. “I dig it!” She caught herself smiling a bit too wide and straightened her face. This guy was starting to seem a lot cooler than Liz first thought, and the fact that he was in a band was kick ass. And he'd put up with her for this long, and he was going to share some weed... Yeah, he wasn't so bad.

Liz took her hot dog and chips and paid the guy, but her thoughts were once again wandering. She glanced back at Gray as he started to walk towards the beach, the wind whipping at his t-shirt. Damnit, he was hot. She was starting to get more comfortable with the thought. Not that she was going to do something, or that she even wanted anything to happen at all. It was a simple observation, entirely harmless. She couldn't help that he was hot, she couldn't stop it at all. She'd just have to get used to hanging out with a hot guy. He was probably gay anyway, most of her guy friends were.

She hurried to catch up to Gray, and got extremely excited when he invited her to a jam session. “Really? Cause I can play the drums. I mean, I'm not like great or anything, but I can promise I'm better than Meg White! Unless you guys already have a drummer, that is...” She hadn't really thought her outburst through. Of course they probably had a drummer, and he was no doubt way better than Liz. “Never mind, Grayson. I can just listen, that would be totally cool. Umm, thanks. For the invite.”

He passed her a joint and the lighter, and she lit up quickly, hoping to take down the stick fast. She felt like the longer she babbled, the bigger fool she was making in herself look like to this guy. The real thing that was bothering her was why she seemed to care about what he thought of her. But the weed would relax her, and she wouldn't care so much. A long drag later and she was already feeling a bit better, her mind starting to haze over. She slid the lighter in her pants pocket without even realizing it, more out of habit than anything else, then took another drag and tried to blow a smoke ring, giggling slightly at the awkward non-circular shape it ended up forming.

[Grayson Shepherd]

Surprise doesn't even cover what Gray experienced when Liz actually liked his band name. He liked it but he didn't necessarily think anyone else would, least of all Liz. But he went on without a second thought of it. She was unpredictable to say the least. So for now he would just treat her like any of his other smoking buddies.

He was doubly surprised when she showed interest in being a drummer in his band. A girl who could play the drums was extremely hot to him. At the mention of Meg White, Gray laughed. "I don't know about you but Meg White should just stick to being the wife. I dunno. She doesn't appeal to me much. Now, Linda McDonald however. She's...well...she's hot." A slow smile appeared on his face before he took a drag from his stick. "Naw, you should play. The guys would appreciate you some way." He chuckled slowly as the weed started to take the effect he had been hoping for since the day started.

If he realised that Liz had pocketed his lighter, he didn't give any indication and he didn't seem to care. He had a lot of lighters at home so he wouldn't think twice if one was missing from his stash. When he heard the giggle, he turned to look and found Liz with a semi-innocent look on her face. He smiled before turning back to look out at the beach.

A couple minutes later, he leaned down on the sand and started to wave his hands in front of his face. "Those are very weird looking trains..." he suddenly said.

[Liz Davies]

“No kidding. I never liked the White Stripes all that much, and she just made women musicians look bad!” Liz was surprised that she was actually having a good conversation with this boy. It was something she did not expect to happen an hour ago. “Linda MacDonald... you mean the milf from that old 80's band?” She couldn't suppress the laughter that came after this realization. It also didn't help that she was really starting to feel high. “Wow, Grayson, didn't think you were into the older ladies!” She looked down at her joint and realized she had already smoked half of it. Her laughter started again, though she tried to make a mental note to slow down.

“Yeah, I'd like to come- hey, wait. Whaddya mean they'd appreciate me in some way?” A grin slowly started to grow across Liz's face, and she leaned closer to Gray, her finger returning to the spot on his chest where she had previously poked him. This time, however, it was less a poke and more a slow point that ended at Gray's pec. “Did you just call me hot?” The realization of it started to actually sink into Liz's brain. In her pot addled state, she had reacted before actually thinking about what the boy said, and not that her brain was registering the compliment, she was starting to feel warm inside. But she couldn't back off by this point, it would be too obvious and the tables would no doubt be turned. “I think you did!” She said smugly, leaning back and taking another drag. She tried to hold it in, but she started laughing at the situation

After Gray leaned over, Liz followed suit, trying to see what he saw. Sadly, there were no trains for her. Nonetheless, she found it funny he saw trains, and the only explanation was that he was stoned out of his mind. “Dude... you're sooo gone!” Liz leaned back, laughing, and tumbled off her rock. She landed in the sand, but it didn't deter her good humor. “You're such a lightweight!”She righted herself and crawled over to where Gray was now lying, putting a hand on his shoulder to help keep her balance. With her joint held tightly between her lips, she snatched his smoke. “You should totally stop...” she mumbled, trying to hold back her giggles as she toyed with the boy.

[Grayson Shepherd]

"Hey! She's not a milf! Maybe to you!" Gray chuckled. "It's her playing that's sick as. I'll let you hear some of her old stuff. And dude, I like older women only because younger ones are way too boring. I get to be taken care of if I was with an older woman." He winked. He wasn't sure why she had used his full name but he wasn't about to comment on it. Maybe he never told her that everyone he knew either called him Shep or Gray.

Laughing lightly when she asked that question, Gray felt like rolling her eyes. She can't possibly be serious. Of course he just called her hot. "Well duh woman." He said in a low voice with a playful smirk. "Unlike you, I'm not gonna deny I've got good taste in looks. You're hot and you know it." His eyes followed the trail Liz made with her finger and his grin deepened. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were..." He was about to say flirting when she moved away from him and laughed. Obviously she wasn't. She was probably just really high to even notice what she was doing.

When she laughed at his train comment, he shrugged and closed his eyes before taking another long drag. "Shut up." He said lazily before blowing the smoke in her face slowly. "We need to do something..." he said, running his hand over the top of his head.