006. Too Fast?

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"Gracie, please tell me what's going on with that Dorothea girl. Why am I picking you up from her house in the morning?" Abby asked, glancing over at her cousin in the passenger seat. She'd always admired her and Gracie's ability to share everything with each other, but recently it'd felt like Gracie was holding back; keeping something from her.

The older cousin stayed silent, looking down at her lap, where she was fidgeting with the seatbelt. "I dunno, we're just trying to tighten our bond, I guess. I mean, that's pretty normal at the start of a friendship, ain't it?" She sounded just as unsure as she felt, and Abby definitely noticed it. "I fell asleep on her couch after the karaoke bar last night; I think she carried me to her bed?"

"That's adorable, Gracie. Is she nice?" Abby asked. She wanted to learn more about this girl, to find out who Dorothea Bishop was and how she'd managed to sneak her way into Gracie's heart so quickly.

The look in Gracie's eyes could only be described as dreamy. It seemed as though she was in a whole other dimension, somewhere far away, where everything revolved around a certain hazel-eyed brunette.

"The nicest. And she's so precious, Abby, you don't understand." The Abrams girl smiled faintly, her cheeks turning bright pink at the memories of that morning. "I'm so happy I met her; I'll forever owe Olivia for introducing me to her."

Abby couldn't fight back the smirk that was forming on her face. She knew Gracie like the back of her hand; could read her like a children's book. Her cousin was down bad — and it was for a girl she'd just met.

"I'm just scared it's moving way too fast, I've only known her for two weeks," Gracie mumbled, picking at the skin surrounding her fingernails till she drew blood. "I don't want to mess everything up, y'know?"

"Gracie, I think that if it feels right, just do it; take a risk. You've previously held yourself back from great things because of fear. You and Blake broke up because you weren't fast enough."

Gracie bit her lip and nodded at her cousin's surprisingly wise words. Abby had never been the sharpest tool in the box; that's what Gracie'd always told her growing up. She'd always believed her; after all, Gracie was the older and smarter one. Little stupid Abby never noticed the teasing she was victim to for the majority of her childhood.

"Thank you Abby. I love you a whole lot, y'know?"


As the sun said it's goodbye, Dorothea sat in her windowsill and watched as the day came to an end with the most beautiful colours portrayed on the big sky.

She hadn't left her apartment since her and Gracie's adventure to Neon Cove, and she could definitely feel the lack of vitamin D and fresh air. Her mind felt fuzzy, and she couldn't get it to shut up. Thoughts of fear and crippling anxiety had taken over, and all she could do was sit and watch. Observe. Like she always did.

Olivia and Leonora had called her earlier. They'd talked about Gracie to the point where Dorothea felt like killing herself. She wished she didn't feel so strongly for Gracie; that she was able to just maintain a friendship with her without secretly wishing for more. But a wish was a wish, and reality was reality — polar opposites, never to overlap. Right?

The girls had also tried to get Dorothea to go outside, to feel the sun on her skin and the fresh air in her lungs. But despite their vigorous attempt, Dorothea refused. She dreaded the thought of going outside and having to socialise. She didn't want to go back to worrying about every little thing and every look her way. She loved not caring what other people thought — like at the karaoke bar with Gracie.

It was as if the rest of the world didn't matter as long as she had Gracie by her side.

And she kind of hated that. She hated how fast Gracie had become important to her; how fast she felt the want and need to do everything for Gracie. It was a bit scary as well. What if they were currently fucking everything up? What if they were moving too fast to even maintain a friendship?

Yet she didn't find herself wanting to slow down. She didn't want to put an end to whatever they had going on; she wanted to see where it led, whether it would end with something romantic or simply a good and tight friendship.

The vibration from her phone pulled her out of her head and back into the real world. She looked down at the device resting next to her on the window sill. Gracie. Obviously Gracie. Just as she was thinking of her.

𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚: 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘪 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘯 <3 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳

Her heart melted at the text; even the rudeness at the end couldn't stop it. Gracie was precious; her every word and every action were downright adorable. And the worst part was that she probably didn't notice it herself. It just came naturally to her to be the cutest girl on the planet.

𝙈𝙚: 𝘪 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰 !!! 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 🤨

She could picture Gracie's cheeky smile clearly as day, and that terrified her. How could she vividly picture the face of a girl she just met? How could she see her smile in her mind? She was down bad; she knew she was, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Gracie replied with a series of heart emojis, as well as a few worm emojis here and there. It made Dorothea curious; did the worms mean something, or was she just reading into it?

The logical part of her brain knew it was nothing, just an emoji loved by Gracie. But the other half was busy making up the most ridiculous stories and theories as to what the little emoji could symbolise.

Dorothea hated her brain. She could never seem to get it under control; it always seemed to be on its own track, so far gone that Dorothea couldn't even reach it anymore. She despised it. It was always telling her how stupid she looked and how weird she acted. It had been a problem since her early teens. She hated it.


Author's Note
i'm working on the next couple of chapters rn and omg it isn't exactly going well
i'm slipping into another writing block help me

love,
@hearthands

SWEET NOTHING , Gracie AbramsWhere stories live. Discover now