Soft grass tickled her bare feet, and the sun felt warm on her freckled cheeks. Dorothea stood in Olivia's backyard with a garden hose in her hand, fighting the urge to aim it right at sundress-clad Olivia.
Leonora was inside somewhere, probably hanging out in the kitchen while snacking on whatever fruit she could find in Olivia's sad fridge; the one that was rarely used for anything but condiments and half-rotten apples.
"Thea? I think those flowers have gotten enough water now; you're reaching the point of waterboarding!" Olivia shouted from the porch, where she was cleaning the patio furniture. She was rarely outside in her garden, and the whole thing definitely needed a helping hand before the pool party.
"Olly, do you even know what waterboarding means?"
Olivia shook her head, a toothy grin on her face. "I do not! Just saw it in a TikTok comment."
Dorothea shook her head in disbelief and sighed loudly. Being friends with Olivia required the patience of a kindergarten teacher on a field trip to the zoo. The IQ level was equal to zero, and sometimes Dorothea wondered if Olivia ever had an actual thought in that head of hers.
But still, she loved the girl to absolute pieces.
Olivia went back inside, most likely to join Leonora at the snack table. That left Dorothea alone in the backyard behind Olivia's beautiful home. She finished the job she'd been given — the one where she had to water all the plants and flowers Olivia had planted when she first moved in.
Her phone buzzed in her hand, lighting up with a message from none other than Gracie Abrams.
𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚: 𝘪'𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘥𝘰 𝘪 𝘨𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘥 ? 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 🪱
Dorothea caught herself smiling abnormally widely at her phone. She'd missed Gracie, despite the fact that it'd only been a week since they last saw each other face-to-face. She was still unsure about the whole thing — she knew they were going fast, possibly too fast. It still scared her.
𝙈𝙚: 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 😔
It didn't take long before Gracie's beautiful face turned the corner, and she came jogging down to Dorothea. The Abrams girl's arms wrapped around Dorothea in a tight hug, one so full of warmth that neither of the girls wanted it to come to an end.
"I've missed you, Grace," Dorothea mumbled and pulled away from Gracie, resting her underarms on Gracie's and delicately wrapping her hands around them. She felt her cheeks go red as Gracie's fingers wrapped around her arm, just below her elbow. Gracie's hands were always cold, Dorothea had noticed.
Gracie's lips split into a soft smile, the grin that Dorothea loved so much — the one that made her weak in the knees. "I've missed you too."
"Okay guys! Keep it PG, there's children present," Leonora shouted, throwing an oven mitt at the two girls. Dorothea rolled her eyes, tossing the oven mitt back towards her sister, and watched it land on the soft grass only a foot or two away from her. "Oops, I think you missed!" Leonora yelled, earning herself a beautiful middle finger from her big sister.
"Go back inside and play with Olivia or something; I'm sure she has a pack of crayons somewhere in there!" Dorothea waved her sister off, smirking as Leonora's jaw dropped and a look of offence creeped onto her face. "Sorry 'bout her; mentally, she's never graduated kindergarten." Dorothea smiled after Leonora had disappeared into the house.
Gracie chuckled at Dorothea's words, the small gap between her front teeth showing. That little absence of teeth was one of the first things Dorothea noticed about Gracie, one of the first things she admired about her.
"Her and Olivia were, like, made to be best friends, weren't they? They're the exact same person; it's scary." Gracie said, looking at the house where the two best friends were currently sitting on the kitchen counters, emptying the bowl of chips that was supposed to be for the pool party.
"They most definitely are; it terrifies me."
"Tate! Madi!" Dorothea squealed, running into her friends' arms, almost shoving them to the ground. "It's been way too long; I've missed you guys so much."
Tate and Madison returned the sentiment and went on to greet the rest of the company for the day. Gracie kept close to Dorothea while she greeted her new friends, unknowingly making Dorothea's body temperature rise to the point of boiling.
"Keep the screaming to a minimum, and please do not take any pictures; Conan Gray is here!" Conan introduced himself as he walked through the garden gate. He was clad in a pair of bright yellow swim shorts and a green t-shirt, flopping around in his red flip-flops. He looked like a traffic light.
"Hey, Cone-head?" Dorothea asked, catching the traffic light's attention, "Will it be alright?"
Conan's smirk grew, and excitement bubbled within him. "I don't know," he winked, raising his hand to high-five Dorothea. Their friends did not find them amusing, but they found themselves hilarious, and that was what mattered.
Dorothea loved being around her friends; that specific group of people made her feel more comfortable than ever. The insecure thoughts and the fear of seeming weird completely vanished whenever she was with them. It was freeing in a way that 15-year-old her never could've imagined.
"Thea, oh, Thea, we should've chosen stand-up comedy instead of singing and whatever it is that you do," Conan said in an overly dreamy voice, wrapping an arm around Dorothea's shoulder and pulling her into his side. "We would've won award after award; everyone would know our names."
Dorothea could only agree; she and Conan were hilarious; their friends were just too stupid to understand their humour.
"I would buy tickets for your shows," Gracie shrugged. "Just speaking my truth," she said, raising her hands defensively in the air when she received a glare from each and every one of her friends — except for Dorothea and Conan, obviously.
"We have Grace's approval; we won, suckers!" Dorothea grinned and released herself from Conan's embrace to wrap an arm around Gracie's shoulder. "We all know Gracie's word is final."
An unwritten rule that apparently everyone but Gracie seemed to be aware of. But she didn't mind, if her word was final, she could defend Dorothea every time it was needed. And of course her other friends too, obviously, pfft...
Author's Note
hands up if you think gracie should date my cousin
he's a 1999 baby as well
love,
@hearthands
YOU ARE READING
SWEET NOTHING , Gracie Abrams
Fanfiction» I find myself running home to your 𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 « Gracie Abram...
