The Realities of Love

Chapter two

       Gracie and Ben arrived at his house. He placed Grace's bike against the side of the house while Gracie wiped her muddy shoes on the outdoor mat.

     "Gracie! Hi love!" Benjamin's mother greeted her at the door with a big smile and warm hug. "I- um." Gracie stopped before going into her embrace and gestured to her dirty clothes. "Oh dear. What happened?" She asked worryingly. "I met Gracie at the pond today, she took a tumble." Ben said raising his eyebrows and grinning. Grace lightly chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Benjamin's mother, Anne, had one hand around Gracie and the other pointing forward to lead her into the house. Gracie headed inside with Ben and Anne following her. She took her converse, that were now brown, off and placed them next to the door. "I have some extra clothes that might fit, you head on upstairs and take a shower!" Anne insisted. "Oh, Thank you, Anne!" Ben took Gracies bag off her shoulder and she headed upstairs into Anne's bathroom. She shut the door behind her and looked into the mirror seeing just how bad the mess was. She glared down at her knees and wiped them off. When she looked up, she saw a very familiar face in the mirror beside her. "Tom?" Grace whispered as she whipped her head around. her breath became heavy when she saw no one behind her. "Woah." She whispered once more. She slowly looked back in the mirror and decided maybe the fall was worse than she thought. She was seeing her fictional "crush" in the mirror.

     She hopped in the shower and soaked off the mud for about 15 minutes before getting out. Anne had beautiful scented soaps and luscious, soft towels. Grace wasn't used to smelling like warm vanilla and amber. She usually smelled of green apple or whatever soap her mother, Michelle, would grab from the general store. Luckily for Grace, Ben and his family didn't boast about their wealth. Ben was very down to earth and hidden about his father's success. Anne never worked other than tidying around the house, which honestly is a pretty hard job. His father owned a construction company and worked late hours. Ben always wished he was home more, but at least he had his mother.

      Grace wrapped the warm towel around her torso and combed through her wet hair. She opened the door and tip-toed around the second level. Stopping at Ben's room. He sat crisscross apple sauce in his bed staring hard down at his laptop. Grace slightly opened the door. "Hey Benny, um where's Anne?" Ben looked up and stared at Grace for a moment. "She u-uh, had to go... she's dropping off my Dad's lunch to him at work." Grace looked down at her goose-bumped arms and legs. "Did she leave clothes?" Ben looked to the side of his bed. "She left a robe." Ben made a sour face of sorry. Grace sighed and walked in to grab the robe from Ben's hand. "What are you doing now?" Grace questioned. "Research." "On what may I ask?" Grace laughed a bit. "You're going to shift Gracie. It's so easy! Practically magic!" Grace looked at Ben wide eyed. "I don't know Benny." Benjamin saw Grace shiver a bit. "Go get changed and i'll tell you how!" Grace walked out and quickly got changed into the white, lavender smelling robe. She pranced back into Ben's room with a pep in her step and a smile on her face. "I feel so fancy!" Ben looked up at her and laughed. Grace jumped onto the bed next to him but laid down instead."Hey hey hey! Wet hair!" Ben quickly yelped. Grace sat up quick and looked back at the large wet spot she left on his grey sheets. "Sorry." she looked down and giggled.

"So, these people have all shifted before. You can stay there for a number of years, perform magic, and even, you know..." Ben told Gracie excitedly. "Woah woah woah. Are you sure this isn't like some big joke?" Grace propped herself up on her elbows. "Nope, the CIA even did a report on it. It's real Grace. You can actually go there!" "Ben please, it's my Dream, and dreams don't come true." Ben stared at Gracie in the eyes. "This one can." Grace batted her eyelashes and her breath was shaking. She felt warmth cast over her cheeks again as she turned rosy red. She looked down to break eye contact. "S-so how do i do it." Ben gave a big Smile.
———————————————————————————
    Ben's mother entered the house. "Grace! I picked you up undergarments to wear!" Grace and Ben's conversation quickly got silent. Gracie's mouth had dropped and her head followed in embarrassment. Ben let out a chuckle that he tried to hide but just couldn't. "I'll be right back." Gracie slowly crept off the bed and went downstairs. "Here you go my dear!" Anne handed Grace a pack of under wear and a bra. "You know you've been staying here since the 7th grade! I'm shocked we don't have any of your clothes here!" Grace smirked a bit. "Well I do live 3 minutes away, I could've just picked them up." "Oh none sense!" Anne emptied out the grocery bags and placed the items on the large marble island. "This will be much easier! I have an outfit picked out my bed for you!" "Thank you Anne!" Grace ran upstairs and entered the master bedroom where she found a short, floral red skirt with a fuzzy, white sweater. She quickly put them on and looked in the mirror. "Ugh." Grace groaned. She didn't like wearing skirts, not to mention floral ones. Grace walked to the bathroom and quickly blow dried her hair. When she looked into the mirror it was odd. She didn't look all that bad. She actually was quite pretty. She jogged and entered Ben's room.

    "Well don't you look pretty!" Ben said wide eyed. Grace lifted the ends of her skirt and bowed. "Thank you Thank you." She grinned and walked over to his bed. "So when are you gonna do it?" "Well you read what they said, it never happens you're first try!" Grace looked down. "Well you could at least try and start tonight!" Ben reassured her. Grace took a deep breath and decided. "You know what, I will try tonight. What could go wrong!" "That's the spirit!" Ben stood off the bed and put his hand out for Gracie to grab. She grinned with a head tilt and took his hand. "Madam...after you." Ben said in a terrible french accent. "And this is why, I never wear skirts." Grace walked out of the room followed by a chuckling Ben.

     The rest of the day the two watched movies, played board games, and even played piano together.
"I'm making Pasta for dinner!" Anne called out. "Okay! Thank you!" Ben and Grace answered in unison.

   * All day was a bit off, Ben acted so different.* Gracie thought. *He stared at me more, he even called me pretty. I can just hope that he doesn't fancy me. I mean he's my best friend. And I've never been in a relationship before! I never wanted to. I never craved a boys attention I was always too busy to. I've had two crushes in my life who were both fictional characters. Ben once dated a girl named Julie Anderson our freshman year. She was so possessive over him we never saw each other. That was the reason they broke up. And the reason I got my first "hater". *

       After dinner Ben decided to walk Grace home. "Hey Ben where are my shoes?" Ben lightly gasped. "Oh Gracie they were covered in mud. Mom threw them in the wash!" Ben looked around quickly. "Here!" He opened the closet and pulled out a pair of black converse that were 2 sizes too big. "I know how you love converse!" Ben awkwardly laughed. Grace looked down and slipped her feet into Ben's oversized "clown shoes". "Let's just pray no one see's me!" Grace wobbled out of the door and slowly crept down the steps with Ben following after her. He offered to wheel her bike back. They walked slowly through the old park, past the pond until the bright sky started to fade away. For what was usually a 5 minute walk, Grace and Ben talked for about 30 minutes. They enjoyed each others company.

"I always thought she was cute." "Are you kidding!" Gracie yelped. "She was always the girl to judge someone if they didn't have name brand crayons!" "In third grade!" Ben added. "Yeah yeah!" Grace giggled. She looked down and noticed she couldn't really see where she was walking anymore. When she looked up she saw only the moon in the deep dark void of a sky. "What time is it, Ben?"
Ben pulled out his phone. "8:49" "Jeez, already?" "Yeah!" Grace stared at the sky some more. "Have you noticed there aren't stars anymore?" Ben looked up "Yeah, I've noticed that too." he said. "I really can't even see one!" Grace squinted her eyes hard. "They'll be back." Ben said while looking down. "I hope." he then added.

The two then got to the end of the park and to the street. "Call me when you write your script, alright?" Ben asked. "Alright!" Grace grinned. "See you tomorrow Gray." Ben smirked and started to walk off. "Wait, Ben!" Grace quickly yelled. He turned around fast. "What is it?" Grace looked down and breathed fast. "If I shift tonight... you won't know till tomorrow. It will only be a day for you, but years for me." They both stopped and just looked at each other for a few moments. Grace then ran into Ben's arms for a tight, warm hug. She found herself lightly starting to tear up. He dug his head into the crook of her neck. "I'm gonna miss you Benny." She said muffled into his shoulder. "I'll be here, always." They let go, Grace froze and tensed up a bit. She turned away from him and wiped her tears of her cheeks. "Are you crying?" Grace quickly whipped around. "What? no!" She laughed. "You look like Rudolph with your red nose." Gracie looked down and covered her nose. "I'll see you...soon." Gracie smiled. Ben waved and walked off.