Gracy Featuring Stoey

Chapter 12

* Graser's POV *

Stacy and I followed Miranda up a flight of stairs to a 2-family house, presumably she shared it with a roommate or something. She took out her keys, unlocked the left door, and then told us to "wait here a quick second" while she rushed in.

I looked at Stacy to find that she was looking back at me. I stared, transfixed, into her dreamy hazel eyes. Sometimes it was really hard not to give in to my instincts and kiss her. If we ever did kiss- no, when we kissed. I was going to kiss her one day. When we kiss, it's going to be a hell of a first kiss filled with all the passion that I had to suppress all this time.

I was jolted out of my thoughts when Stacy looked away quickly. I was a little hurt at first, before noticing where she was looking.

I squinted into the distance. I could just make out a figure of a man, running into the distance. If Stacy had picked up on him, he was probably important, but her eyes were way better than mine so I let her figure it out.

Stacy looked for a second more, then turned to me with wide eyes. She grabbed my arm. "Zach... that's him."

I didn't have to ask who he was. I didn't have to ask if she was sure. I just took off sprinting after Joey.

As he got father away, I turned to look behind me, expecting no one. But Stacy was pounding behind me and suddenly I felt very self-conscious, considering how fast she'd closed the head start I'd gotten.

"Graser!" She yelled. I slowed down to let her catch up to me, and she did, breathlessly. "We're not going to catch him now. One day we will, but he's too far away."

I stared at her- wasn't this whole mission to help Stacy find Joey? But as I got lost in her beautiful eyes (again), I realized that if Stacy didn't want to catch him, why should I? It just meant more alone time with her. So I nodded. "Okay."

She looked at me, just looked at me, for a long time. I wondered what she was thinking about.

Suddenly she pulled me into a hug. Hmm, I guess that's what she was thinking about, I smiled, but the happiness quickly morphed to worry when I felt her shuddering against me. I quickly looked down to confirm my suspicion- she was on the verge of tears. I brought her closer to me and started lightly tracing tiny circles into her back.

This feels so nice. Why can't we do this more often?

After a bit, she looked up at me and smiled shakily. I smiled encouragingly back, but before I had the chance to say anything, she jumped out of my arms, shouted "Race ya!", and dashed off. I grinned and sprinted after her, surprised by her sudden mood change but happy to see that she was cheering up.

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We followed Miranda down a hallway in the brownstone she apparently did not share with anyone, but it was obvious she had been living with Joey. We passed her bedroom, with a bed obviously slept in by a male, why was she even pretending anymore. She had tried to convince me to sleep in her room, but heck no I wasn't going to sleep with her and leave Stacy to sleep in a room by herself. So now she was showing us to the room we would stay in.

"Okay, you'll be sleeping here," Miranda announced, leading us into a room with two full-sized beds. Stacy nodded her thanks, and I said "Thank you. We'll probably just stay in here for a while if that's okay with you."

"Alright," she acknowledged, leaving the room and closing the door with a snap behind her. I went over to one of the beds and stretched out on it.

Stacy went over to the other bed and fell onto it. "It's been such a long day already, can you believe it's not even 1pm yet?"

* Timeskip to like 9pm *

~ Stacy's POV ~

I walked into the room we were going to sleep in, about to pass out. Graser followed, looking really tired too. We had just come back from an unexciting dinner, where I had almost fallen asleep but fortunately was able to catch myself before anyone had noticed.

I yawned, falling onto the closest bed and leaving the other bed to Zach. He looked as in a daze, stripping down to his underwear and stretching out on his bed.

I blushed slightly, banishing all thoughts of Graser in his underwear out of my mind, and rolled over, letting my thoughts take control of me.

Would I ever find Joey? He seems to be eluding me more than ever. Zach is helping me a lot, though. Zach. Graser. Why does he call himself Graser? I bet it's not because he likes gamma ray lasers or whatever he said at the panel at PAX East whatever year that was. I'm so forgetful. Graser. Zach. Why did I hug him earlier? Because I needed a hug from someone. No, that's not true, if it was anyone else I wouldn't have hugged them. Stop lying to yourself, Stacy, you need him.

I needed him.

I needed Zach, and I needed him now.

I slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to his bed, sliding under the covers and putting my arms around him. As soon as my arms made contact with his bare skin, he let out such a deep moan it gave me chills.

"Jesus, Zach," I murmured. "Stacy," he said breathlessly. "Sorry, I was having a really... nice dream."
Hmmm. "Involving who?"

He smiled, gathered me in his arms, and pulled me closer to him. "You."

I blushed and grinned. "Well, sorry to interrupt. Would you like to go back to this fascinating dream?"

He laughed and stretched out on his side. "Nah, Real Life Stacy in my arms is better than Dream Stacy, even if Dream Stacy had less clothes on-" I smacked him. His eyes sparkled. "Just telling the truth."

I looked at Graser, his eyes now closed and smiling blissfully. "Zach?"

"Yeah Stace?"

I gulped. "Do you think Joey still wants me? You know, like as a girlfriend?"

He fixed his beautiful brown eyes on mine, melting my heart but then mending it with the words he spoke next: "Stacy, come here." He pulled me into a hug. "Let me tell you something." he whispered. "If a man deems you 'not good enough' for a girlfriend, they've got me to answer to. There's no reason for Joey not to want you. Look at you. You're kind, smart, funny, and beautiful. Very beautiful. You're pretty much the beautifulest person I've ever met, inside and out. And if Joey can't see all these things that make you you, then it's time to find another guy."

I stayed still, digesting his words, and then I started to cry. No one had ever said those kinds of things to me before. And then it hit me: Zach, who wasn't even my boyfriend, had just complimented me in so many ways, and Joey, who had been my boyfriend for a long time, had never even considered saying those things. Why was the boy currently drying my tears and telling me it was going to be alright doing all this for me?

"Zach?" I said quietly.

"Hmm?" He murmured, still stroking my hair.

"Do you love me today?"

He smiled. "I love you so much today. I love you so much everyday."

I look up at him, settle into his chest. "I love you too."

a/n: hi guys! this is probably the longest chapter in the book, and yet it's only 1.3k words. that's pretty sad.
comment your favourite book!

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