black & gold

Chapter 7

After their day with Tyler, Grace and Hannah don't see each other until Saturday.
Hannah's fingers frequently hover over the keyboard on her iPhone, thinking of what she
wants to text Grace, but she usually gives up and tosses her phone aside with a huff.
Grace, on the other hand, avoids her phone at all cost, knowing that if she holds the
device in her hands for more than five seconds, she'll be messaging Hannah.
So when Saturday rolls around, Grace and Hannah position themselves with their teams
on opposite sides of the field, dressed in their respective black and gold track uniforms.
"Check it out," Mamrie nudges Grace in the side, "Those girls from Central High are
giving us dirty looks."
Grace blushes at the mentioning of Hannah's high school and she slowly glances up at
the group of girls sitting in the Central High bleachers that are eyeing her up and down.
Her eyes immediately dart to a familiar, short brunette. Hannah is, to Grace's dismay, the
only girl on the Central team that's not looking her way.
Rather than joining in on her team's scope-out of Grace, Hannah's flirting. The problem
is, Grace decides, is that she's not flirting with her. Instead she's leaning up against a
brick wall and chatting up a girl with dark hair and darker eyes. When Hannah leans into
the girl, running a hand down her bare arm, Grace exhales and looks away, trying to
focus on anything but the shorter girl across the field.
"Women's 200m, first call," The loud speaker announces and Grace sighs to herself
before kicking her shoes against the asphalt a couple of times and jogging towards the
track next to a nervous-looking Stacey Roberts.
"Good luck," Grace smiles at Stacey and extends a hand to her.
Stacey stares at Grace's hand before rolling her eyes and shaking her head, getting into
her starting position. Grace frowns to herself before letting her hand fall to her side and
mimicking Stacey's lunge. As a gun is raised into the air, Grace glances over to see
Hannah still chatting up the girl with black hair. As a loud shot fires through Grace's
ears, Hannah leans in and kisses the girl standing beside her, holding her head to keep her
in place. As soon as the scene unfolds across the field, Grace speeds off down the track.
Despite her slow reaction time, Grace gains a lead ahead of the rest of the girls almost
instantly. Hannah kissing the girl in the green track uniform replays repeatedly in her
head. She lets her legs carry her faster and faster in the hopes of escaping the thought
completely. Fucking Hannah Hart.
When Grace sprints over the finish line, she falls to her knees and holds her head in her
hands. Though she won the race by a massive margin, she still feels defeated.
"Shit, Helbig, that was insane!" Mamrie grins, bouncing over to her friend and extending
a hand out to her to help her up.
Grace instinctively slaps away Mamrie's hand and she paces off towards the parking lot,
needing to get away from it all. She ignores the screams of her track coach and continues
walking until the roar of the crowd subsides.
Grace collapses against a wire fence in the front parking lot and puts her head in her
arms. Her legs hurt and her muscles ached but the heavy weight that took over her chest
was all she could focus on.
Hannah. The name hits her like a brick and she knows, now, that she can't deny what's
going on in her head. Hannah. Brown hair and blue eyes and a single freckle on the tip of
her nose. Hannah. Maybe she is gay. Maybe she's been gay her entire life because no
boy had ever made her feel as electric as Hannah does. Hannah.
"Grace?"
Grace's head snaps up and Hannah's standing there, hands in her pockets and her hair
slightly standing on its ends, as she looks down at the blonde.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm..." Grace pauses for a moment and she shakes her head, "I'm not."
Hannah draws her lips into a frown and she nods, "Can I take you home?"
"You don't have to," Grace mumbles, pulling her knees closer to her chest.
Hannah shrugs, "It's fine. The meet is over now, anyway. And you said we were friends,
right? This is what friends do for each other, Grace. Let me take you home."
Grace doesn't bother arguing because Hannah's voice is too pretty and convincing for her
to question it. Instead she nods and lets the brunette pull her to her feet and towards her
familiar, red Hyundai.
-
The conversation in Hannah's car doesn't pick up until they're nearly at Grace's house
and Hannah grows angry at the silence.
"So do you want to talk about it?"
Grace pulls at the sleeves of her team jacket and shakes her head, "Not really."
"Okay," Hannah nods and focuses back on the road, "You ran really well today. Was that
a new record for you?"
Grace shrugs and her mood worsens just a bit because she remembers that she completely
ran out after she finished her race, neglecting to talk to her coach or teammates. "I don't
know." "Grace, come on, this friendship thing isn't going to work if you don't talk to me,"
Hannah frowns and looks over at the blonde when they pull into her long, gravel
driveway.
Grace sighs and nods, knowing that Hannah's right. They sit in silence in Grace's
driveway and this seems to be a routine for the two of them, Hannah thinks. Grace sitting
uncomfortably in the passenger seat while Hannah taps her fingers nervously on her
steering wheel, waiting for Grace to say something, anything, to break the silence.
"Who was that girl?" Grace questions, hating herself as the sentence leaves her lips.
Hannah turns towards Grace, "What girl?"
"The one you kissed today," Grace says and folds her arms, "Who was she?"
Hannah shakes her head and the bitterness in Grace's voice doesn't go unnoticed,
"That's... she's just a friend. Are you jealous?"
Grace wants to lie and tell Hannah that she's really not jealous, but she doesn't have the
strength. Instead she sighs and stares down at her lap, twirling her fingers once more.
"You can't do this to me, Grace. You said you didn't want this," Hannah says softly and
purses her lips, tightening her grip around her steering wheel.
"I don't," Grace says firmly before shaking her head and exhaling, "I don't know."
"It's not a difficult question, Grace. What do you want?" Hannah asks, looking over at
the blonde.
Grace stares at Hannah for a moment, getting lost in deep, blue eyes, before unlocking
her door and stepping out, "I'm sorry, Hannah... I have to go."
When Grace's door clicks shut behind her, Hannah curses under her breath and jumps out
of the car as well. She paces behind Grace until she's caught up with the blonde, just
steps before they're at Grace's front door.
"What do you want, Grace?" Hannah questions, louder this time, and she grabs Grace's
arm, spinning her back around towards her, "Please just tell me what you want. Because I
can't do this in between shit anymore, alright? I can't be around you if you keep doing
this to me. So what do you want? What do you-"
Before Hannah can ask the question once more, Grace pulls the shorter girl in by her
cheek and slams her lips against hers. Though the kiss is harder than Grace had intended,
it's good. It takes a moment for Hannah to register what's happening, but once she does,
her arms slink around Grace's waist and she pulls the blonde closer to her and hungrily
attacks her lips with her own.
The kiss is different than their first one. This time it's not just Hannah that's doing the kissing, but Grace is tangling her fingers in her hair and tugging at her shirt and even
fucking whimpering when Hannah bites at her lower lip and -
"You," Grace whispers when a space appears between their lips, "I want you."
"Positive?" Hannah whispers, eyes still shut and forehead still pressed against Grace's.
Grace nods, letting her nose brush against Hannah's, and repeats what has been echoing
in her mind for the past week, "I want you."
Hannah would be lying if those weren't the sweetest three words she's ever heard.