black & gold

Chapter 8

When Grace reaches behind her back and twists open her front door, Hannah pulls away
and her eyes widen.
"Grace, we can't just-"
"My parents aren't home," Grace shakes her head and pulls Hannah by her wrist,
dragging the smaller girl into her lavish home, "It's okay."
Hannah nods and within seconds her lips are attached to Grace's once more and the two
are stumbling into her front hall, too caught up in themselves to notice Tim Helbig sitting
at the kitchen counter, a spoonful of cereal in his hand as he gapes at the two girls.
When Hannah presses Grace up against the nearest wall and moves her lips to her neck,
Tim swallows and puts his spoon into his bowl before slickly jumping off of his barstool
and tiptoeing out of the kitchen and away from the scene unfolding in front of him.
"Come on," Grace whispers when Hannah pulls away for a second. She takes Hannah's
hand in her own and leads the girl up her winding staircase.
Grace's door is adorned with large, block letters that spell out her name. Hannah chuckles
at the sight of it and wastes no time in twisting the doorknob, taking charge and pulling
Grace into the room and kicking the door shut behind them.
Hannah backs up the taller girl until the backs of her knees hit the bed and she falls onto
the mattress with a gasp. Hannah crawls over Grace and stares down at her, letting her
previously smug face form into a serious one.
"What?" Grace questions, brown eyes flickering back and forth over Hannah's blue ones.
Hannah shakes her head and holds herself up on one arm, using her free hand to brush the
hair out of Grace's face. Grace shuts her eyes as Hannah rests her palm on the side of her
cheek and three words echo in Hannah's head.
I love you.
It's a bit terrifying, really. How can she love a girl she'd known for no more than a week?
How can she love a girl that she'd only just started kissing regularly a few minutes ago?
It can't be love, Hannah decides. It must be some ridiculous form of infatuation that
teenage girls sometimes succumb to.
But when Grace's eyes flutter open and a smile forms on her lips, it really does feel a lot
like love. Hannah had never been in love before, but if this is what it feels like, then boy
has she been missing out.
"You still there?" Grace whispers and mimics Hannah's touch, placing her right hand on Hannah's cheek.
Hannah turns into the touch and kisses Grace's palm, "I'm here."
Before she can count to three, Grace's lips are on hers again and Hannah pushes all of her
thoughts of love and forever aside and focuses on Grace. Which, to be honest, really isn't
that hard. When she lowers herself over her lover, and Hannah feels Grace's track shirt
ride up just a bit, a familiar burning aches in her core. Hannah's hand instinctively slides
down Grace's toned midsection and slips under the waistband of her shorts, fingers
trailing down until -
"Hannah," Grace groans and shakes her head, her fingers wrapping around Hannah's
wrist and pulling it upwards, "Not yet. Please."
Hannah's eyes widen and she stares down at Grace, nodding in understanding as she feels
a bit disgusted at herself and how easily she let her old ways take over her.
"Yeah, of course," Hannah replies and presses a soft lip to the blonde's lips, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Grace responds, "Can we just... I don't know, lay here? And talk?"
Hannah rolls off of Grace and lays beside her, turning her body so she's on her side
facing the girl, "What do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know," Grace shrugs and rolls on her side to face Hannah as well, "What ever
this is. You and me. I've never really... been in a relationship before. With anyone. Male
or female."
Hannah smiles and shakes her head, "Me neither."
"Yeah, but you..." Grace frowns as her sentence trails off and she struggles to find the
correct wording, "You're so much more experienced than I am, you know? I've never...
I've never even-"
Hannah shuts Grace up by pressing her lips to hers for a brief moment before pulling
away, "Stop. That doesn't matter, alright? This can go as fast or as slow as you want it
to."
"Okay," Grace responds and she believes Hannah with every fiber of her being, "Hey,
Hannah?"
"Mhm?"
"What, uh... nevermind," Grace shakes her head and realizes that her question would
probably sound ridiculous once she vocalized it.
"No, c'mon," Hannah whines, "Tell me, Grace."
Grace sighs and then musters up the strength to ask her question because Hannah's staring at her with those big, blue eyes and her thumb strokes at the blonde's cheek,
"What are we doing? You and me?"
"Laying here," Hannah replies as if the answer should be that easy.
Grace purses her lips, "That's not what I mean. I mean what is this between us?"
And although Hannah's mind echoes love and girlfriend, she knows that the words would
sound strange on her tongue. Something about them just doesn't sit well with her.
"I know what you meant," Hannah responds, letting her hand move from Grace's cheek
to rest on her neck, "And I meant what I said. We're laying here. I'm laying with a girl
and not fucking her or letting her fuck me. And I'm not thinking of fucking anybody else.
I'm laying here. With you. And that makes me happy. And I think that if I could just keep
laying here forever that would make me happy, too."
Grace knows that she's not going to get Hannah to put a label on what they have, but she
doesn't have to, really. Not after what she said. Because Grace knows in Hannah's words
and in the way that her fingers curl into her skin and her blue eyes sparkle that she is
Hannah's girlfriend and Hannah is hers, too.
"I'd like to lay here forever, too," Grace replies.
When Hannah leans in to close the gap between their lips, the sound of an engine pulling
into Grace's driveway pulls the blonde away.
"Shit," Grace groans, "Those are my parents. You can't be here, Hannah, they'll flip."
Hannah laughs, "I'm a girl, remember? I doubt your parents will freak out at you hanging
out with one of your female friends from school."
"Oh," Grace nods and realization hits her, "Yeah, I forgot."
"My car is in your driveway anyway, Grace. They know someone's here, so it's better
that I just walk out that front door and say hi to them instead of escaping without letting
them know who drove off in the beat up Hyundai."
Grace wonders, briefly, if Hannah just knows the answers to everything or if Grace
simply forgets how to think when the brunette is around.
She's pretty sure that it's a mixture of the former and the latter.
-
"Hey, mom," Grace smiles as she runs down the stairs with Hannah trailing behind her.
Grace glances at her stepdad before adding, "Hey, Pete," with less enthusiasm than her
first greeting.
Theresa smiles in return to her daughter before she looks up at Hannah, "Who's this?" "Oh, this is my friend Hannah from track. She gave me a ride home," Grace introduces
the brunette who waves at Grace's parents.
Pete nods at Hannah, "That your car out front?"
"Yes sir!" Hannah grins.
"Nice," Pete nods and glances at the red Hyundai out the window, "Looks like you take
good care of it. That's not a new model."
"Uh, yeah. I take great care of it. That car is my child essentially," Hannah explains.
Pete nods in approval, "Thought of getting Gracie here a car but there's no way she'd
look after it. You're doing quite a good job, Hannah."
"Jesus," Grace mumbles under her breath, "Alright, Pete. Hannah has to go. You two can
talk about cars some other time."
Pete and Theresa both say goodbye to Hannah as Grace drags her out her front door and
shuts it behind her with a huff.
"They seem nice," Hannah comments and leans up against Grace's front door, shoving
her hands into her jacket.
Grace shrugs, "I guess."
"So, uh..." Hannah scratches at the back of her neck and wonders why this feels
awkward all of a sudden because it really shouldn't be, "I'll call you tomorrow?"
Grace smiles softly and nods, "Yeah."
And when Grace leans in and closes the space between them, Hannah forgets why she
felt uncomfortable. Because this, being here with Grace, feels like the most natural thing
she's ever had.