By Chance

16 - Genevieve

The soft thumping of our footsteps against the thin carpeting echoed as we walked off the elevator and down the hall. Shortly after, we arrived at room 213, signaling that our date was ending. I had been texting Grace, and she told me that she visited the restaurant the boys ate at and then returned to the hotel after, which I assumed is where she is now.

She's probably anxiously waiting on her bed, heart beating faster and faster with anticipation as she heard our footsteps nearing the door. I sighed as I tightened my grip around Harry's hand, not wanting to let go. I led us toward the door, finally reaching our stop. We turned towards each other to reluctantly say goodbye, not wanting this day to end.

"Well, this is my stop," I stated sadly, looking at the door, down at my shoes, and then back at Harry. "Thanks for walking me to the door."

"Of course. I would be a bad boyfriend if I didn't walk my girlfriend back home," he grinned, loving to throw the word 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' into casual conversation as much as he could. I should know. I've been doing the same thing whenever an opportunity arose.

"I wouldn't say bad, just not living up to potential." My words grew quieter as I leaned in to kiss him, a smile on both of our lips before they joined. We parted after a few moments, our eyes greeting each other as if for the first time, and our smiles beaming as if we've known each other all our lives.

I said an ongoing goodbye as I stumbled happily through the door, the excitement of the day's events still messing with the airflow quality in my brain. I clicked the door shut, pressing my back against the wood, letting out an airy, dreamy, lovestruck sigh. I closed my eyes, and the chance occurrences flashed through my mind, making me let out a giant smile to myself, which was also noticed by everyone in the room.

I let out a deep sigh, opening my eyes as I released my back from the smooth, thick door. I started to walk forward and stopped dead in my tracks, now staring at everyone who was, and had been, staring at me.

"What are you guys doing here...?" I asked between gritted teeth that displayed a fake smile.

"Oh, we all came back to just hang," John answered, taking another Dorito out of the bag and pressing play on the movie they were watching.

"Yeah, got a problem?" Elijah asked, raising an eyebrow while wearing a smirk that matched.

"Grace, you didn't tell me they were here," I stated in a less-friendly tone than before, staring right at her, my eye twitching a tad.

"Sorry, they kinda just came up while I was talking to Jenna again after we got back from eating," she apologized in a nervous tone, making my eye twitch more evident. I took a very deep breath, put on a not-so-fake smile, and placed my purse on the kitchen table.

"It's fine," I said with a forced smile, trying as much as possible to push the feeling of wanting to scream with Grace far down my body.

I walked to the coffee maker and started filling the filter with authentic English coffee, but even my taste buds couldn't persuade me to keep going. I placed the filter slowly on the countertop, ensuring no pesky grounds were spilled.

The feeling of screaming with excitement with Grace surged through my entire body, and I had to hold my hand over my mouth like tightening a pipe about to burst with water at any second. I fast-walked to the end table, grabbed the remote, and turned off the TV. Getting a few exclamatory yells, I turned my frazzled gaze to the two boys on the couch.

"Okay, you two need to leave right now, or you're about to get an earful of girly screaming at a much higher frequency than last night's," I told them, yelling slightly. I saw Elijah contort his face, obviously shocked and annoyed that we still went on with the screaming last night while fully aware that they were directly below us.

"You knew-" He started to protest, but I interrupted him with a huff, rolling my eyes as I crossed my arms.

"Yes, we did know. Now, I'm going to need you both to stick your ears back up your asses like you do whenever a woman speaks to you and leave," I demanded, pointing towards the door. I could tell Elijah wanted to push limits by the look in his eye, but he refrained for some reason. He bothered to do that before. I guess this was one of the times he'd convince me he was trying to put effort into our friendship. John did not put up a fight often, so he got up a few seconds before Elijah.

"Fine. We'll see you guys when we decide to get dinner," the latter spoke somewhat flatly. And just like that, the two were gone. I was surprised that it worked, if I was being completely honest. Grace just sat there on the couch, holding a Dorito up to her mouth but failing to insert it because of the shock displayed before her eyes.

"How'd you do that?" she asked in awe as if she had never had a successful attempt.

"I honestly don't know, but it doesn't matter. I have to tell you about my date with Harry," I told her excitedly, sitting beside her. "Or should I say, date with my boyfriend?"

"WHAT??!!" she exclaimed in pure shock, not knowing what to say or do.

"YEP!" I shouted happily, grinning from ear to ear.

"Okay, I am so behind!" she laughed. Her eager eyes made it easy to tell her everything that had happened, not that it was hard to tell people that I had a boyfriend.

As the story went on, she leaned closer and closer with eyes that begged in anticipation for more. As I slowly approached the plot twist with Harry and I's kiss, my smile grew bigger and bigger, knowing it was fast approaching and her reaction would be priceless. I soon ventured on, telling her about the gorgeous London view outside of the giant windows on top of the London Eye. I took a deep breath, getting to the part that had been long awaited, for me at least.

"And, because I was in awe of the view, I guess I sorta got lost in my emotions and grabbed Harry's hand," I admitted with a smile, getting a loud, excited squeal out of her. "Then, we turned to face each other, and I thanked him for bringing me up there, and then he leaned innnnn and kissed me."

I held my breath in anticipation of her response. She sat there, eyes as wide as before and her mouth the same size, unable to process the events. Her eye twitched, and then it seemed to all sink in. If Elijah and John thought we were loud the night before, they were in for a rude awakening today. Grace screamed so loud I was honestly surprised the windows didn't shatter.

She closed her eyes tightly and let out quieter screams while shaking the living daylights out of me. As she leaned back, she slapped my forearm a few times giddily, making me laugh even harder because that's always my reaction when someone tells me something similar to what I had just told her.

"Grace, calm down!" I laughed, putting my arms on her shoulders, trying to make eye contact. She looked at me for a few seconds before letting out a final shout for joy and forcefully wrapping her arms around me in a hug, shaking me from side to side.

We parted, and she leaned back limply, flopping the upper part of her body over the armrest, letting out a tired grunt as she leaned back up. It was just the reaction I had been waiting for.