in between, kit connor

thirty three

gracie and kit were at the grocery store, getting a few things for a film night they were having. as she was reaching for a box of popcorn bags, he speaks.

"hey, uh, i'm just curious... do you and olivia still talk?" kit asks, and she gives him a weird look when she turns around.

"why do you say that?"

"i mean, she commented on your instagram which i probably wouldn't of noticed but i saw a lot of people talking about it."

"oh, yeah. i mean, we don't really talk. she reached out to me a little while ago and asked how i was, but it was a pretty brief conversation over text. i think we just want to be on good terms since she's still good friends with my brother and we have a lot of friends in common. do you not— are you mad?" she explains, and he is quick to shake his head.

"no, no, i'm not mad at all. i'm not going to tell you who you can and can't have in your life, gracie. i was just curious, that's all," he replies.

"okay. you're sure you're not mad?"

"i promise i'm not, darling. i just was wondering."

"okay."

—

the two were in the middle of their second movie, with gracie sat on kit's lap. suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door and then it opened, and will walked in.

"what the fuck," kit murmurs, pausing the movie. "okay, what made you decide to break into my flat at nearly midnight, will?"

"ah, fuck— i called an uber because i went out with some mates, and i guess i gave it your address instead of mine," he says, clearly drunk.

"he has keys here?" gracie asks.

"yes, miss gracie, i do have keys because i live here!" he shouts.

"you're going to get us a noise complaint," kit says. "come on. have a seat and i'll get you some water, okay?" will reluctantly listens, plopping himself on the other end of the couch while kit grabs a glass of water from the kitchen.

"so how's it stealing my boyfriend?" will asks gracie, and she just laughs.

"i'm very sorry, will."

"you should be."

"okay, here's that's water," says kit, returning to the living room and handing it to will. "drink it all please."

"this is vodka, right?"

"sure."

after he drinks the water, kit says, "right, i think you should go to bed. you can stay in the guest room." he helps him off the couch.

"am i going to have to here you guys having sex all night? because i didn't sign up for that, i really—" will starts ranting, but kit ignores whatever he is saying and guides him into the guest room. after a few minutes, he comes back out, shutting the door.

"didn't expect that tonight," he tells gracie. "i'm sorry."

"don't apologize," she replies, smiling. "i love will. he's funny. i just hope he doesn't puke all over your bed in the morning."

"if he doesn't make it to the bathroom, i'm going to charge him a cleaning fee or some shit line that, i swear." he makes his way back over to the couch, sitting beside gracie. "you're so pretty," he says, looking over at her, and she giggles.

"stop it."

"what? it's true!"

"shut up," she laughs, pulling him in for a kiss. gracie hasn't felt this happy with someone in a while. she felt like this when she first started dating olivia, but those feelings quickly disappeared as she barely was even able to spend much time with her. she didn't fault her ex, but the two of them both knew it wasn't meant to be. with kit, although they both spent time apart sometimes, their time together was much more frequent and gracie didn't have the anxiety of having to take in every single moment before leaving him.