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2 It was never about the party
Waitressing doesn't pay much unless you're pretty. Lucky for Gracie, people usually like her good looks and charm. And when there's a birthday party at the restaurant, it's one hell of a gift from above.
So her hair's still pinned up behind her head and she's wearing her fancy button-up when she makes her way inside the Chateau and willingly ignores the clothes piled on the floor of the living room. There's Cody on the couch playing video games with JJ—something violent that makes Gracie secretly upset— and she can hear Jo's music blasting from the guest room. Gracie recognizes her playlist. She doesn't think it's fit for an eleven year-old, all that rage.
Gracie's balancing two plastic bags of groceries overflowing with all the cheapest things she could get at the supermarket in her arms, but enough to last them a week or two. It's not uncommon for her to spend her tips on food to satiate John B's otherwise empty refrigerator.
Especially since the Cedar household hasn't been lacking on groceries lately.
The Routledge boy follows her inside of the kitchen, shirtless and messy-haired. "If it ain't G. Cedar," he grins, wrapping his lean arms around her shoulder as she sets the bags on the counter by the stove. "Good tips?"
"Great tips," Gracie corrects him. "There was a birthday party or something. All super old men with itchy pockets."
John B starts unloading: sliced bread, vegetables, a couple of unripe fruits, two boxes of cereal, a nearly-expired pack of turkey and a block of cheese. On Sunday, she brought some juice and lemonade and another loaf of bread. He's sure that, if she ever forgets about him, he'll die of hunger.
"Plastic bags? Kie won't like that," John B points out, watching as she folds them and places them in the cabinet over the sink. They'd use them for the trash can in the bathroom eventually, or to clean up the yard after the storm.
"There was no more paper left at the supermarket, sue me." With a shrug, Gracie pops a can of beer open and takes a long sip. She unbuttons the top of her pink and white uniform and adjusts her hair with her free hand.
John B laughs. "Like I have the money for that."
Here's the thing: John B's father (unironically, Big John) vanished at sea about nine months back and he's supposed to be staying with his uncle, but the man found better things to do somewhere in Mississippi. He likes to pretend it doesn't faze him anymore, but he's growing bitter every day. He also likes to pretend that his friends don't notice, but he knows in his heart that they do. Especially Gracie. He's never been able to hide anything from Gracie.
