this love • gracie abrams

007 cuts from a piece of paper

CHAPTER SEVEN
cuts from a piece of paper
•

GRACIE looked at charlotte like she was a puppy left on the side of the road, covered in rain. her eyes frantically ran across every inch of her ex, looking so startled and confused and so many things that charlotte couldn't even think of what to say. to make things worse, charlotte was fucking crossed as hell, suddenly overwhelmed, and couldn't focus her eyes.

gracie was wearing a white baby tee made by olivia that read 'birthday girl' with the word birthday spelt 'birtday' and a backwards g for the 'girl.' she was drunk, but definitely nowhere close to charlotte's level. her makeup was done beautifully, seaqunced glitter shining in charlotte's vision. it covered up her hallowed cheekbones and sunken eyes perfectly.

of course people at the party were paying them no mind, since olivia and sydney were the only other people in the house who know about the breakup. there weren't any other eyes on her except for gracie's, and still, she felt lightheaded.

"charlotte, what're you doing here?" she said softer this time. 

charlotte opened her mouth to speak but couldn't, she was frozen and trying to get her lungs to work before she'd end up giving away that she couldn't breathe. gracie was torn between walking away and pushing charlotte into that bathroom and locking the door to put them in a more private area. the longer she stared at her, the more her head would be telling her to just leave because that's the way it should be, but something else in her was tying a knot around her body and connecting it to tie around charlotte's.

before charlotte could even think about answering gracie's question she blurted out "happy birthday," followed by a gasp for air.

gracie raised a brow and let out an sigh of defeat before shoving charlotte backwards into the bathroom and locking the door, leaving the two of them alone in there.

"how fucked up are you right now?" gracie slowly asked, trying to hide the concern and emotion in her voice because the more firm and nonchalant she is, the easier it'll be to walk away from charlotte.

charlotte wobbled in her heels and gripped the towel bar, "i— hey i'm sorry gracie..." she mumbled, voice filled with pain and yearning as her eyes were wide with a glossy look, either from being totally high or about to cry.

she didn't know what the hell she was saying or thinking, but all of a sudden just by being in a quieter room with just gracie, her chest felt heavy as she welled with sadness from facing her, but also an urge to make things right. sure this was definitely not the right time to do it, but who makes right decisions when plastered? and it was better to start talking to avoid panicking anyways, those seemed to be her only two options.

"what?"

"i'm sorry i-i wasn't right for you but i can fix it," charlotte quickly said, words squished together. she felt tingles all over, like she was losing all her five senses. "it's all i can think about when i'm not not thinking."

gracie stepped back, all she could hear were alarms from standing too close to charlotte, like if she took a step forward she'd hurt her. charlotte watched her inch away, and in her eyes it was like gracie thought she was poison, a fucking worthless piece of paper she spent time writing words on but threw away because the words she put on her meant nothing in the end.

"you— you need to leave," gracie responded. her throat was burning like the words that left her mouth were the boiling acid in her stomach meant to be kept down.

charlotte's eyes softened, colour draining from her face, "please just tell me w-what i can do to fix it. gracie i love you more than anyone else, including my parents," the words climbing up louder and louder as she went on. "just talk to me!"