State Of Grace

Chapter 47 - It's Nice To Have A Friend

Two weeks later, though nightmares and panic attacks still plagued her, Gracie was starting to feel more like herself now that she was surrounded by her family. She was thankful that it was summer vacation so she wasn't missing any more school by staying home all day, but she was beginning to go stir-crazy. Stella and Lilah were keeping her in sight at all times, and it was understandable; she'd been through a lot lately and had a tendency to wind up in dangerous situations. But she hoped that maybe they'd loosen the leash a little so she could spend the night at her friend Elle's house.

"Why not?" Gracie asked, "You've let me go before, and you've let me stay at Sarah's, why not Elle's?"

"Because last time you said you were staying at Elle's you lied to us," Stella said.

It was true, Gracie pretended to stay at Elle's when she was really at Rachel's apartment, and that turned out terribly. "Yeah, but this time I'm telling the truth, I swear."

"It's not just that, love," Lilah raised an eyebrow.

"If it's because she's a girl, Elle is straight."

"Has she explicitly told you that?" Lilah asked.

"Well, no, but that doesn't matter anyway because Amy will be there too."

While the rest of the Tucker pretended not to listen, Danny said, "You let me stay at Ethan's before we started dating, how is this different?"

"Yeah, and I'm not going to start dating Elle," Gracie said.

"That is a concern, but that's not all either love," Stella said, "We're just not sure you should be away from home right now, away from us."

"I know I've been all over the place, but I'm doing well, and I need to get out of the house. Please, moms."

"We're going camping next week, you'll get out of the house then."

"Come on, moms, let her go," Riley said, "She's just trying to be a normal teenager."

"Yeah, how is she supposed to do that with you two in helicopter mode?" Marco added.

Lilah scoffed, "Helicopter mode?"

"You're hovering," Maia explained.

"They have a point love," Stella took her wife's hand.

"Please," Gracie put her hands together and begged.

"Alright," Lilah said, "Fine you can go, but mom is driving you there and picking you up."

"Ooh, can I drive?" Maia asked, she'd gotten her license while Gracie was staying with Greg.

"Fine," Lilah said.

Gracie was up in her room, packing an overnight bag to take to Elle's place. She was excited to spend some time with her friends after the last few weeks of isolation from anyone outside of her family and therapist. She opened her drawer to grab something and inside was one of Jasper's drawings that he'd given her after they spent the day together before Greg took them out to dinner. That was the day that Gracie began to trust him. After he showed her all of his drawings, he did a quick sketch of the two of them. She told him she'd put it up in her room when she got home, but she never got around to it.

She held tight to the sketch, and her mind started to take her down a dark path. What haunted her the most was the guilt she held for the part she played in what happened that day. Therapy was helping her to understand that it wasn't her fault, but she hadn't fully let go of blaming herself. She had to keep telling herself that Greg was the monster in the scenario, not her. She knew the facts; he fired the gun and hit Jasper. She was lucky and grateful to be alive, though sometimes she wished it hit her instead. She was sure that Greg intended to kill her, but Jasper swept her out of the way. Like he had sacrificed himself for her.