out of the blue | gracie abrams

IIX

iix - difficult.

5th of June, 2023, Chicago

-11:47am-

GRACIE awoke that noon with a pounding in her head and a ringing in her ears. The sun that bled through the curtains of her hotel room was scorching her eyes and certainly not helping her pitiful situation. She had the eerie feeling she was forgetting about something. Gracie reached around for her phone on her bed, sighing when she saw it on the nightstand at the opposite side of the bed from her. With a groan, she got out from under the white covers and reached for it. With an exhale of relief, Gracie commended herself for having at least enough sense to order an Uber last night, the notification with the emailed receipt being the first thing she saw when her phone screen lit up.

But, what was she forgetting?

"Shit!" Gracie cursed when she realized she was supposed to be at the airport within two hours.

But she knew that that wasn't the thing she couldn't remember. She just couldn't remember the thing that she couldn't remember.

Gracie scrambled out of bed with her phone still in her hand, dashing for the bathroom so she could make herself look semi-presentable before she met up with Taylor to leave for the airport. Even as she brushed her hair, did her makeup, changed into acceptable clothing, she still couldn't put her finger on the thing she was forgetting.

-1:07pm-

"Hey, where did you end up disappearing to last night?" Minnie asked as she chewed on her salad.

Pippa and Minnie were on their lunch break at the cafe where they worked. Mondays meant that there were no classes until after 3pm at the university. Pippa bit her lip before attempting to respond to best friend.

"Uh, I got changed then I went to Green Door. I would've invited you, but by the time we got back home you were basically sleepwalking, so," Pippa declared, wiping down the display case for the pastries.

"You went drinking? Alone? I feel like I don't even know you," Minnie teased, glancing at Pippa in disbelief.

"Well, I went alone, but I wasn't exactly drinking alone," Pippa admitted, pausing what she was doing momentarily.

Minnie gasped dramatically.

"Pippa! Did you finally get laid?!" Minnie jumped up from her seat to interrogate her best friend.

"No! And lower your voice, my god!" Pippa scolded with a laugh.

"Then who were you with? And when do I get to meet them? Girl, I have so many questions!" Minnie pressed further, forgetting completely about her lunch that was still strewn across her spot in the corner of the cafe.

"Um, you've already met her, for one," Pippa disclosed, though she remained tight-lipped about any specifications.

"What do you mean I've already met her?" Minnie exclaimed, "Pip, you're killing me here."

"Okay, okay, fine! I was with Gracie," Pippa whispered so only she and Minnie could hear.

It was laughable. There wasn't even anyone else in the cafe. Why did she feel the need to hide this?

"No, you were not! Stop messing with me, Pip, just tell me who it was!" Minnie scoffed.

Pippa didn't laugh. She just stared at her best friend expectantly.

"Oh my god, you're not joking?!" If Pippa didn't know any better, she would think that Minnie was more excited about this than she was herself.

Except, her heart was beating out of her chest at the thought of where she was last night, and she'd been checking her phone every fifteen minutes the entire morning waiting for a certain somebody to text. Pippa ignored the twinge of disappointment every time her screen lit up and it wasn't the notification she had been pining for.

The rest of the two friends' shift went by relatively uneventfully, the only exception being a slight run-in with a rushing businessman who had a suffocating ego, and Pippa was exhausted. She tried her best not to think about the fact that she would have about a three minute time slot to get changed out of her work uniform and make a run for the train station to get to her class at U-Chicago at three fifteen on time. To her dismay, as she was closing the store and wiping down the tables, one more customer made their way through the door. Minnie had left about twenty minutes ago to get to her poli-sci class with the bearded mean professor on time and safe from his wrath.

"Pippa?" An all too familiar voice called out from the entrance of the cafe.

"Gracie?" Pippa's head snapped up faster than it ever had before, glancing at the girl who just walked through the door with a thick pair of sunglasses on, "Look who's the stalker now."

"I couldn't possibly have known you would be here, Birdy," Gracie claimed with an affectionate smile.

The thing she was forgetting was becoming less hazy in her mind, but Gracie still couldn't decode what it was.

"What can I get for you?" Pippa asked, making her way behind the register.

"Huh?" Gracie asked, slipping out of her thoughtful trance.

"I mean, that is why you're here, right? For coffee?" Pippa quipped.

"Oh, right, yeah. Um, could I just get an iced oat milk latte to go, please?" Gracie ordered, not bothering to look at the menu.

"Mhm," Pippa nodded, tapping a few buttons on the screen of the register without a word, "That would be $6.55."

"Um, here, keep the change," Gracie pulled a ten-dollar bill out of her purse.

"Thanks," Pippa replied.

She made Gracie's latte silently, the only sounds in the cafe were being made by the roaring coffee machine that was running on borrowed time. A strange sense of burning disappointment weaseled its way into Pippa's veins when she handed the finished coffee to Gracie.

"Here you go. Have a great day," Pippa spoke, her brain now on autopilot.

"Thanks, you too," Gracie gulped before turning to leave.

God, the thing she was forgetting was on the tip of her tongue, the stubborn prick just wouldn't leave her mouth.

Pippa bit her lip and looked down as she nodded. She scoffed when she watched Gracie leave through the door without another word. What was she expecting anyway?

"Of fucking course. You're so stupid, Pippa," Pippa mumbled to herself, turning the sign on the door to read 'closed' before leaving to the back of the building to change, "Of course she wouldn't fucking remember."

It hit her, then. That one specific neuron pathway in Gracie's brain finally connected and she remembered what she couldn't before. But, before she could act on her realizations, she looked back at the cafe she just departed from and recognized the 'closed' sign and dimmed lights. And besides, she had a plane to catch. She needed to focus on her priorities.

A picnic with Pippa wasn't anywhere near as important.

-✫★✫-

hello my lovelies!

the flu is actually kicking my fucking ass right now and i feel like a tap thats both leaking and suffering from a detrimental blockage

june 21st couldnt come soon enough

love love love you guysssss please dont get sick like meeeeeee

- 🍎