out of the blue | gracie abrams

XII

xii - confrontation.

9th of June, 2023, Chicago

-3:09pm-

PIPPA had sprinted all the way to the train station, perspiration lingering on her forehead from both the Chicago summer heat and her own exertion. She felt ambushed, criticized, and terrified. But most of all, she felt wholly and entirely confused. Who was this 'Amelie' girl, why was Gracie writing about her and posting about it, and why was Pippa being confused with her?

To make matters worse, Pippa had watched her train leave the platform as soon as she arrived, and she could do nothing but watch it disappear into the distance as she let out a sigh of utter exhaustion. Perhaps this was her sign to just call in sick for class today. Missing one class couldn't hurt, right? Bye-bye perfect attendance, you were great while you lasted.

Defeated, Pippa began her walk back to her apartment. Thank god Minnie had convinced her that renting relatively close to the train station was a good idea. What Pippa did not know, however, was how she was going to make it back to her apartment without being bombarded again. Perhaps she should've taken a page out of Gracie's book and invested in a pair of sunglasses.

Wait. Did Gracie know about all of this?

Pippa had never pulled her phone out of her pocket so fast, desperately tapping on her screen and willing it to turn on faster. It was just her luck that the stupid thing decided to die right as her lock screen presented itself. Pippa wanted to scream.

The weight of her situation suddenly dawned on Pippa, and she could feel her palms begin to sweat. The familiar shaking of her legs made her feel weak in the knees, threatening them to buckle as she wiped her hands on her shirt. Pippa decided her best bet was to just make it home as quickly as she could. She would take the route that only covered all the small, desolate alleyways if she had to.

As she ran, Pippa started thinking. How had anyone even found out about her unintentional outing with Gracie in the first place? Neither of them had posted publicly about it, neither of them noticed anyone lurking in the shadows that night, and like that reporter had said before, they didn't even leave together. And how had they found where Pippa worked?

Pippa's thoughts raced as quick as her legs had moved, apparently, as she made it back to her apartment faster than she ever had before. She didn't even know it was possible to walk back home from the train station in seven minutes. Turning the key in the door, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she stepped past the threshold of the entrance.

"Fucking finally! Why haven't you checked my messages?!" Minnie scolded as soon as she was aware of the presence of her best friend.

"What are you talking about? Do you know what's happening? I was basically jumped on the streets after I left work today!" Pippa exclaimed, confused at Minnie's lack of details.

"Have you not seen? Your little bar date with Gracie Abrams has pretty much made you like, a D-list celebrity! Okay, maybe that's pushing it, but look!" Minnie shoved her phone in Pippa's face, showing her the Twitter post from Popbase that revealed the two girls' night at Green Door.

Pippa didn't even register any of the words that were written in the tweet. All she could see through her tunnel vision was a blurry photo of her and Gracie's backs as they sat in the bar a week ago. She could feel her stomach sink.

"What? How did they even find this photo? And how did they even know it was me? You can't even see either of our faces!" Pippa shouted at the utter ridiculousness of the situation she found herself stuck in.

"There's a video of you leaving Green Door and then Gracie leaving like, forty minutes after. Your outfits match the ones in the photo. People put two and two together," Minnie explained.

"God, do these people not have anything better to do?!" Pippa continued shouting, plugging her phone into the charger on the kitchen island.

"Pip, I think you're missing the point here," Minnie suddenly proclaimed.

"What the fuck do you mean? I'm being damn near assaulted in the streets, my face is all over the internet, and I had to call in sick to school because I missed my train! What else could possibly be the point?" Pippa seethed.

"Gracie Abrams wrote a song about you," Minnie explained with a sly smile, half terrified of her best friend's reaction but also highly amused by what's unfolding.

"Seriously? That's what you're getting out of this?" Pippa scoffed in disbelief.

"Pip, have you actually listened to 'Amelie'?" Minnie asked.

"See, that's the other thing I don't understand! Who the fuck is Amelie and why do people keep calling me by her name?" Pippa threw her hands in the air as she asserted, nearing the edge of being uncivilized and simply starting to break things out of frustration.

"Pip, you're Amelie, that's what the song's called," Minnie said, intrigued by her best friend's uncharacteristic absentmindedness.

"What? What song?" Pippa asked, still not fully registering the information that she had received.

"Good god girl, where is your head today?" Minnie berated.

"Well I'm sorry, but I have kind of had the most shittiest of days today!"

9th of June, 2023, Detroit

-3:39pm-

"Come on, Pippa, please pick up," Gracie whispered into the universe.

Gracie was supposed to be at soundcheck in less than twenty minutes, but she couldn't bring herself to think about anything but Pippa. She had tried to call the smaller girl at least a dozen times in the past hour, all to no avail. Gracie could really use an ice cube right about now.

"Hey! You've reached Pippa, I can't come to the phone right now but please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I-"

Gracie slammed her phone on her dressing room's vanity after being sent to Pippa's voicemail for the umpteenth time. Her face fell into the palms of her hands as her elbows rested on her knees. As she sat there in her dressing room before her mirror, about to perform in front of tens of thousands of people, Gracie wishes she never wrote that stupid song about that stupid girl who she just might have a stupid crush on.

Before Gracie could dwell any further, her phone started vibrating uncontrollably on the vanity.

"Pippa! Hey, you finally-"

"Do you mind telling me what the actual fuck is going on?"

-✫★✫-

hello my lovelies!

two chapters in one day, how lucky are you guys?

no but seriously i just wanna say thank you so much for 3k+ reads and over 300 votes???? like thats actually crazy im so grateful

thank you thank you thank you

i love you so much my heart is like exploding with joy right now

see you again very soon and have a wonderful day evening week month whatever

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