out of the blue | gracie abrams

XXXV

xxxv - the moment i knew.

26th of June, 2023, Los Angeles

-1:01pm-

"Wait, what?" Pippa asked, blinking in disbelief.

"Are you talking about Charlotte Martin? Left wing in soccer? She was on my team for a year before I graduated," Gracie explained.

"Yes, I think so. Wait, hold on," Pippa's eyebrows creased as she shook her head, "Are you telling me, this whole time, we went to the same high school?"

"Wow. And they say Los Angeles is a big city," Gracie sighed, a strange feeling creeping up inside of her, "I can't believe you've been hiding under my nose this entire time, Birdy. And to think, I was pretty good friends with Charlotte, too."

"Oh," was all Pippa managed in response.

"Is that... not a good thing?" Gracie stuttered, noticing Pippa's palpable discomfort that appeared with the last sentence she muttered.

"Not exactly..." Pippa sighed, gripping at her sleeves and hugging one of the couch cushions to her chest, burying her chin in it and closing her eyes for a moment.

Her following words left her mouth in a muffled mutter.

It had started off sweet, as high school relationships tend to. Charlotte would bring Pippa flowers and leave them in her locker. Pippa would never admit to Charlotte that she was just the tiniest bit allergic to lavender, since the blonde girl was always so excited to gift her bouquets every Friday. Pippa would always leave them in a vase of water in the corner of her desk, despite how much they made her sneeze. Charlotte would pick Pippa up on the weekends, take her on dates to the beach and buy her books at Barnes and Noble. She would treat her to ice cream and spend hours shopping with Pippa, trying on every dress that caught her eye and even encouraging the younger girl to do so too, despite it being out of her comfort zone.

Pippa had never liked being called 'Penelope', something about the name felt too formal and vintage and unlike her. But, Charlotte had made her feel differently towards it, perhaps it was because she too was named something timeless and regal. Charlotte always spoke like she was born on a silver platter, sprinkled with gold and a dash of diamond dust. It had made Pippa feel special, like she was worth the planned sentences and diabetes inducing compliments. And for the first year that she was with Charlotte, Pippa had felt whole again for the first time in a long time. Minnie had asked her when the wedding was, and Pippa had only laughed at her best friend's antics at the time.

As Pippa's sophomore year approached, and Charlotte was a senior, things changed. Charlotte was busy all the time, with cheer and debate and being named captain of the soccer team after the previous seniors had graduated, Charlotte barely had time for Pippa. The younger girl didn't mind though, she understood that Charlotte wanted to work on her other commitments and that she had every right to. What bothered her, was that even when Charlotte was present with Pippa, she didn't really seem to want to be.

"Hey, Char," Pippa walked up behind her girlfriend who was doing her homework at her desk, pressing a feather light kiss on the back of Charlotte's head, "Could we go watch the new Little Women live action movie? Minnie said it was-"

"Could you be quiet for a minute, babe? I need to finish this calc question," Charlotte had cut Pippa off.

"Oh. Okay, sure," Pippa's shoulders sank, and she retreated to her spot on Charlotte's bed.