out of the blue | gracie abrams

LVIII

lviii - long beach, long face.

1st of August, 2023, Los Angeles

-8:39pm-

The beginning of August saw the weather turning less miserably scorching in Los Angeles. Pippa had recovered almost entirely from her injuries, and had been living with Gracie and Audrey indefinitely. She had grown closer to the both of them, considerably more so to Gracie. She supposed that was a given, since the latter was her girlfriend, after all. Things had been too peaceful for the past couple of weeks by anyone's standards, let alone Pippa's.

Sure, the online trolls and whatnot had only amped up their game after learning about the whole situation with Charlotte, many offering their worries and condolences to Gracie for having to deal with Pippa's mess, and some even going as far as to say that Pippa was ruining the poor singer's life. Pippa tried not to let it affect her, focusing all of her energy on trying to heal the physical and mental scars that the blonde girl had left behind, but it was harder when she found herself agreeing with the awful things that people were saying about her online.

This girl is trouble, every single time I hear about her it's never good.

Gracie run!!! Pippa is ruining your life!!!

Gracie does this mean the new album is gonna slap because what the hell is this ratty ass woman you pulled out of a dumpster fire???

Don't like this Pippa girl at all but hey at least the music is good.

How the hell did this Pippa girl even pull Gracie Madigan Abrams like??? Make it make sense???

Gracie I literally think dating Joe Biden would be preferable at this point.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Gracie asked, dropping her fork to reach for Pippa's from across the table.

The older girl had finally delivered on the first 'real' date she had promised, waiting for when Pippa had told her she was ready to go out into public together again. Their afternoon started with a visit to the Long Beach Aquarium where Gracie had taken several candid shots of the younger girl without her knowledge, some of which, she had decided, were for no one's eyes but her own. That was followed by a drink or two at Brushstrokes and Beverages, where Gracie was grateful that the foot traffic was relatively light that day so the two of them could sit in the corner and sip on lattes and paint silly little landscapes that were surprisingly artistic for amateurs. They had a bit of spare time before their reservation at Queensview Steakhouse, so Gracie held Pippa's hand during the whole hour-long walk that they took along the Shoreline Aquatic Park trail. The whole day was perfect until they sat down at the restaurant and Pippa got inside her own head.

"Hm? Yeah, yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Pippa defended, squeezing Gracie's hand three times in reassurance.

"I just kinda feel like I lost you there for a moment," Gracie rubbed circles with her thumb on the back of Pippa's hand, "And you haven't touched your food, Bird."

Pippa gulped, her hand going limp in Gracie's as she visibly shrunk in on herself. Despite the multitude of enticing options on the menu at Queensview Steakhouse, like the lobster or the filet mignon, Pippa had opted for a simple garden salad. She had poked around in it with her fork and ate one bite before her throat threatened to reject anything she put down other than water.