Normal thing - Gracie Abrams

015 Rehearsal

Rehearsal
015

November, 14, 2023

The house was chaos.

bags were being thrown across the living room, half-packed suitcases spilling onto the floor, nate was arguing with emily over who got the last adapter for their electronics, while felix stood there, hands on his hips, grumbling about how they should have started packing days ago. their dad, antonio, was barking orders like he was on set, directing everyone to stop messing around and finish packing.

"where's my charger?" nate yelled, his voice muffled as he dug through the couch cushions.

"maybe if you weren't so disorganized—" emily snapped, tugging at the straps of her overstuffed bag, "you wouldn't lose everything."

"oh please, like you're the queen of organization," felix chimed in, clearly over the whole scene. "you literally packed like, five hours ago."

"at least I packed!" she shot back.

meanwhile, angelina hovered by the door, trying to keep a calm front but clearly stressing out about the flight. "we're going to arrive late if you don't move faster."

"where the hell is gabriella?" antonio asked, glancing around like his daughter was going to magically appear in the mess. "she should be here by now."

nate rolled his eyes, "i texted her. she hasn't answered."

"typical," felix muttered, "bet she's at her apartment pretending none of this is happening."

they all exchanged glances, but no one really had an answer. after all, gabriella hadn't even mentioned london, not in the group chat, not in passing.

"should we call her?" felix asked, already knowing how that would go.

•

"i'm literally just picking gracie and olivia up, then i'll be there. dad, don't stress, i promise i'll make it," gabriella said, her phone pressed between her shoulder and ear as she pulled out of her apartment parking lot.

"don't be late," he finished and hung up.

streets quiet, and despite the chaos happening back home, she had to remind herself it was only 6:30 am. her dad was already in full panic mode, but she had plenty of time. they weren't leaving for hours.

the radio was playing 'the sound' by the 1975, even though she was just picking her and olivia up, part of her felt nervous. it wasn't like before when things between them were easy, when there wasn't this thing hovering over them.

gabriella pulled up to gracie's house, the car idling as she checked the time again. 6:45 am. still early. she texted gracie to let her know she was outside, leaning back in her seat, eyes glancing around the quiet neighborhood. the air was crisp, and the early light gave everything a soft, golden hue.

a few moments later, gracie came out of the house, followed by olivia, who was adjusting her sunglasses despite the sun barely being up. gracie had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder, and her hair was tousled in that effortlessly cool way gabriella always noticed but never mentioned.

"hey," gracie said, climbing into the passenger seat, her voice still a little groggy from sleep.

"morning," gabriella replied, trying to sound casual as olivia hopped into the back seat, throwing her bag down and immediately putting in her earbuds.

"thanks for picking us up this early, and yeah, it's early so she's grumpy," gracie pointed to olivia in the back seat, her lips curling into a small smile. her eyes met gabriella's for just a second before she glanced away, fiddling with her seatbelt.