'til forever falls apart | gracie abrams

6 - all of the time

˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊

Perhaps she had been going about winter break wrong. What else could explain why she was miserable all the time? Perhaps what Gracie needed was to spend some quality time with her friends and catch up. Anything to take her mind off the fact that she was pining over someone she could never have.

And that is how she found herself, miserable nonetheless, but sitting at some random restaurant in a food court with Mia, Dimi and Ellie, all three of whom she hadn't seen since the last day of school. She found herself having absolutely nothing to contribute to their conversation.

She had chosen to skip her daily meetup with Amelie at the beach to go to the mall with her friends, figuring that maybe some retail therapy could snap her back into reality and focus on things she could actually obtain. Evidently, she failed at that, too.

"Hey, you with us, G?" Mia asked, probably noticing the way Gracie was staring out into space at seemingly nothing.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just tired, from you know- studying..." Gracie lied.

"What's gotten into you lately? You hate studying," Ellie remarked.

"I do, but um, junior year, you know? Things are starting to get serious and I don't wanna fall behind. My mom would have my head," Gracie continued.

"Damn, maybe I need to start studying," Ellie sighed.

"For what? You're literally already dancing professionally, you dumbass. There's no way you're actually considering college?" Dimi rebutted.

"Good point," Ellie noted, shrugging, then turning back towards Gracie, "Good luck, Gracie. Sorry I can't relate."

Even through Ellie and Dimi's endless bickering, Gracie could see the way Mia shot her a skeptical look. She should've known that she would see right through her, no one knew her tells better than Mia did. Though, to her credit, Mia did not question Gracie in front of their friends.

She could've sworn that the world was laughing in her face, because of course, of course Amelie just happened to stroll into the food court hand-in-hand with Sylas right as Gracie was avoiding talking about her. Of course.

"Um, I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Gracie swiftly excused herself, clutching her tote bag to her body as she sprinted to the nearest bathroom.

Gracie gipped the counter and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She hated feeling this way. Hated the way she was completely obsessed with someone who would never, and could never, see her as more than just a friend. But Gracie wanted to know more about Amelie, she wanted to know everything. She wanted to know her quirks and everyday habits and her favorite thing to do in the morning. She wanted to know Amelie's favorite holiday, favorite number, favorite color. She wanted more.

"Oh, hey, fancy seeing you here," The voice of her fantasies materialized in the mirror right before her eyes, washing her hands beside her, and Gracie believed that she had truly gone insane, "I thought you said you were busy today so you couldn't go to the beach?"

"I, um, I-" Gracie stuttered, "My friends wanted to grab lunch so I, um-"

"Relax, Madigan, you don't need to spend every waking hour with me," Amelie laughed, "But seriously, we need to stop meeting up in public bathrooms."

Gracie stared at the blonde girl blankly, not processing her words enough to even think to laugh at her attempt at a joke. Her palms were sweating so bad she could feel the dampness through the pockets of her jeans.