Normal thing - Gracie Abrams

Epilogue

Epilogue

gracie sat on the floor, legs crossed beneath her, with her notebook lying open on the coffee table in front of her. it was early evening. weenie, curled up in her lap, let out the occasional soft sigh, a quiet presence that somehow made the emptiness in the room feel both fuller and more pronounced. the tv flickered in the background, set to some gossip news channel she'd forgotten to turn off.

she'd hoped to write something new today. her label had been pressing her for weeks to drop a new single, anything to keep the momentum going, but everything with gabriella had drained her, left her with little space to breathe, let alone create. sighing, she flipped through the pages of her journal, fingertips grazing the familiar scrawls of half-finished lyrics and scratched-out lines. she searched for something—some fragment of a melody, a line of words she could build on. anything that might capture even a fraction of what she was feeling.

i'ts a normal thing to fall in love with movie starts.

you're then saddest, but a good kid.

you start to let me in, then you shut it off.

the singer nodded, marking a line in her notebook—a verse she'd scribbled in a rush, but now it sounded right. gently shifting weenie, who had curled up on her lap, she set the notebook aside and watched as the dog settled onto the couch, stretching before drifting back to sleep.

she ran upstairs, grabbing her guitar from its stand, fingers brushing the smooth wood as if drawing strength from it. descending the stairs, she found herself moving more slowly. back in the living room, she sat down, positioning the guitar carefully in her lap. her fingers began strumming softly, each chord unfolding one by one.

closing her eyes, she let herself into the memories—the things gabriella had said, the quiet moments they'd shared.

i'ts a normal thing to fall in love with movie starts.

when the lights are low and red at all their favorite bars.

her chest tightened, the words striking close to the version of herself she'd been with gabriella. it felt real, but now, looking back, it seemed almost impossible. "normal" was never something they managed to be.

it's a normal thing for me to become underwhelmed.

the line was good, and she thought of the last time they saw each other—the quiet acceptance, the goodbye woven into every glance, every touch. she scribbled more, shaping the lyrics around the ache in her chest.

oh, you'll make me cry when it comes to and end.

you were all that we hoped, but i can't recommend.

her voice faltered, and she paused, fingers trembling on the strings. it was like every note was a piece of their story—a reminder of everything they were and everything they couldn't be. weenie stirred on the couch, glancing up at her, and she managed a soft smile before her gaze fell back to the notebook.

i did my pacing and reeling.

I even think it looked cute at times.

gracie took a deep breath, shaking her head because the lyrics felt wrong, she turned the page, and sighed deeply.

she thought about that night, months ago, when she'd been alone, flipping channels, and stumbled on gabriella's face, larger than life on her screen. it was strange how it had felt, yet at that moment, gabriella was just her friend, unreachable. was that where it all started? or was it long before that?