Girls Love Girls And Boys | Hartbig

Chapter Ten

Grace stares at her phone though Chester's snapchat story is long over. Her mind is numb and she can't speak. Her whole body quivers and her breathing is harsh, small intakes and raspy out breaths. Hannah rushes around the edge of the table, gently taking Grace's phone out of her hand and taking one Grace's hands in both of hers. She squeezes tightly to bring Grace back to Earth.

"Baby look at me." Hannah whispers quietly. Grace's eyes meet Hannah's blankly. "It's okay I promise it's going to be okay. You have to try and breathe and try to stop shaking." Hannah rubs Grace's back as Grace breathes deeply. "Good. Good." Hannah murmurs. "As much as I hate to do this to you, we need to get back to the stage for sound check. Will you be okay walking?" Grace only nods.

The pair leaves the resteraunt as nonchalantly as possible. Grace fiddles with the hem of her shirt, unable to stop her hands from moving anxiously. How do I fix this? She thinks to herself. Soon they come up to the theater and slip inside. Going back to the dressing room to get in their classic onesies, they see Mamrie is already sat on her phone in her ghillie suit.

"Well there's the couple of the damn hour. Everyone in social media is freak-"

"Mamrie shut the hell up about it." Hannah hisses angrily through her teeth.

"Jesus, I didn't know." Mamrie says, haughtily rolling her eyes and going back to whatever she was doing on her phone. Grace says nothing, only using slow and controlled movements to get her onesie on. Hannah yanks hers on angrily and then the girls go to sound check.

"Mamrie, mic check." The sound guy says.

"Check one, two, three." Mamrie replies, her voice echoing.

"Good. Hannah next."

"Check one, two, three."

"Now Grace."

"Check one, two three." Grace says robotically, her eyes trained on a spot in the distance.

"We're good to go. Get backstage and we'll be letting the crowd in." The stage manager announces. The girls go to wait in the wings and they hear the crowd shouting energetically. Hannah goes to Grace and wraps the taller girl in her arms, no questions asked. Grace hugs back tightly, breathing in Hannah's familiar scent.

"Take a deep breath in," Hannah instructs. Grace obliges, inhaling. "And out." Grace exhales. "You're okay. Let's have a good show, okay?" Grace kisses Hannah's lips quickly.

"Okay." The introductory video begins sounding through the theater and the crowd screams. Hannah takes Grace's hand, squeezing reassuringly. Grace squeezes back. The video ends and the music for the opening number floats out of the speakers. Hannah let's go of Grace's hand as the girls run on stage and begin their show. Grace is managing to keep breathing semi normally and get through the song.

"Welcome to NoFilter!" Mamrie exclaims. "Tonight we'd like to make you laugh, make you cry, maybe even make you shit your pants. Your guys are totally encouraged to film or take pic-" Suddenly Mamrie is interrupted by someone shouting.

"Hannah, Grace, kiss!" Someone towards the front row yells. Hannah's eyes immediately dart to Grace who's frozen. Her body goes slack and her deep, controlled breathing stops. Suddenly she's breathing in rough, uneven heaves. Her eyes well up with tears. Hannah wants to comfort her but she knows that'll make it worse, touching Grace right now will make it so much worse.

The theater is dead silent. Grace closes her eyes, trying to compose herself. And she almost does, she's almost there. And then the words of the fan ring back through her head and that's all she can hear. It's driving her mad. Grace's eyes fly open and when she sees everyone staring at her she turns and runs.

She runs to the wings and across the back stage and out of the underground dressing rooms up the stairs to the lobby of the theater. She runs through the lobby to the theater's restrooms and locks herself in a cubicle. The bathrooms are right outside the theater, so she can hear Mamrie's voice through the open doors.

"I'm sorry you guys we're gonna have to put everything on hold until we figure out what's going on. We'll back back shortly!" Mamrie apologizes. It takes her and Hannah a solid fifteen minutes to find Grace. When they do, they manage to coax Grace out of the stall she's in slowly. When she finally emerges, face tear stained and mascara streaked, she speaks first.

"I-I'm so s-sorry you guys." Grace chokes out through her tears. "I didn't m-mean to r-run I just c-couldn't handle it." Hannah goes over to her girlfriend, kissing Grace's forehead.

"Don't apologize Gracie I understand it's been a rough day." Hannah say gently. Mamrie tentatively joins the hug and the three girls sink to the bathroom floor, one big heap. Grace closes her eyes and lets her best friends comfort her. After a little while Mamrie makes a decision.

"I'm going to go tell the crowd the show is cancelled. They'll get refunds on their tickets. But I don't think you can finish this show Grace. Especially with that little asshole who yelled at you two to kiss in the crowd. I'd like to kick them where it counts." Mamrie says matter of factly. Grace agrees and Mamrie leaves the bathroom to tell the crowd what's going on. Hannah helps Grace up and they make their back to the dressing rooms.

"I know you're stressing right now Grace but take it easy for the night. We can figure everything out in the morning." Hannah suggests.

"I love you." Grace replies.

"I love you too princess." Hannah says sweetly. The pair settles into the dressing room as they know they'll have to wait until the crowd leaves to get back to their hotel lest they get mobbed by fans. They hear Mamrie ending the show.

"I'm so sorry guys but the shows going to have to be cut short. You'll all surely be refunded on tickets as something's come up. Please try to exit the theater orderly. Thank you." Mamrie announces calmly.

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A/N- Two updates? Wow who am I? I hope you're enjoying the story now that there's a legitimate plot thing happening.

Hopefully updates will stay this frequent, but I can't promise anything!

Comments, critiques, and ideas to my inbox, as you probably know by now. Xxx