With you

Chapter six (picture of Lila)

“You can't avoid all my questions!” I whisper hiss in Gracie's ear as we enter Ihop that same night. As soon as Gracie entered the cab she wore a big, fake, smile on her face, and she acted like nothing happened. She merely just said that Glen was an old friend of her ex and they used to hang out a lot. The whole cab ride to the restaurant I had bombarded her with all sorts of questions that I whispered In her ear.

Lila and Andrew were a few paces in front of us, just entering the 24 hour international house of pancakes, but before Gracie could go in, I pulled her by her arm to stop her. She turned around and gave me a bored look. “Is there anything I can help you with Jay?” She asks, using the nickname she called me by earlier.

“Well” I frowned, looking, no searching in her eyes for some sort of answer, “I want to know what happened back there. You can't expect me to believe that Glen was more than just an old friend. Who is he really? Who are you really?” I whispered.

Her hard face never faltered, and her eyes flickered with annoyance. “Jace I am me, Gracie, don't act like you know who I am. We met two days ago for goodness sakes!” She says warily, throwing her hands in the air. “I can't tell you the things you want to know.”

“Gracie, I don't care who you were before, hell, I don't care that I don't know your middle name, all I care about is that we are friends that you are not in some kind of trouble” I say to her softly, meaning every word. Now just because I don't care who she use to be, doesn't mean I don't want to know.

She looked down, her gaze stayed there for the longest times before she looked into my eyes, her own showing defeat. “I'm not in trouble, I- I just.. can't run away from my past, and thats exactly what I am trying to do by hanging out with you and your friends. Jace” She said, taking a step away from me, looking into the dark streets, as if considering running away. “You don't know the things I have done, the things I have said, the things I have seen.”

I shook my head, closing the distance between us in one stride and crushing her to my chest. “I don't care. I won't let anyone touch you, and you will never have to go back to your past as long as I am here for you. I know I don't know you Gracie, and no, I am not interested in being your lover or whatever” I say, and she laughs and sighs in what I think is relief.

“Thanks god”

“But” I continue “I am interested in being your friend. So when your ready to talk about it, I am here.” I tell her, pulling out of the hug to look at her in her eyes. They are holding back tears and when I kiss her head I feel them leaking on my hands. “It's okay, I'll be here for you” I say, wiping her tears away.

She nods her head and takes a deep breath before giving me a brilliant smile and leading me toward the entrance of the building. “Beatrice” She says once we walk through the doors, the cold hitting me immediately and making me shiver.

I turn my head to the side and look at her confused. “Pardon me?”

“Beatrice, its my middle name. It's my grandmothers.” She tells me, smiling gently.

A beam down at her, “Gracie Beatrice Stevenson; I like it”

“Oh shut up”.

When we got to the table Andrew and Lila were already ordering, sitting next to each other, holding hands, so Gracie and I take the seats opposite to them. When we place our drink order the waitress leaves to our own conversations.

“So Gracie, did you like the club?” Lila asked, looking at Gracie, her green eyes shinning in the poor lit place.

Gracie nodded and smiled up at Lila, who was hold Andrew's hand. “Yeah I always love going there, everyone is so nice, and the music just makes you want to dance!”