Tomorrow Never Dies

Chapter 30 - "I can't leave her now"

The funeral was fairly uneventful. Mum and I cried, my brothers were sad, I said goodbye to my Auntie. Michael didn't come since he'd never met her, but he said he was waiting in my dorm for me to get back then he would treat me to something to make me happy.

After the reception, I went back to my dorm where Grace was working and Michael was lying on my bed on his phone. As I entered, Michael went straight for a hug, rocking me gently as I cried softly.

"Baby, we're going out okay? We're going to the cinema to take your mind off it." I nodded into his chest and then pulled away. I took a deep breath, changed my shoes from sensible black flats to my hidden heel sneakers, then went to hug Grace.

"I'll be back whenever," I told her. "If you go out remember to lock the door."

"Alright, mum," she laughed gently. "See you in a bit, wifey." I hugged her again then followed Michael to the cinema.

"Bad Neighbours 2 or X-Men?" he asked, and I stared at him. "X-Men it is."

"I was gonna say, I thought you knew me better than that." He took my hand and we got our tickets and food then made our way to the screen. We sat at the back, figuring if I had a breakdown we could get out easily. I'd been getting upset quickly and easily over the last few weeks, and thankfully Michael had barely left my side. He'd come to ballet rehearsals with me, he'd watched me in lessons with Kiri, he'd insisted I came to band practice, he slept in the same bed as me as often as possible. He was being amazing, and honestly I wanted to treat him but I couldn't figure out how. I decided when my mind was back on track I'd take him out for a meal or do whatever he wanted with him.

The film started and I rested my head on his shoulder. He had his arm draped over my shoulders and he kept rubbing my arm, giving me goosebumps. I tried to ignore the contact and focus on the film, but his cool skin against mine was too much. I reached for his neck and pulled him closer to me, kissing him gently. I sighed quietly as he slipped his tongue past my lips and ran his fingers through his hair, the slight tugging giving me strangely calming chills down my spine.

"Perfect," he muttered under his breath as he pulled away, and I shushed him, reminding him that we were in the cinema, and people tended not to like others being noisy. He gave me the middle finger, then leaned in for another kiss. I smiled and went for it, and we continued like that for the rest of the film, barely paying attention to the movie.

As we walked out of the cinema, we received a few dirty looks from both the cinema stewards and other disgruntled moviegoers. I hid my face in Michael's shoulder, and as soon as we were out of the cinema we ran, laughing, through the streets of the city centre. We stumbled into a little café and sat down, ready to order, as we had been to focussed on the make out session in the cinema to eat our food. A waitress came over, took our orders, and left us alone, leaving me to look into Michael's eyes.

"Thank you," I said, breaking the comfortable silence.

"For what?" he asked through a smile, his head tilting slightly.

"Just... being here for me through everything. You're the best," I told him. He grabbed my hand and kissed my knuckles, which were bruised slightly from an accidental encounter with a wall.

"I wasn't going to leave you when you needed me, now was I?" He laughed slightly, as if the idea of leaving someone in need was completely novel to him. "And I'm well aware that I'm the best, I get told regularly." I smacked him gently, shaking my head but laughing.

"Shut up, Clifford."

"Never, Lighthawk." Our food arrived and we went quiet as we ate. I had a panini while Michael had opted for a bagel, and our drinks were both vanilla milkshakes. We paid and left the café after I poured my milkshake into a takeaway cup to carry on drinking as we walked back to the dorm. I pushed open the door to see Grace collapsed on her bed, crying her eyes out. I dropped my empty cup in shock and ran to her side, closely followed by Michael.

"Hey, what happened?" She shook her head. "Gracie, tell me."

"Nothing," she said, and I shooed Michael away.

"Obviously something has happened," I said to her softly.

"I don't wanna say," she cried, her voice cracking and breaking my heart.

"Please, Gracie," I pleaded. "Does Ashton know? Was it Ashton?"

"No, it wasn't him," she said. "And he doesn't know, he doesn't need to."

"He does, babe," I said, trying to make my voice soothing and calm. "You're crying, he should be here to comfort you."

"I went out," she said, and I nodded. We were getting somewhere. "And this guy came up to me, he grabbed me, he pushed me against the wall..."

"Grace, it's okay, keep telling me what happened." I motioned to Michael to call the police, and he did, relaying what had happened.

"He was touching me, telling me what he wanted to do," she was sobbing by this point, completely broken by the experience. "I pushed him off and ran but he chased me and it was worse."

"Did he rape you?" I was praying, hoping, that he hadn't.

"No," she told me, and I let out a breath.

"Okay, that means no babies and no STDs, okay?" She nodded. "So that's good."

"I guess."

"It's going to be okay," I assured her. "Do you want me to get you in to see the counsellor?" She nodded. "I'll do that, then." I grabbed my phone, texting the counsellor I knew on campus, telling her briefly what had happened, and then texted Ash.
You need to be here. Something's happened to Grace, she's a mess
I sent the text and sat with Grace, waiting for the knock on the door. It came, and Michael opened it immediately. Ash came in, coming straight to Grace's side, leaving me to talk to Michael on the other side of the room.

"I can't leave her now," I said, and he nodded.

"I know," he said. "I'll stay with you and her for the night, Ash will as well." I hugged him, thankful for his support, and then another knock at the door came. I opened it to reveal two policemen. I pointed them to Grace, and they went to talk to her about descriptions, and options for what might happen to him if he was caught. Ash was holding her hand, and the cops were incredibly gentle, and didn't push her when she seemed too upset. After they took down all the details they could, they left, leaving the four of us together.

"Sleepover?" I suggested, trying to ease the atmosphere, and Grace looked at me, smiling slightly through the tears.

"Thank you."

*****
Did i tell you all about the fanfest because me and @fallon2000 met Austin from the tide?? We didnt even realise it was a meet and greet and i wasnt too panicky so it was fab

Song of the chapter: hymn for the weekend by coldplay (and beyoncé, whose name my headteacher can't pronounce)