"baby i have a surprise for us todayyyy" gus sang to grace as they got ready to leave for the day "and what would that be?" grace asked "you'll have to wait and see" gus told her "no you have to tell meee" grace said, tugging on his arm "nope" gus kept walking straight ahead, grace shuffling along behind him. grace bugged him for the remainder of the car ride, gus still not giving it up. gus kept driving, grace didn't recognize the area where they were, she trusted gus but she definitely had no idea where they were going. grace raised an eyebrow when gus pulled into a tattoo place "gus what are you planning?" grace asked, super confused "we've almost been together for a year now so i got us an appointment and i designed us some tattoos" gus explained, hoping she'd like the idea "aw baby, that's so cute" grace smiled at gus. they hopped out of the car and walked excitedly into the building. grace had one basic tattoo on her inner wrist, 08.04.13 which was the date of her mother's death, which was approaching it's 5th anniversary. gus showed the artists what they wanted, it was just their names on each other. simple, but meaningful. "who wants to go first?" the artist asked. grace looked over at gus signalling for him to go "me i guess" gus spoke up. the artist led him to the chair, grace sat beside him. gus was getting 'grace' across his inner forearm, he barely flinched at the needles on his skin after all of his previous tattoos. the uncomplicated design took little time to complete, the artist moved to grace. she got 'gustav' under her left collarbone. she flinched at the pain from the tattoo machine, gus let her death grip his hand "it's okay baby" he told her, gus rubbed his thumb over her hand a few times. grace sat uncomfortably for another 20 minutes or so "and all finished" the artist said, wiping the tattoo a final time. grace smiled brightly at gus "with me forever baby" she said "i love you so fucking much" gus told her. gus paid and got them back in the car. "baby, ive noticed you've been a bit down the last week is everything okay? you know you can tell me anything right" gus questioned grace "yeah im fine just, it's almost 5 years since my mom died" grace sighed "oh baby, you know she'd be proud of the person you've became" gus told her "what do you mean?" grace asked "baby you're absolutely beautiful, you're kind, you're strong, you're independent, you're the greatest girl ive ever met" gus told her. tears brimmed at grace's eyes "i still feel like it was my fault, i should've done more to help her" grace cried. "baby, you couldn't have changed what happened, you can't change the past and you did what you could. you're living a good life and your mom would be so proud to have you as her daughter right now" gus said "i love you gustav" she said "i love you too grace, more than you know baby" gus said, "how does it feel?" gus asked, pointing at her fresh tattoo "hurts" she said "it'll feel better soon baby" he assured her "im glad we did this" gus said "me too" grace smiled. "i gotta go work when we get home baby, do you have something to do?" gus told her "actually, i think i'll go speak to shiloh i haven't talked to her since the party a few weeks ago" grace decided "yikes have fun" gus said sarcastically. obviously shiloh and gus were not each other's biggest fans. they arrived home and said their goodbyes, grace got in her own car and headed towards shiloh's apartment. her mind was all over the place, her mom, gus, shiloh. a lot was going on right now. her phone lit up on the seat beside her, distracting her from the road
gus
i love you <3
when grace's eyes returned to the road, she had no time to react as the truck plowed into the front of her car in the intersection. she had crossed the center line and ran a red, not noticing. the last thing grace saw was the grill of the truck before everything went black. minutes later dozens of energy vehicles, sirens and lights crowded the intersection. police controlled the traffic around the two demolished vehicles. the firefighters managed to pry the door to remove the driver from the truck, he was unconscious and in rough shape. he was carefully transported to the ambulance. shattered headlights and mirrors were scattered across the pavement. the paramedic placed two fingers on grace's neck, looking for a pulse. he shook his head at his partner "she's gone". the medics removed grace's body from her crushed up car, covered her on a stretcher and put her into an ambulance to take her to the hospital to be pronounced dead, it was procedure. the ride to the hospital was quiet. the emergency responders always hated seeing young people dead. grace's body was moved to the hospital morgue, the coroner pronounced her dead. gus was her emergency contact, he received the call that she was at the hospital and had been in a car crash. every bad outcome ran through gus' head as he got the call. he wasted no time getting in his car and speeding the whole way to the hospital. he ran frantically in to the hospital, begging to know where his girlfriend was. he was directed to the floor her body was on. the doctor waited outside the doors to enter the medical area "grace, grace delestre she's my girlfriend where is she? is she okay? i need to see her" gus begged frantically, tears falling from his eyes "im sorry sir there's nothing we could do" the doctor said solemnly "what do you mean?" gus asked, sobbing "sir, miss delestre was dead on arrival. im very sorry for your loss." she doctor gave him the hard news. gus fell to his knees sobbing, he couldn't believe the news he was hearing "no, no she's not dead. she can't be" he cried to himself. a nurse walked to gus "sir, you can't be here im sorry" she said softly "can i see her?" gus asked "you can, she's a bit beaten up though" the nurse said "i don't care i need to see her" gus said "follow me" the nurse instructed. gus cried as he followed her down the cold hallway. she showed him to the table she was on, covered with a white sheet. gus slowly removed the sheet from her face, her face was bloody, lip busted open, various cuts around her face. she was pale, cold and lifeless. gus broke down at the sight of her "grace, no" he cried. he kissed her cold forehead "i love you, i'll love you forever grace. you'll always be my girl" he whispered to her "im sorry this happened, we need you to go now though" the nurse spoke up "she needs to be taken to be autopsied" the nurse explained. gus nodded sadly, covering grace once again "i love you" he told her body one last time.
