Love Song (LGBTQ+) (COMPLETED)

42. Chaser

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"You'd die?"

Grace skipped through the grass and passed me without looking as she traveled onto the asphalt to get the soccer that had rolled by me. A second of silence coursed itself through the air as Grace disappeared into the darkness while looking for the ball. I thought that had been the obvious answer to us both. A life without her in it wasn't worth living, and even if that meant selfishly hurting the other people around me, I would have done it.

I would've chose to die over and over again. It was clearly my own selfish choice to meet an early grave for and with her, because losing her would have meant losing myself in a lot of ways. Every choice I made seemed to be centered around her and what would benefit the both of us. Every thought in my mind felt like it circled back to her in some way or another. She was just as much a part of me as I was to myself. There was no way I could've lived on without this woman by my side and in my life.

Even I hadn't been sure of when I came to this realization, but I did and I meant it. Grace was the person I wanted to spend my life with, however long it may have been. Ever since the night she told me that she had been in love with me, I found myself being slowly sucked into her. Both Grace, herself, and her world were a beautiful trap that I wasn't afraid of falling into. I would've gladly fallen inside of it time and time again, if only to be that much closer to her.

"Obviously. . .You know how I feel by now, don't you?"

"I do." I could hear the bottom of her shoes scrape against the asphalt. "I'd have to be as dense as you to not know how you feel."

"If I'm so dense, then tell me how you feel about me." the sound of a bouncing ball broke the silence as I felt a small smirk crawl across my face. "Just so I'm completely sure."

The ball zoomed passed my shoulder and back into the grass which was shortly followed by the afterimage of Grace running after it. I could only watch her athletically kick the ball around like a professional as her lips seemed to remain zipped. Perhaps her distant expression meant she was thinking, or maybe she hadn't liked my answer. That spacey look in her eyes never gave much of anything away.

Maybe I just wanted to hear her say it again, to reconfirm the feelings I thought she held for me, the feelings I thought I shared with her. Perhaps I wanted her to state her feelings so I could fall into a momentary state of complacency before being brutally knocked out of it by something or someone else. What I think I actually wanted was her to just say those words again. If all she had said were those three simple words, I would've been just fine with that.

"If we're still on the topic of us dying, then I'll just say this: I'll always come back to you." Grace let the ball softly hit the ground. "If we're ghosts, I'll chase you until the day I find you. If you're in heaven or hell, I'll pull you out so we can roam the world forever. If we're reborn, I'll remember you and then I'll find you again. What I have to do doesn't matter, what matters to me is you - and it's only you."

While Grace's foot rested on top of the ball, her head seemed to float upwards like a balloon that had just been let go of as she looked into the clear, slowly darkening dusk sky above her. Just like the very sky she was so beautifully gazing into, she was infinite. It never really mattered what she chose to do or be, she was going to be successful at it, the best at it. That was just who she was. That was Grace, at least in my eyes.

"I watched you talk about all of those boys for so long, and I could never figure out why it hurt listening to that so much. Even when I figured out what I was, I wasn't just able to come out and tell you that I loved you more than a friend should. I never thought you would've given another girl the time of day, especially me." her head finally fell back down to the ball. "I never thought I'd be able to do all these things with you, or even say that I loved you. Being with you feels like a dream, and it's a dream that I don't want to end. If chasing you to the ends of the Earth means keeping this dream alive, then it is something I'll always do."