Lucy and Grace // on hold

four

Grace lost spectacularly at bowling. This wasn't that surprising; her hand eye coordination was terrible. What was surprising was that because she lost, she hadn't stayed up late, and hadn't overslept for the first time in what felt like weeks. Being awake before 9am was a foreign feeling, and Grace did not love it. She poured half of her coffee into flask and tossed it into her bag, making sure she had everything she needed for her day of lectures. She packed her headphones and a book, just in case the girl wasn't on the bus. Grace really hoped that she would be.

Getting on the bus, she was hyper aware of her surroundings, and tried not to be too obvious as she scanned the seats of the bus to see if she could spot the strawberry blonde girl. Finally her eyes landed on her. She was sat towards the back, across from Grace's usual spot, with a large pair of purple headphones on as she stared out of the window. Making her way up the bus, Grace's mind fumbled for something to say to the girl (and desperately tried one last time to remember her name, but without success).

The bus started ambling slowly along the country lanes, and Grace moved quickly to get to the seats, and reached over to tap the girl on the shoulder. She looked up in surprise and pulled her headphones off. Grace could hear the very faint sound of a Lorde song coming through the speakers.

"Sorry, do you mind if I sit next to you?"

"Oh, no its fine." She said. Grace sat down next to the girl, the air around them heavy and uncomfortable. As the girl reached to put her headphones back on, Grace cleared her throat.

"I, um, wanted to apologise for how I acted the other day. You were being really sweet returning my book and I was a huge jackass because I was so sleep deprived. I really sorry. Thank you so much for returning my book, it's one of my favourites." Grace said. The girl smiled, her eyes crinkling, and she shifted slightly in her seat, so she was facing Grace more.

"It was honestly no problem. I'm glad you don't hate me. I thought you were mad at me for taking your book." She admitted, blushing a little and Grace paled.

"God no! I couldn't hate you for being so thoughtful! I thought you hated me because I was mean to you the other day." Grace said, burying her face in her hands. The girl giggled.

"Seems like we both thought the other hated us. Good to hear you don't hate me." She said, smiling warmly. Grace returned her grin.

"Maybe we should try this again." She stuck her hand out. "Hi, I'm Grace Sato. I'm in my second year studying art history. Pleased to meet you." The girl giggled.

"Hello, I'm Lucy Forman, I'm a first year and I'm studying quantum physics." Lucy said and shook Grace's hand. Grace's eyes widened when she said that.

"You're studying quantum physics? That's insane!" Grace gushed; her eyes wide in amazement. Lucy giggled and rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed.

"Thanks. I've always loved physics." Grace looked impressed, which made Lucy's heart swell and skip a beat at the same time. This Grace was nothing like the one she had first met, and she already knew she liked this Grace a whole lot more. She looked at Grace, who was still looking baffled. "Honestly, I have no idea how you can do any of that stuff. I'm so bad at STEM subjects it's embarrassing." Lucy laughed.

"Trust me, you're probably much better than I am at art history than I could ever hope to be. I'm abysmal at humanities. Any essay writing and my brain blue screens and stops working." This pulled a full bodied laugh out of Grace, which was infectious, making Lucy laugh as well. "What book are you reading at the moment?" Lucy asked. The book she was reading always seemed to change almost daily, and Grace hadn't got anything out since she sat down next to Lucy. She perked up and scrambled to open her backpack. Grace rummaged for a few moments before pulling out a large book. The cream coloured pages were worn looking and torn, but in an intentional way.

"I'm reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey at the moment. She's the first ever woman to translate The Odyssey, so obviously I had to read it," She explained, holding the large thick book carefully in her hands.

"Woah, that sounds so cool."

"Right? I'm only a few pages in at the moment, but I love it already."

At this point, the bus was slowing down to stop at the university, and Grace shoved the book back into her bag. They both got off the bus together and stood awkwardly together, neither knowing what to say to break the awkward silence.

"Hey, do you want to maybe have lunch with me and my friend Jasper? I want to thank you for returning my book the other day, I promise we don't bite." She said nervously but managed a cheeky wink. Lucy stammered.

"I, um, err, maybe? I'm not sure if I already have lunch plans with my friend but I –" she stammered, but Grace interrupted before she could finish.

"You don't have to if you don't want to! I don't want you to feel like you have to!" Grace said, obviously panicking that she had overstepped some boundary.

"No I would like to!" Lucy assured her and pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Here, why don't you give me your number and I can text you when I'm free so we can work something out?" She suggested. Grace tried to act calm as she nodded and handed her phone to Lucy as she put her number into her phone. Once they had exchanged numbers, Lucy waved at Grace awkwardly as she walked to her next lecture and tried not to look to overwhelmed.

Grace looked at her watch. She was far too early for her lecture, so she headed to the library and set up in a secluded corner, away from the group of first years that appeared to be attempting to complete a group project very loudly. As she worked, her mind kept wandering to Lucy, and she found herself checking her phone constantly, waiting for a response. After a few hours, the screen lit up with a notification and Grace all but dived to read it.

Lucy F (bus): hey! Its Lucy! I'm free tomorrow for lunch if you are?

Grace had to physically restrain herself from immediately replying, and instead settled for replying a few moments later.

Me: I am free! Where do you want to go for lunch?

The reply came shortly afterwards.

Lucy F (bus): how about the café on campus? They do really great cakes!

Me: sounds good, how about 1?

Thereply was a series of the thumbs up emoji and a few different smiley faceemojis. Grace grinned to herself. God she was cute.

//

hello! sorry this is late (its currently 23:46 where i am so its still technically monday) and its not as long as i wanted it to be, but its the best place for me to stop at the moment. just a heads up, im going to be starting a new job soon, so updates may not always be on time, so please be patient with me! thank you! 

h.