Love Song (LGBTQ+) (COMPLETED)

62. Lighter

"Seriously, what's in the bag?" I tried peeking around her only to have her move it as we traveled down the sandy road.

"It's a surprise." Grace stuck her tongue out before nudging me with a sleeved shoulder. "I mean, it's our last night in Ely, so lets enjoy it."

Holding true to what he said, his father's new firm in Texas was in it's final stages of preparation and was just about ready to go. After insisting on hiring people to move everything, the house I'd grown up in was emptied of everything and sent away to a new place, a new land I was yet to discover. This, in essence, was Grace and I's last night in Ely. Well, to put it more specifically, we were going to spend the rest of the night in a hotel room and then leave on a flight to Texas in the morning. That was the plan, at least.

Even through the night before leaving, I was still somewhat unsure of what I truly wanted. In Ely, I was the girl who was raped by Devin Herrera. I was the girl who was dating another girl. I was the girl who got addicted to drugs and spent all my time with the "bad apples". The only things the people in Ely saw in me were the bad things, the things that weren't normal. That was always how it was and it was something that didn't seem to change even after hearing what Devin did to me. They always treated me like the black sheep, like I was the exact same piece of work my brother supposedly was, but it didn't change the fact that some part of me still loved this place as much as I hated it.

Ely gave me the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and even if it could be said that Ely had taken her away for a brief period, she was still alive and breathing right in front of my eyes. Ely gave me something, someone to hold onto when I was so close to letting go of everything in Nathan. In that fleeting year I spent burying my head in the sand with Nathan, he was my lifeline when it all became too tough to handle on my own. Through it all, unlike anyone or anything, Nathan was always there. While that was my own doing, it was his actions that stood on their own merit. Nathan was likely the only reason I stayed standing long enough to see Grace open her eyes.

There were so many experiences I had in Ely. Sex and drugs, alcohol and falling in love, friends and finding myself again, all of my firsts and worsts happened in Ely. I wasn't sure how I would feel once I left all of those things behind. Would I miss them and want to come back? Would I miss them, but not enough to come back? Would I remember all of these feelings and move on to newer, bigger things in a different world? Would anything be different in Texas, or would people still judge me for what happened in Ely? Was it leaving Ely that created my uncertainty, or was it the unknown of going somewhere new that made me feel it?

As many good experiences as I had in Ely, I carried an equal amount of bad. After being left alone, I felt like I was drifting away in the sea all alone while sinking ever so slowly. I got lost and fell into worlds I never should've shown up in. Drugs and numbness, the faux sense of happiness that I forced myself to believe in with them, it was all for nothing. My belief in anything was shattered after being raped by Devin, except for the sole belief that everything I loved was leaving me one by one, when it was only ever me drifting further and further away from them.

After walking for what felt like miles, Grace and I found ourselves in front of the lake we used to visit all the time on our midnight dates after sneaking out. Underneath a painted, star-filled night sky, Grace's hand and fingers took hold my own as her thumb began to make circular rotations at the center of my palm. On that particularly clear night, it was so fitting to spend our last night in Ely there on that lake. The glistening lake before us became something of a shared second home, a sanctuary where the both of us could hide and be ourselves, like a beautiful world created of our own design.

"It's beautiful."

"So are you."

Looking at me out of the corner of her eye, Grace only gave me a small smirk as she continued to guide me through the sand as we headed down the right side of the beach. Further and further we trudged along in the sand while the surroundings became more and more familiar. It wasn't much longer until I realized I was in the same area Erin brought me to and stripped me of the clothes I was in as she tried to wring out exactly what Devin did to me. I could only wonder if Erin told her to bring me here, but if that were the case, then why?