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ERIS - chapter 8

Hannah tries not to think about Grace too much after her dream, but the blonde seems to be all she can think about. When she’s at work, she finds herself scribbling the letters of Grace’s name across empty legal pads just to see how elegantly she can do so. When she drifts off to sleep, Grace immediately invades her thoughts – dark eyes staring into her own and red lips curling up at the corners.

And, well… Hannah isn’t sure what brought all of this on. At first she thinks it’s just her way of getting over Mel, but she quickly realizes that there wasn’t much to get over in the first place. Mel was kind and funny and beautiful, but there was nothing between them – no spark. Her second theory is that maybe, just maybe, she has developed a sudden, unexplainable crush on Grace.

She mulls over the second theory for two days and by the third, she realizes that the crush isn’t entirely out of nowhere. It makes sense, doesn’t it? She had poured out her darkest secrets and feelings to a woman that listened and told her she wasperfect even with those insecurities. And then there’s the obvious fact that she’d seen Grace naked; let the woman touch her in places that hadn’t been touched in years. While at first she had trained herself not to think of Eris as anything other than an escort, things changed. Suddenly, Grace was a part of her life – and she was real and she understood and Hannah didn’t have to pay her to stay up late into the night talking about everything and nothing at all.

So that’s what this must be – a crush on the woman that listened to her when nobody else would. It seems like a normal response, really, and Hannah’s sure that anybody else in her position would feel the same way.

She realizes, the next day, that her theory is completely and utterly incorrect.

“You’re going to love these guys,” Grace whispers, her breath tickling Hannah’s ear as she leans into her side.

Hannah simply nods in response; sure that if she could even come up with a response to Grace her voice would crack and give away how shaken up she is by the closeness.

The lights in the small, worn-down theater begin to dim and four men walk onstage, introducing themselves and welcoming the crowd to their improv show. Improv really isn’t Hannah’s thing, but she knows that Grace and Mamrie love it so she keeps her opinions to herself.

The four men take suggestions from the audience and quickly begin their first sketch. Hannah’s not paying much attention, but she thinks it has something to do with a missing foot and an emergency room. Instead, she’s focused more on the way that Grace is laughing – eyes crinkling at the corners and feet kicking at nothing in the way that they do when she’s genuinely amused. Her laugh itself is high and loud – a sound that she can’t even begin to imagine coming out of Eris’s lips. It’s entirely Grace.

It makes Hannah’s chest flutter just a little bit. Scratch that, it makes her chestclench. She wants nothing more than to wrap an arm around Grace’s shoulders and let her rest her head against her chest so she can feel the vibrations of thelaughter that runs through her body. She realizes, in the moment, that she doesn’t care that Grace knows every ridiculous detail about her past and how she feels about her future – all she cares about is Grace’s laugh. And her smile. And all of her other adorable mannerisms, like the way she’s clutching her hands together at her chest and watching the stage with wide, fully attentive eyes.

So, no, Hannah isn’t falling for Grace because of the things that she’d shared with Eris. She’s falling for Grace because she’s Grace – funny, beautiful, awkward, and a thousand other adjectives that Hannah wouldn’t mind making a list of when she gets home.

When the realization hits her, Hannah quietly excuses herself from the audience and makes her way through empty halls until she stumbles upon the women’s restroom. She tosses tap water in her face and holds onto the edges of the stained sink, staring at her reflection.