The Only Hope | Captain America

Chapter Twenty : It Will Rain

 After long hours of unpacking and organizing, Grace finally settled into her room at Sean's house. The house was large, filled with many rooms; Grace often wondered how Sean can afford this kind of house. He must have felt lonely in the house, ever since his mother had passed away, the house must have felt empty. Uncle Phil told the girls the stay won't be long, for it was only temporarily for their safety from Erik. The only safety that concerned Grace was Sean's and Steve's. Even though Steve was a big guy, and plus he's Captain America, and could take care of himself. Grace couldn't help but worry about him, if Steve went out, to take out Erik on his own. Who knows what the result might be?

 Sean, on the other hand, his life was at risk here. Giving shelter for Grace, James, and Carly was simply a suicide thought. Erik was trained, and if he found Grace in New York, he could find her anywhere. By now, a tracking device could be pierced into her arms. With the thought in mind, she rolled up her long sleeved, and took a quick glance at her arms. Though, she didn't have experience with a tracking device, it probably wasn't hard to notice the symptoms of one. Her skin looked normal, nothing changed.

 The sunny New York weather quickly faded and in exchange was more of a cloudy, stormy weather. This was strangely unusual for New York, but some sort normal because of the dark, murky clouds they've been having. Grace decided to take a quick shower, before heading out, probably for another jog. It's been a while since she last ran, and a day like this would be a good time. She rubbed her skin to keep warm before heading into the shower.

 Afterwards, she dressed herself into her Abercombie sweater along with jogging pants to get ready for the run. Outside her room, Carly was busy making dinner along with James in the kitchen. The smell of fried garlic filled the room, as Grace walked in to watch the girls. Sean's big kitchen was filled with many boiling pots, and shreds of vegetables, along with stains of tomato sauce. Grace rolled her eyes as she reached into one of the pots, to dip her finger into the tomato sauce. The hot tomato sauce let out a burning feeling to her tongue, but soon cooled down after Grace grabbed a glass of water. Carly noticed her sister's cries, and tasted the tomato sauce herself. The same thing happened, and Carly quickly threw the sauce into the sink. James gave her a confused look, before washing down the sauce. Turns out, Carly accidentally added some sort of spice into the mixture, which made the tomato sauce spicy and hot.

 Sean walked in, with a regular smile that was spread across his face. He  peeked over Grace's shoulder, to smell and look at the dinner Carly and James were preparing. Strangely, the two would never cook dinner together, because of their different tastes and skills. But, they somehow managed to be in the kitchen together, both handling dangerous kitchen utensils. Sean scanned Grace's outerwear, and gave her a jogging motion.

 "Do you mind if I tag along?" Sean asked.

 "I don't mind. Go ahead." Grace responded back.

 After her response, he left the room. Grace continued to watch her sister and her friend cook an Italian dinner, probably to thank Sean for letting them stay in his home. After Uncle Phil dropped them off, he quickly said his goodbye and lecture about being safe and left. No word on where he was going or if he was coming back to visit, which was almost the usual for Uncle Phil.

 Few minutes later, Sean appears, dressed in sweatpants and a dark sweater shirt, ready for their jog. Grace gave him a small warning about her slow pace and the reason she was only jogging was to lose weight. Sean didn't mind, and also admitted that he wasn't a runner himself, and there was nothing to worry about.

 "I also like to listen to music while I run." Grace also stated.

 Sean gave a shy shrug and grabbed an ear bud from Grace's hands. Grace skimmed through her IPhone, searching for a good song for the two of them to listen too. She chose the catchy, "Feel So Close" by Calvin Harris, and started to jog lightly. As the song continued to play, the moment reminded her of the time when she met Steve. If Grace didn't take the chance to tap Steve's shoulder, she would have never met him. That simple gesture leads to their romance which Grace was happy about. She never felt happier in her life to meet a guy like Steve, and she wondered if Steve felt the same way about her. Though, he was new into the whole modern society and the way things worked around here, Steve was still finding his way. During that trail, he coincidentally ran into Grace.

 "Change the song." Sean said abruptly, interrupting her thoughts.

 She gave him a quick nod and searched through her song list, choosing another catchy song for them to run too. He smiled to show his approval of the song she had chosen, and they continued to run.

 With no help from the cold wind, Grace began to tire. She asked for Sean to stop for a moment while she caught her breath. Her throat seemed scratchy and dry, after running for a while. Her nose became stuffy and started to run, while she let out a couple coughs. Sean turned off the music, and pulled out his water bottle. Grace gave out a tired sigh; as she grasped the water bottle and let the cold water pour onto her throat.

 "You forgot water?" Sean asked confusingly.

 She let out a small amusing laugh, "Yes. I can't believe I did."

 "I can't believe it either. Who doesn't bring water when you're off for a jog?" Sean commented.

 "Apparently me." Grace managed to say after another round of coughs.

 The incident that had happened yesterday, Sean never returned from the restroom, a thought that hit Grace. She took a quick glance at Sean, observing his shaggy brown hair, and strained look. He looked worried or, a bit stressed from her view. 

 "Sean, Uhm. After, you went to the bathroom, you never returned. So, I'm guessing you went home after that?" Grace asked.

 She didn't like the words she had used in her sentence, and thought she should have rephrased the sentence better. Sean let out a deep breath and looked at her for a moment.

 "I-I... left. Yeah, that was because..." He paused for a moment. "I saw you and Steve kiss."

 Grace's heart skipped a beat after the words slipped out. Her cheeks let out a rosy red, the only color in Grace's face at the moment. This seemed awkward to Grace, knowing Sean had seen her and Steve kiss. But why did Sean leave?

 "Okay, but, you should of just... I don't know. Is that a big deal to you?" Grace questioned.

 "Well, probably to you and a little bit to me." Sean muttered.

 "Tell me Sean, let it out."

 "What would you say if I said I was in love with you as well?"

 "Uh, I would say..." Grace trailed off, seeing the hurt look on Sean's face.

 The two were better off as friends, why can't Sean understand that? Grace didn't want to sound mean to Sean, as she carefully chooses the right words. Mentioning her love for Steve will probably make matters worse. This was a new situation for Grace, and she wasn't quite sure on how to react to it.

 "Sean, I'm sorry. But, I really think we're better off as friends."

 To make the statement more soothing and better, she held Sean's cold hands.

 "Why can't you see that I want something more than that." He snapped.

 His words echoed several times in Grace's head, before she could gain conscience on what was going on. Sean's hands were still with hers, but tears were rolling down his face. Grace held his face in her hands, wiping away the tears and giving a small kiss on his head.

 "I'm sorry. Things won't work out that way."

 And with that, Sean abruptly released his hands from Grace's grip and stormed off. Grace called out his name several times before giving up, seeing he wouldn't come back to her. Her heart felt heavy, full of guilt, knowing this was all her fault. She lost her best friend. Something, she never wanted to face. Along with her tears of sorrow, the clouds started to pour tears of their own.

 Just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same, if you walk away. Every day it will rain, rain, rain...

A/N : Funny story , that song played in a yogurt place I went to yesterday night , & I thought , I should totally use this song ! So , this chapter was inspired by the song by Bruno Mars . Okay ! Update 1 of 2 ! How did you like this ? Poor Sean . . -.-