Dysarthria | Dialogue Story ✔

Chapter 36: Senorita

Gracie met Cory and his teammates at the front of the stadium after they went to the locker rooms.

"Hey, Gracie. Wanna go out to eat?"

"Yo, the guys and I were thinking about hitting up a bar tonight. Wanna come?"

Cory looked at Gracie, as if asking her if she wanted to come - which led his teammates to all look at her too.

Great. She was put on the spot and when she was put on the spot-

"Nah, you guys can go. I'll just stay home. I'll...call an Uber."

Gracie was surprised how she handled that - no stutter or slur or anything.

"Gracie, please come with us. It wouldn't be as much fun without you."

"I'm not a fan of...bars and clubs anyway."

She hated environments like that. Where the music was so loud, you could hear the vibration in your stomach, people were all around you and colorful lights were flashing throughout the club.

Gracie's family took her to a club downtown last year for her twenty-first birthday and she hated it. The fear of getting COVID certainly didn't help either.

Luckily, her cousin, Amanda, took her, Auntie Jo, Uncle Paul, her mom and her mom's cousin, Annie to P.F Changs where she had ten times more fun. Since then, she had tried to avoid bars and nightclubs at all costs.

"We don't have to stay that long. We can go for about half an hour. Hell, even if it's only been ten minutes, I can drop you off home and we can—"

"Actually, there's supposed to be a huge monsoon storm. So we might move the party to my house." Jake butted in, checking his phone. "It's still gonna be crowded because I invited the girlfriends of the guys and a chick I met at the bar last night to go out for drinks after the game."

"See? It's not gonna be as bad."

"I still don't know. You can go. Have some fun."

"That's the thing. I can't have fun if you're not there." Cory heard his teammates laughing and twisted around to send daggers through his eyes. He shook his head unamused when he heard Jake say he was whipped.

Which he kind of was.

Gracie didn't want to ruin his fun, so she stepped away from the group. She pulled her phone out from her jacket pocket and opened the Uber app when Cory caught her arm.

"Pretty please come with me? The music shouldn't be as loud because the neighbors would complain, the girls are super sweet and welcoming and they can make a mean strawberry margarita."

Despite the change of plans, Gracie was still nervous about being in a social situation. She always clung to her parents and silently stood while they were involved in conversation. Gracie felt a knot in her stomach thinking about what she was about to do.

"Okay. Fine."

"Yes!" Cory pumped his fists and cheered at his friends that they were coming.