State Of Grace

Chapter 14 - The Best Day

After her verbal vomit, Gracie waited for her friend to react, but Sarah just sat there, looking at Gracie with a poker face.

"What do you- I mean," Gracie stuttered, "Is that... okay with you?"

"Gracie," Sarah cracked a small smile, and then started laughing, "Did you seriously think I didn't already know that?"

"What?" Gracie laughed too, and suddenly they were both in fits of laughter, "What gave it away?" Gracie asked after the two had calmed down.

"The first sign was when we watched The Hunger Games and while I was obsessing over Josh Hutcherson, you wouldn't shut up about Jennifer Lawrence's talent, then we got to the second movie and you just about lost your mind over the elevator scene!" Sarah took Gracie's hand, "You know it doesn't matter to me right? You're my best friend and nothing will ever change that."

Gracie hugged her friend, and couldn't stop herself when she started to cry, "There's more," Gracie sniffled, "I guess when I met Jason, I just fell for him. And it wasn't about his gender or my sexuality, I just liked him, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been sort of accidentally using him. It's just, well," she stuttered every other word, "I was already, sort of seeing someone else. And then that ended, which is a different story. But then, yesterday, Jason came over for dinner, and Danny sort of outed me in front of everyone, so I ran off and disappeared for a little while. I just needed space and someone to talk to, you know? So I met up with Rachel and-"

"Rachel? As in John's daughter?" Sarah furrowed her brow, "I know you guys kissed and whatever but after everything that happened... Gracie, why are you hanging out with her?"

"Look, that's not the point right now. She was the girl I was seeing before Jason, and then when I met up with her yesterday, we sort of got back on track and we kissed... a lot. At the time I didn't feel bad about it because I was so sure that Jason would want nothing to do with me anymore, but then he was so sweet to me today. He threw me a surprise party. And now I can't tell him because he asked me to be his girlfriend today and I said yes, like an idiot but I also said yes to Rachel last night. So, long story short, I'm cheating on both of them and I don't know if I believe in God or heaven and stuff but I do know that I'm going to Hell," Gracie ended her rant breathlessly.

"Calm down, G," Sarah hugged Gracie again, "First of all, you're not going to Hell. Second, the best thing you can do right now is be honest with him." Gracie nodded. "But I think you should stop seeing Rachel. It's not safe."

"Not safe?" Gracie scoffed, "Just because of who her dad is? You don't even know her, she's nothing like him," Gracie defended Rachel, a girl she'd known nowhere near as long as she'd known Sarah.

"Who's nothing like who?" Riley walked into the bedroom to grab some more film for her camera, "Come back downstairs, you're missing the party."

"Did you know she's been dating Rachel?" Sarah asked her sister.

"Sarah!" Gracie tried to stop her friend from spilling her secret, but the damage was done with one question.

"Yeah, she's from an old foster home right?" Riley said casually, not seeing the problem.

"She's John's daughter."

Gracie winced at his name and watched as Riley put the pieces together. She looked confused for a moment, and then she got angry, "What?" She raised her voice, furious, but she was trying to remain calm.

"Keep your voice down," Gracie begged, "Look it's not a big deal, she's a good person," she started to walk back downstairs, regretting bringing it up in the first place. Riley called after her, but when they walked into the yard, everyone was still having so much fun, so Sarah and Riley decided to save the rest of the conversation for later. After all, it was her birthday.