BOUND TO FALL IN LOVE - gracie abrams

- twelve

TONIGHT was the night taylor's speak now would release, this time as (taylor's version). the whole friend group, the one with august's closest friends — gracie, olivia, conan and grayson — were gathered at the redheads apartment, ready to scream their lungs out to the album. while waiting for the time to tick 12, they caught each other up on whatever new had happened in each individual's life. it'd been an unbearably long time since were last together, all five of them.

with olivia as your friend, you gotta be ready for everything. also getting drunk while waiting for your favourite artist to drop her album. so that's what they all did — drank, got drunk, made a few terrible decisions. the only good decision made that night was when grayson decided to kiss none other than olivia rodrigo.

august was happy for them, but a quick flash of hurt crossed her eyes. she hadn't thought about her and gracie's almost kiss, not since the night gracie came out to her. but it hurt, seeing her two friends kiss — like actually kiss, without any of them pulling away and running off.

she caught gracie's brown eyes, but the brunette was quick to look away again. she felt guilty. guilty for that night. she knew it had hurt august, no matter how many times the redhead insisted she was totally fine. gracie knew her better than that, she knew her like the back of her hand.

only a few days later, the seventh day of september arrived. also known as gracie abrams' birthday. a day august had looked forward to even more than the birthday girl herself. august loved celebrating people's birthdays. and especially gracie's.

august, taylor and olivia had met up and planned the perfect party for gracie. there'd be balloons, music, colourful lights, alcohol and so much more. all of gracie's friends were invited, and august had baked a birthday cake for her. it was fugly to say the least, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

the guests slowly started to arrive, filling the house up with small talk and laughter. the birthday girl was the only one missing. and august was on her way to her apartment right now to pick gracie up and drive her to the surprise party.

"where are you taking me?" gracie asked for the three hundredth time since august picked her up. she had yet to get an answer out of the redhead, but she wasn't going to give up. "august? hello?"

"hi gracie," august smiled innocently over at the brunette, "now shush."

gracie huffed dramatically, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting like a little kid. but she did shush. not a word was uttered for the remainder of the drive.

"oh, it's just olivia's house, how anticlimactic," gracie mumbled as august pulled into the driveway leading up to olivia's beautiful house.

the redhead still didn't reply to gracie's small comments, but instead dragged the brunette out of the car and up to the front door. "i wanted to say happy birthday, but, uh, you've been pretty sarcastic and kind of rude the whole drive here, so...no happy birthday's for you!" august shrugged, sticking her tongue out at gracie.

the abrams girl rolled her eyes, but sent august a small smile to make sure she knew there was no hard feelings. she opened the door, thinking she'd just be met with olivia and their other friends. but what she hadn't expected was for a whole crowd of all her friends to jump out, screaming happy birthday.

"did you do this?" she asked with teary eyes, looking back at august.

"taylor and olivia too," the redhead smiled, opening her arms so gracie could fall into them. and so she did. and she hugged her best friend tighter than ever. what had she done to deserve such an amazing group of friends? what had she done to deserve august?

the party was everything gracie had ever dreamed of. alcohol was consumed, dance moves were performed, and delicious (but ugly) cake was eaten. it was all just so perfect.

at some point grayson manned up and asked olivia out. a huge moment. a moment both conan, gracie and august thought never would happen. olivia obviously accepted his offer, and the two crushing idiots shared an adorable kiss. that moment only made the night more special. more perfect.

but things can't always be good, can they? apparently not. 'cause as gracie was dancing around, having the time of her life amongst her friends, none other than brandon peters decided to make an appearance.

which was weird. he shouldn't have been able to enter the house. taylor had hired her own, personal security for the night. a security team that had never once failed to protect her. yet there he was, that horrible excuse of a man — gracie's ex-boyfriend.

he instantly started screaming at gracie, throwing all kinds of slurs at her, calling her several names such as slut, brat, and whore. august was seconds from throwing herself at him, kicking his privates, punching his face, choking his stupid throat. luckily for her, security showed up before she got to do that. 'cause let's be honest, august would not have walked away from that fight as the winner.

taylor's security team escorted the psychotic man out of the building, but brandon didn't seem to care. he kept yelling all the most brutal and disrespectful words, directing them at gracie.

she was frozen in time, standing still and taking in every word of his. and worst of all, she believed them. she believed him when he called her unworthy of love, when he called her slutty and pathetic.

she knew he was drunk, yet she still believed him and his stupid words. drunk words are sober thoughts.

with mascara and tears streaming down her cheeks, gracie ran away from the party, away from the crowd, and away from all the lingering eyes.

author's note
okay i know this is short too but i'm not a creative person

THANK YOU FOR 1.2k READS THAT IS ACTUALLY INSANE

next chapter is the LAST ONE
which is crazy

i know 13 chapters isn't a lot, but if y'all want it, i'll write a sequel
(it'll prolly take some time tho, i gotta make an outline first and then write the book but...??)