That Night √

Epilogue

He just didn't know what to expect.

•••••

"I love sleepovers!" Alice squealed in a high-pitched voice, her excited eyes darting across Grace's lounge. Once she had thrown herself on one of the beanbags, she repeated the same words in a much deeper voice, "I love sleepovers."

"We get it, Alice," Grace spoke up as she got out of the kitchen with a big bowl full of cheese popcorn.

"Yeah, but you don't at the same time!" Alice complained. "It has been ages since we had a movie night. You know why?"

Jack had the decency to continue the conversation, unlike Grace. "Why?" He asked.

"Because of the mids!" She answered, her arms flailing up in the air. "God, I'm so glad they are over."

Grace nodded in agreement before sitting down on the empty couch. Jack remained where he was, sitting against the foot of the couch and slowly stroking Frost's head.

"Did you guys decide on a movie?" Grace asked as Frost perked up and tried to shove his face in the bowl of popcorn. "Or are we really watching Harry Potter again?"

Alice looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Jack, however, turned his head around and peeked up at Grace. "But we don't do that without Luc, remember?"

"Of course." Grace grinned, ruffling his hair gently. Jack unconsciously scrunched up his nose even though he secretly liked it. "Luca will be here in a moment. But that still doesn't mean we have to watch Harry Potter again."

"I know what we should watch!" Alice jumped up before running towards the stack of DVDs. A very messy stack. "Jack, help me out with this."

It still took Jack a moment to interact with anyone, but he usually seemed like himself around them; Grace and Alice. Lucius too. Grace noticed that and it made her happy. She still worried about him a lot, but she knew that she'd have to just wait.

Jack went up beside Alice and tried holding onto the piles of DVDs that Alice stacked in his arms. Frost in the meantime, circled around their feet, barking out loud.

Seconds passed by into minutes, yet Alice and Jack could still not decide on a single movie. Grace was about to suggest that perhaps Harry Potter was fine when the bell rang.

Neither Alice nor Jack made a move to check on the door. Frost did but he really couldn't do much other than dash towards the locked front door.

So in the end, Grace had to get up from the couch.

Frost was overly enthusiastic to see Lucius when Grace opened the door, so much so that he started barking real loud.

"Frost!" Grace hissed, her eyes darting around the neighboring houses. It was near midnight right now. She didn't need to wake up the neighbors, especially the old lady who just shifted two houses across from hers—that lady was too grumpy for her own good.

"Looks like somebody couldn't wait any longer to see me." Lucius gave her a cheeky grin before leaning down and picking up Frost in his arms.

"What took you so long?" Grace asked.

"Your dog gives me a much warmer welcome, Rose." He replied.

Grace couldn't help but grin as she took his form in. He had that usual messy attire going on, even his hair looked ruffled up. However, one thing that made Grace's heart skip a beat was the tiny colorful splatters across his hoodie sleeve. Some were even in his hair too.