𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄

[𝟐𝟕] 𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐇𝐢

I nod, kissing his cheek before he stands. When he's hardly a foot past the threshold of my door, I say, "Hey, Spence?"

"Yeah." He murmurs, turning to face me, his hand planted on the doorknob.

"Promise you'll never go away?" He licks his lips, chuckling and nodding, holding out his pinky just like I taught him.

"I'll be back, Gracie-Bear." He promises, blowing me a kiss before shutting the door behind him.

Sometimes, when Spencer leaves or I watch him walk out of a room, I think about when he went missing. The image flashes past my eyes every goddamn time. His grin and his wink, knowing everybody in the room was still thinking of his joke he'd made just a moment before.

And it hurts. It hurts thinking about how one day, I'm going to see him walk out of a room for the last time. But it's okay. Because maybe, when I learn to accept everything else I can't, I'll find myself not minding when people leave so much.

But, who knows.

❛❜

After searching for Amelie's leash for almost an hour, I decided I wasn't going to take her and that if Ray ever gets off her ass, she can do it.

Sorry, Amie.

Usually, folding time is thinking time. But you know what? When I walk, it feels like I'm running. That probably sounds dumb, but let me explain.

Before I... stopped eating, I was running to get rid of the calories and 'fat'. And when I go on walks, it makes me feel connected to that, and it makes me feel better.

Not in a, I'm want to relapse kind of way, of course, I'm over that. Mostly. It's more of a... actually, I don't really know what kind of way it is. But I think that, maybe, feeling a connection to that makes me feel better because, once upon of time, it was the thing that comforted me most. Contro-

"Oh, fuck!" I yell out when a sudden, heavy, piercing pressure is pushed down against my foot.

"Holy shit, I'm so sorry!" A deep- not to mention hot- voice curses just as loud as I did. "Are you okay?"

I look up, my blue eyes meeting gorgeous hazel ones. Despite how beautiful he is, I'm in a pissy mood and he just interrupted my thinking. "No, I'm not okay! You broke my freakin' toe!"

He quirks a brow, one corner of his mouth turned up to form a- dare I say- sexy grin. Oh, fuck no, this is some Thomas Doherty type shit.

"Uh, I don't think I broke anything, princess. Unless... that is, you need something you'd like me to fix."

I raise a brow at him, crossing my arms as if to challenge him. "Princess? Pack it up, Prince Charming, I'm everything but. And if I needed a handyman, I'd call for one."

His grin widens, "Well, then, I'd love to give you my number."

My brows furrow, my mouth ajar as I try to comprehend what the hell is happening.

His tongue clicks against the back of his teeth before he says, "For 'handyman' purposes, of course."

He continues with, "And I beg to differ, miss, you're most definitely princess material. Hell, maybe you could even be a queen."

I feel the heat creeping up my chest. That is before he ruins it by saying, "If you're ever in need of a king, you know where to come."

I look away from him, swallowing before looking back at him. "I have a boyfriend."

Now it's his turn to furrow his eyebrows, which may I say, are perfect. "I don't remember asking but tell the lucky bastard he might just have some competition now."

He leans forward, taking my phone from my hand before pulling out his own and taking a picture of something on his screen using my phone before handing it back to me.

"There," He grins, "tell that boyfriend of yours that Elliot says hi."

"Well, Elliot, tell yourself that Grace says fuck off." I walk past him, shoving my phone into my back pocket.

"Very gorgeous name for a very gorgeous girl, don't you think?" He calls after me. I want to turn and answer but instead decide that flipping him the bird would be a better idea. "That gesture isn't too gorgeous." I hear him murmur, making me giggle.

"So she laughs?" He calls.

"Only on special occasions." I joke, going against the voice in my brain's protests about turning back to him.

"Well, I want to hear that same sound at our wedding... Grace."

Then he turns and walks the direction he was before he bumped into me. I only realize what he'd said when I get to the end of the street.

Our wedding? Bold much.

And did I really just flirt with a total stranger?

Ugh, I'm going to hell.

But, first,

Bed.