"H-he...WHAT??" I whispered as my jaw dropped in shock.
'Th-this can't be...can't be true.'
"Grace. Honey." Scar let out a laugh at my obvious dumbfoundedness. "You may be one of the smartest people I've met in a long time, which is saying A LOT, but you are so fucking clueless, it's almost adorable."
I rolled my eyes at her and went back to gently playing with John's hair silently, not trusting my voice to work.
"Okay, since you don't believe me, which is ridiculous, look at the facts." She continued simply. "I barely know the guy, but from everything I've seen, he cares a shit-ton about you."
I worried my bottom lip as her words sunk in.
'Well...when you put it like that...YOU SOUND CRAZY.'
Oh, but she wasn't finished.
"Remember that day of the race when you got in that crash?" She asked randomly and I blinked.
'How could I forget? That was the day Bertinelli sicked his flying monkeys on me.' I mused to myself sarcastically.
"Of course I do. Why?"
"Well, when you were unconscious, that boyfriend of yours went ape on EVERYONE. He wouldn't let anyone carry you, he insisted on being there when you woke up and he wouldn't leave your side like some lost puppy. Overprotective would be putting it mildly."
My jaw dropped again.
"Really?" I whispered incredulously, not believing what I was hearing.
"Of course, Grace!" Scar exclaimed, her tone suggesting that she thought I was stupid by not taking her seriously. "He acted as if you were never going to see the light of day again."
My shoulders slumped as I muttered, "Well, this is the first time I'm hearing of this." My head began to swim as I tried to make sense of what my so-called 'smart' mate was telling me.
'She's supposed to have an IQ over one-eighty and yet she's saying shit like this.'
And, I hate to admit it, but my heart fluttered the entire time Scar was telling me this.
Little did I know, I had been wanting someone to care about me for the longest time. It was subconscious, yes, but for years, I had been wanting to be cared about.
To be loved.
And as it appeared, I was getting what I wanted.
"Grace. Is it so unbelievable that a guy can like you?" Scar inquired rhetorically and I let out a puff of breath.
"After everything that I've done, kind of." I replied, my tone breaching on snark. Before Scar could say something, I continued, "He knows everything, Scar. Everything." I gritted out. "He has every right to flee from me in fear." I finished as a murmur. My heart was sinking into my stomach as I spoke.
"Grace. Isn't it a testament to how much you already care about him since you told him so much about yourself?"
This time, I was speechless.
"Your mom would want you to move on. She would want you to be happy and forgive yourself."
I sucked in a breath at her words.
"Take it from me." She then muttered lowly, but I still heard it, though I didn't say anything from shock. "Ace, you need to forgive yourself and move on. You need to be happy."
I was stunned. Just stunned.
I mean, come on! What was I supposed to say to that?
Scar then spoke up to add, "Also, you should give yourself more credit. I know several different guys who would easily take you up on an offer of a quick fuck, if you put it forward."
I let out a loud snort, temporarily forgetting that John was under me.
"Oh gee, Scar." I said sarcastically. "I feel so much better now." I murmured as I threw my head back to look up at the white ceiling above.
"You're so very welcome, Grace." Scar replied as sarcastically as me.
I snorted quietly, then sighed. "Okay, well. Not to say that your advice wasn't helpful because..." I trailed off. "Well, it wasn't helpful at all, really..."
"Har har."
"...I should probably get some rest." I finished, a small smile growing on my face.
"Okay, bitch. Lates."
I laughed at Scar's tone and let out a soft puff of breath. "Good night, Scar."
And with that, I hung up. I let out another sigh as I continued to stare absentmindedly at the ceiling. The moment was supposed to be peaceful, but my mind was anything but.
'He likes me. He likes me. He likes me.'
My heart fluttered in my chest and my stomach churned in a good way as the thought repeated itself in my mind.
I looked back down to John; his face was still in my chest, his arms around my waist, and his eyes still closed. During the entire conversation with Scar, his breathing stayed the same so I was able to assume that he was asleep the entire time.
'Thank fuck.'
My face suddenly, all on its own accord, formed a smile. A pure, hopeful grin that was the epitome of a cliché, dopey smile.
Still smiling like an idiot, I curled my arms around his head and laid back as I stroked his hair, snuggling into the bed so I could sleep more comfortably.
"Why did I have to like you?" My voice was just a whisper, but the words held so much emotion in them. "I lived my life as a solo, lone wolf. And I was happy."
My smile grew as memories of the day we met flooded my brain.
"But noOooOoOo." I mocked. "You just had to come into my life and reduce me to nothing more than a pile of teenage hormones."
As my eyes shut, I mumbled, "Bastard."
That was the last thing I remember before blackness.
~•~
"Is she dead?"
'Mhmpfh...?'
"No, you idiot! She's asleep!"
"Well I saw her like this, so what else was I going to think? That she's having tea with the President?"
'...the fuck?'
"No, you dumbass! You should think that she's, oh I don't know, ASLEEP."
"Hey! Zip it, you two. She's tired. Let her sleep."
'I am, in fact. Thank you.'
"Okay, but she's going to be pissed when she finds out that we didn't wake her for school."
'WHAT?'
At that, my eyes snapped open and I bolted upright.
"WHAT?" I shouted incredulously, at the top of my fucking lungs, and all three of the guys who were standing beside the bed winced.
"Fucking hell, Grace. Is there a volume button on that thing?" Grayson asked with one eye open as he looked at me.
I glared at him.
'Dick.'
"That was medium, you arse. If you don't want to hear me when I'm loud, I suggest you not be so much of a twat." I warned darkly.
Then, I threw off my covers and hopped off the bed. I sprinted out the room to my room and when I walked in, I saw the side table say 9:30 a.m.
'SHIIIIT.'
"Fucking hell, we're late!" I exclaimed as I rushed to my dressed and got out a random T-shirt.
"Wait, Grace!" I vaguely heard John's voice say as I began to put a black tee on. "We have the day off." He declared as he walked into my room.
I froze my T-shirt putting on ordeal and spun around, my hair following my actions. When John saw me, his eyes widened exponentially and his cheeks grew red like a tomato.
'What's his problem?' I wondered, confused, still not moving.
Now, if I had been thinking like a normal person, I would have realized that I had only just shoved the neck part of the shirt on and my midriff along with the undersides of my...uh...oranges(?) were on display.
Yeah, we'll call them my oranges.
"Wait, what?" I asked John, not understanding. He diverted his eyes to the other parts of my room.
"U-um..." He stuttered and I narrowed my eyes at his reaction.
'What on earth...?'
John then cleared his throat and continued, "The Junior and Senior classes have the day off. Something to do with a Halloween Dance." I groaned in realization as I finished putting on my shirt.
"Fuck, that's right. Wednesday is the dance and the upperclassmen spend the day before planning." I announced absentmindedly as I walked to John.
"Are you going?" He inquired with an arched brow and I gave him a look that essentially told him everything he needed to know.
"Do I look like the type to enjoy crowded spaces filled with teenagers, all of whom are drunk by ten p.m., who think blasting vulgar music while chugging down pints of alcohol is 'fun'?" I asked rhetorically and he let out a laugh.
"Yeah. I had a feeling." He replied with a grin on his handsome face.
The memory of Scar's words from the early morning came flooding back into my mind, but I shrugged it off.
'Nope. We'll deal with that shit later.'
After a moment of pensive silence, a lightbulb went off in my head and my lips began to curl into a grin
"But, it could also be a perfect trap." I mused curiously, facing John with a smile.
John fixed a confused look on me. "I'm not following." He said as he crossed his arms. I allowed a small smirk.
"If Bertinelli thinks he's going to give us the slip by having his own personal spy," I began smugly, "then I guess we'll just have to beat him at his own game."