Jake (teammate) - italics and underlined
Narration - normal
TESSA - ALL CAPS AND UNDERLINED
CHLOE - ALL CAPS AND BOLD
MEGHAN - ALL CAPS AND ITALICS
Chapter 27: 𝓢𝓮𝓷𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓪
Saturday, August 13th
Starting from when she stepped out of the shower, Gracie had been chewing mint-flavored gum to strengthen her jaw. She would be meeting Cory's friends tonight and she didn't want to sound silly in front of them.
Her speech therapist always said to chew gum or to drink milkshakes because sucking a thick beverage through a straw worked out the jaw. Right now, she was willing to do anything to have a good speech day. Cory had already heard her dysarthria, but she wanted to leave a good first impression on his friends.
A tight knight formed in the pit of her stomach as scenarios flooded her mind. Everywhere she looked, she saw herself screwing up her speech in front of his friends despite her efforts to prevent that from happening. As she rubbed her hands together, her palms felt moist and she could feel her heart thudding, battling with her ribcage to let it out. Gracie was pacing back and forth across her room with her fingers to her lips, the earlier scenarios making an reappearance.
Words leaving her lips without her wanting them to.
Awkward chuckles coming out of her.
Uncomfortable silence with Cory and his friends standing around and looking at her.
She plopped herself on her bed and stared at the ceiling fan, her arms around the back of her head. She allowed herself to take deep breaths until her heart was under control and those nerve-wracking scenarios were replaced by a blank screen. That was all she needed to do to lure the kaleidoscope of butterflies that was throwing a party inside of her to sleep and dry the sweat that was taking over her hands.
She was going to be okay.
-
Gracie sat in the seats in the front row as she watched Cory play in the game. She was never a football fan. Hell, she was never a fan of any kind of sport. She had to sit through her brothers' baseball games and her sister's basketball games where she'd zone out most of the time.
What made it worse was that her brother, Brian, was a huge sports nut. Whether it was football, basketball, baseball or, and the worst of them all, golf. It seemed like the most boring sport of all time. How could anyone stand in silence as they watch the players hit a ball with a stick until it rolls into a hole?
Every time her and her parents came over to visit Brian and Lacey, her future sister, one of the sports was playing on the TV. She had enough of watching football there, so the last thing she wanted to do was watch the live version of that very sport.
Gracie may not be a fan, but she wanted to support Cory.
After what felt like hours, the game ended with a win and all the Cardinals fans stood up and cheered at the top of their lungs. By the time they were done, the blinding sun that was throwing down one hundred-degree heat had disappeared and was replaced with the darkness that invaded the sky.
Gracie met Cory and his teammates at the front of the stadium after they went to the locker rooms.
"Hey, Gracie. Wanna go out to eat?"
"Yo, the guys and I were thinking about hitting up a bar tonight. Wanna come?"
Cory looked at Gracie, as if asking her if she wanted to come - which led his teammates to all look at her too.
Great. She was put on the spot and when she was put on the spot-
"Nah, you guys can go. I'll just stay home. I'll...call an Uber."
Gracie was surprised how she handled that - no stutter or slur or anything.
"Gracie, please come with us. It wouldn't be as much fun without you."
"I'm not a fan of...bars and clubs anyway."
She hated environments like that. Where the music was so loud, you could hear the vibration in your stomach, people were all around you and colorful lights were flashing throughout the club.
Gracie's family took her to a club downtown last year for her twenty-first birthday and she hated it. The fear of getting COVID certainly didn't help either.
Luckily, her cousin, Amanda, took her, Auntie Jo, Uncle Paul, her mom and her mom's cousin, Annie to P.F Changs where she had ten times more fun. Since then, she had tried to avoid bars and nightclubs at all costs.
"We don't have to stay that long. We can go for about half an hour. Hell, even if it's only been ten minutes, I can drop you off home and we can—"
"Actually, there's supposed to be a huge monsoon storm. So we might move the party to my house." Jake butted in, checking his phone. "It's still gonna be crowded because I invited the girlfriends of the guys and a chick I met at the bar last night to go out for drinks after the game."
"See? It's not gonna be as bad."
"I still don't know. You can go. Have some fun."
"That's the thing. I can't have fun if you're not there." Cory heard his teammates laughing and twisted around to send daggers through his eyes. He shook his head unamused when he heard Jake say he was whipped.
Which he kind of was.
Gracie didn't want to ruin his fun, so she stepped away from the group. She pulled her phone out from her jacket pocket and opened the Uber app when Cory caught her arm.
"Pretty please come with me? The music shouldn't be as loud because the neighbors would complain, the girls are super sweet and welcoming and they can make a mean strawberry margarita."
Despite the change of plans, Gracie was still nervous about being in a social situation. She always clung to her parents and silently stood while they were involved in conversation. Gracie felt a knot in her stomach thinking about what she was about to do.
"Okay. Fine."
"Yes!" Cory pumped his fists and cheered at his friends that they were coming.
Shit.
What did Gracie get herself into?
-
Mom forced Gracie to dress nicer when she told her she was going out - whether to a bar or to a private residence. She was only dressed in her pajama t-shirt, sweats, flip flops, and a light jacket. She only asked Cory to drop her off to change pants. Luckily, she was able to bring a light jacket without her mom throwing a hissy fit.
It was a part of a system - they get home late and she doesn't feel like washing her face or brushing her teeth, so she puts on her retainer, changes back into her sweats and goes to sleep.
Gracie hated the hassle of putting on makeup and having to take it off at eleven-thirty at night when all you want to do is go straight to your bed and cuddle with the sheets.
She liked how pretty and confident she felt with makeup on. The makeup acted as a wand and magically made her more secure about herself. She simply hated putting it on.
She also never did anything with her hair. Of course she washed it. She wasn't a TOTAL animal. She rarely even blow-dried, but again, mom curled her hair, making it look prettier than the frizzy mess.
After all that, she climbed back into Cory's car.
"Sorry about that. Mom forced me to lll'k nicer."
Gracie closed her eyes, scolding herself for saying anything more than an apology. She should've just left it at 'Sorry about that' and shut up. At least the first part of the sentence came out crystal clear. She always had trouble with her 'L's and 'Wh' words so she should've known better than to follow the apology with an explanation.
With the help of the car light, Cory was able to see the mascara swept across her lashes, the pink blush applied to her cheeks, and the nude lipstick that framed her small lips.
She changed out of her pink CWU t-shirt and into a pink and white-striped romper and traded her flip flops for white, slip-on shoes.
"That's alright. You look beautiful."
"Are you ready?"
Satisfied with the nod Gracie gave him, he started the car and reversed out of the driveway.
Gracie felt nauseous when they arrived at Jake's house and she felt her stomach twist at the thought of a large crowd. She already felt nauseous enough as it was with the sky splitting open and rain coming down in buckets, the lightning strikes that flash in front of her and the increasing wind throwing heavy furniture into the air.
She regretted her decision immediately.
She felt a hand land on her arm.
"Do you wanna go home?"
Oh, thank the good Lord.
She rapidly nodded her head and sunk into the chair. She let out a sigh of relief. No one else would've done that for her.
Dammit! She got all dressed up for nothing!
But to her, it didn't matter because she wasn't too tired to take it—
"Hey, Cory!"
So close.
"We decided that we want to go home. It's getting late and—"
"You decided or she decided?" Jake leaned forward into the car to yell at Gracie, "Don't be a party pooper!"
Cory pushed him away. He shoved the anger away before he started a fight, but the temptation was strong. He didn't like that he was getting in Gracie's face and calling her boring.
"Besides, I'd rather take her home. This storm is getting crazy. Her parents are probably worried sick and we shouldn't have driven here in this storm in the first place."
Jake was holding onto the window, his hair flying in all directions. "The storm just makes it that much more fun! We have a generator anyway in case the power goes out."
Gracie felt bad, so reluctantly, she motioned for Cory to go with her as she hopped out of the car and rushed inside with her hood on. She figured that when she wanted to go home and didn't want to drag Cory with her, she'd order an Uber. She already had the app on standby.
Cory froze.
"What the hell is she doing here?" He spotted Kendall in a white, sleeveless crop top and a short, black leather skirt, her midriff on full display. She was sitting on the couch and waved them over when she saw them in the midst of the crowd.
"I met this lovely lady the other day at the bar. Thought we'd show her a good time."
Cory leaned his head down to Gracie's ear. "That's Kendall. If she says anything to you, let me know."
The house wasn't too big; the walls were painted an agreeable gray hue, hardwood flooring was installed throughout the first floor until it changed into carpet on the stairs. There was a black, leather sectional couch sat in front of, at least, a ninety-inch TV which was blasting music from Spotify.
"Gracie, this is Tessa..."
Tessa was beautiful with short, blonde hair styled into a wavy bob emerald green eyes that demanded to be seen. She was in a hot pink halter top with white, high-waisted shorts and black stilettos.
"Meghan..."
Meghan had black hair paired with hazel eyes with a green hue that was more prominent than brown. She was in a football jersey with the sleeves cut off, denim shorts that landed past the knees and brown sandals.
"And last, the lovely Chloe."
She was gorgeous with a Filipino skin tone, honey-brown eyes with hair that fell past her butt. She was in a white V-neck with ripped, black shorts and white, scrappy sandals.
They all seemed nice; Tessa greeted Gracie with a warm smile, Meghan with a hug and Chloe instantly offered to make her a strawberry margarita.
"HOW ARE YOU SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL?!" TESSA SHOUTED OVER THE MUSIC.
Gracie was never good at receiving compliments so she responded by forcing a wide smile and muttering a thank you.
"CORY TOLD US YOU WEREN'T A FAN OF PARTIES LIKE THIS. NEITHER ARE YOU OF THESE STORMS, BUT DON'T WORRY. WE GOT YOUR BACK, GIRL." CHLOE SPOKE INTO MY EAR.
"GRACIE, COME DANCE WITH US!" MEGHAN INVITED, DRAGGING HER BY THE HAND.
Gracie relaxed her shoulders she didn't know were tensed. She felt herself calm down knowing that there were girls that were gonna be welcoming. Meghan was about to dance with her until Jake caught her arm.
"How about a little karaoke, Gracie?"
Cory stepped in between him and her, shaking his head disapprovingly. "Jake, we just got here. Don't push her!" He yelled over the music.
He knew he'd been a party pooper since the second he stepped foot out of the car, but he didn't want his friends to pressure Gracie to do something she didn't want to do.
He had a plan: wait until everyone is completely wasted, which shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes, then take Gracie home and watch YouTube. He should've done that in the first place.
"Doesn't matter anyway. She's too much of a boring bitch."
Cory narrowed her eyes at Kendall. Hearing those words directed toward a girl he really liked, his hands balled into fists and his jaw clenched. My muscles tensed and I was blinded by rage. "Hey! You call her that again and I swear—"
"I'll do it."
Gracie saw how Kendall looked her up and down as if she was a disgusting pig. Gracie was fed up with Kendall thinking she was better than her. She needed to let loose and have fun. Prove her wrong. She needed to crawl out of her comfort zone one way or another. If she wanted to have a relationship with Cory, she needed to learn to have fun so he didn't think she was too boring. No matter how quick her pulse was beating at the mere thought.
No matter how much the knot in my stomach grew.
Cory was shocked when she agreed to this, but he couldn't help his lips twitching upward into a smile. She was coming out of her shell and if she wanted to do karaoke, he was not going to stop her.
"Then let's get this party started!" Jake cried out. He took Gracie by the wrist and led her to the front of the living room where there were two screens in front and behind them and Tessa and Chloe gave them microphones. Jake whispered the song to the friend who was playing the music and stood next to Gracie.
When the backtrack to Senorita by Camilla Cabello and Shawn Mendes started through the speakers, Gracie lit up. She loved this song and it made her more confident.
As Gracie started singing, she squatted down and ran her fingers through her hair. She felt pretty comfortable on the stage, swaying her hips side to side.
Watching Gracie dance like that turned Cory on. He found himself licking his lips as she was moving her body to the beat of the music. He wished he was up there with her, but then again, he might have kissed her right then and there.
Kendall felt a pang of jealousy when she noticed the way Cory was looking at Gracie. She'd developed this crush on him since they met at the bar and she was determined to win his heart.
She held onto his arm and batted her eyelashes to get his attention, but his eyes were glued to Gracie the whole time. The jealousy changed to anger toward her for stealing the man she liked.
Since her dad left her mom, she spent the majority of her life watching her mom go after men after men. She watched her mom fight for whatever man she wanted, even if they were married or in a serious relationship. Kendall was taught at a very young age to do exactly that. The one she had her eyes on was Cory and she wasn't about to let him get away.
He tensed up when Jake started singing. He had his hands on her waist and kept pulling her closer to his chest. He was looking Gracie up and down like he was hungry and she was the last piece of food left on this planet. Cory couldn't stand the way he was touching her and he couldn't watch anymore.
He stood up from his seat, his anger building up as he walked up to them and punched Jake in the face.
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[ A/N ] ❀ Proofreading & Editing by Julie_ProofEdit
Author's note- I'm sorry if I made this chapter too long. It has come to my attention that I established they live in Arizona where they have monsoons during the summer so I edited this chapter to make it more realistic.
How do you like the new characters? Aren't they the nicest?
If you saw any misspellings or grammatical errors, please leave an inline comment.