CHAPTER TEN
gentle hands
•
"HOW about green?"
"nah, blacks your colour," charlotte replied, handing sadie the black outfit her stylist had among other outfits for her.
"true," sadie replied.
the two were busy getting ready for an MTV social event they were both invited to, along with Matthew. u fortunately, marcus and caleb were busy with other work, so the trio would just be it for the night.
"is jude coming?" sadie asked, lining her lips as charlotte was taking pictures of her fit.
"no, he's back at his studio tonight, and i didn't think he wanted to go anyways. will millie and noah be there?"
"noah will," sadie smiled. "who else is even going?"
charlotte shrugged, "mm not sure." but truth be told, there was only one person charlotte was hoping would be there, and that was gracie. the only downside was that if the girl was there, they both know they wouldn't be able to associate with each other given that they're keeping their friendship on the low. and that started to sting bad for charlotte.
she didn't mind it for the first few days, but now she was getting bitter and not being able to get gracie and her friends to meet, or even showcase their odd friendship to the world. but she knew her parents opinions mattered most.
"alright, i'm gonna get changed then we go? our rides already out front," sadie said.
"sounds good," charlotte replied, putting in her contacts and checking her makeup.
as she looked in the mirror, her fingers began to tap rapidly again against the dresser, and she got the horrible anxious feeling in her stomach again, that made her bite into her lip. the thought of dealing with hiding gracie from her family was hard enough, but the fact that she might be at the event where there were cameras and hundreds of eyes was making things so much more worse. charlotte took a shakey breath before flashing a unconvincing smile at herself to give herself that 'don't sweat' feeling.
sadie returned wearing her beautiful black outfit and handed charlotte her purse, "lets go."
_
"wow you two look so fucking good, hey," matthew said as he greeted charlotte and sadie, hugging both of them before walking with them to a lounge. "how's your week been?"
"hell, working on the movie and barely sleeping, you?" charlotte asked the boy.
"my week in paris for the shows i did was pretty fun, we're on break and then picking back up here in the states," matthew replied. "sadie?"
"stranger things filming and stuff, the usual," the redhead said. "i texted noah to come meet up with us over here by the way."
"cool," matthew said, his eyes lingering around the area in search for others. "oh hey, wyatt oleff's over there i'm going to say hi really quick."
"he's like a unleashed puppy," charlotte said as she watched matthew get up and quickly make his way over to the curly haired boy in the corner.
sadie laughed before fading into silence. she then leaned closer to charlotte, "hey remember a few nights ago when we were all at your place... and you went out to your car."
charlotte paused, the memories of getting high with gracie flowing back in, "uh yeah why?"
"i didn't wanna say anything since matt and those two other idiots wouldn't have noticed, but bitch you were gone for 20 while minutes where were you?"
"no where i just forgot where i parked—"
"charlie, c'mon," sadie chuckled. "oh my god were you hooking up with someone—"
"w-what, no—no sadie stop," charlotte giggled uncomfortably, starting to get nervous. "look it was nothing i promise." she bit back on her tongue to avoid spilling it to sadie.
the redhead sighed, "at least you hid that high pretty decent."
the two both went quiet before bursting into laughter.
"i thought no one noticed!"
"i noticed the second you walked in and went on a tangent about the walking dead while sound really monotone," sadie said.
"oh ok that makes sense. i just didn't wanna do it in the apartment, what if the cats got second hand high."
sadie shrugged, "true. get that blunt girl."
charlotte let out an internal sigh of relief, she ran a hand through her hair in content and peace as sadie began to go on about some funny work story. she was having a peaceful afternoon, until she heard a familiar voice from near the front entrance. she turned her head and her heart instantly stopped at the utterly gorgeous sight. gracie was wearing a black bra as her top and grey pants, paired with a long black ribbon laced through her hair. a blazer was hung up on her shoulders without her arms going through, one similar to sadie's. next to her was olivia rodrigo who seemed to have arrived with gracie.
sadie turned her head to see who charlotte was looking at, and a suspicious smile appeared on her lips, "you're staring at gracie abrams."
charlotte didn't reply, but only cleared her throat, unsure of if she should go say hello or not. she wanted to, that's for sure.
the two finally made eye contact, and both couldn't help but give warm smiles. gracie waved, just the way she did that night they last saw each other.
"am i missing something?" sadie asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion, only for charlotte to not reply again. "charlie?"
"sorry—"
"sadie, charlotte!" noah schnapp had appeared suddenly, hugging both the girls before taking a seat. "what's up guys?"
"hey noah, how ya been?" charlotte asked, her gaze still slightly on gracie. did she always have abs like that?
"same old," noah replied. "you alright charlotte?"
the brunette snapped back into focus and looked between noah and sadie who both wore interested looks, "yeah, sorry. um, i'm just gonna go to the washroom really quick."
the brown eyed girl stoop up and made sure gracie saw her walk past towards the washrooms, swift enough for her to follow in suit. charlotte was low key impressed on how she caught on to follow.
there was only one other girl in the bathroom, who thankfully just seemed to be a waitress. only a few seconds passed until gracie walked in, joining the shorter girl at the sinks.
"wow we have to stop meeting in bathrooms like this," charlotte smirked.
"oh yeah especially in places we shouldn't be seen," gracie replied. "i missed you, how's work been?"
"tough," charlotte said, her eyes wandering on gracie's body. she was surprised to see how absolutely stunning she was since she's only ever seen her in sweats and a dress she doesn't really recall.
gracie was obviously doing the same, staring at charlotte's navy blue designer sweater and black skirt, along with dark stockings. she didn't have her freckles covered by concealer, which made gracie adore the look even more.
"i-i like your um look it's co— it's cute i mean it's- i um i like it," gracie awkwardly stuttered, avoiding eye contact.
"thanks, i like yours too," charlotte blushed. "and shit, you work out huh."
"a little," gracie mumbled as she blushed, watching charlotte hop up onto the counter to sit and face her. "so who're you here with?"
"sadie, noah schnapp, and matthew. i saw you with olivia."
"yeah we basically go to everything together," gracie said. "she's sweet, she'd like you. and by that i mean, she accidentally saw the memes you've been sending me about my music and laughed. don't worry she's not telling anyone," gracie chuckled.
charlotte smiled, "in that case i'd love to meet her. hey i've been waiting to ask you in person, remember how i said you can talk to me whenever about things?"
gracie nodded and inched closer to charlotte as the waitress passed by to exit.
"yeah, don't worry i've been okay." gracie was staring at the floor.
"are you sure? i just wanted to make sure, i haven't seen you in like three days and i know how people can be at places like this with all their relationship questions and shit—"
"i promise i'm good," gracie said, though it was a lie. "anyways, are you doing anything tomorrow night?"
charlotte was caught off guard for some reason and paused. "no."
"wanna maybe, if you want, maybe hangout?" gracie paused as well. "um ok i guess i lied a bit, i'm fucking miserable but... not when i'm hanging out with you."
a big smile spread across charlottes face that was hard for her to hide, "really?"
"yeah well. i don't know you make me feel... you're really sweet."
gracie cringed internally at her awkward sentence as charlotte hummed in amusement.
"yeah, let's do it," charlotte replied. "and i'm starting to love hanging out with you too." charlotte didn't know why that came off flirtatiously. she didn't even know if she intended to. but she didn't doubt saying it.
"i can pick you up tomorrow, whenever you want."
"cool, also we should get out of here, someone might come in, c'mon," charlotte said, opening the door to step out with gracie right behind her but they both immediately paused. staring from across them was the same waitress who was in the bathroom, but apparently she wasn't a waitress as she was standing with a group of photographers and other guests who all were now looking at gracie and charlotte, with her finger pointed right at them. soon enough, many others were looking. noah and sadie seemed to notice as well. before the two could casually exit, the pictures starting snapping, causing charlotte's stomach to drop and she bumped back into gracie when she began to back back into the washroom and shut the door.
"fuck," charlotte said, tapping her fingers against the wall as her breath started to thin. "fuck." she turned to look at gracie who was unsure of what to say, running a hand through her hand and staring at the door.
"those pictures will be out in like minutes..." gracie mumbled. she took a second to refocus before looking down at charlotte who was clearly taking this more difficultly.
her breathing was becoming rapid as she paced back and forth, her face getting hot and her hands shaky.
"charlotte, hey," gracie whispered, subconsciously taking the girls arm to position her to face her. "it'll be fine, let's not worry about this, we can just step out and pretend nothing happened. if we ignore it it'll all just be a rumour right?"
her words didn't seem to work as charlotte's grip on Gracie's sleeve became a little tighter.
the taller girl was completly unsure of what to do, of course she knows what panic attacks are but never was she out in the situation of someone else having one.
so she did what ever came first to mind, "come here," she quietly said, soothingly pulling charlotte into her arms, their chests connecting so that charlotte was able to feel gracie's normal breathing.
"we-we weren't," she gasped for air, "supposed to be seen—i-" charlotte closed her eyes when she felt the touch of gracie's cold hand running soothingly up and down her spine, her chin sitting just on top of her head.
"i know, i know, char," she said. "i know."
she wanted to slam her fist into something, or crumple to the floor, she couldn't really pick between the two as she bedded tears into gracie's blazer. but the fact that gracie was giving her the warm confirmation that she wasn't alone right now was enough to hold her on her feet, and she couldn't have admired her more.
finally her breathing started to recover, as she took shaky slow breaths that attempted to match gracie's, and her head went into the stage of spinning given the exhaustion.
"f-fuck," was all she was able to mumble as she felt sick and cautiously moved out of gracie's protecting touch and leaned against the counter to get more space and air.
"here," gracie said, reaching into her purse to pull out a piece of gum, which she placed in charlotte's hand. "helps."
charlotte nodded as a thank you, wiping her salty tears and throwing her head back to let out a long breath. she realized that was the quickest she'd ever gotten through a panic attack, and not with the help like someone she'd usually turn to like jude or sadie. but instead gracie and her gentle hands and voice. she couldn't adore that more than anything at the moment.
"what now?" charlotte awkwardly chuckled after taking a couple of minutes in silence. "um do we go back out, i don't really wanna go back out, but my friends are there and god they're gonna want an explanation," she rambled.
"hey, calm down," gracie giggled, placing her hand on charlottes shoulder. "it's fine it's not like we were caught kissing or something, just talking."
gracie paused after what she said, both of their cheeks went red and the two shared the same awkward chuckle, looking anywhere but each other
"yeah," charlotte smiled. "yeah that's true. i still don't wanna go out there though..."
gracie's eyes slowly panned out to the window near the roof of the room, then slowly looked back to charlotte.
"no, that is the dumbest—"
_
"c'mon," charlotte said, sticking her hand down to gracie who was standing on top of the counter looking up at charlotte who was on the roof. charlotte pulled gracie through and onto the roof, toppling overtop of her as they struggled.
"shit," gracie laughed as she clinged onto charlotte so she wouldn't fall. "okay quiet, let's go. there's my car."
neither of them knew why, but they didn't let go of holding each others hands as they climbed down the roof and dashed through the parking lot to gracie's car. charlotte looked back at the event, a frown tugging on her lips at what she knew was to come.
gracie seemed to notice as she had to reach across and shut charlotte's door side for her since the freckled girl was too zoned out to focus.
"where to?"
the two looked at each other, finally in a calmer state as they shared tender looks. gracie slowly let go of charlottes hand to grip the steering wheel, which was difficult given how her hands yearned to reconnect with charlotte's.
charlotte shrugged, "i'm kinda hungry, you?"
_
soph!
rlly rushed unedited chapter yay
guys why does everyone at my school have covid rn, we literally only had 10 people in one of my classes tdy, where tf did this outbreak come from i haven't even seen anyone have covid since like 2021
giving the last of us
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