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Grace was already sat on the coach with the rest of the boys, sat next to Colin with Isaac and Dani sat in front of them. All four of them invested in a game of Uno. Keeley and Rebecca get onto the coach as well, Grace looking up at them smiling as they move to the back. "UNO! EAT MY DUST!" Colin yelled out playing his last card down.
"Colin you can't play that card." Isaac pointed out.
"Yes I can."
"Colin that's a 9 not a 6 hun."
"... FUCK SAKE!" He sighs, snatching his cards off the pile.
"Right gang you ready to go?" Ted gets up on the coach as the engine starts, Grace gets a text through from Nate. She quickly squeezes past Colin telling the driver to stop as she opens the luggage doors moving the bags as she grabs Nate's hand helping him out.
"What are you doing in there?" She smirked as Nate chuckled awkwardly as they get back on the coach.
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The concierge opens the door to the suite as Rebecca, Keeley and Grace follow behind. "OHHHH!" Grace gasps at the size of the bed as she runs and jumps on it. "Keeley look at the size of our bed." Grace stretches her arms and legs out widely as Keeley dumps her bags on the floor jumping on the bed next to Grace, rolling on top of her.
"Here we go. It's the presidential suite. Hope it's to your satisfaction. Would you like me to show you the various room amenities?" The concierge asks Rebecca.
"No thanks, me and my lady here are gonna have a quick shag." She nods to Grace underneath her.
"Whilst our other lady films it." Grace adds, Keeley silently giggled with her as the concierge stuttered awkwardly, giving them a small welcome before practically running off. As soon as the door shuts Grace and Keeley bursting out in laughter as Keeley rolls off Grace.
"Can't believe you two just did that."
"What? He would've spent a cash tip in, like, a minute." Rebecca's facial expression changes. "Come on. The image I just gave him is gonna last for a lifetime."
"This is Rupert's and my anniversary weekend. And... it's the first one I've spent by myself..." Grace and Keeley both rush off the bed embracing her in a hug. "Thank you.... god this is a long hug." They all chuckle.
"Right, I need a shower, whole journey sitting with three men in an enclosed space in a warm coach." Grace broke away from the hug as she went into the bathroom.
"I'll order us some champagne."
"HELL YEAH!"
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"Grace is 8 pm good for you for the Steakhouse tonight." Rebecca knocked on the door of the bathroom, Grace still being in the bathroom. "Grace! Grace!"
"What?"
"Steakhouse! 8pm is that okay?!"
"6pm?"
"Oh nevermind." Rebecca mumbled to herself as she yelled for Keeley. Grace got out the shower and put the robe from the hotel on going back out to where Rebecca and Keeley were sat, drying her hair with a small hand towel.
"What was that about the Steak-" She noticed the silence in the room but Keeley's voice playing in the background, she turned round to see her on the TV advertising the nightlife in Liverpool. "Oh my god." Grace let a small laugh as Keeley and Rebecca turned their heads to glare at her. "Yeah sorry not funny."
"I don't even remember doing this." Keeley muttered.
"Here I'll fix it." Grace snatched the remote off Keeley and turned the TV off. "Right I'm off to finish getting ready." As Grace walked back to the bathroom there was a knock on the door. "Champagne's here." She cheered as she opened the door to a familiar face. "PEACHES?!"
"HERB?!" They squealed each other's nicknames as Grace jumped into Flo's arms, Flo spinning her round.
"Sassy?" Rebecca furrowed her eyebrows.
"Hiya Stinky, I didn't know you were friends with this one." Flo squeezed Grace tightly in a side hug.
"I- she-"
"There's so many different nicknames, I'm so confused!" Keeley spoke up.
"Uh Keeley this is my best friend for god knows how many years."
"Why Peaches and Herb?"
"We always sang 'Shake Your Groove Thing.'" Grace laughed. "Drove our Mum's crazy. Ugh I've missed you so much how long has it been?"
"I think a year maybe."
"What are you doing here?"
"I knew Stinky would be in town so I thought I'd pay her a visit. Who's this then? Is this your concubine? Is she Russian?" Flo nods towards Keeley. "Ohhh Gracie is this your lady friend that you've been telling me about." Grace's eyes widen. "You know the one you had little flings with this recent summer, oh wait no it can't be you. You told me she was older than you."
"Let's all have a drink!" Grace snatched the champagne bottle off her. "Where did you get this anyway?"
"Stole it off the room service trolley."
"You're amazing..." Keeley shakes her head in wonder. "I'm Keeley by the way." She startles Flo by hugging her.
"Yeah, I know who you are, honey. My ex used to masturbate to you like a maniac, so..."
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All four ladies were sat at the restaurant downstairs, all probably annoying everyone round them with their loud laughter as Rebecca tried continuously to cover her face somehow out of embarrassment, although not being able to wipe the smile off her face.
"I've got more embarrassing stories of Herb here if you want them, the funniest one is when we both went on holiday together."
"No! No! No!" Grace leaned over to Flo next to her trying to cover her mouth. "Don't please."
"The people want to hear the funny story Herb, just sit and wallow. So we're both 19, on our first holiday together second night we're there we go clubbing, I meet a cute guy, Herb meets a cute girl. They're friends on holiday together and staying at the same hotel as us, so for the next day we plan to do something all four of us. That day we see one of those inflatables being dragged by a speedboat, so we hire one of them. This girl and the guy are on the speedboat as me and Herb are on this banana inflatable clinging onto each other. It's a really hot sunny day and Herb here has sensitive skin so she put a t-shirt on top."
"Right end of story, please stop."
"Shush Herb let the adults talk. Anyway we're clinging on for dear life, and the driver of the boat is either high or just pure crazy cause he's going incredibly fast. And before I know it the boat is slowing down cause this one fell off, but it's fine always happens. The boat pulls up beside her as this girl on the boat helps her back in and then the girl and guy both burst out into laughter me and her sharing a confused look until i realize that when she fell off the impact or the wind must've moved her bikini top because her boobs have come out and guess who stupidly choose to wear a white t-shirt, both of her boobs on display."
"Thanks for that Peaches."
"You're welcome darling, come on you've got to admit it was funny. And it wasn't all that embarrassing for you, the girl complimented them."
"She did." Grace nodded.
"Does your new lady friend compliment them."
"Can we not mention her, not seeing her anymore." Grace shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"Oh you young people and you're relationship problems."
"I'm nearly 35 Flo I'd hardly call that young."
"YOU'RE 34?!" Keeley gasped out in shock as Grace nodded. "Fuck you're so fit for your age, how do you look so flawless?"
"Enough."
"No I'm serious, let's elope and make loads of babies." Keeley places her hand on top of Grace's making her laugh.
"So how old was she, this mysterious lady, cause I have to say I was quite shocked, you usually like the younger models."
"Thanks for making me sound like a pedo Flo." Grace sips her drink, smiling sarcastically.
"Come on then give me all the info, you told me fuck all over text just her personality, I don't give a shit about that. Is she loaded? How old is she? And are they saggy or perky?"
"Sassy!" Rebecca blurted making everyone laugh as she rolled her eyes before joining in laughing. You're not getting anything out of me."
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It was the next morning as the alarm went to tell Keeley and Grace to wake up to get ready for the match. "Keeley turn it off." Grace groaned struggling to open her eyes as the sunlight was seeping through the curtains. "Ughhh my head.... Keeley. Keeley the alarm please!" The alarm kept ringing out as Grace groaned leaning over Keeley somehow still fast asleep, grabbing her phone and turning off the alarm.
They eventually got ready for the match, both Keeley and Grace suffering with the constant loud noise as Rebecca beside them in the box seemed perfectly fine, rolling her eye every now and then at them complaining about their headaches.
Everyone was on edge as they were playing Everton and there was a pattern of them always harshly losing against them, although she still had a headache, fading but still hurting, Grace screamed as loud as she could when they surprisingly won, rushing to the changing room where the team were. All the boys cheering when she excitedly bursted into the room, Colin enveloping her in a hug as some of the boys joined in as they jumped up and down cheering.
"Oi! Listen up! None of you are going back to the hotel tonight. 'Cause we did something today that no one thought we could do, including us! So, we're going out, we're celebrating, and we're gonna rub it in this city's fucking face!"
"Where are we going then Grandpa!?" Grace yelled out making everyone laugh.
"Don't ruin the moment Taylor." He warned pointing at her as he helped Keeley stand up on the bench beside him. "Keeley." He encouraged.
"Well, Liverpool has much to offer. From pubs to clubs." Keeley recited her speech they continuously played on everyone's TVs back at the hotel. "To the great Asian pastime of... KARAOKE!"
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"I GET KNOCKED DOWN I GET UP AGAIN! NEVER EVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN! I GET KNOCKED DOWN BUT I GET UP AGAIN!" Everyone laughed at Grace and Colin jumping up and down together in sync, singing drunkenly. Everyone cheered as they dramatically bowed at the end of the song.
Grace noticed the absences of Flo and Rebecca as she went over to the machine to put her name down again for another song, then Rebecca after her, Flo giving her a hint to the song she should sing.
Keeley ran outside to find them both having a fag, as Beard started his song. "There you guys are, god I thought you left me. I never heard abandonment issues till now." She chuckled. "Come on you're about to miss Gracie." All three of them rushed back in cheering as Beard finished singing Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. "We've got Gracie up next on her own this time. Give it up for Gracie." Everyone cheered.
"Thank you! Thank you." SHe dramatically bowed. "This is my favourite song at the moment by the legend herself Taylor Swift!"
"Taylor Swift woo!" Dani called out in his thick Spanish accent.
"And because the lyrics are pure masterpiece." The instrumental version of 'Cruel Summer' started playing as Grace smiled at Keeley mouth opening in shock when she realised the meaning behind the song and why Grace was singing it.
"And it's new, the shape of your body. It's blue, the feeling I've got. And it's ooh, whoa, oh. It's a cruel summer. It's cool, that's what I tell 'em. No rules in breakable heaven. But ooh, whoa oh. It's a cruel summer. With you" Grace kept switching her glances between anyone in the room to Rebecca, giving her a subtle smile, everyone singing along with her as she came to the bridge.
"I'm drunk in the back of the car. And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar. Said, 'I'm fine,' but it wasn't true. I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you. And snuck in through the garden gate, every night that summer just to seal my fate. And I screamed for whatever it's worth. 'I love you,' ain't that the worst thing you ever heard? He looks up grinning like a devil."
Grace snuck round the back of Rebecca's house finding her usual entry spoit, the opened entry in the bush at the very end of her garden. "Ow." She mumbled to herself as she lost her footing crouching down, accidentally holding onto a rose bush, a thorn stabbed into her finger. "Fucking hell." She sighed to herself as she walked up to Rebecca's glass doors, knocking on them, as Rebecca rushed to open them for her.
"How long does it take to get here?"
"Well I don't exactly walk through the front door do I? I have to do some James Bond shit, don't I? You don't have a plaster do you?" She held her bleeding finger up as Rebecca rushes to get a plaster and a anti-bacterial wipe. She sat beside her at the kitchen counter wiping and putting the plaster on Grace's finger for her.
"Do I always have to come through the garden?"
"Yes, the press are on my back at the moment with the divorce. If they get a photo of you coming into my house, it will be everywhere, like..."
"Explosive diarrhea?"
"Ew!... You manage to come up with the most sexy sayings." Rebecca shook he r head sarcastically.
"What can I say?" Grace shrugged. "I'm one sexy woman."
"She says with a bleeding finger and mud all over her face. Your name is Grace... you're supposed to be graceful."
"I'm unique, I like to surprise people." Rebecca laughed. "I love seeing you laugh." Grace beamed.
"Because I like having you having you here." Rebecca held her hand.
"Well good cause I like being here too."
Singing the last part with all her might, giving everyone another dramatic bow as they cheered loudly for her, Keeley running up to her excitedly squealing, Grace squealing along with her.
"You're so sneaky with the meaning behind that." She smiled. "But babes did you see her during it?"
"What did she look terrified cause she knew the meaning?"
"No, she could not wipe that massive grin off her fucking face for one fucking minute."
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Everyone cheered for Rebecca as she started singing, Flo filming her, Grace watched with a massive smile on her face, cheering every now and then. Her face dropped when Ted brushed past her not looking well, she grabbed her coat from the sofa, not noticing Rebecca's face dropping when she saw her leave following Ted.
"Ted? Ted?" She called for him as she made her way outside. She rushed over to him shaking on the floor. "Hey! Hey! It's okay. I'm here. Sweetheart breathe for me yeah?"
"Gracie?'
"Yeah it's me sweetheart, you're okay."
"I can't. I don't know what's going on. I'm... I'm sorry." He cries covering his face with his hands.
"No need to apologise to me. You're having a panic attack, okay? They're fucking horrible, but even more horrible when you're alone, that's why I'm gonna stay right here, but you need to calm down your breathing first." She placed a hand to his chest as he held it. "Just follow my breathing okay?"
"Am I going crazy?"
"No." Grace chuckled. "Can't get any crazier than me. And if you feel like you're going more crazy than me... well then that's when we need to be concerned." She made him smile before letting a few cries out. "Aw sweetheart." He leaped into her arms as she squeezed him tightly, Ted crying into her jacket, before his breathing calmed down. "There you go. How do you feel now? Better?" He nodded. "Okay good." She picked up the vodka bottle beside her taking a massive sip. "Wanna talk about it?" He shook his head. "Okay. That's fine. You're not alone Ted. And you're certainly not going crazy. It's a panic attack, their common nowadays, seems like everyone is having them. I mean I do."
"Yeah?" Grace nodded in return.
"Had them for ages, ever since my Dad left and my Mum died. But the point is, it's fine."
"I'm scared."
"That's normal sweetie, you get scared all the time with these things no matter how many times you have them. BUt like I always say, you come to me yeah?" Ted nodded. "You wanna go back to the hotel." He nodded again. "Want me to come with you?"
"No I'm fine. I think I just need to clear my head, spend some time alone."
"Okay, sweetie." Grace held his hand as they both stood up. "Text me when you get back to your room so I know you're alright." Ted startled her with another hug.
"Thank you Gracie."
"It's okay."
"I love you." Grace froze at the sentence as her eyes welled up.
"I love you too."
"Sorry about your Mum."
"That's for another time.. but thanks." Ted broke away from the hug as he zipped his coat up walking off. Grace stood there watching him go as tears fell down her cheeks. "Fuck sake." She turned away wiping her cheeks.
"Hey." A unfamiliar girl came up to her. "Sorry to bother you but uh I'm in the room you guys are in, and I just wanted to say you have a lovely voice."
"Oh thank you."
"Beautiful voice with a beautiful face." Grace chuckled awkwardly. "Um sorry if this is too forward but um... do you want to get a drink some place else?"
"Umm."
"It's alright if you don't want to. But you look like you could do with one and a good chat to go with it."
"Um sorry, I ca- It's just I've got an early morning tomorrow and i just wanna go back and sleep."
"Totally understand, but if you change your mind or want that chat, Colin in there has got my number, I'm his friend, my name's Poppy."
"Nice to meet you Poppy, have a good night."
"And you too."
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Grace was sat slumped at the hotel bar near the entrance, continuously asking for the bartender to fill her glass up. "Grace." A warm hand delicately placed onto her shoulder. "Grace sweetheart I think it's time we got you to bed." Rebecca watched her with concern.
"Yeah I think you're right." Grace jumped off the high chair and walked off Rebecca following her as they took the lift. "You were amazing by the way... at singing."
"Oh thanks you too."
"Sorry I didn't see all of it, I went to go check on Ted." Rebecca pressed the button to their level.
"Is he okay?"
".... he's fine. Just think he ate something bad." Grace lied.
"I can tell when something's on your mind you know? We may not have been official but I've known you long enough to know when something's troubling you." Grace stayed silent. "Does it have something to do with your song of choice at karaoke?" Rebecca stopped talking when the lift doors opened at a different level as Beard with Nate leaning on him walked in.
"Can't find his room." Beard mumbled as Rebecca and Grace made space between them for Beard and Nate to stand. A silence filling the small room before the lift stopped at Beard's level as he practically dragged Nate out of the lift. "See you in the morning."
"Night Beard."
"So you just going to stay quiet?"
"There's nothing to say." Grace shrugged ast the lift opened at their level. Rebecca let themselves in as Grace headed straight for her and Keeley's room. "Good night Rebecca."
"Night Grace." Rebecca watched her sadly close the door behind her, she went into the bathroom to wipe her makeup off and to get changed into her pajamas. Opening the bathroom door startled to see Grace waiting for her outside.
"I'm a mess, and I've always doubted that you liked me and that's why you never wanted to make it official!" She blurted out.
"You aren't a mess, Grace." Rebecca placed her hand on Grace's cheek. "You were the right person, just at the wrong time."
"Did you love me? Did you love me like I loved you?"
"You loved me?"
"Still do and I hate you for it."
"Grace, you were the only person who could make me laugh, smile or feel safe when I was going through the shittest times of my life.... of course I loved you."
"What's stopping us from trying again?"
"I'm an even worse person than before."
"And I'm a mess, we'll be a big, fat, mess together." Rebecca sighed. "Think about it. Because you don't know how much it hurts having to work with you everyday." Rebecca let out another sigh before leaning down capturing Grace's lips in soft kiss. Grace grabbed Rebecca's waist as they walked back, Grace's back hitting Rebecca's bedroom door as they crashed onto the bed.
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