Everything after that kind of went by like a haze.
Since it was never mentioned to her team that Gracie wanted to hire a new personal assistant five seconds prior to touring, this was a great surprise for everybody involved. In a matter of a couple of days, the Y/E/C-eyed girl learnt to memorise almost everything on paper there was to learn about Gracie. Her circle, her schedule, her likes and dislikes, her habits and whatnot.
And now they were thrown on the road. In a tour bus.
Y/N stayed holed up in her bunk. Her eyes closed as she tried to see if she could remember what she just read. "Are you sure you have no allergies or medicine or anything that would require emergency care?" she abruptly asked.
Gracie was in the bunk across from her, staring at her as the girl was mumbling to herself the entire night. Initially, she was watching the TV above her little bed, but the nerves from being on the road again made it hard for her to focus on some silly show. Her new companion was a better distraction. Besides, the Y/E/C-eyed girl looked quite mesmerising like this, with her glasses perked up and a bundle of papers pressed to her face like a dork. "Not that I'm aware of," she answered, amused. "This is not an exam, you don't have to stress so much over it."
"One time I didn't know the kid I was babysitting was allergic to nuts. He ate an entire granola bar in front of me," Y/N deadpanned. "He didn't die, thank fucking god. But yeah, I got fired and the mum wanted to sue me..." Y/N finished the latter part of the sentence sheepishly, rubbing her nose. "But anyway, I'm just trying to not accidentally kill you or anything."
"Don't worry. Worst case scenario, if you accidentally unalived me, I'd just haunt you." Gracie chuckled. "I can add a tiny sentence in the contract that you got my heads up and won't have to suffer any legal consequences."
Y/N rolled her eyes and threw her own TV remote at the singer. "You're so annoying sometimes."
Gracie caught the remote easily and grinned at her. "You're just too serious sometimes. I've got you, you know," she said softly.
"Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
"Works both ways."
Y/N turned to lie sideways, mirroring the older girl so that they were facing each other. Neither of them spoke up, they were just looking at each other, anticipating, challenging, teasing. Just like all their other staring contests where there was really no point in it at all, they just somehow keep falling back into it like two magnets. Even though there was a whole pathway separating their bunks, it felt like there was still not enough distance between them. The small stupid banter they also kept falling back into wasn't helping at all either. Y/N knew she was getting herself into deep shit with this, but... maybe this wasn't so bad. That being said, this probably wouldn't create the most ideal employee-boss environment either. She snapped herself out of it and climbed out of the bunk. "I'm gonna go for a smoke," she announced.
"We're on a bus right now," Gracie said, laughing.
Y/N flushed red in the middle of the riding tour bus and quickly rushed in another direction. "Brush my teeth, I mean. Haven't done that yet." She was so amazing at making excuses sound convincing, she mentally facepalmed herself.
About ten minutes later, she came back to see Gracie sitting in the front lounge. She thought about heading straight back to her bunk, using sleepiness as the new excuse this time. Halfway down the bus, she made a U-turn and plopped down next to the brunette.
"Finished brushing your teeth, weirdo?"
"Mhmm."
Gracie gave her a pointed look. Y/N, on the contrary, looked at her innocently, making her roll her eyes. "Don't tell me you're scared of me," she confronted. The girl was literally running away from her, she couldn't have made it any more obvious.
Y/N furrowed her eyebrows, chuckling. "Of course not." The words didn't come out as confident as the little act. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Scared isn't exactly the word I'd use, but yes, you make me nervous sometimes," she easily admitted. "Such as right now." She didn't feel comfortable enough for Gracie to comment on it so she quickly found something else to redirect the conversation. Her eyes landed on the TV screen mounted in the corner. "Oh my god, not Mr Squarepants again," Y/N groaned out loud.
That day, after Y/N barged into Gracie's apartment unannounced to comfort her, she ended up staying with the singer. They eventually left the bathroom floor and ordered takeouts to eat together. Y/N asked what Gracie's comfort show was and the night ended with the Gracie falling asleep on Y/N's shoulder as Spongebob played in the background.
That night, after watching him for hours, the Y/E/C-eyed girl dreamt of the yellow sponge chasing her with his trusty net while she herself was reincarnated as a jellyfish. She hated Gracie for that. But then again, how could she blame her when she looked so genuinely amused and intrigued by the kids' show?
Gracie bursted out laughing at the story of Y/N's nightmare. "That's actually hilarious, aww," she cooed, ruffling the younger girl's hair. "Did he catch you?"
"Thank god, no."
Gracie couldn't help the smile on her lips. She was too adorable, it was hard to resist. But she also couldn't ignore what they were talking about before the girl expertly diverted the topic. She turned off the TV and turned to face her, earning her full attention. "How long has it been since you got laid?"
"Excuse me?"
Gracie shrugged before leaning forward in her seat, closer to the younger girl. "I mean, you've been constantly working these crazy shifts. When was the last time you've gone on a date or hooked up with someone?" she asked. Obviously this wasn't the ideal reaction or follow-up question she should be asking after Y/N's confession. However, giving in to this sudden sexual tension between them was an absolute no-go. They've just been on the tour bus for a couple of hours, they were supposed to survive this for a year. She refused to believe they just had such great chemistry, so maybe a lack of sexual action could at least account for some of their tension.
Y/N stared at the brunette for a moment, her mouth hung open. She let out a small chuckle. "I'm on dating apps, love," she said slowly. "Okay sure, I haven't been on it for the last couple of months but." She let the rest of the sentence hang in the air and shrugged.
"A couple of months," Gracie repeated, raising her eyebrows.
"I don't like that look."
"I think you should give the apps another go."
Y/N frowned, shaking her head. "We're travelling all over the States. It's gonna be messy, why should I?"
"I'm not telling you to enter a serious relationship. You need to loosen up more, I think a fling would do you some good." Gracie had a very very strange gut feeling that these words will bite her in the ass one day. But for the time being, this sounded like an excellent solution. She couldn't deny that there was some obvious attraction and appeal but it wasn't like she was in love with her or anything. It'd be good to kill this crush before it's properly formed and ruined everything.
Y/N bit her lip, unsure. She could argue that she actually had numerous flings in the past, thanks to everyone's input on her love life. She couldn't even count on one hand how many times people had told her to 'fuck around' because she had been known to get attached to one person too much. It was just an endless circle. "Yeah sure, I guess." Hesitatingly, she pulled up Hindr, her trusty yet traumatising dating app, on her phone.
It has definitely been a while since she last opened the app.
Gracie leaned over her shoulder to look at the screen too. "Wow wow wow, over fifty likes. Look at you."
To both of their surprise, Y/N handed Gracie her phone. "Do the honours," she offered. She wasn't entirely sure she could blindly trust the brunette's judgment, but she looked very intrigued.
Gracie took over the phone and was immediately met with a... very unflattering selfie of a stranger. Everything about the picture was giving creepy. "Oh my god-- Sorry," she gasped, covering her mouth before quietly clicking on the cross.
The next picture showed a hunky man in some very tight undies. It outlined everything.
"What the... No!"
The next girl looked quite normal. She was pretty. A bit boring maybe, but-- The next picture was of her in a very compromising position with a what-seemed-to-be stripper.
"No."
Another big guy. Each and every picture was him flexing in the gym mirror. His muscles were impressive, but that seemed to be the only thing he had about him. All his prompts were about wanting a fit girl who could be his gym buddy.
"Eh."
-
About twenty crossed potential matches later, Gracie was ready to press on the X once again but Y/N hovered her hand over the screen to stop her. "Wait, this one isn't so bad," the younger girl defended.
"Y/N, be fucking serious," Gracie said, turning to look at her bewildered. She raised her eyebrows and shoved the phone to her face. She had seen a lot of bad profiles, this was one of the worse ones.
Y/N shrugged innocently. "You told me to not be so serious."
"He is double your age and is looking for a 'kinky' partner, what do you mean?!"
"Fine."
-
The prompt read: Green flag I look out for is women who have nice ass🍑and are looking for a daddy to submit to😏 (bonus points if your young and inexperienced but are open to anything 😉)
"Bottom of the barrel"
"Aw, you don't have a daddy kink?" Y/N teased, nudging Gracie with her shoulder.
Gracie narrowed her eyes at her. She fake-gagged to make sure the point came across. "No, unfortunately, I do not."
-
"Which one is he?"
"Probably the one holding the fish."
-
"Aw, his dog is so cute... He is not, sorry."
-
"Ew!"
-
"Oh my fucking god, that was an actual butthole of a man. I'm wanna bleach my eyes."
-
"I swear if I see pineapple on pizza as someone's controversial opinion or debate starter one more fucking time, I'll hurt somebody."
-
"She seems nice actually," Gracie commented, turning the screen for Y/N to see better. She turned her head as well and it was just now she noticed how close the Y/E/C-eyed girl was. They've been hunched over the screen for probably an hour. Apparently they've been more focused on it than she'd realised. She could practically feel Y/N's head on her shoulder, with the rest of her body curled up pretty close to her as well.
Y/N looked at the screen then back at Gracie, scrunching up her nose. "Meh." She failed to notice the blush on the older girl's face.
Gracie cleared her throat and clicked the potential match away. "Yeah... not your type, right?"
The next girl that popped up was gorgeous. However, it might as well have been an OnlyFans advertisement. Her boobs or butt were jutted out in every picture, taking over the entire screen. Not to mention, the different types of cosplay outfit she was wearing for each photo. "Now this is your type," Gracie said with a smirk. If there was one thing she'd learnt about Y/N, it was that she absolutely could not look at girls who looked too sexy. She was too shy to.
Y/N squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the phone out of her face. "Fuck off."
Gracie laughed at her before moving on to the next profile. "What about this?" she asked again.
"Dude."
"She's got nice boobs."
Yeah, which was also about the only thing nice about her. All her prompts were one-worded and all her pictures were from a similar angle. And the angle was straight down her shirt. "I'm not a horny teenage boy, I can't even see what her face looks like!" Y/N exclaimed.
"You're blushing," Gracie teased.
Y/N covered her cheeks with her hands and playfully glared at the girl. "Abrams."
"You sure you don't want her?"
"Cross it!"
The resulting profiles earned a "No." "No." "Absolutely fucking not." "No." "Fuck no." "Huh?" "Not really." "What the hell is this?" "No." "I can't do this anymore." and a "What the actual fuck." Until Gracie had successfully crossed surely over a hundred bachelors that were ready to slide into the Y/E/C-eyed girl's chat. It was actually quite impressive how she had managed to reject almost every one of them without a spare glance. The only difference was the level of confusion and disgust with each 'nope'. She might have matched with... four people? Out of roughly a hundred and twenty people.
"You're quite picky, yeah?" Y/N commented, amused, as she retrieved back her phone.
Gracie, still shocked by all that she had witnessed from the app, turned to raise her eyebrows at the younger girl. "Would you have wanted to match with any of them?" she challenged. Because if this girl said yes right now to any of the people she's crossed out, she would be even more scared.
"I'm more curious about who would meet your standards for me."
Out of the rare four people that Gracie had matched for her, she actually had no idea whether they were even Y/N's type. She honestly just did it based on her personal taste. She knew nothing about what kind of person the Y/E/C-eyed girl liked actually. "Can I look at your matches? Because I honestly cannot imagine with whom you would've matched with."
"Go for it."
Gracie didn't waste another second and clicked on the last person Y/N had chatted with. An extremely gorgeous brunette. It almost felt like she had entered another app. "Oooh, okay, she is hot," she admitted.
Y/N turned to her, her eyebrows shot up so high they almost reached her hairline. She never really considered the possibility that Gracie could be gay. From the way the brunette was studying the stranger in the pictures, this was the first time that thought ever crossed her mind. There were handsome guys in her likes earlier too (they just had a shitty personality), but none of them had caught Gracie's attention like this one here. She was definitely checking her out right now.
She kept her mouth shut on that though, and let Gracie continue exploring whatever else. The singer actually entered every single chat and profile, studying all of them immensely. It wasn't like she was actively reading all her texts, she just skimmed through them to see how much exchange there's been. However... "Okay, don't look at that part," Y/N quickly intercepted, covering the explicit conversation with her hand.
It was too late. Certain words caught Gracie's eyes before she could stop herself. Her cheeks burned heavily as she handed the phone back to its owner. She cleared her throat, but it didn't help much. "You uh, you have a very obvious type when it comes to girls," she managed to stammer out, a poor attempt to save both of their embarrassment.
"Do I?" Y/N questioned.
Gracie looked at the overview of all of Y/N's matches, then back up at the girl. Physically, 90% of them are the same people in different fonts. Brown-eyed girls with wavy brown hair. Fair-skinned with some warm undertones. Feminine but with a hint of a tomboy, street-style look. Even with their personality, most of them shared similar traits in the way they carried themselves, playful, blunt, sarcastic, potty-mouthed, quick-witted, and confident. She wasn't even sure the Y/E/C-eyed girl was aware of it. She also wasn't sure whether the younger girl saw her perfectly fitting into that same box. As for the guys, there was no clear pattern at all. She seemed to just match with any guy that was somewhat good-looking, it didn't matter what their profile said. The first part though... remained a point of concern.
"What would you say your type is?" Gracie asked.
"There has to be good banter and chemistry between us. And like someone with proper communication skills because I will probably lose my mind if one more person runs away from the issue rather than trying to fix things. Someone who tries to understand my perspective and gives a shit about me. Yeah, mostly that," Y/N said with a nod. She noticed Gracie still looking at her expectantly, so she continued, "Well, if we're going into the details, someone with good style is fucking hot. Like they have to know what looks good on them. Some can wear just a simple black hoodie and oof... And, depends on how specific you want me to get, because for example, it's so random but for a while, I also found people who played the guitar like so crazily attractive, especially the acoustic one, or a semi-hollow one." She wasn't that picky of a lover. However, she also had a quite detailed list of just the most randomly specific things she'd find attractive in a person.
"Did you know I played guitar?" At this point, there was no point in even trying to find an appropriate response. There was none. So might as well make it worse.
"I don't."
"Well, you'll be in for a ride, buddy," Gracie joked with a wink. Not only did she fit Y/N's type entirely to the T, this was like the perfect cherry on top. They were most definitely in for a ride.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N
(//not sponsored) Hinge truly is an experience. Not the good kind lmfao. Two of my crushes actually have looked through my hinge. One was on it for a good 20 minutes and crossed every single person and i think it traumatised (and amused) her lol. It was fun tho cuz I could see in her eyes how it was slowly sucking the life out of her. The other was like "if u saw me on here, would u match with me?" and i was like "??? bro you're straight, i wouldn't see you on here??" 🤠👍🏻 so inspired by true events.
A weird fun fact, but i've run into two people who i've met on wattpad on that fucking app. Some universes are not meant to be crossed, this is one of them. I would've matched with one of them btw lmaooooo.