Page 43 of Fall From Grace

I heard another male in the background. “I gotta go, Grace, I’ll call you tonight okay?”

I frowned. “Okay…”

The moment we hung up, I received a text message from him

I’ll tell u whatever u want 2 know 2nite.

I sent him a happy face emoji.

Only I ended up staying the night at Tiffany’s where her and Sara overloaded me on chocolate so that I would forgive them. I kept my phone close and sighed all night, disappointed that I was missing out on the conversation I wanted to have with Noah.

“After the show you gave everyone at the football game last night, everyone’s going to believe Dustin,” Tiffany bit into a piece of pizza as she spoke.

“Hello, earth to Grace, don’t you care that Dustin’s most likely going to make you sound like the wicked witch of the west?” Sara threw a chip at me. What was with my friends and them throwing stuff?

“Not really,” I mumbled, glancing at my phone.

“Ugh!” Tiffany groaned.

“You two helped him keep it a secret from me,” I mentioned and they both started smiling.

“Here, would you like another piece of cake, my Grace?” Sara bowed her head at me and I tried not to smile. “I’ve been rooting for Noah all this time, but I also wanted to stay chummy with Dustin, do you understand what I’m saying? Help a girl out! You can’t have them both.”

“I don’t want Dustin,” I told her.

She crossed her arms. “Then why did you say yes after all this time?”

My mouth fell open as I looked at her. “Because I wanted to…” They both started squealing and I rolled my eyes. “But I should have known I wouldn’t have felt that bottomless feeling in my stomach with Dustin.”

“I know I would,” Sara said.

Tiffany shook her head at her. “So, you and Noah aren’t together yet?”

I shook my head. “I want to see him again already but I don’t know how to ask him. It’s been so long, I’m afraid that this time apart has let him slip through my fingers.”

“Nah,” Tiffany and Sara both started saying the same thing. “He was looking for you on the field last year, and last night was the same way, besides what boy is gonna contact your mom’s work just to try and get in touch with you?”

“I don’t want Noah as a friend though,” I muttered. “I want all of him, in every way and it’s making me want to breathe fire out of my mouth when I think of him being with another girl.”

“It’s not a big deal, Grace, most of the guys at our school aren’t virgins. It was painful when I lost mine, I’m not gonna lie,” Sara said, giving me a pained expression.

She didn’t understand how I felt, though, neither of them could. Noah and I would have been each other’s firsts, I could have shared that with him until life stripped it away from me.

“Just imagine, he’s got the experience to make it feel better for you, for when you do finally,” Tiffany winked, “ya know.”

“You’re so lame,” Sara told her.

Noah already knew how to do those things before. I had already experienced a taste of what he could do to my body.

22

Grace age 16

Noah age 17

Every chance I get while I’m working at the garage, I pull out my phone and stare at the picture she sent me the night before of her and Gus. She’s so damn beautiful I can’t stand it. I need to see her again so bad that it hurts. I think it’s worse now that I’ve finally seen her again. Now, I know what I’ve missed, how much she’s grown like I have over the years and it’s fucking depressing because I know without a doubt, Grace should have been my girl.

Somehow, Dustin got her.

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