greta.strom

733k followers

jaymillaur Dang chick you still got that fire

alexkazemi proud of u

1in_tang

gamalu15 BAEE

juniors_1st_time_ Hello beautiful

_everodriguezzz Que diosaaa

michaelmykole Everybody loves a comeback…. .

Greta wakes up and for a second doesn’t know where she is, but there’s a familiarity in that. Through the open window she can hear seagulls and waves crashing. Malibu.

There’s a knock on the door. One of the Cliffside Malibu staff tells her she has a visitor waiting for her outside.

She dreamed of her dad last night. It was more a memory than a dream. When she was little, she used to sit in his lap and drag her hand across the stubble on his chin, over and over again, in the same way she would touch the velvety ears of her teddy bear as she fell asleep. It comforted her.

It was seeing herself through Jessica’s eyes that made Greta realize she needed to enter rehab. She hadn’t really been seeing herself, but Jessica stood her in front of the mirror in the bathroom attached to Joel’s hospital room and made her look at her reflection. She was so skinny, and there were dark circles under her eyes. There were still some scratch marks on her arms and legs from running through the forest. Her hair was greasy. And most of all, she just looked so goddamn sad.

Greta gets out of bed and slips on a pair of yoga pants and a cropped hoodie, then pulls her hair into a ponytail and splashes water on her face.

Jessica is waiting for Greta on a bench outside, looking out at the view of the Pacific. She’s wearing a floral dress and a floppy sun hat, and she takes off her sunglasses as Greta approaches. She’s misty-eyed. Jessica stands up and Greta lets herself be hugged.

“I was scared that you’d wake up in the middle of the night and run,” Jessica says into Greta’s ear. “I know they have an open-door policy here. I don’t want to lose you ever again.”

Greta pulls away from her dad’s arms. “I didn’t want to lose you,” she says. “Sometimes we don’t have a choice.”

“You’re right.” Jessica sighs. “Sometimes we don’t.”

They stare into each other’s eyes, communicating a million things without saying a word. Greta thought it would be so weird looking at her dad after all the plastic surgery and changes. She thought seeing her dad in a dress would scar her the way it did Joel when he caught Jessica in Greta’s closet freshman year. Greta’s clothes were going missing and she’d thought it was Hailey raiding her closet. When Joel told her what he’d walked in on, he’d seemed so disturbed by it, but Greta had just laughed it off. So Dad liked to play dress-up. She thought vaguely it might be some weird sex thing. Whatever. There were tons of weird things. Greta didn’t think it was that serious. She didn’t think it was going to lead to her losing her dad and hero.

Greta lifts her hand and touches Jessica’s chin. Jessica lets her. She doesn’t even blink. It isn’t the same. Jessica’s chin has been lasered, pulled, stuffed. It’s so smooth, Greta’s fingers slide right off.

“I hope you aren’t thinking of coming to the premiere tomorrow night,” Jessica says. “I think it’s too much pressure too soon…”

“Don’t worry, Dad. The show is the last thing on my mind.”

Jessica nods with relief. She rubs Greta’s cheek affectionately. And there it is. The familiarity Greta was hoping for. When her dad touches her, it feels the same as it always has.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Jessica says.

Greta smiles. “I’m glad you are, too.”