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Noah
Adrian handed me a beer and sat down beside me; I was at the dining room table sorting through admin from the gallery. He sat down beside me and eyed me suspiciously.
"You never do admin and I mean never. I thought you'd be with your girlfriend today. Didn’t you have some sort of surprise planned today?"
" I don't think we're together." I muttered and flipped through the book.
"That's the shortest relationship you've ever had but I'm guessing that you didn't decide to end it by the looks of your admin." He took a sip of his beer and studied me.
"Stop staring at me. You know you could help me."
"No, not until you tell me exactly what happened." He crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "And why would I tell you?" I felt like we were some pair of high school girls gossiping about our crushes.
"Maybe I can help."
"Your specialization is in the infantry I don't think you know much about romance." He clutched his chest in mock hurt.
"You underestimate me. Who’s the one that's been married for four years? Believe me, I know a thing or two about women."
"Fine. If it'll get you to shut up. Grace said that she wanted us to slow things down because she can't deal with things right now. I can't do slow again. She also said it doesn't feel right to her. We don't feel right for each other." I swallowed hard.
"It would have helped if you stayed to talk about it with her, ask her why it doesn’t feel right and what you could do to help her. There must be a reason why she said that. People don't simply say that they can't be in a relationship when things go a little faster than they are used to. She's scared."
"Scared of what, me?"
"Sometimes you are very stupid. I see I've inherited all the good parts of dad's logic. She's scared of commitment. You mentioned it was her first real relationship so you should remember that.”
He's right. It must've scared her to be getting this serious this quickly. All I was doing was ignoring it and probably making her feel worse than she already was feeling. I'm a dick.
"Ah, I see the lightbulb had finally gone on. She's a great girl and amazing if she can deal with all your shit. That's one in a million."
"Amanda was also one in a million and look what happened." I grunted through gritted teeth.
"Do you really think that Grace will sleep with another woman?"
"No."
"It’s her birthday so I suggest you call her and talk to her. You're such an idiot." He commented and stood up, walking upstairs. I never invited him to stay over so he invited himself. And unfortunately, he is right. I downed the bottle of liquid courage and grabbed the phone. I’m an idiot for wanting to rush things with Grace.
It kept ringing and ringing. She wouldn't want to talk to me now anyways. I slammed my phone down onto the table. I needed to talk to her, but I couldn't drive back now. Not after the amount of beer I had even before Adrian handed me this one.
My admin is going to look like a mess.
––––––––
Grace
I sat down on my bed after Noah left. What just happened?
"Come on!" Harper grabbed me and pulled me out of the room by my arm.
"All your hare-brained schemes start with 'come on'." I commented wryly.
"Well it's your birthday and I won't let some asshole dictate your special day. Forget him, let’s have some fun!"
"He's not some asshole; I'm the insecure one here." She had this devious smile on her face that told me I was in for a wild ride.
"Just come on!" She ushered me out of the front door. She basically manhandled me into the car, acting deaf to all my protesting and cussing. I questioned her at every turn where we were going but she kept her mouth close. I didn't even have time to grab my phone, so I was a bit annoyed. Her not telling me where we were going increased my annoyance tenfold.
She stopped at a well-known sports bar in town. I don't like sports or going to a bar so why would she think this combination would work? The place was dark and looked abandoned which gave me severe goose bumps. Maybe she has finally gone off the deep end-I knew this was coming but I wasn't sure when. I followed Harper, trying to stay behind her just in case. I'd let her be the first victim of a murderer because I'm sure she'll do the same for me.
She opened the door and the lights flickered on, I felt something before the lights went on and kind of attacked it.
When the lights flicked on people yelled ’Surprise!’ while I was clutching onto my brother's arm and him glaring at me mouthing 'Ow fuck!' loudly. I let go quickly. People came up to me hugging and congratulating me. I saw my father, so I excused myself and enveloped my dad in a big hug. There's just nothing on earth like my father's hugs.
Harper smiled at me from afar. Oh, she was sneaky. I didn't expect anything until the lights went on.
I now noticed that this place was decorated with streamers and banners saying happy birthday. The tables that were draped in decorations and balloons. As I looked at my father, I could feel a newfound happiness in my heart. I was one of those lucky people that still had their parents and siblings in their lives.
"Happy Birthday my darling," He pecked a kiss on my cheek and squeezed me tightly, "I remember the day you were born, it felt like yesterday. Your mother and I were so happy, your brother, on the other hand, thought you were some pink squishy mutant." I laughed.
"He still thinks I am, except the pink part." Adam stopped beside me, "Are you gossiping about me? Happy birthday, shortness!" He hugged me tightly and pecked a kiss on my forehead.
"Oh, and thanks for the bruise." He pointed to his arm that had red finger marks starting to show.
"You expect me to not attack you when you walk beside me in the pitch black. You're a doctor so I'm sure you will survive." He shook his head, he frowned while he looked around.
"I thought your boyfriend would've been here already." I dropped my gaze down to the floor. I don’t know if I could tell them what happened.
"Boyfriend? Grace you haven't told me that you have a boyfriend. I want to meet him, where is he?" My dad scanned the crowd. I was afraid of this. I don't know how he would react to Noah; he was far from the kind of guy my father wanted for me. My dad has made his dreams for me clear from the start. That’s why I have only told Adam about him.
"I did some research about him, dad. He's a famous painter in the city who comes from a well-established family." Adam chipped in.
"We're not together." I commented quickly. I didn't want to talk about him. I turned around and marched to Harper excusing myself as Adam ignored me and talked to my father about Noah.
"Are you enjoying your party?" She asked and took a sip of punch that smelled like it had everything except fruit juice in.
"No, I'm not. I'm supposed to be in a party mood but all I could think about was Noah."
"Tomorrow things will look better, for now, enjoy this." She tried to cheer me up, but it wasn’t working.
"Easy for you to say. Josh is right over there, and Noah is about two hours away." I huffed and turned around. I moved to the cake and cut a chunk out, slumping down on one chair in the corner stuffing my face.
As I took a bite, I muttered to myself, “Happy Birthday to me."