#thread: grace

“–Swanky?” Jamie repeated with a hint of confusion in his voice, picking out the word in that sentence that he was most unfamiliar with. God, some days he really felt like an old man. Granted, he wasn’t exactly as young as he once had been, but it seems that he couldn’t keep up with the lingo that kids these days used to express themselves. “What does Swanky mean, Gracie?” He asked the small child, offering her a gentle smile.

Any and all parties deserved good alcohol, so for the candy store owner, Jurriaan had prepared a couple of nice cocktails and mocktails, making them on request with what little supplies he had taken along. He enjoyed parties, he enjoyed being the centre of attention when he served alcohol. More importantly, he enjoyed the looks on people’s faces when they could not help but love his concoction. “What can I make you?” He asked a party goer who seemed a little down on her luck.

she doesn’t need to overthink this. nope, not at all. in the weeks since that fateful encounter in their work car park, sex has become the most consistent thing between them. it wasn’t something that she’d planned --- in fact, she’d been entirely content to continue denying her attraction to him and carry on as she usually would with any other one night stand. that plan hadn’t even lasted a day before she’d found herself in her office, door locked, with his head between her thighs. sex has always been something she was casual with, but one night stands were usually as far as it went these days. it’s why her arrangement with him is already an exception, but sex is all it is. and if she’d happen to sleep over last night, it’s purely because she’d drank too much wine last night and it now being saturday meant she could sleep in.

it had nothing to do with the company. 

she stirs at the smell of something delicious coming from the kitchen, yawning as she pushed herself into a sitting position and stretched. there’s a familiar ache and soreness in her body, causing the corner of her mouth to tick upwards as she remembers last night. one of the perks of their arrangement being more than a one time thing is that he already knows the basics of what she likes without her having to say a word. if the side effects of that included it being a little difficult for her to walk the next day, she’ll take it as the win that it is. 

Grace always felt like she was going home when she went to the library. A place that’s main purpose was to collect and make books available for the public couldn’t possibly be a bad place, and she’s spent countless hours in different ones during her entire life. There were even parts of her life when it felt like the library was her entire life – during exam period in her university years she was practically the first one to arrive and the last to leave. She loved the atmosphere of the place and both studying and writing her essays there felt so much easier than if she stayed home and was surrounded by a bunch of distraction.

These days was a different kind of stress for Grace – coming up with good enough lesson plans for high schoolers that would get them to fall in love with history or at least make them see the beauty in it was hard, harder than she could have possibly expected –, and she usually came here to work on her lesson plans and to find gems that would teach her new things. This time she was there to find something interesting and fun to read. She already picked up a horror story from another shelf and now was perusing the shelves where the more detailed histories lied. She was looking for a specific book, but she was also keeping her eyes for anything that might catch her attention.

Gabriel wasn't himself. In fact, when was he ever himself? He never comprehended why he did half of the things he did in his life; maybe he did them because he enjoyed living a bit harder than everyone else around him. Maybe that was the reason. For the fun of it, he’d provoked some guy that had irritated him earlier. Granted, the man wasn’t the most friendliest person either but sometimes, Gabe couldn’t help but act on sheer impulse. So, without really thinking it through, he ran — just as he usually did from most of his problems — into some random bakery. He didn’t even bother to check the name or anything; he just pulled the door open, quickly stepped inside and pressed his forehead against the door, cursing under his breath. Unbeknownst to him, he was only entering unwelcoming grounds. 

Kayce looked up as Gracie drew in closer, voicing her question that quickly earned a snicker from Kayce. “You know…” he started, pondering her question with amusement. “I think that sounds like a great idea.” He grinned, “pink is Rip’s favorite color after all, did you know that?”