| Chapter Twenty-seven |
| No one was harder on Grace than she was. Even as she sat on the beach crying her eyes out, she felt stupid for letting Justin get to her so much. He had never said this was a date. He had never said that he wanted to be her boyfriend. Sure, he'd kissed her (a few times), but that didn't mean that he was falling in love with her. Deep down, she knew that he didn't owe her anything, but that didn't make it hurt any less. How could he just ignore her like this? Like she didn't matter. A part of her wanted to punch him, but she knew she couldn't.
Instead, she cried and cried. Unexpectedly, someone behind her cleared their throat. Grace's hands flew to her face, and she furiously tried to wipe away all evidence of tears. It was useless, of course. "Are you okay?" Grace glanced over her shoulder. In the dim moonlight, she could see Olivia standing a few feet away. "How long have you been there?" "I followed you from the house. I'm so sorry," Olivia began, shyly staring at her feet, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You just looked so sad." Embarrassed at having been seen, Grace tried to play it off as nothing, "I'm just having a bad day. You know, just one of those days." She managed a weak smile that Olivia couldn't see in the darkness. "It's nothing." Olivia stood frozen for a long moment, contemplating what to say next. Her mouth opened briefly, but she quickly abandoned whatever she was going to say. She took a few steps closer and plopped down on the sand next to Grace. "Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer if you don't want to." As she said it, she looked everywhere except directly at Grace. "Umm…Sure. I guess." Her eyes burning holes into the back of her hands, she nervously asked, "Is Justin the reason you're out here?" New tears threatened to fall. Grace had to clear her throat a few times before she awkwardly lied, "No, of course not. What does he have to do with anything? I hardly know him. We're practically strangers. Really. If you think about it." She cut herself off before she said anything stupid. "Do you want to talk about it?" Grace really did want to talk all this out with someone, but she couldn't bear the thought of confiding in Justin's ex-girlfriend. "I can't talk about this with you." "Because I'm his ex?" Grace nodded. Olivia waved her hand dismissively, "That was a long time ago. Justin and I are friends. Nothing more. Look Grace, I know I'm a complete stranger, but I've been where you are. Not just with Justin but with other guys too. You can talk to me. Honestly." A with that, tears started to stream down Grace's face. "I'm sorry," Grace apologized, "I don't usually cry this much." "Don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with having a good cry." With a slight chuckle, Grace admitted, "I really wanted to hate you." Olivia laughed in response, "I know what you mean. I was determined to hate Sadie when Justin first introduced us. I was convinced she wanted to steal him away when I wasn't looking." "What changed your mind?" "I realized how silly I was being. He was with me, not her. He wanted me." "How do you know if a guy likes you?" Once the question was out of her mouth, Grace felt like a complete idiot. She sounded like a fourth grader. She quickly tried to take it back, but Olivia was already answering. "Depends on the guy, but with Justin, it was really easy to tell." Grace felt deflated, "How?" "He asked me out." Must be nice, Grace thought. "He likes you," Olivia said after a few moments, "I can tell." "Why do you say that?" "You're here, aren't you?" "Yeah, I'm here and he's in there." Olivia sighed, "Okay, you've got me there, but the fact that he invited you means something. Don't forget that. You're here because Justin wanted to spend time with you." "Maybe," was all she could say. "Tell me something, Grace. Has Justin ever done or said anything to suggest that he's not interested?" She was so sure that there was a time when he'd shown his disinterest that she took a few moments to think, but surprisingly, she couldn't come up with anything. She shook her head. Relief washed on Olivia's face. "Okay, so what about the flip side? Has he ever done anything that shows that he does like you?" She didn't have to think about that one. "Yeah, I guess so." "He has?" Olivia said excitedly. Sheepishly, Grace admitted, "There've been a few time where I've thought that, maybe, there could be something. It was a lot of little stuff that could have been all in my head. Lynn said that he's a flirt, so it all could have meant nothing. He was just being nice, you know." "But?" "But...then he kissed me today." Olivia threw up her hands, "Then why are we having this conversation? Of course he likes you; he kissed you! Grace, you should be in there right now staking your claim from all those blonde airheads. If I had known he was spoken for, I would have pried them off for you." "He's not spoken for," Grace protested, "it was just a kiss. It might not lead to anything." Olivia frowned slightly, "But you want it to lead to something, right?" Grace nodded. "Well, go for it. Ask him out to dinner, just the two of you." The very thought of it made Grace nervous, "I couldn't." "Why not?" "What if he turned me down?" "Well, what if he said yes? You won't know if you don't ask. You can't wait for him to make all the moves." Grace was going to mention all the times she'd been the first to make a move, but she didn't want to admit that she'd ask him to kiss her on more than one occasion. Even if she was giving good advice, Olivia was still a stranger. "I don't know." "I'm not going to try to talk you into it. It's your decision, but remember, you could miss out on a really great thing if you don't even try," Olivia stood up and dusted the sand from her clothes, "Well, I should get back. Sadie's probably looking for me. Are you going to stay out here?" Grace nodded, "Just for a little while longer." Olivia nodded, "Okay. I'll see you later." Before Olivia could walk away, Grace called her name, "I just wanted to say...thank you. Thanks for listening." "Now wasn't this much better than hating me?" "I don't know. I was having fun not liking you." "I'll see you later," Olivia replied with a smile. After Olivia was gone, Grace went back to thinking about everything, but this time, she was a little hopeful. Maybe Justin did want to get to know her. Maybe he really could like her. |