As the date of the train's return grew closer Grace threw all of her effort into preparing. Who knew how the train would appear, or in what form. In addition they'd need some sort of proof that it wasn't a normal train within the video though her and Simon had already done enough work on ensuring that would be fine. Most important to Grace however was what they would do after they had proof. This was a conversation she had with Simon one afternoon as they sat in the public library.
"Once we've proved the existence of the train, who do we report it to?" she asked casually and Simon gave his best answer.
"I don't know, the police?" he questioned and Grace gave him a long hard look while weighing the pros and cons of pushing him out of his chair for giving her such a ridiculous answer.
"Hi 911? I'd like to report a magic train that kidnaps people, don't worry I have a video that proves it." she mocked while doing her best impression of Simon so as to more effectively mock him.
"Well I don't know Grace, who do you suggest we call, the X-Files division of the FBI? The Men In Black?" he suggested teasingly something which was met with a chorus of sushing from the other patrons of the library. Grace smirked and shushed him as well despite talking at a similar volume.
"You've got to be quiet, this is a library, didn't anyone teach you any manners?" she said playfully and Simon rolled his eyes.
"And why are we in a library again?" he questioned as he shoved his nose into a book in order to avoid the judgemental gazes of the librarians.
"It's one of the three places that my driver will take me without reporting it back to my mother as suspicious." she explained. "Plus, it's a good place to research conspiracy theories and all that. All of the people here are middle aged moms so busy trying not to look suspicious checking out Fifty Shades of Grey that they don't notice that you've got thirty books about train theories on your desk." she said gesturing around the place.
"That still doesn't explain why you forced me to dress in my basic bitch clothes." he muttered and Grace gave her explanation for this as well.
"My driver is likely watching to make sure that I don't meet up with anyone my mother finds objectionable and you at your most Tim Burton-esque is objectionable to anyone with eyes; I can't risk anyone seeing you." she joked as she gave a purposefully over-dramatic response.
"You can't risk anyone seeing me? I can't risk anyone seeing me. I feel practically naked like this, how dare you make me go outside without my protective layer of e-boy clothing?" he questioned jokingly. Grace smiled.
"Leaning into it now are we?" she asked and he chuckled and nodded.
"Trying to, is it working?" he responded and she thought for a moment and began answering.
"Nah, you're trying too hard. And anyway you'll live it won't be long." she said as she skimmed through yet another book in the hope that someone would have documented the train before and could give insight on what to do about it. Simon took her hand and started begging.
"But Grace, the aesthetic, you don't understand how important it is for me to keep up the aesthetic." he complained while still holding her hand, something Grace ignored along with the bubbly feeling of excitement that came along with it.
"Actually I do, you were smoking a fake cigarette when we met remember?" she said, chuckling at the memory. "And anyway we all make sacrifices for our goals, I don't know if you've forgotten but I have to pretend to be dating you so we can pull this off." she explained. Simon scoffed at this.
"First of all, at least you still get to dress like Rainbow Brite while you do it. Second of all that's not that big of a sacrifice." he said and Grace looked at him up and down before returning to her book.
"It is." she said plainly even though neither of them actually believed that to be true in the slightest. Grace sighed as she closed yet another book feeling no closer to having cracked the code on what to do about the train. As if having read her mind Simon casually offered what he thought the best course of action was after gathering evidence.
"Once we get our video let's just post it and go from there; cross that bridge when we get to it." he assed and partially because it was the most reasonable plan and partially because she didn't feel like looking through anymore books she accepted this and closed the book she'd been reading.
"Sounds good." she said before gesturing to the pile of books laid out on the desk in front of them. "Now help me put these away and then you'll be free to go home and be as committed to the aesthetic as you want to be." she added and Simon let out a groan but gathered some of the books in his arms and started putting them away. As they walked out of the library he casually proposed an idea.
"Do you want to get something to eat?" he asked. "We can sit in the Mcdonald's parking lot and argue about whether or not Fight Club is a good movie." he offered and Grace let out a genuine laugh at this.
"As much as I'd love to, you know I'm still grounded. But I'll save you the trouble of the argument and tell you that the answer is no, and I'm right." she said smugly. Despite the laughter between them Simon still looked a bit worried.
"Are you even going to be able to get out on the seventeenth?" he asked, concerned and Grace thought for a moment.
"The seventeenth? What is that, like, next month?" she questioned and he nodded. "It'll be fine, I'll be free by then." she assured him and Simon walked with her to the car. "What are you doing?" she asked as he did so.
"That guy is your driver right?" he asked, gesturing towards the man standing in front of the limo on the other side of the parking lot.
"Yeah." she responded.
"Well then he thinks I'm your boyfriend, and what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't ensure you got to your car safely?" he asked. Grace let out a laugh.
"It's four thirty in the afternoon, the sun is still out." she said humorously.
"Hey you never know, I heard about this kid who was kidnaped in the middle of the day from a gas station." he said seriously but the look in his eyes betrayed who he was talking about. Grace didn't raise another objection and took his hand doing her best to not be obvious about it. When he looked at her surprised she offered an explanation.
"What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't casually hold your hand while we walk?" she said and he nodded as they walked over. Her driver spoke on the phone frantically to someone and halted his conversation when she approached.
"I have to go, my wife is giving birth, can you get home on your own?" he asked. Grace was caught by surprise but assured him that he was free to go and congratulated him. Her and Simon stood there as the man drove off before looking at each other again.
"So," Simon began. "Donnie Darko, good movie or great movie?" he asked smugly and Grace faked indignation while rolling her eyes.
"You better buy me some food before you subject me to this conversation." she said as the two walked towards Simon's car.
"You're the one who's rich, if anything you should be paying for our dates." he teased.
"We don't go on dates." Grace shot back as she climbed into the passenger seat of Simon's beat up old truck and switched on the radio. "Where are we going?" she questioned as he started the car.
"First, i'm going home to change clothes," he announced and Grace let out a groan. "The aesthetic waits for no one Grace." he said in response as he drove towards his house. As he did Grace riffled through his CDs to search for something worth putting on finally giving up on trying to decipher Simon's awful taste in music and putting on Frank Ocean. After a stop at his house so that Simon could change clothes the two found themselves in the parking lot of some non-descript fast food place.
The two talked about movies, and music, and the train as they ate and laughed. Grace felt able to relax having already texted her mother that her driver had left and she and Simon had been stuck in traffic which she believed. And it was so easy in these moments with Simon, it was easy to pretend that this was what life was always going to be like. But behind the conversation about the train there was another one that neither of them was having. What would happen to them after they exposed it?
Their relationship was predicated on the need to find the train, if it hadn't been for the train Grace couldn't imagine that either of them would have become anything like they were. Nor could she imagine that they would be friends. And what about their fake relationship, that was set to expire after prom and Grace hated that she didn't want it to. Grace opened her mouth to say something about them, about how she felt, but stopped herself. She didn't know what she would've said and now she never would.
Maybe this was the right time to address everything that she felt, to lay her cards on the table and to tell Simon that she wanted to keep hanging out with him after all of this. Maybe this was even the time to tell him that she actually might have feelings for him that went deeper than friendship. Unfortunately, Grace wouldn't get the chance as her phone buzzed and she checked it as a distraction from those thoughts. It was an email from the school, sent out to all students, an announcement about prom.
They'd set a date; March 17th. Grace stared at the phone dumbfounded for a moment and tried to determine if this were some cruel prank the universe was playing on her. Reading further into the email confirmed that evidently it was not, the one event she couldn't afford to miss was on the same day as the arrival of the train. She stared at her phone for a while longer before finally turning to Simon to give him the news.
"Hypothetically, how would you feel if I couldn't come and help you catch the train?" she asked. Simon looked caught off guard but responded anyway.
"Hypothetically? I'd be super confused and probably upset. Why do you ask?" he questioned and Grace sighed before giving her answer.
"They just announced the date for prom and it's the same day." she said. Simon looked thoughtful and nodded before responding.
"Okay, how are you going to get out of it?" he asked and Grace raised an eyebrow at this.
"What do you mean?" she questioned.
"You're not actually considering going to prom over catching the train?" he asked and Grace looked annoyed.
"I'm not considering it, I'm doing it." she said seriously and Simon gave her a long hard stare.
"Grace, we've been working on catching the train for months, are you really going to give up on all of that?" he questioned and Grace looked away from him.
"I'm not giving it up, it's not like I want to do it but you know how my parents are, how my mom is. All those months we've been working on catching the train she's been working on making prom the center of my universe, how do you think she'll react if I skip out?" Grace questioned.
"Who cares how she'll react? Aren't you the one who said if she's going to be mad at you it doesn't matter if she's mad at you?" he questioned and Grace cringed at the butchering of her quote though the point was still the same.
"It's not like that, this is way bigger than me coming home late Simon this is me skipping out on what she's been planning for me for months." she explained though it was clear that she was becoming slightly distressed.
"So what, you're going to let our only opportunity to catch the train slip away because you don't want to upset your mom? Why do you care so much about what she's been planning for you?" he questioned and Grace answered quickly.
"Because I still want her to love me! I don't care if she's mad at me or whatever but goddamn it Simon she's still my mom and no matter how hard I try I still want her to love me and if I don't do this she won't love me anymore!" she said practically on the verge of tears. "And who said that our opportunity was slipping away? I'm not forcing you to go with me." she muttered under her breath.
"Of course I'm still going to go with you." Simon said seriously and Grace looked at him with a mix of confusion and annoyance.
"Why, why would you let what we've put months of work into go to waste?" she asked seriously.
"Because I'm in lo-" Simon almost answered too quickly, almost said something that would have shattered whatever sense of normalcy was left between them. "I promised you. I'm still going to go because I promised you." was the answer he gave instead. The two of them sat in silence for what felt like hours but was likely only minutes. They both knew what he had almost said but neither knew what they would have done had he said it. Now neither of them ever would.
"Take me home Simon." Grace said quietly and he obliged as the two drove in silence towards her house. As they arrived at the gate Grace reached for the car door and Simon said something.
"Grace," he began and she stopped and looked at him. Simon looked like he was running through a million different scenarios in his head before settling in what to say. "I'm sorry for getting upset." he said and Grace nodded.
"It's okay, we did work really hard for this, it sucks I can't be there for it." she said. Simon shook his head.
"I'm serious about what I said, I promised you I'd be there so I will be." he responded and Grace gave him a smile that was a bit softer than her usual one, but was still her's nonetheless. As she went to exit the car once more Simon added a final thing. "I really do..." he trailed off for a moment before changing his statement. "I want you to be happy." he said. And Grace let out a small tired sigh.
"That makes two of us." she said before hopping out of the car and walking towards her house.