Grace stared at the dress that hung on her door with an intensity that couldn't be matched. It was beautiful, everyone who'd seen her wear it said she looked beautiful in it. Grace hated that fact, she hated that dress. Today she'd give up her one chance at exposing the truth about the train, and lose her one chance to save others from that fate. When Grace put on that dress she was abandoning her chance at closure for the love of a mother who resented her. And Simon insisted on doing the same.
The worst part about it was that the dress was beautiful. It's white flowers and shimmering detailing paired with the soft blue color of the dress looked amazing and it made her feel beautiful. She didn't want to feel beautiful, she wanted to feel bitter and angry and that dress wouldn't allow her to. Grace mentally rehearsed what would occur that night. She'd walk downstairs and see Simon, who was abandoning his chance at closure for her, then they'd take pictures, be directed off into the limo, and awkwardly stay at the dance all night knowing there was something more important they should be doing.
Grace had begged to be allowed to at least take her own car now that she had the keys back but of course she'd been shot down, just as she had when she'd requested to pick her own dress. She remembered the look on her mother's face when she brought it to her, how proud of herself she was. You would've thought she'd sewn the dress herself the way she went on about how perfect it looked on her. It was probably the most compliments she'd gotten from her in a long time. Grace didn't want to think about the train, or the dress or prom, so she texted Simon.
"Are you excited for tonight?" she texted. Simon responded shortly after.
"define excited" he texted back and Grace rolled her eyes.
"At least after this you don't have to pretend to be my boyfriend anymore." she texted. She cringed at herself as she hit send and waited for a response that never came. She had been left on read because of course she had. Grace laid on her back and stared up at the ceiling, searching for something to make her feel better about everything that had occurred. It was torture, the knowledge that she was doing all of this because after everything she still wanted to please her mother. Grace felt weaker than she ever had on the train.
Giving up on finding any peace in her own mind Grace put on Arlo Park and took a nap, praying that sleep would bring a sense of clarity in terms of her choices. She was awoken hours later by the movements of her mother and several other women in her bedroom. Opening her eyes she was greeted by her mother and a team of stylists. "What are you doing?" she questioned and her mother plastered on her camera ready smile.
"Prom starts in two hours Grace and we need to get you ready." she said in that sweet voice that she reserved for company. Grace rolled her eyes mentally.
"Right, and why do I need an entire team of people for this?" she asked. Her mother let out a sigh.
"Well someone has got to do something with your hair." she muttered and Grace's eyes narrowed.
"You said I could do my own hair." she responded and her mother hummed as she looked over the dress and waved her daughter off.
"Did I? Well it has to be done either way." she said casually. She turned around to look at her daughter and raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to make a scene over this are you?" she asked. Grace's mind raced with all of the things she wanted to say in that moment. Grace had given up the only opportunity she might ever have to find the train so that she could retain the few crumbs of affection she got from this woman and she was still looked down on. At that moment Grace realized that any love she could get from her mother wasn't love she wanted.
"Of course not." she said and outwardly she seemed to be on her mother's side. She allowed the team of stylists to direct her on what products to use for her face and to do her makeup. They put her locs into a bun which was certainly better than what she thought they were going to do. She allowed herself to act as a doll to be dressed and preened for her mother's entertainment and when they concluded Grace looked in the mirror and she was, of course, beautiful.
But she absolutely was still Grace Monroe. Her mother could hire the biggest, best team of stylists in the world and she'd still be who she was, who her mother couldn't stand. There was a real joy in that. Her mother could make her look like a prom queen but she would still be Grace Monroe. She remembered how her mother had practically screamed that the two of them were one and the same. Looking at herself now Grace knew it wasn't true. Her mother addressed her as she looked in the mirror.
"You look amazing." he mother said and Grace had to bite her tongue so as to not say 'I know'. "Just like I did at your age." her mother mused. She patted her daughters head softly and the fakeness of the gesture made Grace almost recoil from the touch. Instead she let out a sigh and almost allowed the sick feeling to over take her before hearing her father from downstairs.
"Grace, your date is here!" he announced and she chose to ignore the sick feeling that had overcome her after the mother's comment and walk downstairs instead. As she descended the stairs her mother rushed out in front of her to join her father and she quickly noticed they'd had an entire area set up for a photo shoot. She shuddered at the thought of how long it would take and instead turned her attention to Simon. He did look really attractive with his hair down and wearing the suit he'd chosen.
The suit actually looked fairly high quality and Grace wondered for a moment if Simon had saved up for it or borrowed it from a friend. She decided it didn't matter much either way. Simon was looking at something on his phone but looked up when he heard her footsteps. After he'd ignored her text earlier Grace had been a little worried that he might not show up, or even worse that he might be mad at her. So she was in no way prepared for the look on Simon's face when he caught sight of her.
She could barely describe the expression on his face. No word that she knew felt strong enough for the sheer amount of love that was projected across his face when he saw her. Grace almost wanted to look behind her to see what he was staring at that could possibly give that reaction. Maybe an angel had descended from the heavens to bestow it's presence upon them. Her parents had been married for decades and never had either of them looked at the other that way. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs Simon complimented her immediately.
"You look gorgeous." he said breathlessly and the earnestness of it all caught Grace so off guard she automatically responded with a joke.
"Starting early with the overbearing sincerity are we?" she asked, chuckling awkwardly and Simon continued looking at her like he was amazed that she was real.
"I'm serious, I mean, you always look amazing but you really do look gorgeous." he said and finally Grace cracked and looked away embarrassed and flattered as she felt her face grow warm.
"You look really good too." she muttered before her mother corralled them into the area where photos would be taken. At the behest of her mother Simon put his arm around her and Grace leaned in closer to him and decided at that very moment that she was going to tell him how she felt without worrying about his reaction. And she wasn't going to make him pretend to be someone he wasn't. After all, the reason she acquiesced to her mother's requests was to preserve the fragile relationship that they had, now that she didn't want it any more all of them were free from those expectations.
After what felt like hours finally the pictures were stopped and the two walked out to the limo. Simon opened the door for her but before entering Grace looked through her purse to make sure that she had everything she needed. As the two climbed into the limo Grace approached the driver and spoke to him. "Can you do me a huge favor and drop me off on 8th Street?" she asked. "I know my parents are probably paying you extra to tell them anywhere that I go but whatever they are paying you I'll double it." she added.
"Are you serious?" the driver asked, not uninterested. Grace pulled a wad of bills from her purse.
"As a heart attack." she said and the driver paused for a moment before nodding and driving them to Grace's requested location. As Grace returned to her seat Simon stared at her dumbfounded.
"What is happening?" he asked confused and Grace laughed.
"We aren't going to prom, we're going to catch a train." she said and Simon still looked utterly confused and caught off guard. Grace filled him in. "I realized that I don't really care how my mom feels about me. I parked my car on 8th Street and now we are going to go take it and catch the train." she explained. Simon looked at her a little longer before laughing.
"You are the most interesting person I've ever met in my life Grace." he said chuckling. "Though, I do wish you'd told me, now I'm going to have to wear a suit to catch the train." he explained and Grace laughed and shook her head.
"I'm doing it in heels and a dress, I don't want to hear any complaints." she responded and Simon smiled at this, seemingly agreeing. They arrived at the area where she'd parked her car and Grace gave the driver his money, thanking him as the two climbed into her vehicle. Grace drove towards the area they'd determined as the location where the train would arrive and she parked near where they thought it was likely to appear. Grace unbuckled her seat belt and reached for something in the backseat, handing Simon his camera.
"How did you get this?" he asked.
"You left it in my car the last time we filmed, it's how I got this idea." she explained. Simon turned on the camera and began filming her. Grace rolled her eyes and looked away.
"Turn it off I'm not ready yet!" she joked pushing the camera from her face. Simon laughed and shook his head as he continued filming.
"You literally look amazing, you are absolutely ready." he said ignoring her objections. Grace looked at him again and hated the fact that Simon looked so nice. She'd promised herself that she'd tell him how she felt regardless of his reaction and though she hadn't anticipated doing it tonight something had slipped out of her mouth that she hadn't expected to.
"What were you going to say to me the other day?" she asked, surprised when she said it. It surprised her so much because she knew what he was going to say, they both did. Maybe she wanted to know why he hadn't said it, why he'd made no move to say it since.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Simon said after a beat camera dropping slightly. Grace gave him a serious look.
"The day we found out when prom was going to be held you almost said something to me and then you didn't, what were you going to say." she said seriously. Simon looked away from her, camera practically forgotten at this point as he shut it off. "Tell me the truth Simon." she emphasized. They sat there in silence for a while and Grace thought he might just ignore what she'd asked of him.
"I was going to tell you that I'm in love with you." he said quietly. "And I stopped because I knew it was stupid and the first thing you told me when you met was that you didn't want a relationship and you have enough stuff going on in your life without having to deal with that." Simon said slightly louder. "You deserve to have one uncomplicated relationship." he said. Grace started quietly laughing before looking him in the eyes.
"Simon, I have plenty of uncomplicated relationships," she began as she moved her face closer to his. "A for the record, I love you too." she added. The two were frozen so close to each other for a moment before both moved in closer lips meeting each other in the middle. Grace was filled with a warmth that encompassed her entire body as she allowed herself to cross the lines of friendship that had been so fiercely guarded. How many times had this almost happened but hadn't for reason or another?
None of that mattered now as Simon held her and the kiss was deepened. It was just the two of them, two people physically connecting with each other as they were already emotionally connected. The kiss likely would have continued on for even longer had it not been for the deafening sound of a train whistle nearby. The two jumped back just as they had before and Grace scrambled out of the car. Simon followed shortly after camera on and in tow as he recorded the lack of train tracks despite the oncoming train.
It's lights shone through the dark street as it finally made itself seen, having taken the form of a fairly standard subway train, rounding a corner and traveling in front of the car. They'd done it, they'd captured the train on film. It passed the car a little further before the middle of the train was right in front of them and the train stopped abruptly. The whistle sounded again and the door slid open. Grace and Simon shared a look and slowly walked closer to the train hand and hand.
"If we get kidnapped I blame you." Grace teased and Simon bantered back.
"I don't care if I get kidnapped but there's no way in hell that the train is taking this camera." he responded. An other worldly white light erupted from the doors of the train and it became even more blinding as they stood closer. When they were only a few feet away both were halted in their tracks as the light seemed to move slightly. Both watched in awe as a child fell from out of the doors onto the ground and the train's doors shut behind her. Simon kept filming as the train sped away impossibly fast leaving the little girl on the ground in front of them.
Grace and Simon shared a look as both were frozen in shock and confusion. At that moment snow began falling, hard. As the snowfall increased Graced noticed the little girl had no shoes on as she stood up wobbly and held her head in her hands as if it hurt. This finally broke their trance as Grace walked over to the child.
"Are you okay?" she asked nervously.
"I'm Hazel, and it's cold." the girl said, teeth chattering. Grace looked to Simon again who shrugged at her.
"Do you want us to give you a ride home?" she asked and Hazel nodded, or at least Grace assumed it was a nod as the girl was shivering fairly intensely. Grace grabbed her hand and the three started walking back towards the car as the snow continued to fall harder. As Hazel's shivering became more intense Simon rushed over and picked the girl up while the two ran to the car. Depositing her in the back seat Simon climbed back into the passenger seat while Grace retrieved a blanket for the girl and turned up the heat.
The combination of the blanket along with the heat seemed to be just what the girl needed as she dozed off in the backseat immediately. Grace took stock of everything that had just occurred and tried to find any explanation that made sense to her. Simon squeezed her hand to reassure her and he smiled at her.
"I have no idea what's happening either, but we will figure this out." he said. "Now, do you want to kiss again while the kid is asleep?" he asked, mostly joking. Grace laughed but quickly responded anyway.
"Absolutely yes, we found the train we've earned it." she said, finally content.