The Sun'll Come Out…
"Grace."
For the last ten minutes,
Will had been standing in the kitchen, watching his best friend wordlessly as
he drank his coffee. Grace sat on the couch, staring at the muted television, a
somber expression marring her features.
"Grace," he repeated, a
little louder this time.
"Oh. Uh, what is it?"
Grace stammered a reply, keeping her eyes fixed on the television.
Will set his coffee cup
on the counter and moved over towards his friend. He stood behind her and the
couch, and smoothed back her tangled red hair. "You, uh… you wanna see a movie
tonight? I think the new Brendan Fraser flick is showing downtown…"
The only acknowledgement
Will received from Grace was a quiet "Nah." He tried again.
"Well, we could go to a
boy bar. I hear Extreme Eden serves chicken wings now…" Will looked down,
hoping to see a little smile on his best friend's face. No such luck.
"No thanks, Will. I think
I might just stay in tonight. Watch some silent infomercials. Floss. Maybe
clean out the refrigerator…"
Will sighed and sat on
the couch next to the redhead. "Okay, that's it. What's up, Grace?"
"Nothing."
"Don't 'nothing' me.
You've been sulking all afternoon. What's wrong?"
Grace picked up the
remote and flicked off the 'mute' button. A whiny, smarmy voice blasted out of
the speakers, advertising a bug repellent. Will promptly grabbed the remote
from Grace's hands and muted it again.
"Stop that. Now come on,
Grace. Why are you shutting me out? Have I done something?"
"No!" Grace protested.
"It's just… I had a bad day, that's all."
"You… had a bad day? No,
that can't be all. That's never all. Not for scrappy little Grace Adler. You
have a bad day and then you get right back up again… right?" As he spoke, Will
tickled Grace's stomach. She giggled a little in response, but pushed him away.
"Cut it out, Will. I'm
not in the mood for an after-school special."
"Well then, you're just
going to have to tell me what's wrong."
"I don't want to."
"You have to."
"I do not have to."
"Uh, yeah you do. Best
Friend Constitution, paragraph 324. 'If one friend is upset for apparently no
reason, it is said friend's civic duty to surrender all relevant information to
other friend.' Sorry, Grace, you're in the hands of the law now."
"I don't want to… You'll
laugh at me."
"No I won't."
"Yeah you will."
"Grace, I promise that
whatever it is, I will not laugh. Scout's honour." Will held three fingers to
his forehead, smiling at his friend.
"Okay, okay… If I tell
you will you shut up?"
Will shrugged. "Sure."
"Well…" Grace began,
taking a deep breath in. "I was just watching… Annie, again…"
Will couldn't help it. He
laughed, but quickly drew his friend into a hug.
"Will! God, I knew I
shouldn't have told you!!"
Will tried to stop
chuckling but couldn't quite bring himself to. "I'm sorry, sweetie, it's just
that you've seen that stupid movie a hundred times… You always watch it when
you're depressed, and you know it just makes you feel worse!"
"I know, okay? But it
just gets to me… It's so sad! I mean, she's all alone in the world… And when
she sings that song…" Grace began to sing. "Maybe far away, or maybe real near
by…."
Will, still laughing,
squeezed his friend and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "Gracie, I told
you the last time you watched Annie never to watch it again. Come on, cheer up.
Jack's coming over soon…"
"Oh I'm sure that makes
me feel better-" Grace began.
"He's bringing gay porn."
"I'll put on some
popcorn."
