~A Once and Again Series~

The Way We Were

Chapter 19//Avoiding the Issue

Zoe ran into Grace's bedroom and jumped on her bed.

"Zoe!" Grace complained as her notebooks began sliding. "Don't jump on the--" Grace yanked Zoe down.

Zoe smiled at Grace. "Do you love him?"

[[Grace - *smiles* That's crazy! That's ridiculous..... I... I can't answer that... Next question?]]

"Love who?" Grace said, pretending not to know who Zoe was talking about. Ever since Zoe and Jessie had run into Grace and Eli at Perkins two days ago, Zoe had been bugging her nonstop about Eli. It was really annoying, but at least Zoe had kept her promise, and their mother had no clue Grace had been anywhere but at Julie's Friday night.

"Eli!" Zoe cried. She picked up one of Grace's pillows and threw it up in the air.

"Zoe! I'm trying to study!" Grace said.

"You never want to play with me anymore!" Zoe protested.

"I'm busy!" Grace said loudly.

"Come on... play monopoly with me. We never get to play that anymore," Zoe begged.

[[Zoe - Grace is okay... sometimes. But I still think it would be cool if Jessie was my sister...]]

"Zoe! I have homework to do... maybe tomorrow."

"No, today! You said you owed me one for not telling mom about you being at the restaurant," Zoe remembered Grace.

"Alright!" Grace gave in. "But this is your one favor... after this the slate is clean again."

"Fine," Zoe said shrugging. She ran off to get the board set up. Grace sighed and followed her.

* * *

"So, are you dating her?" Jessie asked as she sat on Eli's bed.

"No..." Eli answered as he played a few chords on his guitar.

"Then what were you doing there, together?"

Eli set down his guitar and looked at his little sister. "Nothing. We're just friends."

Jessie raised her eyebrows. "I didn't think you had girls who were just 'friends'."

"Well, I do..." Eli insisted.

[[Eli - ...okay, not really... But can we talk about something else?]]

Jessie said nothing, just smiled.

* * *

"I can't deal with him anymore!" Lily cried out as the door to Rick's apartment opened.

Eli looked at her quizzically from the open doorway.

"Oh, sorry," Lily smiled. "I thought you were Rick. How are you?"

"I'm fine," Eli answered.

"I heard from Grace that you're in a band. That's neat."

Eli stepped aside, so Lily could enter. "Yeah, well, we're still in the very early stages."

Rick entered the room, and saw Lily. "Hey!"

"Hey you." Lily said as the two joined in a quick kiss. Eli exited to his room.

"How are you?" Rick asked. They sat down on the couch.

"Miserable!" Lily put her face against Rick's plaid shirt. She let out a muffled scream. "Jake is driving me nuts!"

"More than usual?"

Lily lifted her head, and rolled her eyes. "You should hear him at the mediator's... he goes against every suggestion I make." Lily paused. "I don't think I'll get through this divorce alive!"

"You better... I'm counting on you becoming an unattached woman someday," Rick said, kissing her neck.

"I'll never be unattached... I come with a soon-to-be-ex-husband, two kids, and a noisy sister. Take it, or leave it." Lily said.

"I'll take it." Rick said, with a smile.

* * *

"Grace, hey!" Julie called.

Grace turned. "Oh, hi. I didn't see you."

"Obliviously," Julie said with a sneer. She turned to Sarah, "Grace's in love."

"Oooohhhh!" Sarah smiled. "Eli?"

"Shut up!" Grace said. "I'm not in love... especially not with him."

[[Grace - *shakes head* I don't what to tell you... Can we move on?]]

Julie raised her eyebrows and looked at Sarah, "You should have seen the look in her eyes on Friday when she came back from someplace with Eli."

"You went somewhere with Eli!" Sarah exclaimed. "Details!"

Grace shrugged, looking around the quickly crowding hallway. "It was nothing. We just went to Perkins."

"Umm hmmm," Sarah looked Grace over. "But you talked to him about the kiss, right?"

"Julie!" Grace complained. "I thought I told you not to tell anyone!"

"Sarah's not 'anyone'!" Julie argued. "So, did you talk about it?"

"No." Grace said quickly, not wanting to say the truth.

[[Grace - What? It's not like I have to tell them everything...]]

Julie and Sarah exchanged similar looks of surprise.

"I got to go to class," Grace said, slipping away from their group.

Julie and Sarah watched her go.

"How could they have NOT talked about it?" Julie asked.

"Beats me," Sarah said, watching Grace disappear into the crowd. She turned back to face Julie, "Soooo, what's up with you and Kevin?"

* * *

"Could you do me a big favor?" Rick asked into the phone.

Lily smiled on her side, "Sure."

"I told Karen I'd pick up the kids, but Miles set up a meeting for three, and I can't get out of it. So could you..." Rick said.

"Pick them up? Sure. I'd love to," Lily said.

"Great."

* * *

"What are we doing at the middle school?" Zoe asked as her mother parked the car.

"I told Rick I'd pick up Jessie and Eli today." Lily explained, getting out the car, so she could have a better look around.

"Oooo, Great!" Zoe said, getting out too.

"Jessie!" Lily called when she caught site of the girl. "Hey, your dad asked if I could give you a ride home!"

Jessie walked over to them. "My dad couldn't pick me up?"

"No, he had a meeting," Lily explained. "I like that shirt. It's very pretty."

Jessie smiled. "Thanks."

[[Jessie - Lily's okay, I guess. I mean, she's nice and everything... but most people are nice...]]

The three of them got into the car.

* * *

"Grace."

Grace turned at the sound of Eli's voice. "Hi."

Eli caught up to her on the school lawn. "How was your weekend? Did Zoe say anything to your mom?"

"No," Grace said, touched by his concern. "She's kept it quiet so far. Hopefully, she'll just forget about it soon... because I don't know if I could trust her with it for much longer."

Behind them, Cassidy watched the two talk with her eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, that's not a good feeling... not knowing if it will ever happen." Eli said.

Grace smiled up at him, the sun making her squint.

[[Grace - ...the feeling of not knowing... *looks down, thoughtful*]]

"How are things with you?" Grace asked.

"Oh, good." Eli looked down at his feet. "So, I was wondering..."

"Eli!" Cassidy called, walking towards them.

Eli looked over at her. "Cassidy."

"Hi. Uh, it was a great party," Grace said, when she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Oh, you were there?" Cassidy asked. "I didn't notice."

Eli narrowed his eyes, remembering how he had chased after Grace at the party, and how Cassidy had chased after him... Cassidy knew Grace had been there. Why did she lie? Eli looked over and saw the hurt look on Grace's face and understood.

[[Eli - *shakes head in disgust*]]

Grace managed a meek smile. "Yeah, I was there. I really loved your house."

Cassidy shrugged coldly, "My parents are rich."

"Oh, look, Grace..." Eli said as he took a hold of Grace's upper arm and guided her away from Cassidy. "Isn't that your ride?"

Cassidy watched them go in anger.

[[Grace - *smiles shyly* ...He keeps on surprising me. And it's just... so nice to have that. And I think... I'm really... really...]]

"Sorry about that," Eli said, letting go of Grace's arm once they were far away from Cassidy. "My friends just keep turning out to be jerks."

"That's okay," Grace said honestly.

[[Grace - ....falling for him...]]

"Grace! Eli!" Lily called out.

The two looked over and caught site of Lily waving at them from her car. Eli saw Jessie and Zoe leaning together against the car.

"Looks like I'm getting a ride home with you guys," Eli said.

Grace smiled at him. "I guess so."

* * *

"Hi," Grace said to Jessie as she scrunched in next to her. Eli sat on the other side of Grace, and Zoe was in the front seat.

"Hi," Jessie said.

[[Jessie - That's not true! ...I never hated Grace! I just didn't know her that well....She's nice...]]

Zoe turned around in her seat, looking at Eli and Grace and then at Jessie. Grace laughed in surprise as Zoe pointedly looked over at her and Eli again, and then winked at Jessie.

"Is something funny?" Lily asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

Grace shook her head, "No." She looked at Eli and he looked back at her. Then they both started laughing.

Zoe frowned, not sure if they were laughing at her. Jessie squirmed in her seat, thinking they must be laughing at Zoe winking at her. Zoe had been acknowledging their shared secret of knowing about Grace and Eli being at Perkins... something she found much delight in. Nobody usually trusted her with secrets.

But Eli and Grace just continued their shared laughter, not even sure what started it in the first place.

[[Grace - Oh, God, did I really just tell you that? Okay, forget what I said, okay? Just forget it... even though... it's true... I'm totally falling for him. *nervous look*]]

* * *