That Summer
Rating: T-M
Summary: In August Joan & Adam are crossing the country to
Stanford in CA, Grace & Luke are heading to Cambridge for their schools.
What are their plans for their final summer before parting? Can they pull it off
without their normal drama? Obviously G/L & J/A
Disclaimer: If the characters were mine I'd be getting paid to write
TV scripts, now wouldn't I? So…you know the drill.
To my two reviewers: Thank you,
for you are my heroes. To the other readers-stop being lazy readers! I'm doing
hard work for your enjoyment; give me a reason to keep going, yo! ) Much love
to y'all!
Warning: This chapter isn't
quite as funny as the other…but it is sappyyyyy…enjoy! (Don't forget to let me
know if it sucks or not…cause…well, these are things an author needs to know
people!)
Chapter 5 – You Are So Beautiful To Me
By the time they'd finished food shopping and putting their groceries away, it was nearly noon. It was also almost 90 degrees out. All four of them were sweating.
"Is there like central air in this joint?" Luke asked, using the collar of his t-shirt to fan himself.
"If there is, we're going to have to stumble across it." Grace looked around at the walls for a thermostat but found none.
"Well, let's just make sure all the windows are open and all the fans on for now then." Adam suggested.
"And let's get changed and go to the beach already. It's time to kick back for a few hours at least." Joan smiled, she couldn't wait to get her new bathing suit on and put her feet in the sand.
"Shouldn't we, I don't know, look for jobs?" Grace questioned, still thinking about how much this place might cost to rent.
"Nah, we've got time!" Joan said with a wave of her hand. She looked at Adam and Luke, both of whom had worn their bathing suits down since they both had on long surfer swim trunks. Luke had just thrown an old blue t-shirt and his sandals on and Adam had done something similar with a wife beater.
"C'mon, let's get ready." Joan said turning and heading for her room.
"I hate bathing suits." Grace complained.
"Shut up, the one you bought when we went out is awesome, so stop being all down on yourself." She said. "Go, change." She ordered. Grace went into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Joan crossed the hall and did the same.
Ten minutes later, Joan was banging on the bedroom door that Grace was in. "Come on Grace! It's just a bathing suit!"
"Shut up Girardi!" Grace called from inside the room. "Some of us don't want skin cancer!"
"Grace Polk get your skinny ass out here this instant, prepared to boogie on the beach." Joan demanded.
"Dude, take Rove and go to the beach. Tell Luke he can go too, I'll meet you out there!" Grace called back.
"Fine then." Joan huffed slightly. "Anymore than 15 minutes and I'm sending a search party!" She hit the door jokingly one last time before turning to Adam who was in the hallway closet pulling out beach chairs.
"I'll wait for Grace." Luke informed them. "You guys bring the chairs I'll bring down some towels and the beach bag." He assured.
"Okay…we've got the mini cooler and the radio. Don't forget to put the sunscreen in the bag." Joan warned. Luke saluted her.
"Aye, Aye." He said. Joan and Adam exited onto the deck where they left their sandals. Joan looked around the deck for a second. There was a small wooden walkway that led to the sand it was maybe ten feet long. At the end of it right before the deck were a shower and a hose to wash the sand off with after they were done on the beach and before they went into the house. The deck had a nice rectangular grill off to the right side and on the left side was a table with four chairs around it and an umbrella.
"Cozy." Joan smiled.
"Unchallenged." Adam nodded.
"Let's go." Joan said excitedly leading the way down the beach.
"Hey Grace?" Luke said from the hallway against the bedroom door.
"What?" She called back, sounding a little agitated.
"If you don't want to wear the bathing suit, just put some shorts and a t-shirt over it or something." He suggested. The door opened and he looked at Grace.
"Way ahead of you today, brain." She offered a small smile and didn't really look at him. She had put on a pair of beach shorts and a tank top over her bathing suit. All of her visible skin was shiny, having just put sunscreen on. Luke smiled.
"Comfy?" He asked. Grace shrugged.
"I'm not a beach person." She replied.
"Well aside from the sand in the ass crack, it's not so bad." Luke shrugged. "Besides, Joan will be too occupied with the water to bug us." He smiled. "And that is why I love the beach." He said, holding the folded beach towels and with a beige beach bag over his shoulder.
"Come on, let's go get sunburn." Grace said, turning and heading for the deck door. Luke followed, shutting and locking the door behind him. "Whoa." Grace said when she saw the deck and more importantly, the view. Luke looked around.
"How did Joan swing this?" He asked.
"Hey, she's got friends in high places." Grace pointed to the sky. Luke laughed.
"Good to know." He said with a nod of his head.
"Come on…they're probably be sending out the FBI to find us if we don't get down there." Grace slid her right arm in between his left arm and his body, running her fingers down to his hand. Luke almost started at the gesture, caught off guard by the fact that Grace-his Grace-was displaying affection in public. Granted the beach was technically 'private' but that was only the block they were on. They were so close to the corner that all the other beach goers were not out of eyesight. Some were even running over into the section that was supposed to be private. Luke stared at her. She looked up at him when she went to take a step and he didn't follow suit.
"What?" She asked. A slow smile crept across Luke's face. "What, brain? What is it?" She reached up and wiped at her mouth and chin. "What? What? Is there like something on my face?" She asked, sounding a little agitated now. Luke just grinned.
"No. Nothing on your face." He assured calmly.
"Then what's wrong?" Grace asked. She sounded more concerned now than frustrated.
"Nothing…I just…was, uhm…enjoying the moment." He said, glancing down at their now entwined hands.
"O-Oh…" Grace said nervously. "Sorry, I don't know what got into me…" She coughed slightly and moved to pull her hand away but Luke held on.
"No, no. It's not a bad thing." He smiled. "Let's go." He nodded towards where Adam and Joan were setting the chairs up. Grace looked at him for an extra second before they fell in step together and headed for the beach chairs.
After they laid out a blanket, weighting it with the mini cooler, the towels and the bag in the corners, Adam and Joan decided it was too hot and they were going to go in the water.
"Okay, you have fun now, kids." Luke said as if he were an old man talking to young whippersnappers.
"Oh we will." Joan assured, walking backwards a foot or two behind Adam. "Unlike some people who won't even wear their bathing suit to the beach." She raised her eyebrows pointedly at Grace before turning around and jogging to Adam and promptly leaping up to piggyback ride him into the water as they both laughed. Grace shook her head and looked at her hands as she sat cross-legged on the blanket. She fidgeted with her hands and avoiding looking at Luke. He reached out and touched her forearm, causing her to look up at him.
"She just thinks you don't want to be out here in a bathing suit because you're self conscious." He shrugged. "I know ya just don't like 'em." He grinned and began counting on his fingers. "Let's see they're…sexist…and skimpy…and-,"
"Shut up." Grace said quietly. Luke looked at her. She avoided his eyes and glanced at Joan and Adam, joking and splashing in the waves. They were sure of themselves and they easily accepted each other despite their pasts. Grace wanted to let go of all of her issues and just be that way, but she just couldn't seem to get a grip on it.
"Hey, I didn't mean to-,"
"No." Grace shook her head. She sighed and looked at him. "It's just…I am self conscious." She mentally kicked herself for admitting it out loud. She looked away from Luke again, not wanting to see his reaction. When he didn't say anything, Grace's fear flared, and she felt the urge to slap him for not being his normal, comforting self when she needed him. She swallowed hard and looked at him for his response. His mouth was hanging open just a bit, and shock was written clearly all over his face. Grace felt herself shrug her shoulders. "What? It's a female thing…" she tried to use a good excuse. He continued to stare at her in silence. "That's it? You've got nothing to say?" Grace's paranoia kicked in. "You're just going to agree with me that the world doesn't need to see me in a bathing suit? Because I'm pathetic and ridiculously caught up in the whole chauvinistic TV slash magazine culture of today-,"
"Why?" Luke interrupted her. Grace looked at him.
"Why what?" She asked.
"Why do you feel self conscious?" He raised an eyebrow as if it was the most ridiculous idea he'd ever heard.
"What?" Grace looked at him. "Have you taken a good look at me, brain? With your new contacts in place?"
"Yeah, yeah I have." Luke nodded.
"Then why are we even discussing this?" Grace asked, leaning back and propping herself up with her hands.
"You know, you're just very sexy when you're soaking wet." Joan said dramatically. "I can't keep my hands off you!" She said, imitating a southern accent and dramatically throwing herself at Adam, looping her arms around his neck. Adam laughed as she kissed him. He picked her up slightly as they continued to kiss and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he tried to dodge the force of the waves. Joan pulled her lips off his. Adam leaned back and let them float in the water over the swells that were crashing just after they passed the couple now. Joan smiled, her forehead still pressed against Adam's.
"You're being pretty hard on Grace." Adam said aloud. Joan turned her head sideways and looked to the beach. Grace looked agitated as she and Luke talked. Luke looked like he was shell-shocked.
"She needs to get over the whole body image thing." Joan said.
"Maybe so…" Adam kicked his legs and sent them moving slightly in circles in the water, both still holding onto the other. "But, don't you think Luke and Grace should, you know deal with that on their own without us picking on them all the time?"
"I'm not picking on her." Joan defended. Adam looked at her. Joan frowned some. "Okay maybe it might come off as picking on her. But, she knows I'm just clowning. I mean come on Grace has said some mean stuff back in her time." Joan reasoned.
"She has changed a lot though, Jane." Adam shrugged. Joan bit her lip and looked at Grace and Luke again.
"You're kidding me, right?" Luke asked.
"About what, smartass?" Grace asked. Luke looked at her in realization. Luke sat up, crossing his legs and inching himself closer to her. He reached out and put his hand on her right arm.
"Grace…" He said so she would look at him. Grace's head didn't move but her eyes slowly made their way up to his and then she couldn't tear them away. She could feel her eyes burning and she clenched her jaw slightly to try and avoid the tears she could feel pooling. She was annoyed at her hair that was hanging in her eyes and she wanted to reach up and move it but was too paralyzed with fear about the next words to come out of Luke's mouth. "God, you're serious…" Luke sounded astonished. Grace glared at him momentarily. "Grace, come on…you can't be serious…"He swallowed hard. "Okay, you are serious." He frowned as he looked at her. "I can't believe, that you honestly have no idea how beautiful you are." He refused to look away from her.
Grace's head swung up, shocked. She was speechless. Though she knew that Luke was crazy about her, Grace's image of herself had been set long ago, by the ramblings of a drunken mother, and the 'cool kids' at school, etc. Those kinds of thoughts, memories and actions lead her to build her walls up. Granted, she had taken great strides in the past couple of years to open up herself to her friends, and Luke especially.
"I'm…I'm what?" She asked. Grace was positive she had just imagined Luke had said those words. Luke reached his hand up to Grace's cheek, even though he was pretty sure she would pull away since they were outside and Adam and Joan were so close by. Surprisingly, she didn't. Instead, Grace just stared at Luke, intently.
"Beautiful." He cleared his throat. "I said…I can't believe that you, the most stubborn, intelligent, strong willed person I know…has honestly, no idea how beautiful you are."
Grace couldn't think of anything to say back to Luke. He just smiled at her. She did the first thing she could think of doing. She forgot about Joan and Adam, and all the other people near by. Her hands went to Luke's face and pulled him to her, placing her lips upon his.
"And that's one small step for Luke." Adam snickered.
"And one giant leap for…Grace-kind?" Joan asked as they made their way out of the water. Both of them laughed as they walked. They took their time for Grace and Luke's sake. Both Grace and Luke had separated by the time Joan and Adam reached their spot on the beach. Joan went to get a bottle of water. Grace flushed slightly licking her lips. She saw something sticking out of the beach bag and leaned over to grab it.
"Sooo…who wants to play soccer?" She stood.
"I'm in." Luke stood.
"Me too, yo." Adam nodded. Joan shrugged.
"I guess that means I am too." She said, completing the distant square the others started forming as they passed the ball.
