Gracie's POV:

"Okay, I officially want your room. You know, minus all the girly things."

Justin walked around my room and looked at everything with amazement.

"I can't believe you have a room with two floors. Do those stairs lead to the 4th floor?" He asked, walking toward them.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's the secret passage way."

"This is just too cool."

I laughed and walked across the room to meet him at the stairs. "You want to go up there?" I asked.

He nodded.

I led the way up the winding stairs, and we ended up in a huge room full of books and office supplies.

"Whoa. That is the biggest desk I've ever seen." Justin stated, walking over to the desk against the far side of the room.

"I know. Our dad came home with that about five years ago. It's my favorite thing in the house."

He looked over at me. "Really? Well I can see why. It's so…huge!"

I smiled at his excitement. He walked over to a door that was a few feet away from the desk.

"What's this?" He asked, opening the door.

It was another staircase, but this one was winding downward.

"Where do these lead to?" Justin asked, his voice still bouncy and happy.

"Danni's room." I said, looking down at my feet. He quickly closed the door and walked over to me.

"I'm-"

"It's okay Justin. If you want to see it, I'll take you."

He looked a bit unsure, so I just grabbed his wrist and lead him down the stairwell.

I opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and let the cool air of Danni's vacant room wash over me.

Justin tightened his grip on my hand. "If you don't want to go in there, we can go back."

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. I secretly sleep in here sometimes anyway…when I stay up thinking about her…"

I felt Justin's body stiffen, so I pulled him into her room.

"Is there a light?" Justin asked quickly.

"You won't feel closed in in this room. It's pretty big."

I felt him nod, and I turned the light on, revealing all of Danni's belongings.

"Wow, she has a lot of stuff." Justin said, pulling me along with him this time.

"What's this?" He had dragged me over to her dresser, scattered with her ribbons, medals, and trophies. But the main things that she had on this dresser were pictures of the three of us.

"Are these pictures of you and your sisters?" He asked, picking one of them up.

I nodded. "Yeah. That's when we went to New York City to see our first Broadway play."

He nodded. "What did you see?"

"The Lion King."

"I heard that was a good one."

"It was. Danni absolutely loved it. She didn't stop talking about it for a week."

I smiled at the memory.

"What's this a picture of?"

"That's us in Jamaica. We all agreed that that was our favorite vacation."

He smiled. "You look really pretty in this picture Gracie."

He gave my hand another squeeze. "Thanks."

Justin picked up another picture. This one made my heart start to hurt. Every time I saw it, I remember her so clearly.

"What's this one?"

A sob escaped my mouth and I covered it with my hand.

Justin turned to look at me. "Gracie, don't cry! Look, I'm putting it down-"

"No! No, I'm fine. That's just…that's the last picture I ever took with her."

He was silent for a minute. "Where were you when you took it?"

"In our backyard in the hot tub. For some strange reason, she was all over me that night. She wanted to hang out with me every second. She made Cass take this picture. I'm just really glad I have it here."

He placed the picture down and wrapped his arms around me. I didn't realize I was sobbing until now.

"Gracie, I'm so sorry. I know you miss her." I squeezed him tightly. He as the only thing keeping me from falling out onto the floor like I usually did.

Whenever I came in here, Cass would always find me passed out on the floor. She wouldn't take me back to my room. She would lie right next to me on the floor, and hold me while I was asleep.

I calmed down a bit, and Justin rubbed my back.

There was a shuffling noise by the door, and we looked over to find Cass leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed.

"Are you okay Gracie?" She asked, walking over to us.

I let go of Justin and she hugged me.

Then I heard her laughing. "You must feel really…awkward right now." Cass said to Justin. I heard him laugh little.

"No, actually I think it's just one of those moments."

I pulled away from Cass and wiped my eyes.

"You okay?" Justin asked me. I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay."

"Well, isn't it getting pretty late? It's 8:30." Cass said, looking from me Justin to me.

"Yeah, I bet my mom is getting worried."

"I'll leave you two alone for a moment." Cass said, walking out of the room.

As soon as she was gone, Justin held out his phone.

"Put your number in." He insisted. I punched in my number and he grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and typed his number into my contact list.

"I'll call you later." He said. When he got to the staircase, he hesitated.

"Um, Grace? Could you um, come with me?" He held out his hand without looking away from the dark stairway.

I smiled and walked across the room and grabbed his hand. "Sure."

When we finally got to the top, Justin quickly leaped into the room and pulled me with him.

"What are you doing?" I asked, staring at him as he stopped short.

He looked around, and then turned back to me.

"This…" He said.

He leaned in and kissed me. Not just a peck, but one full of meaning.

When he pulled away, he smiled at me. "Are you going to be here tomorrow?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'll be here. Why?"

"I want to come back over. This place is so much cooler than my own."

I stared into his eyes for a moment.

"Oh, you want to come see my room?" he asked.

I nodded. "Definitely."

"Alright. Uh, how about tomorrow afternoon? I'll pick you up."

"Sounds good."

He kissed me on the cheek and led me all the way back downstairs to the foyer. He seemed to learn my house in only a few hours.

Cass was at the bottom of the stairs.

Justin kissed me on the cheek. "See you tomorrow."

He opened the front door and closed it quietly behind him. I smiled, staring at where he was just standing.

"Someone's got a future boyfriend!" Cass shouted, quickly walking over to me.

"He totally likes you! And don't think I didn't see him kiss you earlier."

I stared at Cass with wide eyes. "You saw?"

She nodded. "Yeah. That was so sweet. He's just so adorable with you."

I hugged her, and she squeezed me back.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I did have a future boyfriend coming my way.

I smiled at the thought of Justin picking me up tomorrow.

I can't wait. I thought.