Grace awoke with a start the next day. It was nearly ten. A puddle of drool had gathered where her cheek met the pillow. She took her forearm and wiped off the slobber and convinced herself that she was in need of a shower. She drearily pushed herself up off of the bed (pulling off her glasses that she had forgotten to take off before collapsing on the bed) and trudged into the bathroom, where she treated herself to a steaming thirty minute shower (as she tried to rid herself of the glasses marks on her face).
When she got out, she wrapped her clean blonde hair in a towel and set it on top of her head like a turban. Even though she was the only one living in her house, she still refused to walk around naked, so she put on a robe. As soon as she tied the belt around her waist, the doorbell rang. "Shit," she muttered to herself. She grabbed a pair of panties and slipped them on so she wasn't completely nude beneath her robe. She swore if it was Cameron, she was going to kill him. The doorbell rang again, so she yelled, "Give me a second!" as she sprinted down the stairs to the front door of her house. She swung the door open much wider than she intended. To her horror, Dan Avidan stood at the door, twiddling his thumbs.
"Oh, fuck, di-…did I come at a bad time?" he asked as he tried to not stare at her.
"What… the…" Grace was trying to understand what he was doing at her door, crossing her arms over her body in order to make herself more comfortable, "Why the hell are you here?"
"None of us got your number last night. Suzy texted me to ask if I had gotten it… so I just thought I'd come over and ask for it… but… uh… I … can come back later… sorry," he stuttered and turned to leave.
"N-no!" stammered the young lady, to her own surprise, but she continued, "Just, uh, come and sit on the couch, I'll be down in a second."
He shyly made his way to the living room and awkwardly sat on the couch as Grace ran back up the stairs. She threw on a clean bra and a pair of ripped up jeans and a black Crazy Town tee shirt with a white butterfly design on it. She cleaned and placed her glasses on her face. She ran back down the stairs where Danny was no longer sitting in the living room but walking around and admiring the art and pictures she had on the walls and mantle.
He glanced her way and smiled, "I really like these pictures of you. Is this woman your aunt?" He pointed to a very sick looking lady in one of the most recent pictures and Grace nodded.
"She was really sick. I… I'd rather not talk about it, if that's okay," she muttered, pulling the towel out of her hair. She went to the coffee table and found a hair tie and plaited her hair quickly before placing the band at the end of the braid.
"Oh, yeah, that's fine… Uh, can… I get your number now?" he asked, as he slid his phone from his pocket.
She cocked her eyebrows at him and gave a half smile. "Is that seriously the best you've got?" she giggled before she sat down and crossed her arms and legs with an overtone of absolute sass.
"Excuse me?" he asked in amused shock.
"Oh, surely Mister Charming has some kind of 'I-need-your-number' pick-up line that he can use… or are you not quite the enchanter I thought you were?" Grace cocked her head as she stuck her tongue between her teeth in a teasing smile.
How can she go from being super serious to this? Dan asked himself before responding aloud, "They don't call me 'Danny Y. Sexbang' for nothing." He gave a very seductive wink, which only brought about an eye-roll from the woman sitting on the couch.
Dan looked down at his cell phone and paused flicking at the screen for a moment. "Shit!" he exclaimed, "There's something wrong with my cell phone!" he tapped and flicked a few more times with much effort.
"What's wrong with it? Did it freeze up? Let me see," Grace said.
Dan tossed her the phone before adding alluringly, "It doesn't have your number in it."
She caught the phone and she found that it was on a contact page with her name already typed in. "Oh, that was very smooth, Danny, I'll give you that," Grace sneered as she typed in her number. She immediately sent herself a text saying "Dan Avidan" so that she would have his number in her phone as well, before tossing it back to him.
"Can I get you anything?" Grace said, getting up to walk to the fridge. Dan followed and nodded, saying that he could go for a coke or something. "Fuck," the blonde whispered when she opened the refrigerator, "I didn't go to the store yesterday."
"Do… I need to go so you can go to the store?" Dan suggested. He really did not want to be in the way.
"Actually, if you could go with me to the grocery store, that would be wonderful. I usually go with Mrs. Pace on Saturdays, which obviously was yesterday. But I was with you guys yesterday and she had Cameron to help her… I hate going by myself. Unless you have stuff to do, which is fine, y'know, whatever."
"Nah, I don't have anything going on right now, I'd be glad to accompany you to the store. Do you want me to drive?" he inquired, yanking his keys from his back pocket.
"Yeah, my car is running pretty low on gas and I don't really feel like filling it up right now," Grace answered, "Let me go grab my purse and shoes and we can go head out to Albertson's. Uh, feel free to roam around the house a little. I shouldn't be long, though."
She jogged up the stairs and grabbed her canvas shoes that were so cheap and off brand that she couldn't even think of the name. She snatched her messenger-style purse from her vanity and quickly made her way back downstairs. She grabbed a pen and paper from a kitchen drawer and quickly scribbled a list of things she needed to get before calling to Dan. She peeked into the living room and noticed that he was looking at the pictures again.
"You're really enjoying those pictures, aren't you?" asked Grace, glad that someone else appreciated the photos as much as she did, even if the subjects weren't necessarily healthy or attractive.
"You're just super happy, and I think that means more than anything," Danny muttered, as if reading her mind.
"I went almost a whole eight years without having any anxiety attacks because of her. She had a huge impact on my life. Her presence was just calming, y'know? When she started … getting near the end… the panic attacks came back. But she didn't know. That's what was important. I didn't want her to know that I was hurting. I wouldn't want her to know."
"Hmm," Dan grunted lightly with pursed lips. He was trying to avoid the pity road that had been traveled the night before. "Are you ready to head out?" The girl nodded and they walked out of the house. She locked the door before making her way to his car. "So you like Crazy Town?" the tall man smirked as he cranked up the car.
"Yeah, they're pretty good," Grace responded, "They're not my favorite, honestly, but one of my Aunt's good friends in Alberta really liked them and went to a concert during the comeback in 2009 and brought me back this shirt for my birthday. Butterfly is one of my all-time favorite songs, though, hence the shirt's design."
"Seriously?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow with a scar at her.
"Yeah, why?"
"That's… I dunno. I think that's pretty funny and ironic. We made a reference to it in Grumps a while back and so now I have it on my phone…" all of a sudden the familiar guitar tune began to play out of the car speakers.
They gave a big grin to each other before singing the lyrics, "Come my lady, come, come, my lady! You're my butterfly, sugar, baby!" They sang the entire song while dancing, laughing, and giggling at each other being stupid. Once the song ended, Dan turned on the radio and allowed music to play softly in the background as they had a conversation.
"So, remind me of how old you are?" Dan asked, beaming at the windshield.
"I just turned 28 in August," Grace informed him, "And you?"
"I'm… uh… 33," he mumbled uncomfortably.
"Damn!" the girl exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm pretty fucking old, right?" Danny joked nervously.
"No, that's not what I meant," Grace responded, "You just look my age. You look really young. People would kill for that kind of youth, y'know?" Dan tried to hide a smile. "So what about you? What's your story? Where are you from? And who the hell calls you 'Danny Y. Sexbang'?"
"Well, uh… I'm Jewish… My dad came from Israel and met my mom in America. So… that's a thing. But I've lived in New Jersey and New York for a lot of my life and even lived in Boston for a little bit, then went to France for some of my college years. Now I'm here and a shit ton of people call me Danny Sexbang, thank you. It's my stage name," Dan explained.
"Oh, yeah, you do the singing stuff, I forgot," she remarked.
Dan nodded and they chatted as he drove to the supermarket. They entered the store and Grace grabbed a shopping cart and checked her list. "Alright, let's start with cereal, okay?" They strolled to the cereal aisle and walked to the middle where the girl searched to find the right sized box of Lucky Charms. It was on the top shelf. She reached for it on her tippy toes and could not quite grab it. Danny put a hand on her shoulder and reached up with ease and handed her the box. "Thanks," she grinned, "I didn't realize you were going to be so much of a help."
They continued their journey and stopped to get some peanut butter on one of the aisles. "Have you ever had white chocolate peanut butter?" Dan inquired, his eyes lighting up like the midnight sky on a clear night. When Grace shook her head, he responded, "You have to try it, Grace." She tried to hold back a grin at the sound of her name and the excitement in his voice, "It is fucking awesome."
"If you can find it, I'll try it," Grace answered. Danny flashed his teeth in what could only be described as a smile of pure childlike giddiness. "I'm going to go to the next aisle and get some granola bars, okay?" She pushed the cart around the corner into the next aisle as she watched him rummage for the heavenly item for which he was searching. She hunted the shelf for the crunchy granola bars that she liked when she heard someone walking towards her. She glanced up and noticed a group of three men approaching her.
"Hi, there, sweetheart," one with a buzzed head and gray coyote shirt purred to her.
"Uh, I… I think you have me mistaken for someone else," Grace pushed her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose.
"No, baby, I think we got the right girl. How about you come on home with us? You look like you know how to have a good time," one with a black crew cut and army green shirt smirked as he licked his lips.
Grace opened her mouth to speak but couldn't seem to utter a word out of fear. She backed into the shelf as the men moved in towards her. "There you are, darling!" Dan exclaimed as he walked speedily to Grace. She instantly pressed herself into his side and he wrapped his right arm back around to her right hip. It was funny how naturally his arm seemed to fit around her. "I found the peanut butter you wanted," he said, before pressing a kiss into her hair and placing the jar in the cart, "Are these guys from your office?"
"No, uh, I actually d-don't know these men, h-honey," Grace stuttered.
"Oh, then they'd probably better back the fuck off," Dan growled, pulling her tighter into his side. The men glanced at each other and slowly slunk off. As soon as the men were out of sight, both of Grace's arms were around Danny's torso.
He could only make out a soft thanks before she was gone and grabbing the granola bars and throwing them into the cart and pulling Dan with her by his bony elbow. He made sure not to let her leave his sight, and he made sure to stay within her line of sight as well. They walked around, not talking except to acknowledge what was next on the list or if Grace needed Danny to reach something for her. They had finally reached the end of the list, where milk was the only thing left to get.
As Grace reached into the freezer, she heard some teenage giggles behind her. Pulling her milk out of the refrigerated area, she turned to see two girls, a little more than a decade younger than her, standing in front of the cart. "May we help you, girls?" she asked, before glancing up at Danny.
"Uh, are you Danny Sexbang?" one with braces asked, a huge smile spread across her face.
Dan smirked and gave an "I-told-you-so" face to Grace. "Yes, I am, and what can I do for you lovely young ladies?" he responded.
They giggled again. They asked for a picture with him which Grace gladly offered to take. Dan asked what they were fans of and they said they knew his band Ninja Sex Party as well as the Grumps. "So… are you Dan's girlfriend?" The red-headed girl without braces questioned, raising a curious eyebrow.
"No, I'm actually a co-worker," Grace answered with much more sophistication than she thought she would have, "I'm going to be helping Suzy out on her channel. Dan lives down the road from me and decided to help me grocery shop today." The girls looked at each other with a smile.
"Oh, cool! Thanks for the picture, Danny!" they both twittered away as they ran off in the other direction. Dan's smirk grew as Grace elbowed him.
"Do minors tend to drool over you often?" she teased as they made their way to the registers. He laughed for a moment before glancing down an aisle.
"Oh, shit, I think Barry and I might be out of beer. Lemme go grab a pack. Do you need some? What kind do you drink?" Dan said as he began to head down the lane that had hundreds of different alcoholic beverages.
"Uh, I … I actually don't drink," Grace muttered, glancing away and trying to will away the flushing pink embarrassment welling up in her cheeks. This was going to be a normal thing, having to turn away beer from her friends. She didn't want to be a downer, but she was just afraid.
"Oh, fuck," Danny stopped and turned pale, "You had… the drunk… parents. Oh my God. I'm so sorry, I can… uh, get… I'll get it some other time."
"No, I really don't have a problem with you drinking it," she responded quickly, "I'm afraid I might have the silver bullet of alcoholism. And I'm just… I'm really scared of becoming what my parents were. I seriously don't have a problem with other people drinking it. As long as you're not super drunk and beating the shit out of me… and as long as it's legal. I don't tolerate minors drinking or drinking and driving. So, please, go ahead and grab yourself a case of beer. I just don't need one for myself."
Dan's mouth scrunched up as he looked at her. He was trying to decide on if she was seriously saying that it was okay for him to grab a case of beer for his apartment. She looked straight into his eyes and nodded. His eyes are constantly full of sympathy and emotion, Grace observed silently before he turned to go grab his beverage choice. He returned after a minute with a cheap brand 12-pack in hand. He carefully placed it on the bottom of the cart so it was separate from Grace's things.
They found their way to the checkout and rapidly placed the items on the conveyor belt. Grace paid for her groceries and Dan bought his beer. They walked out to the car and loaded it up before getting inside and buckling up. Dan had a guilty expression on his face, as if he had offended Grace by reminding her of the awful past she had lived. She had given him shit about it last night when she was talking about her miserable existence.
"Don't feel bad. I didn't live with my parents my entire life. I only stayed with them until I was thirteen. After that, I ran away. My entire teenage life was spent working on a farm when I wasn't doing school stuff. I dropped out, though, when I was sixteen. The couple I lived with was getting old, and they needed my help on the farm, so I got my G.E.D. and helped them until I was 18. I saved up enough that I earned with them to move up to my Aunt's house on my own. She had cancer and needed someone to take care of her, and she was willing to pay for my college. I went to the University of Alberta and majored in business so I could do a whole lot with my bachelor's degree. I would commute to school and had a few friends from class who would invite me to parties and stuff. I'd go when Auntie Corliss wasn't having a bad day, health-wise. It wasn't bad. I just really wasn't into the whole party deal. I was the designated driver. I didn't have a problem with my friends drinking or even them being too drunk to walk… it was just me, I guess," Grace explained.
"What about your siblings? Didn't you say you had brothers or something?" Dan asked, backing out of the parking spot, sincerely interested in her story.
"I have an older brother and a younger brother, but they never got beat. I was the unwanted one. They wanted a bunch of strong and perfect boys. Not to say that my brothers treated me badly or anything. My older brother tried to save me on many occasions, but the older he got, the more he learned to keep his head down and ignore what was happening to me. He's three years older than me. My little brother was only five when I left. I'm not even sure he remembers who I am, or if they ever looked for me after I ran, or if they mention me at all anymore. All I know is that I'm here now, I'm happy and healthy and I have a job and a new set of friends and that is seriously all that matters to me right now," she clarified the details she had failed to give before.
"You lived with your aunt and you never saw your family?" Dan was confused.
"She was related to us by marriage, and her husband had died, so our family had kind of disowned her, sort of. She didn't come to any reunions after her husband died because of that. And she knew that I didn't want to see them."
They were both silent for several moments as they sped down the road. "Well… you're part of the Grumps family now. Forever! No matter what happens, you're always gonna be a part of us, so welcome to the family!" Dan smiled, trying to hide a twinge of sadness at this girl's past.
"Do you mind if I play with your radio?" Grace inquired after an awkward and noiseless pause.
"Feel free!" Danny invited.
Grace flipped through some of the CDs that he had in one of the cases in the car. "Who's Skyhill? That's, like, the only band in this CD book that I don't seem to at least recognize," she questioned.
"Oh, uh, that's… uh, my… uh… well…" Dan's tan face slowly flushed a rosy pink, "That's my band from a few years back. I mean, we can listen to it if you want, but, uh, we don't have to."
Grace smiled and laughed, "Oh, I think we do." She slid the disc into the player and the words "Hands on the Water" scrolled across the display. A chime-y tune began to play along with a violin. The sound of Dan vocalizing in the background could be heard before he began singing the lyrics through the car speaker. Grace was bobbing her head to the beat and by the third chorus, she was singing, "Hands on the water, I find that it's impossible to make you change your mind. And where the border divides, I see the darkness that is haloed in your eyes." The song ended and she said, "Dan, that's seriously so good. Is there any way I could have this CD?"
"You actually like it?" he was astonished.
"Uh, who wouldn't? You have an incredible voice."
"Yeah, you can have that copy; I have another at my apartment."
"I'm going to be your biggest fangirl. I'm going to memorize every word to every song and then follow you around all the time and tweet at you and ask for your picture and autograph and everything and write super weird fanfiction about you," Grace teased as Dan rolled his eyes before running his fingers through his messy hair. They sat in silence and listened to the next few tracks before Grace spoke again, "But seriously, Danny, this is incredible. I could listen to this all the time. I can't get over how awesome this sounds." He tried to hide a grin. "What's the difference between this and your Sexy Ninja band or whatever?" she asked.
"Oh," he responded, "Ninja Sex Party. It's more of a comedy band, and basically all our songs are about ninjas or dicks or shit like that. It's meant for laughs, not really for jamming to in the car or right after a breakup or something."
"Do you have any of it on a CD?"
"Nah, but I think I've got a couple of our songs on my phone, if you wanna plug it in and play one or two."
She took his phone and plugged the cord into it and the radio. She held the home button down to summon Siri and commanded, "Siri, play Ninja Sex Party." Siri was obedient and began to play a song called "Objects of Desire" and Grace couldn't stop laughing as Dan sang along with himself on the track. After that, a song called "If We Were Gay" played. "Who is Brian?" the blonde asked.
"One of my best friends; he and I used to be roommates. He's married now though, and has a little girl," Dan explained, "He's a great guy, but he doesn't do the whole singing deal. So he plays the instruments for the most part and I sing, but I do add some guitar parts to a couple of our songs." Comical lyrics filled the silence between the two adults. A song called "FYI (I Wanna F Your A)" played next. An uneasy look came across Dan's face. "You… can change it if it makes you feel uncomfortable or … y'know."
"What? What do you mean?" Grace asked, muddled.
"So, your parents didn't…" he paused, "uh… rape you? I guess I just always hear about sexual abuse going hand in hand with physical abuse."
"Oh!" exclaimed the passenger, placing a hand on the driver's shoulder, "No! I was incredibly lucky that they were just fucking idiots. They'd just get drunk and pissed, not horny. Or if they did get horny, then they screwed each other. No, they never touched me in that way, thankfully. But I appreciate your concern for me in that area. People don't think about that a lot, I guess, not even me. So this doesn't bother me any more than making dick jokes or anything."
"Oh, I'm… I'm glad that you weren't abused in that way."
Neither one spoke for a few moments.
"Would you have treated me differently if I'd told you that they had?"
He looked over at her as they pulled up to a stoplight. He stared deeply into her eyes to try to understand what she was really asking; would she be flattered or offended by him saying that he would have been much careful about what he said and did around her if she had been sexually abused as a kid. He decided to go with the honest route, "Yeah. I probably would have been a lot more careful about stuff I would say and do around you. I wouldn't make as many dirty jokes. You're a part of our family now, like I said earlier, and that means that your needs get catered to just as much as anyone else's."
"That's very sweet and highly appreciated." Grace replied, returning her hands to her lap. Dan eased on the gas as the light turned green. They listened to a few other songs as they smoothly made their way down the streets of LA. They slowly pulled into her driveway and parked. Danny popped the trunk and they grabbed all of the groceries and made their way inside after Grace unlocked the door. They placed all of the bags on the kitchen table.
"Hey, do you mind if I use your bathroom?" Dan asked.
"Oh, that's fine, it's down the hall; second door on the right," answered Grace, pointing towards one of the doorways in the kitchen. She began to take things out of the bags and put them away and he headed towards the restroom to relieve himself, thanking her as he walked away. She soon pulled a chair from the table so she could reach the top cabinet. She began placing things and moving things around in one of the cabinets when she suddenly felt something touching the small of her back.
"Sorry, just trying to spot you so that you don't fall," Dan admitted, turning a little pink when he realized that he had scared her, "Do you want me to help?"
"I think I'm okay for right now," she steadied herself using his shoulder, "If you could just hand me the last of that mac and cheese stuff, then I should be done in the cabinets." He grabbed her hand and held it to help her keep her balance as he reached for the boxes of macaroni and cheese. With the span of his arms, he was easily able to reach the table and grab the boxes while keeping Grace steady. He gave her the blue boxes of the pasta and returned his hand to her back. She placed them on the shelf where they belonged and allowed Danny to help her down.
"I don't think you realize how nervous you just made me," he laughed, somewhat tensely.
"What do you mean?" Grace questioned, a smile spreading across her face.
"Well, what if you had fallen?" he responded. Silence followed.
"What if I had fallen?"
"What if I had come back and you were, like, unconscious on the floor or something?"
Grace snickered, "Danny, I've climbed on that chair sixteen hundred times. I've fallen from it nearly four hundred times. But never once have I ever knocked myself unconscious by falling from it. So I think I'd be fine. Thank you for your concern, though." She could tell that this reaction was not pleasing him. He moved to the table and quietly inquired where the rest of the groceries went. "Uh, cold stuff goes in the fridge, everything else goes in the lower cabinets and the little pantry," she muttered as they both avoided eye contact.
As she emptied the bags, Grace found a solitary green box of pasta that had not made it in with the others because it was a different brand. She glanced at the chair for a second. "Hey, Dan," she said, "Could you put this up with the rest of the pasta stuff? If you don't want me climbing up on the chair, then I won't climb up on the chair. If I'm going to be a part of your family then I need to respect you just as much as you're going to respect me." He smiled and took the box from her, placing it in the cabinets with its brethren.
They finished putting everything where it belonged. "Do you want to stay and hang out a while? I've really enjoyed your company," Grace admitted, glancing down at her shoes, "We could watch a movie or something."
Dan grinned down at her. Suddenly his phone dinged. "Oh, hold on," he replied, pulling it out of his pocket, "Shit. I would seriously love to, but Barry and I ordered some new furniture and he needs some help getting it in. Apparently it just got there, and I forgot the stuff was coming today. Can I get a rain check?" She nodded.
"Do you guys need any help?"
"I think we'll be able to get it. It's just some shelving and a table or two, so the two of us should be able to handle it. Thanks a ton, though. We appreciate it."
They bid each other a farewell and Grace trudged to her couch and sat down on it and tried to find a good movie on television. She couldn't help but wonder if he had really just been trying to leave and not hang out with her. She pulled her knees to her chest and pulled a blanket that was on the back of the sofa over her body and tried to relax. Despite the kindness he had shown to her, it was really difficult for her to believe that he sincerely wanted to be her friend.
As Dan left Grace's house, he silently cursed Barry. He knew it looked like he was weaseling out of hanging with her. He really did want to spend time with this new member of the Grump family. He drove back to his apartment and noiselessly helped Barry bring in and assemble the new furniture. "Dude, what's wrong?" his roommate inquired, "You're actually being quiet."
"You just called at a really bad time," Dan muttered.
"What? Why? What were you doing?" the shorter man asked.
"I was going to hang out with Grace Housley," the taller man responded somberly, lifting one end of a shelving unit in order to carry it into the apartment.
"Oh, I'm sorry man," Barry replied as he took the other end of the shelf, "But that new Liam Neeson movie came out a couple days ago, and Suzy, Arin, Ross, Holly and I thought we would all go see it together. Let's invite her over so she can come with us!"
"I don't think she has any gas in her car right now, though," Dan informed him, putting a lot of effort into moving the rest of the furniture.
"That's fine. I'll just go pick her up while you clean," Barry responded.
"What?"
"My room is clean. Your room is dirty. There are magazines all over the floor, clothes lying everywhere, yadda yadda. You need to clean up if she's going to come over," the bearded man replied as he set down his end of the last piece of furniture.
"Jesus Christ," grumbled Danny under his breath as he lumbered away, "When did you become my mother?"
"Fine, leave your room dirty, but when she's really unimpressed when she comes and sees that you're a total slob, it's gonna be your fault. And at that point, do you really think she's gonna wanna hang out with us… or, really you?" Barry said with an accusatory tone that only he could manage. Dan groaned and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Fine," the lanky man gave in and trudged to his room.
Barry smiled told Dan to send him Grace's contact details, and within moments he heard a ding on his phone. He picked up his cell and called the number that was sent to him by his roommate. He pressed the device to his ear as it rang.
"Hello?" the feminine voice said from the other end. She sounded tired, as if she had just been awakened from a nap.
"Hi, is this Grace?" Barry asked.
"Yes, who is this?"
"This is Barry Kramer. We met last night… I'm Dan's roommate. We just decided a few minutes ago that Arin, Suzy, Ross, Holly, Dan and I are gonna go see the new Liam Neeson movie that came out recently tonight. It's called 'Salvation Runner'. I could come pick you up right now and you could hang out at our place until we go to see it tonight. Would you wanna come with us?"
Silence for a moment made Barry unsure if the call was still connected. "Uh, yeah, actually that sounds really fun. Uh, I don't really know what that movie is about. Is that okay?" Grace finally answered.
"Yeah, it's fine, I'll be there to pick you up in, like, ten or fifteen minutes, okay?"
"Alright, sounds great. If you turn on my street from Kennedy Road, then I'm the fifth house on the left," she spoke with an audible smile. They bid each other goodbye and hung up.
Barry yelled to Dan that he was heading out to get her (to which there was a unsatisfied grunt in response) and he walked down the stairs of the apartment building and got in his car. He drove to her house and was surprised at how large it was for just her, but he remembered that it had been her aunt's house or something before she lived here. He got out and rang the doorbell.
Grace put in her contacts, just in case the movie was in 3D or something, and sat anxiously on her couch. She had called Mrs. Pace as soon as Barry had called her to let her know she'd be out late this evening with her new friends and that there was no need in worrying about her tonight. She made sure to save Barry's number in her phone and sat unable to hide a huge smile. They actually wanted to be with her. That meant they liked her, right? If they didn't actually like her, then they would've just gone to the movies without her, right? It had to mean that. Her smile couldn't be removed, and even when the doorbell rang she ran to answer it.
She opened it to a very diffident Barry standing with his arms crossed behind his back. "Hi, Barry, it's nice to see you again," Grace grinned.
"You too," he expressed with a toothy smile. Grace locked the door to the house and they made their way to the car. When Barry cranked it, the radio was not blaring like it had been in Danny's car. In fact, a woman's voice was talking softly. "Sorry, I've been listening to some talk radio in the car. Mostly podcasts and stuff, but you can change it if you'd like."
"No, it's fine, we can talk. I'd like to get to know you a little. I didn't really get to talk to you last night," she acknowledged, buckling her seatbelt.
"Okay, what do you want to know?"
"What do you do, I guess? I mean, I know Danny is the singer, Arin is the gamer, Suzy is the makeup artist, but I'm kinda clueless about the rest of you."
"I guess you could call me the editor, but I do a lot of other stuff as well. I like to game in my free time as well; I'm interested in music, though not as much so as Dan is, and I've made a few games in the past. I graduated from NYU with a major in Video Game Theory and Design with a minor in some business-y stuff. I'm really not quite as outgoing as everyone else. I'm not as much of a social butterfly, I guess." As soon as Barry was on the road driving, his phone rang. "Could you answer that for me?" he asked.
Grace nodded and picked up the iPhone from the console and slid her finger across the screen, not bothering to look at the caller ID. "Hello?" she said into the phone.
"Grace?" Dan's voice came across the other end, sounding a bit confused and exhausted.
"Hi, Dan," she grinned, "Barry's driving. Can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah," he muttered through the phone, "Can you ask him where the bathroom cleaning stuff is? He should know what I'm talking about."
"Sure, hold on," she put the phone to her shoulder, "Do you know where the bathroom cleaning stuff is?"
"It should be in the hallway closet, above the washer on the shelf," Barry responded, and Grace repeated his words into the receiver. Dan said a quick thank you and bid her goodbye and she did the same. "He's trying to get the apartment clean before you get over there. He's kind of pissed that I made him clean, but my room and half of the apartment was clean, so it was his responsibility to do it."
"I appreciate that," Grace lilted with a laugh, "I guess you and I are more alike in terms of personality. I'm very introverted and I like clean environments. Dan, I'm guessing, is a super-extreme extrovert, am I right?"
Barry beamed and nodded his head with a chuckle, "Definitely the extrovert. He's definitely more of a mess than I am, but he can be clean when he wants to. He really suffered with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder when he was, like, 18, so I think sometimes that swoops back in and gets in his brain a little bit. But he's cool. He's great and happy. Sometimes he's an idiot and a moron, but he's one of my best friends. So what about you? You kinda mentioned your family last night, but you didn't really get into it."
A crimson blush filled her face, "Oh, I guess I do kinda need to explain, especially since I had that panic attack last night. Uh, I grew up in a home where my parents would get drunk and beat me. I was the only kid who got beat; my brothers never got hit or anything except once or twice when my older brother tried to save me, but he learned to quit that fast. So now, loud noises and shouting can cause me to have panic attacks, so just a little FYI, there. That's why the mug scared me so badly. Anyways, when I was thirteen, I ran away. I'm not sure what they thought happened to me, but I just caught a train down to South Georgia and worked on a farm and went to the local school until I was sixteen. I dropped out and got my G.E.D. so I could work full time on the farm until I was 18. At that point, I had enough money to move up with my Auntie Corliss. She had a form of cancer and needed someone to take care of her and her husband, my mom's brother, was dead, so I was all she had. She paid for my college. The way I got into the makeup stuff is that she owned a beauty salon and it was really great so I got a lot of hands on experience while I worked on the books and stuff because of my business degree. About ten months before she passed, the business plummeted because a lot of her professional ladies had to leave because of their husbands' jobs and stuff so we were going to move down here to LA together to her second home but then she died. We had already sold the Alberta house about a month before she got really bad. She just got sicker and sicker. The doctors said it was at an untreatable stage. The last thing she said to me was, 'Sweetheart, my darling Gracie, I want you to go down to LA and make friends for me. I love you so much. Everything's yours.' And then I had the worst panic attack that night that I'd had in years." A single tear rolled down Grace's face. How did she open up so suddenly to this man that she had only met one day ago?
They slowed to a stop as a yellow light changed to red, and a friendly hand rested on Grace's forearm. She looked over at Barry and he had a faux smile across his face and watery eyes. "It's gonna be okay," he choked, "because you're with us now. It seems like your love for your aunt was really beautiful, and her love for you was just as beautiful. I'm really glad you came down to LA. I'm really glad you're not in that bad home situation anymore. And I'm really sorry that I'm tearing up, but it means a lot to me that you opened up to me." They both quickly brushed the tears from their faces.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," they both said simultaneously, before chuckling.
"No, I'm sorry," Grace giggled, "I didn't mean to put a damper on the upbeat mood."
"You're fine, I probably shouldn't have pried as much as I did," he returned with a smirk. He pressed the gas as the light changed from red to green.
"You deserve to know about me," she said, "I'm a part of this family, and you guys deserve to know about me and my past. It wouldn't be fair of me to hide it."
Barry's smile disappeared. "Do you mind if I ask you another question, then?"
"Go for it," she responded.
"How far did the abuse go?"
Grace sat in silence for a second, her lips pursed. "They just hit me; beat me. I was never raped, thank God. But if anything went wrong, then I got hit. They were drunk six out of seven days of the week. And it didn't matter if it was morning, noon, afternoon, evening, or night, they'd either be drunk or not in the house. My father made sure not to go to work intoxicated, but my mother was a stay at home mother who had wanted all boys and drank herself away because she had a daughter. So she beat me. And then he'd come home and beat the living shit out of me because I was a girl and his coworker Bill had found a five dollar bill on the floor or his boss hadn't given him a raise or some stupid-ass shit. I was the scapegoat. No one ever knew, other than my aunt and my brothers."
Barry sucked his bottom lip into his mouth as he stared at the road. It was evident that he was trying to think of what to say next. "It's okay," Grace gave a sad grin, "you don't have to say anything. I know." He simply nodded. They began a new conversation about different things, like music and movies and things and were laughing again by the time that Barry parked in the apartment building's parking lot. Somehow, Grace felt super-comfortable with this man who she had met less than 24 hours before. It was like they'd been best friends for an eternity already; like they were destined to be friends from long ago.
They walked up the stairs to the door of the apartment that housed Barry and Danny, the two men that Grace had spent the most time with in the past 24 hours. "God, I hope he actually got some fucking cleaning done," Barry grumbled as he turned the handle and opened the door. What Grace saw when the door was opened was not what she had been expecting at all; her mouth opened slightly in shock when she actually saw it.