Disclaimer: I am not JKR.
Author's Note: Since I'm home a whole lot earlier than expected, I'm not falling asleep while I post this week. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-One
Thursday, August 4th 2022
Paris, France
"Are you sure you don't want to come?"
Grace turns around to face Eva and smiles at her. "I'm very sure. But you guys have fun, alright?"
Eva nods. "Here's to hoping a night out will do Lysander some good and they'll be okay after."
Grace looks at her speculatively for a moment, before she says, "I don't think it's Lysander." Eva raises an eyebrow at her and Grace gets it, because most of the time Lysander is the source of his and Lorcan's disagreements, but Lorcan has been acting oddly all week and not just when it came to Lysander. "But who knows… I might be wrong."
There is a pause as both girls lose themselves in thought. It's Eva who breaks the silence. "Gracie?" she doesn't wait for Grace to reply, just looks at her to make sure she has her attention before she continues, "you know… what we talked about the other day… are you sure you won't tell me his name?"
Grace sighs quietly, "I told you, Evie… I want to be sure I'm not imagining this. It might be nothing after all."
"Alright." Eva crosses the room and kisses her cheek. "See you tomorrow, Gracie."
"Don't let Tim get you drunk!" Grace calls after her friend as she leaves the room. Eva's laugh echoes through the hallway and Grace returns to her book with a smile until there's someone else standing in the door.
"Hello," his voice is soft and it does things to her that she really doesn't want to acknowledge, because she has no idea where that would lead. She turns around and when she sees his smile (the crooked one she so adores), she knows that she lied to Eva. It's not nothing. Not for her.
"Hey," she smiles and closes her book. "I heard that you didn't want to go to a nightclub."
He laughs and sits at the edge of her bed. "Well, I can clearly say the same about you." She nods in acknowledgement of his point and he continues. "Scorpius has declared us both mad, you know, but he's too young to go."
"He would have enjoyed that, wouldn't he?"
"He would have," Lorcan smiles at her, "But I would much rather be having a picnic."
"A picnic?" Grace laughs lightly. "Where?"
"Up on the rooftop," he gets up and holds out a hand to her. "You coming?"
She takes his hand and tells her heart to stop beating so fast because he surely doesn't mean anything by it. They're friends, just friends. But it's so easy to forget about that as he takes her up to the rooftop and they spend the night in a veritable nest of blankets and pillows, talking and eating and laughing until the sun rises above Paris.
Please let me know what you think! And thank you for reading!