out of the blue | gracie abrams

I

Important to note: In this timeline, good riddance came out a year after it actually did.

I - happenstance.

4th of June, 2023, Chicago

—5:49pm—

"HOW do I look?" Pippa asked, twirling around to face her best friend instead of her mirror.

"Like you're going to a Taylor Swift concert," Minnie replied, removing the strawberry flavored lollipop from her mouth with a pop.

"In a good way, I hope," Pippa questioned, brushing the two strands of hair in her face behind her ears.

"Of course, how could you ever look bad?" Minnie declared, standing up from her chosen spot on Pippa's freshly made bed.

Well, freshly made may be a stretch. Sure, the bed was tidy, but Pippa's entire closet was strewn across the sandy pink sheets from the indecision regarding her outfit.

"While I appreciate the compliment, this is quite literally the most important night of my life, so I'd really like for you to be serious right now!" Pippa whisper-shouted in desperation, placing both her hands on Minnie's shoulders and shaking the poor girl to a near concussion.

"I am being serious! Your outfit looks good, your hair looks good, your makeup looks good, the only thing you should be concerned about is us being late because it's almost 6 o'clock and you don't even have your shoes on yet," Minnie teased, throwing the now empty lollipop stick into the small trash can tucked beneath Pippa's desk.

"Shit shit shit!" Pippa cursed underneath her breath.

Throwing on a few friendship bracelets and swiping her bag off her dresser, Pippa grabbed Minnie's wrist and dragged her down the stairs, ignoring the endless sea of accessories that are cluttered haphazardly across her bedroom floor.

"We can write our thirteens on the way there! Did you bring your glitter face paint?!"

—7:10pm—

"How crazy was that storm last night?" Gracie asked, tying half her hair back and grabbing her purple bow clip off the vanity.

"Well, you know I love the rain, but the lighting and thunder were a bit too crazy for me to risk my crew performing and getting hurt. I'm really glad it let up before we had to go on," Taylor's voice rang through the crappy speakers of Gracie's phone.

She found herself needing to keep pinching her arm to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Even though it'd been a little over two months since she first opened for Taylor on The Eras Tour, Gracie still had the most severe case of imposter syndrome known to mankind. At least she was no longer stressed beyond repair before she had to go on stage. The anxiety had died down to just a thready pulse and mildly sweaty palms.

"Could I have an ice cube, please?" Gracie asked one of the backstage assistants, receiving a thumbs up, "Sorry, I don't know why but I'm a bit more nervous than usual today."

"Hey, it's fine. You're great, people love you. Just tune it out if it's too much," Taylor encouraged, her voice soft and calm, motherly.

When the assistant returned with her ice cube in a plastic cup, Gracie fished it out with her fingers and gripped it tightly with her left hand. She felt the coldness penetrate her skin and invade her bloodstream, slowing her heart rate and making her feel like she can breathe a little easier.

"Gracie Abrams? You're on in fifteen," a stage manager informed her, to which she replies with a curt nod.

"I gotta go. I'll see you after?" Gracie told Taylor.

"Of course. Go get 'em girl," Taylor replied and Gracie can almost hear a smile in her words.

"Thanks," Gracie said before hanging up.

With a long, deep sigh, Gracie looked down at her left palm to find the absence of the former ice cube, replaced with the presence of a small, damp patch on the sleeve of her black cardigan. The chill from it still lingered as Gracie stepped out of the green room to meet up with her band backstage.

—7:27pm—

"Oh my god, look! Mouse, she's literally going to be right there! How is this even real?!" Pippa pointed at the stage, almost vibrating with excitement as she and Minnie reached their seats for the night.

"Yes, Pip, that is kind of why we paid an exorbitant amount of money to be here," Minnie reminded her with a subtle roll of the eye.

"I can't believe this is happening right now. The night I've waited my entire life for is finally here, Mouse. Oh god, what am I gonna do after this is over?!" Pippa lamented, spinning on her heels to face her best friend with a distressed look on her face.

"How are you already thinking about that?" Minnie responded, placing a hand on Pippa's shoulder, "Pip, we're here to have the night of our lives tonight, just remember that for now. Everything else that follows can be thought about tomorrow."

For Pip, that was easier said than done. She's a worrier, she worries about everything. However, for the sake of not feeling like the thousands of dollars she dropped on front row diamond tickets were in vain, Pippa could push her worries to the side for one night. Well, she'd at least try.

"I'll try, but I do not make any promises, and I can't believe we missed MUNA's set! I was so excited for it too," Pippa clutched onto Minnie's hand, trying her very best to contain her anticipation that was slowly melting into anxiety.

"Girl, the only reason we even did was because you spent half an hour picking what color pair of Converse you wanted to wear. What even is the difference? Aren't they all the same shoe?" Minnie accused, earning herself an offended scoff from her best friend.

"They are absolutely not the same shoe! How could you even say that?!" Pippa declared, dramatically placing a hand over her heart like she'd been stabbed, "And that wasn't the only reason, you took forever to find a parking spot."

Before Minnie could open her mouth to object, the background music stopped as the screen on the stage changed from the Eras Tour backdrop to a plain black screen with white text displaying, 'Gracie Abrams' in simple Calibri font. Pippa wasn't too familiar with Gracie's music, she'd heard a few songs here and there from TikTok and whatnot, but she wouldn't call herself well versed in Gracie's discography. Pippa wasn't even sure she knew what Gracie Abrams looked like.

That was all an afterthought, though, when the girl with the bow steps on stage for the first time, her long, white skirt and almost intentionally messy, wavy brown hair flowing in the Chicago breeze, her smile infectious, her face angelic and her voice, oh god her voice;

Her voice absolutely, doom-inducingly, enchanting.

-✫★✫-

hello my lovelies <3

hope you enjoyed this first chapter! i know it might've been a bit boring because it's a lot of set up, but hopefully the following few will be a little more interesting. please leave a comment if you wish, i love reading all your thoughts. hope you all have the very best of days.

- 🍎