Lucy and Grace // on hold

two

Lucy and Grace would have never met if each other if it hadn't been for a book.

It was not Grace's Monday. She had overslept, thanks to forgetting to set her alarm and staying up until 4am trying to finish an essay. After typing solidly for five hours in a desperate attempt to finish on time, meaning she had had a grand total of two hours sleep. Whilst she was pleased with the result, it had meant she had overslept and had almost missed the bus. She could barely keep her eyes open as she slumped into her usual seat on the bus, trying to read the book she had shoved into her bag before she left the flat. It was a copy of Skellig by David Almond that she was halfway through reading. Grace tried for ten minutes trying to read the same paragraph before eventually giving up after realising she hadn't been able to get past the first paragraph. Grace had to stop herself from falling asleep on the bus and missing her stop altogether, and she all but fell off the bus and dashed to her lecture.

When she sat down in her usual seat at back of the lecture hall and pulled out her laptop, she realised with dismay that in her rush to get off the bus at the right stop, she had left her book on the bus. Grace cursed herself and sat stewing in her anger for the first lecture, barely able to focus on the professor at the front of the room. For once, Grace was grateful that she had ended up at the back of the room, as it meant no one would notice if she accidentally fell asleep.

An hour and a half later, Grace dragged herself out of the lecture and started walking to her next lecture. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out absentmindedly.

Jasper: do you want me to grab so coffee for our lecture?

Grace nearly cried.

Grace: yes please I'm dying I had no sleep last night and I basically slept through my morning class.

She could almost hear Jaspers laughing at her, but that might just be the sleep deprivation. She carried on walking to the lecture theatre for her second class of the day, and spotted Jaspers blue hair a mile off. Jasper always wore the most outrageous outfits and today was no exception. They were wearing some tartan trousers with an incredibly oversized suit jacket with large shoulder pads over the top of a black mesh t-shirt. They looked ridiculous, but somehow kind of managed to pull it off. Grace was pretty sure they were in competition with everyone else in their class to wear the most ridiculous outfits possible. Jasper grinned at Grace and handed her a large cup of coffee, which she graciously accepted and took a sip, sighing as the bitter drink started to work its magic.

"Did you pull another all-nighter or something? Or is there another reason why you look like death warmed up?" Jasper teased. Grace rolled her eyes and searched her brain for some clever response, but after a few moments gave up. "That bad huh?"

"I had an essay to turn in for 9 am this morning and I left it to the last minute, as usual. I was up until 4 am and I've had about two hours total of sleep. It was a struggle to stay conscious in my art history lecture."

Jasper laughed and patted Grace on her head sympathetically. "At least this class is a bit more interesting. And don't worry, I'll make sure you don't nod off." Grace smiled gratefully.

Thanks to the coffee and Jaspers whispered commentary throughout her classes, the day passed much more quickly, and by the end of the day, Grace didn't feel like she would drop down asleep at any given moment. Jasper took pity of Grace and gave her a lift back to her flat, which Grace appreciated greatly, especially when she remembered that she had left her book on the bus, and she would have had to otherwise bear the unbearable quiet of the bus. She fell asleep early that night, after attempting to watch a documentary but eventually giving up and succumbing to the warm embrace of sleep.

Earlier that day, Lucy had watched the girl get off the bus as she usually did. She seemed to almost be drunk as she scrambled to get up from her seat and stumble off the bus. After the girl had got off and the bus had started moving, Lucy noticed that there was a small book on the seat next to where she had been previously sitting. She gingerly reached over and picked up the book and read the title: Skellig by David Almond. She recognised the cover, as it was what the girl had been reading just moments ago, before she got off the bus. It soon dawned on Lucy that the book belonged to her. Not knowing what to do, she carefully placed the book in her bag, holding it carefully like it was made of glass, and silently thanked god. She had been wishing for a reason or a chance to talk to the girl, and now she finally had one. Lucy would return the book to the girl when she next got on the bus.

Lucy's head buzzed the entire day, and she could barely concentrate on anything other than the book. The book felt impossibly heavy in her bag, and Lucy found she kept taking the book out to look at it, to see if she could find any possible clues about the girl.

The pages were dog-eared, and the spine was cracked in multiple places. There was a very deliberate fold on a page in the middle of the book, where Lucy guessed she had left off. There was nothing else in the book though, no scribbled in notes in the margin, no name and address on the inside cover. Lucy was no closer to finding out who this girl was. She would just have to use it to start a conversation with her when they next got the bus together. Sabrina seemed to pick up that Lucy was distracted during their lectures for the day but didn't comment. The girl wasn't on the bus on the way home, so Lucy decided to read the book herself. It was a bit odd, but she found herself sucked into the story, and stayed up late trying to finish it, or at least get to the same point that the girl had marked. 

//

would yall like me to make it more obvious when the pov changes or is it alright like it is atm?

reminder that im posting bonus things on my tumblr and twitter! currently there are character profiles on my twitter and tumblr (links in my bio!)

next update should be next monday

h.