"Don't you wish we could stay like this forever, best friends, hanging out, enjoying the sun?" Grayson asked quietly, his large, calloused hand gently stroking Gracie's arm.
The Summer's sun was suffocating everyone with humidity and harsh rays yet Gracie still managed to get goosebumps, caused from the male companion by her side. The young girl had been infatuated by Grayson from the age of 13, when the girl finally realised that boys do in fact, not have cooties and some were actually cute.
Especially Grayson. Puberty had rewarded him so well, with chestnut hair and those hypnotising chocolate orbs, Grayson was the definition of every teenager's dream guy. Gracie only felt lucky that she'd managed to keep him as her best friend.
Her fingertips brushed the top of the cool grass beside her, the small leaves tickling her hands; she did wish it could be forever like this- calm, peaceful and perfect.
She inhaled deeply and relished the fresh, grassy scent that greeted her before opening her shielded eyes to gaze at Grayson, silently praising herself for not letting her breath hitch at the sight.
"Of course I do, it's so serene but the only thing that can change is the weather. We'll always be best friends and we'll always hang out, nothing can change that, we've managed 17 years, what's 80 more?" She smiled, gently lacing her fingers in his, not caring that the clammy sweat from them both was mixing on each other's palm.
Grayson said nothing, only smiling softly in reply. He didn't know how to tell her that he was moving to another country, and he may never see her again, he couldn't bear to tell her that they wouldn't be able to share Hershey's kisses in class or pass cute, silly notes to each other. He couldn't tell her that he was leaving not only his town but his whole world, and he certainly couldn't tell her that he'd been in love with her for the past 3 years, it was simply too late.
He stared at his best friend intensely, absorbing her beauty, admiring her curly blonde hair and blue eyes that made him fall for her. Gracie had never been a girl for makeup and therefore Grayson had been lucky enough to fall for her natural beauty, freckles and all. He'd heard about relationships that had failed due to guys seeing their girl without makeup, and he knew that with Gracie, that couldn't happen.
"You know what would be great right now?" Gracie said suddenly, sitting bolt upright and looking at Grayson excitedly.
"What would be great right now?" Grayson asked with a chuckle, finding her childish demeanour quite amusing.
"Ice cream!" The girl cheered, leaping up gracefully and grabbing Grayson's hands, tugging him with all her might to try and bring him upright.
Due to her petite size, the girl wasn't quite as strong as she'd predicted and the 6-foot guy on the ground laughed loudly at her poor attempts.
"Okay, I give up, now stand up and let's go!" She pouted, her bottom lip jutting out to form an expression of faux sadness.
Grayson knew she was teasing yet she had him cluelessly wrapped around her little finger which meant Grayson quickly acted upon her words and quickly scrambled to his feet, falling into step beside her down the rustic streets of their town.
They lived in a small seaside town that never seemed to get busy. On a Summer's day, they could maybe reach a population of 500 due to tourists, but on a regular day, the town inhibited around 300 people.
Neither of the teens minded this, Gracie loved the beauty of the town, and believed that tourists would simply ruin it with sound and visual pollution. Grayson loved it due to the community- everyone knew everyone and there were never any arguments that broke out between anyone, it was as friendly as it could get.
The walk was short to Peggy's ice cream parlour, and as they entered, a refreshing coolness slapped them both in the face. Peggy's parlour was a main hang out spot for the people at school, the town had no mall so this was the cool place to be on the daily. The interior was very pink and pastel but it was the amazing ice cream that drew the customers in, making the interior the least important factor.
Due to the heat outside, the parlour was packed, around 50 people all inside the small shop. Sticky limbs pressed together and Gracie grimaced slightly at the feel. As they waited in the queue, people from school greeted them as they waved back politely in response. They weren't really close to other people in school as they always had each other yet there were people who they could turn to if the other was absent.
"Hi deary, what can I get you?" Peggy asked Gracie with a smile, looking at her expectantly. Peggy was like a second mother to all the children and knew them all fairly well due to the time spent there.
"The usual please." Gracie smiled, standing beside Grayson as she waited for her usual mango sorbet.
"Grace... I need to talk to you..." Grayson muttered, not meeting her eyes as he spoke.
"Okay, what's up?" She smiled, looking at him as he stared at his feet nervously.
"I-I'm moving to LA... I've been wanting to tell you for the past week now. I don't know if we'll ever see each other again... I'm sorry for only telling you now..." He said, finally meeting her stare as he finished.
Her ocean-blue eyes paled in colour as salty tears accumulated in the corners, "W-what..? When...?" She whispered breathlessly, not wanting to trust what she'd heard.
"Tomorrow..." he murmured, watching his best friend's heart break as he informed her.
"Oh..." she whispered, quietly thanking Peggy as her ice cream got handed to her. They exited the shop and silently began walking to the Dolan household. A million thoughts scattered Gracie's brain yet she couldn't form the words until they reached Grayson's soon-to-be-old house.
"So this is goodbye...?" Gracie asked, looking at him sadly, the pain brimming her eyes more than the unfallen tears.
"No... We'll keep in touch, I know the time difference will be different because I'll be in LA and you'll be here in England but we'll make it work..." He said sincerely, kissing her cheek gently.
"LA... Wow, okay. Goodbye Grayson, thank you for everything."
—-—
End of the prologue!
Hey guys I'm super excited to be writing this story and I hope you're excited to read!
I know the ending of this makes it seem like they'll never communicate again but they definitely will, or otherwise they'd be no story!
Amywayyy, if you liked this first chapter, please be sure to vote for it and leave me a comment maybe?
Thankyou for reading!
-Ellie 🌻
