Killjoy (A Lesbian Story)

6: Ashley

Grace looked the most excited I've ever seen her. Steve and I met her in her office, which looked like a tornado went through it. Papers were strewn across the desk and the floor. Folders were stacked aimlessly across the desk and on the chairs. All Steve and I could do was stand and watch our step as Grace milled about the papers on the floor, not worrying about where her footsteps landed. Words fluttered from her lips and flew around the room in incoherent whirlwinds that I definitely could not make out. Steve and I could only watch as she went about the room, searching for something.

Glancing over at Steve, I spoke up, "Grace? What exactly are you looking for?"

She ruffled through the papers on her desk, "I'm looking for my damn...-Ah! Here it is!"

Grace pulled out a tablet from under a stack of papers, making them slide to the ground. She tapped the screen a few times then handed it to me, "Take a look."

On the screen was a video on loop. It looked like blood cells underneath a microscope. The red cells were a dark red with black growths on them. They clumped together and separated. Even if I hadn't taken that many classes on blood cells, I knew that sure as hell wasn't what blood cells were supposed to do.

"What in the good hell is that?" Steve asked as he looked over my shoulder.

"Infected blood." Grace said, reaching out to take the tablet from me. She scrolled and handed it to me again, "Now look at this."

The next video had more blood cells. They were a lighter red and only about half of the cells had the black growth. The blood cells that were dark went back to red then they slowly grew the black. It was like they were going through a cycle of being infected then healing themselves.

I looked up at Grace, "Is this Max's blood?"

"Bingo." She took the tablet from me again, "Ron's does the exact same thing. Their blood cells fight the infection but then get infected again. A viscous cycle."

"Have you been able to isolate the healing cell?" Steve asked, surprising me slightly. He's never been interested in biology until now.

"We have. I'm calling it the M-cell." Grace nodded, "Their white cells are the ones fighting and they're doing a helluva job. We're almost there to getting the cure formed. We need to separate the blood cells to isolate them from the infection. Maybe we can introduce them to new, healthy blood and get a better look..."

She started muttering to herself again. Mother like daughter, I suppose. Both she and Max did the exact same thing when they were thinking. Whenever Max would be at my house helping me study, she would often pace the room and mutter to herself. She would move her lips as she read, look up in the air as if to calculate something, then look back down. It always seemed to work for her.

Grace looked up to us, "Are either of you type O negative?"

"I am." I nodded, "How much do you need?"

"A liter..." Grace smiled at me apologetically, but also that type of smile where you need something, "For now. Im not going to force you, but it's not that much. It's about two pints which is like donating blood twice. We just don't have anymore O negative and that's both of their blood type."

"Um..." I looked down at my arm, remembering the last time a needle went to it. The whole cheerleading team went to a blood drive and I nearly passed out as soon as the needle went in to my vein and blood started coming out. But this was different. This could save Max and Ron. Nodding, I looked back to Grace, "Alright. You can take my blood."

"Beautiful." Grace grinned, "We'll hook you up here in a bit."

"Can I go see Max?" I asked.

She glanced up at me from her tablet, "Actually, I want to ask you two a question real quick. Have a seat-" Her eyes went down to the paper filled chairs then went back up to us, "Or just stand."

"Ooooohkay." Steve glanced to me before letting his eyes go back to her, "What is it, Grace?"

"On a lighter note, you two are keeping some kind of secret from me." She pointed between the both of us. Her eyes went to me, "Especially you."

I scoffed, "Me? What?"

"Disappeared for years then back again?" Grace rose an eyebrow at me with a slight smirk on her lips. Hers and Max's were identical. She let her butt hit the desk as she continued, "Not that I'm complaining. I love you, dear. I've just noticed a few things between you two and, before we continue with our days, I just want the truth."

The truth on Max and I, she means. Makes sense she would be this interested. Many moms would try to act like it was nothing, but not Grace. She was always up in Max's business and she called us "girlfriends" for about five years. She definitely knew something was up.

Sighing, I crossed my arms and shrugged softly, "Well, we're kind of together."

"Aaaaand how long has this been, hmm?"

"Like five days ago I think?" I said, trying to think, "It was a day before she got sick when we made it official, I guess."

She looked me up and down, staying silent for a while. Finally, she smiled at me and nodded, "No matter how pissed I am at you for keeping it from me, I'm finally glad you two kids are together. It took y'all long enough."

"I agree." Steve said from next to me, bumping my shoulder with his.

I laughed slightly, shaking my head at their antics. If this was any other circumstance, I would be pissed that they were acting like two gossiping high schoolers, but this actually gave me some relief. There was light in this shitstorm of a life. Grace was making headway with the cure and she was grinning like an idiot at Max and I getting together. She wasn't wrong that it's been a long time coming. Everyone believed it to be so.

And I'll be damned if it's short lived.