Fallen Grace

16

"You didn't cry as much as I thought you would ",Damian teased as they walked down the street.

"It hurts",she said softly.

Grace couldn't believe she was in Las Vegas. Of course she wasn't old enough to do anything fun but she was satisfied with her new tattoo and just being in the presence of Damian. She looked down at her arm. The small tattoo of the crescent moon made her smile.

"You know, you didn't tell me what it means",Damian said with a raise of an eyebrow as he directed her into some sort of theatre.

"It's for my brother, Miles,he promised me he would always be there for me just like the moon is always in the sky even we can't see it",Grace smiled as they entered the double doors. It was dark.

"How did it happen?",Miles asked as he pressed something and suddenly the entire auditorium was filled with light.

It was huge and magnificent. There were rows and rows of seats and a gigantic stage. Grace's mouth was agape. She was in awe. She felt like she was dreaming.

"What?",she questioned not recalling what Damian had said.

She walked down the stairs and made her way to the stage. She tried to take it all in but she still felt like she was floating.

"How did it happen?",Miles said as he reached her.

She was standing in the middle of the stage with her hands stretched out. Her face was toward the ceiling and her eyes were closed.

"How did he die? Your brother,Miles. How did he die?"

Grace dropped her hands to her sides and shifted her gaze to Damian. She had adopted a different expression. Damian wanted to know what was going on in her mind.

"Small cell lung cancer",Grace said not wanting to meet Damian's eyes. She moved toward the edge of the stage and then plopped down to sit. Her legs hanging off the stage. "At first it was limited which meant it was in one specific area of his lungs. They found a tumor. Then it became extensive. He was becoming more and more sick and they found out it was malignant. They put him on chemotherapy, I thought there was hope for him, I prayed. Turns out the chemotherapy was only to help with the pain until he died. They prepared him for his death."

"Grace",Damian said as he sat down beside her. He wanted to touch her but he didn't.

"Do you think he's in pain? Do you think he's in The Inbetween?",Grace asked with tears in her eyes.

"Do you think he deserves to be there?",Damian asked.

"No! He was the most amazing person I ever knew",Grace said as the tears streamed down her face and created a puddle on her shirt.

"Death must be so beautiful,to lie in the soft brown earth,with the grasses waving above one's head,and listen to silence. To have no yesterday,and no tomorrow. To forget time,to forgive life, to be at peace",Damian brought his hand to Grace's cheek and wiped away a tear. "Oscar Wilde",he whispered. "Sometimes people deserve heaven",Damian said as he looked into Grace's blue ocean eyes.

"He was so good,Damian. He deserved more than heaven. He was all I had. I can't live without him",Grace shook her head which made Damian removed his hand from her cheek. "I talk to him sometimes,I imagine he is still around. I'm messed up. I fight with him because he left me!",Grace exclaimed as she stood up.

"Everyone is messed up, it's okay to be messed up. It's okay to be you",Damian said as he watched her.

"Will you dance with me?",Grace asked with a glint of wildness in her eyes. She unzipped her bag and pulled out her cellphone. "Will. You. Dance. With. Me?"

She looked down at her cellphone and within seconds the sound of music filled the air. It was a slow song and the sound of the piano was comforting.

Damian wanted to stop her and tell her that she should talk about the way she felt. That she shouldn't avoid her emotions. For someone who couldn't experience emotions for years he wanted her to realise how important it was to feel. He studied the way she was in that moment.

She set her cellphone down along with her bag and she closed her eyes. She began to move her body. He wanted to remember her in that moment. He couldn't resist the way she was making him feel. She was making him feel and he didn't know how but he liked the feeling of being able to feel.

He moved closer to her and touched her shoulder. Her eyes were still closed when he pulled her closer to him. He allowed her to rest her head on his chest as they swayed. Moving with the rhythm and melody of the song. For the first time Damian felt peaceful. Her hands around him and his around her. He couldn't take another second of it. It was eating away at him. The growing urge. The urge to kiss this girl. This girl that when he first saw looked so broken and hurt. He immediately knew there was something about her that made her different. Something that set her apart from the rest of The Inbetweeners. She wasn't an Inbetweener, she was a class of her own. Some part of him wanted to fix her. To pick up all her little pieces and put them back together but she was fixing him already and he was unaware. All of five days Damian knew Grace and all of five days this was the moment he never thought would come. He never knew there would come a time where he wouldn't even be able to control himself. Where he would lose all his morals and do something he knew would change everything.

Damian brought his hand to Grace's chin and then looked into her eyes. The windows to her soul. It was like he was looking at a reflection of himself. Like Emily Brontè said "He is more myself than I am, whatever our souls are made of his and mine are the same."
Damian fixated on Grace's face to remind him why he was about to do what he did. To make sure he wouldn't regret doing this. Then he kissed her. At first Grace was shocked by Damian's lips crashing into hers but then she welcomed it. Their lips move in sync as Damian takes in every bit of her. It's like he was trying to kiss all her pain away. He held the back of her neck with one hand and her waist with the other. Grace loved the way his lips tasted, sweet and warm. It made her forget everything. Her one hand travelled to his face and she hand no idea where her other hand was.They begin to suffocate in the kiss and were forced to break away. Grace met Damian's eyes as she tried to catch her breath.

"I really like the way you dance,Amazing Grace."