“It’s cute.” I cough “Do you need another….. blue shirt?” I say straining to look normal.

“Are you okay?!” Grace rushes over to me.

“I’m fine” I cough one last time, clearing my throat. “I swear”

“That didn’t look like you were fine though,” Grace says, ushering me to take a seat.

Taking a seat to make her happy, “So, about the top, do you really want it?”

“I don’t know, I don’t have a crop top in blue,” She says walking back to the changing room.

“Please don’t die while I get changed,” Grace yells over the dressing stall.

After a few minutes, she comes out.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right” Grace says, holding them in her hand.

“Wait wait, don’t go off and whine and cry later” I tease.

She giggles “I won’t, I just had a thought that today I want to do what you want to do”

Grace drops off the clothes in a discard pile by the dressing room.

“Me? You already know that answer” I say escorting her out.

“Yeah, but there has to be something you want to do. We can’t keep doing things I want to do” Grace says grabbing my hand.

“I’ll have to think about it but for now let’s walk around a bit more” I say, giving her hand a squeeze.

Grace graced me with a beautiful smile that melts my heart. We spend the rest of the afternoon walking and talking, hand in hand. It felt like a fairy tale and I can tell she was calming down too.

“I’m glad you can relax with me again” I say squeezing her hand.

“Oh goodness, you knew?” Grace says, touches her face.

“Ugh yeah, I would be the worst best friend/boyfriend in the world” I say, placing my hand on her face.

She laughs squeezing my hand “Thank you. I’m scared about how people are going to react to me now” Grace says, looking down as if ashamed.

I freeze, hurt to think my angel could be damaged by an insignificant brat. 

I grab her shoulders, “It’ll all brush over. Remember when I fell into a trash can and everyone was talking about it until Kevin peed on himself while laughing. Everyone has a short attention span. Braaaad is a dick, whoever believes him has noodles for brains,” I say almost shaking her.

Grace begins to laugh “I forgot about that. That was one of your best moments” 

She looks up at me “Thank you”.