A/N:

Yay, two chapters in one day!

I'm doing this because I won't be able to update again until the end of the week. 

We're getting very close to the end!

Thanks for the support as always,

-Tera

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The entire weekend, Grace couldn't enjoy the family's skiing trip since she was too busy wanting to see Cal. The anticipation of their meeting on Tuesday was constantly on her mind, and her father kept giving her weird glances when she'd zone out at the resort.

She liked skiing and she loved spending time with her dad and brothers, but she couldn't help but be happy when the trip was over and they returned home that Monday.

She went to bed early to get to tomorrow faster, but it proved fruitless since she couldn't fall asleep for several hours. Her heart was pounding for most of the night, and she kept remembering her make out sessions with Cal. Although it was an especially cold night, Grace couldn't sleep under the blankets since her body was on fire.

She thought about Cal's excitement on Friday when they met in the park, and surely when they met tomorrow the excitement would spring up again. They'd be alone in Grace's house after all...for several hours.

Grace kept switching between anxiety, curiosity, and desire. She debated whether she'd actually want to go through with having sex with Cal so soon. How did two girls even do it? Surely the internet could help.

Laying on her side, she searched around Google for explanations, but what she witnessed didn't calm her nerves at all. Sure, she was better informed, but the thought of actually doing those things with Cal...

She was too embarrassed to imagine it, but her mind kept wandering anyway.

But, alas, the worrying eventually tired her out and she fell asleep some time past midnight.

--

Grace awoke earlier than she probably needed to, but she had been asked by her father to go grocery shopping. She'd also thought it'd be a good idea to get some ingredients for a meal she could cook with Cal for lunch. The last time they did it turned out to be pretty fun, though Grace wouldn't have admitted it back then.

Once she spent an absurdly long time getting ready, making sure every part of her appearance was in a flawless state, she headed out to the store. She used her father's car that he left for her to take to get groceries – she'd dropped him off at work that morning herself.

Keeping busy and out of the house prevented her from mulling over her thoughts from last night, but images still flashed in her head periodically. She'd have to stop, lean over the grocery cart, and hide her reddening face in her hand, earning some odd looks from passerbys.

Keep it together, Grace, she coached herself. You don't have to rush into anything today anyway. Just go with the flow.

Once her cart was full of the necessities and ingredients for an easy lunch dish, she checked out and headed home.

The shopping trip must've took a little longer than expected because when Grace glanced at the time she realized she only had less than a half an hour before Cal would be over.

She didn't waste any time heading home, still needing to put the groceries away before her guest arrived.

Her nerves skyrocketed now that she'd be seeing her girlfriend in less than an hour. Girlfriend...the familiar yet distant term kicked up butterflies in Grace's stomach. Although they'd been broken up for longer than they were together, they fell back into their old relationship so easily. Grace had never felt this way about anyone before, so she wanted to do her best not to jeopardize what they were able to rekindle.

Things were just moving so fast that Grace was getting whiplash.

She pulled up to the house, parking her father's car in the attached garage. Grace opened the trunk to get as many bags as she could bring in a single trip and headed towards the door to the house.

A strange chill passed down her spine as she walked through the door, but she couldn't quite pinpoint why. Perhaps it was because she hadn't been alone in the house for a long time. It seemed so eerily empty all of a sudden, though she didn't notice it when she was getting ready that morning.

Grace headed to the kitchen to place the bags down on the counter. Trying to forget the strange feeling she had, she hummed to herself and tried to look forward to what the day had in store. Not that it exactly calmed her down, but it at least distracted her.

After taking the items out of the bag, she turned back to head out of the kitchen and retrieve more of the groceries.

But she didn't make it a single set.

Her heart ascended into her throat, her breath immediately cut off from a wave of absolute terror.

Standing at the entrance to the kitchen was a male figure. His dark hair was short but messy, his eyes so dark they were nearly black. He wore a simple gray t-shirt and jeans, though there was an unidentifiable stain on the left leg of his pants. He was a young man, probably in his late teens or early twenties.

But his age didn't prevent Grace from immediately recognizing him.

"W-Will?" she stammered, feeling her body start to tremble. She felt as though she was about to throw up.

Will cracked a smile, revealing his teeth. "Grace..."

His voice sent shockwaves throughout Grace's body, freezing her in place. Was this really happening? Was Will actually standing there in her house? Was this some sort of horrible nightmare?

"Grace, you look so much more beautiful in person than in the pictures." the young man breathed, speaking as if he'd was out of breath from some physical activity. "You've really grown..."

Grace wasn't sure which pictures he was referring to. She didn't really post any online...

"W-Will," she choked out, knowing she had to say something, do something, before things turned especially bad. "Why are you here?"

"It hurt when you wouldn't answer my calls or messages, you know," Will replied. "And then when you told the police, I couldn't contact you anymore. Did you tell them just to hurt me?"

Grace was confused by his question. Just to hurt him? As if it wasn't Grace's last resort to put an end to his constant torment of her.

But before she could answer, Will continued. "I finally got away from the middle of fucking nowhere to talk to you. I was just trying to see how you were doing...but when you never answered me, I had no choice but to come back home. I hope you like all the attention."

Resentment crept into Will's voice, making Grace tense up even further.

"I-I wasn't trying to avoid you," Grace lied, trying to quickly come up with the best responses to get her out of this horrifying situation. "Look, why don't we go and talk about this over some coffee? My dad's going to be home any minute and I don't want him to catch me with a boy in the house."

Suddenly, Will picked up a plate from the counter nearby, throwing it at a wall to shatter to pieces. "Don't fucking bullshit me!" Will roared. "Why do you always lie to me? Why do you always try to hurt me? All I want is for you to give me a chance to talk and you just try and get me into trouble! My parents won't even talk to me anymore!"

Grace gasped at the outburst, tears quickly pricking from her eyes. Her back against the counter, she felt fear like she never had in her life. Not even from the other time Will broke into her house.

Her eyes darted to every possible exit, but there weren't any. Will was blocking the exit to the kitchen, and that was her only way out. If she ran to the window and tried to escape or call for help, he'd be right there to do God knows what to her.

I'm going to die here, she thought in a horrific realization.

Will's expression suddenly softened when he looked at Grace's face. "Why are you crying? Don't you see that I'm the one who wants to cry?"

He seemed genuinely confused, and that stirred up an endless fire of hatred in Grace. He didn't care how his actions had been tormenting Grace for years. He only thought about his own pain, his reactions to what he perceived as betrayal from the object of his affection.

Tears continued to fall down Grace's cheeks as she did her best to say what she thought the intruder wanted to hear. "I-I'm sorry Will...I'm so sorry."

"You think saying sorry is going to erase all these years of you fucking me over?" Will snapped. "You're just a slut now, too good for a loser like me, huh?"

"No," she breathed, shaking her head as she continued to sob.

"And you just keep playing the victim, calling the police and –"

Suddenly, Will was cut off by the sound of a nearby car engine. The noise drew closer until it was undoubtedly directly outside of Grace's house. Grace could hardly register the source of the noise – she was focused on Will's reaction.

He was completely tensed up. He ran over the window above the kitchen sink, peering through it.

"Who the fuck is that?" he asked, his voice laced with a sudden bout of fear.

But Grace didn't care.

She was given a chance.

As he was staring out the window, Grace darted forward, shoving him as hard as she could so his body collided with the kitchen sink, bouncing backwards to fall on the tile floor. She immediately sprinted past him and out of the kitchen, the sound of Will's angry yells ringing out behind her.

The front door was too close to escape from – by the time she unlocked it and tried to run out, Will could be right there pulling her back. So she ran across the house to the back door which was cracked open – she thought it must've been where Will broke in.

Shoving the sliding door open, she burst out to the backyard, not taking any seconds to look behind to see if Will was actually following her. She sprinted to the front gate, swinging it open with a loud bang.

Grace frantically glanced around, trying to figure out whether she should escape to a neighbor's house or simply run as far away as possible. But finally, her eyes settled on the curb outside the front of her house. A familiar Toyota sedan was parked there, and when she looked at the windshield, she saw a startled face staring back at her.

Cal! How could I forget? She thought, relief crashing down on her so hard that it ellicited another bout of sobbing. She made a break for the car, opening the passenger door and shoving herself inside. She hastily shut the door and locked it before throwing her arms around Cal in the driver's seat, sobbing.

"Grace? What the hell is going on?" Cal's voice was obviously shocked.

Trying to get her wits about her, Grace pulled back so they were looking at each other. "We have to get out of here now Cal! H-he's in there, he's going to..." She was interrupted by her own crying.

"Hey, slow down," Cal ordered, her voice becoming more gentle while retaining its urgency. "You have to tell me what's going on."

"It's Will!" Grace exclaimed. Although she was in hysterics, if she didn't explain what was happening soon, he'd catch up to them. "He broke into my house! H-he's in there!"

"What?" Cal asked, in disbelief. "He's in your house right now?"

Grace nodded. "We have to go Cal! Before he comes out!"

Cal glanced at the door, seeming to be caught between two decisions, before finally starting the car and pulling away from the house briskly. She quickly picked up her phone, dialing. She reached over and squeezed Grace's hand while holding the phone between her ear and shoulder and steering with her other hand.

"I'm calling the police," she told Grace before her voice softened and she glanced at the distraught teenager. "You're safe now. I'm here."

Grace nodded and squeezed her hand as if her life depended on it.

And in a way, it did.