Chapter Eleven - GRACIE

After two more trips to the bathroom, Gracie crashed in bed and didn’t wake up until the next morning. When she did, the world looked brighter and her energy had returned. All it took was a shower and changing into fresh clothes to feel like herself again. She chose a dark green three-quarter sleeve top and flared jeans. Half of Gracie’s wardrobe was green, but every shade seemed to go perfectly with her hair and complexion, so why mess with a good thing?

Gracie bounded downstairs for breakfast before Stephanie woke up. Gracie hadn’t even heard her roommate come in the night before, which was a testament to how well Gracie had slept. She was usually a super light sleeper.

Not many people were at breakfast yet, but sitting at a table close to the food was Mark. The first thing Gracie noticed was his hair. It wasn’t smoothed into place like it usually was. She could tell he had spent time on it, but it stood up, like she had made it do on the bus a couple of days before. Gracie had told the truth when she’d said changing up his hair accentuated his good looks. Mark had lost some of his boyish charm, and looked…well, there was no better word for it…hot.

Whoa. Was Gracie checking Mark out? As she looked him over, she realized that, yes, she was. And she was totally okay with that.

Gracie grinned as she approached him. His plate was piled high and he was shoveling food into his mouth. Miraculously, it didn’t make him any less attractive.

“Making up for lost time?”

Mark glanced up, his cheeks full of food. “Mm-hmm.”

“I can’t wait to do the same,” she said, then hurried over to grab a plate. By the time she returned to the table with her food, Mark had nearly finished off his. “Wow. That was fast.”

“I woke up so hungry,” he said, looking down at his mostly empty plate with a sheepish smile. “Seriously, I felt like I hadn’t eaten for days.”

“Me too,” Gracie said, before shoving a large forkful of waffle into her mouth. “Oh my gosh,” she said, her words distorted by the food. “This is amazing.”

Cameron walked up at that moment. “Compared to the Philadelphia cheesesteaks we had last night, this is garbage.”

She held back a glare. “Some people appreciate what they have.”

“And I did. Last night.” Cameron held her gaze and gave her a flirtatious smile. “I don’t remember seeing you there, though. You have somewhere better to be?”

“Actually, we did.” Gracie smiled, and then threw a wink in Mark’s direction for good measure.

Cameron looked like he was waiting for more of an explanation, but Gracie left him hanging. She just grinned at Cameron and took another bite of her waffle.

“Whatever,” he mumbled, then wandered off.

Mark looked shocked. “Now he thinks we were doing something we totally weren’t. Why didn’t you just tell him the truth?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Gracie asked, taking a swig of her orange juice.

“But what if he tells people?” Mark asked.

Gracie narrowed her eyes but kept her tone light and teasing. “You worried that your reputation will be tainted if people think you sneaked away with someone like me?” Even though she wanted to come across as flippant, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth to it. Mark wasn’t known for his prowess with girls, but what if it was because he hadn’t met anyone that lived up to his standards? What if he saw Gracie as not good enough?

She told herself she shouldn’t care. This was Mark, after all. He did have a reputation. But the more she got to know him, she wondered if everyone else had gotten it wrong. He seemed much more complex than people gave him credit for.

“I think you have it backwards,” Mark said after a brief pause.

“Oh, because I have a reputation to worry about?” Gracie said with a laugh.

Mark didn’t seem to have an answer for that one, so he just shrugged.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gracie noticed Cameron watching them. An idea popped into her head. It was crazy—ludicrous. And Mark would kill her. But she was tired of people treating them like they were in different social classes. Even Mark had bought into the lies. Gracie was so awkward, she wasn’t sure how she made it through each day, and yet Mark was the one they treated like crap.

She leaned close to him until their faces were only inches apart. “Do you want to know how much I care about what other people think?” she asked in a low voice.

His eyes widened, as if he could read her mind. “Don’t you dare, Gracie,” he whispered back, his voice panicked. “Don’t you dare do something stupid just because you want to make a point or get a reaction out of people.”

Gracie slumped back in her chair. “You equate kissing me with something stupid, do you?”

Mark’s jaw slackened and his face turned bright red. “K-kissing? I thought you were going to jump on the table and make a proclamation. Or maybe start a food fight.”

Oh, gosh. This time it was Gracie’s turn to blush. “Uh…yeah. That too.”

“You were going to kiss me?” he asked again, but this time it seemed more to himself, like he was trying to wrap his head around it. Whatever embarrassment he had felt before seemed to disappear. His face paled, like just the thought of kissing someone was enough to give him an anxiety attack.

“I—” Gracie stopped. She didn’t know what to say. She had awful impulse control, and now she may have just ruined a perfectly good friendship with Mark. He looked like he was terrified of her—afraid she was going to jump out and attack him with her lips, like a kissing jack-in-the-box. Gracie shoved down the rest of her food. “I forgot something up in my room. I’ll meet you outside.”

* * * * *

Gracie’s gaze moved from Mark to the scenery out the window as they bumped along the road. There was so much history in this city, but she couldn’t focus on any of it. Her mind was scattered, and she didn’t care enough to reel it in.

“What’s on the itinerary today?” Mark leaned over to read the piece of paper Gracie held in her hand. It seemed he had recovered from his shock at breakfast because the color had returned to his face and he had chosen to sit next to her on the bus. His close proximity as he read made Gracie’s hands clammy. Her thumbs left a damp mark where they held the piece of paper.

Gross. She hoped Mark didn’t notice. She tried to discreetly wipe her hands on her pants. Why was his presence affecting her like this?

“Penn’s Landing…Constitution Hall…nice,” Mark murmured as his gaze skimmed the paper. “Hey, look, we get to visit Independence Hall. Our group didn’t visit it yesterday, after all.”

“Really?” Gracie studied the itinerary and saw they would visit it right before lunch. Sweet. She was drawn to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and was thrilled she’d be able to see where they had been created. She loved anything that had to do with freedom and choice. With a large family, she didn’t feel like she had much of either.

Mark stilled. “Uh…have you read everything on here?”

“No, just up until lunch,” Gracie said. “I didn’t have the attention span to read the whole thing.”

Mark’s gaze left the itinerary and met Gracie’s. “We’re going on a ghost tour tonight.”

That got her attention. “Are you sure? That doesn’t seem like something we’d do on a school trip.”

“I know, but that’s what it says.” Mark pointed to a small paragraph near the bottom of the paper. Sure enough, there it was, and they weren’t talking about a haunted house where people dressed up. It said that they were going to seek the spirits that still haunted historic Philadelphia.

Gracie took a long breath to try to steady her voice before saying, “I’m not sure I’ll be feeling very well this evening. Too bad. Looks like the tour would have been fun. I’ll have to make sure I go on it next time I visit.”

Mark gave her a lopsided smile. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of ghosts.”

“Um…” Gracie fingered the hem of her shirt. “Ghosts, skeletons, dead things…the dark.”

“Except, ghosts don’t exist,” he said.

“Says you. Just because they don’t fit into a scientific model doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.” She glanced nervously out the window. “Watching. Waiting. Until you’re alone. Defenseless…” Her breath shuddered. Yeah, she definitely couldn’t go on that ghost tour.

Mark took her hand. His was so warm. How was he not the least bit nervous about this? “But you won’t be alone. You’ll be with an entire tour group. And me. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Gracie studied Mark. He didn’t come across as a natural protector. But he radiated such confidence—she knew he meant it. Mark intended to keep her safe. If his steady hand was anything to go by, she should believe him. Gracie wondered if he’d hold her hand during the tour as well. She hoped so.

Gracie started at the thought. Was the most surprising part of it that she felt completely at ease with Mark—so much so that she had actually been about to kiss him that morning, just to prove a point—or the fact that she was starting to have feelings for him? Feelings that went beyond friendship.

“I know you won’t let anything happen to me,” Gracie said with a small smile. “But that doesn’t mean I feel any better about chasing ghosts.”

“I’ll tell you what. If you still feel nervous about it at dinner, I’ll give you some of my raspberries. That should do the trick.”

Gracie crinkled her nose while laughing. “Aw, you’re sweet. You’d do that for me?” She threw in as much sarcasm as she could muster.

Mark laughed. “Of course. I’d do anything for you.”

Gracie didn’t think anything of it, but as soon as the words left Mark’s mouth, he froze. The way his eyes widened, Gracie wondered how much truth was in that statement. Did he like her? The thought of her and Mark being more than friends—it should have been scary. She had enough going on in her life, she didn’t need the drama of a new relationship. And Mark was completely different than anyone she’d ever dated. It would be new territory that she’d need to figure out how to traverse.

And yet, it wasn’t scary. In fact, it was the opposite. It felt exciting. And right.

Now Gracie just had to figure out how to convince Mark of it.