“Hey baby,” she said, pulling me into a hug and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Sorry to barge in when I know you’re already spending the night at my place, but I thought you’d want to hear right away…”
“What’s going on?”
I stiffened as my mother interrupted whatever Grace was going to say. I leapt away from her like I’d been caught doing something wrong, so quickly that Grace stumbled a little.
“Mrs. Lowenthal,” Grace greeted my mother politely. “It’s nice to see you again.”
My mother’s eyes bounced between us, clearly trying to figure out what was going on.
“Hi Grace,” Mom said. “I didn’t realize that you and Nicole were… spending time together.”
Grace and I looked at each other. Something was very wrong. She looked shellshocked, her eyes red rimmed like maybe she’d been crying.
“Grace and I are friends,” I said, emphasizing the last word.
Grace sent me a hurt look.
“Spending the night together friends?” Mom asked. “I thought I read that you’re a lesbian, Grace.”
I could see my mother connecting the dots. “Are two, um, an item, Nicole? Is this the person you’ve been dating?”
“No, of course not,” I answered reflexively.
Grace flinched.
“What are you doing here, Grace?” I asked, desperate to change the subject and move things along. My stomach was cramping with anxiety.
“I came to tell you in person that we received an email from the City,” she finally said, her voice cold and emotionless. “We weren’t selected to move onto the next stage. We’re not getting the Grant Park College job.”
My heart stopped. “Oh my God!”
I reached out a hand instinctively, and Grace recoiled, stepping away.
“Well, now you know. We tried our best, but it wasn’t good enough to compete with the big guys.”
“Have you told your parents yet?” my mom asked, still trying to figure out what was going on.
“Yes, they’re… disappointed. Anyway, I wanted to tell you in person.” Her eyes pinned to mine and I saw the anguish there. “I guess I’ll see you around.”
She was out the door before I realized she was moving.
“I’ll be right back, Mom.”
I caught up with Grace on the sidewalk in front of my townhouse.
“Grace, wait.”
“Why?” she asked, staring at the ground with a dull look on her face.
“I’m sorry. About the project. And not telling my mother about us just now. I’m going to tell her. And my father. I mean, she’s already figured it out technically, but I… it was just a reflex what I said, I swear I’m going to clear this up and…”
Grace held up her hand to stem my word vomit.
“It’s fine Nicole, really. We agreed to be friends with benefits or whatever until the project was over, and now the project is over and so are we.”
“What?”
She took a deep, shuddering breath.
