An outing with Grace (part 2).

Grace took me to a family restaurant. We had to pay the buffet fee upfront, but then we were free to eat as much as we wanted until 10:30. We went our separate ways as we chose what to have for breakfast and soon after met at our table.

I picked a mocha, some cereal and a couple of waffles. I’d be back for more after I was finished with this. I REFUSE not to get my money’s worth in a buffet. Grace got herself some whole-wheat bread topped with raspberry jam, a bowl with oatmeal and yogurt and a cup of tea.

She looked at my choice of breakfast and giggled. “So you have a sweet-tooth like Mila.”

I laughed with her. “I think she has it worse than me.”

“Probably. That girl would eat an entire cake if it didn’t make her fat. Can’t say I’m much different, though.”

“You like sweets, too? Then why not pick something else to eat?” I asked curiously.

“Mila and Sarah are much more active than I am. Mila goes out running on the weekends and Sarah practically has a gym in her house. I’m much lazier, but I hate the idea of getting fat. So a healthy diet and light exercise it is. You must work out too, right?”

Oh shit. “Um… A little?”

“Please, Oliver,” Grace chuckled. “You don’t get a body like yours by working out a little.”

“I… I’ve always been slim, b-but I worked out in my room over summer. Y-You know, just some push-ups and sit-ups.”

“Hmm. Are you one of those with really fast metabolism?”

“…I don’t know. Maybe?”

We began eating, and as we did, an uncomfortable silence settled and it only grew heavier by the second. Grace glanced at me, sighed and asked. “Mila told us you had fun the other day.”

I flinched. “She… told you everything?”

Grace smirked. “To the last detail.”

I swallowed. “I… I really had a lot of fun. I’m glad to hear she had a good time as well.”

“From the way she told us the story, it was more than just a plain good time, Oliver.” Grace chuckled and looked me in the eyes. “To be honest, it makes me a little jealous.”

“A-Ah?”

“You two are growing really close, and I like to see it. However… I feel like I’m getting left behind.”

“I…” I remembered Mila’s advice from the other day. She said to have a conversation about what this relationship was with Grace and Sarah separately. Maybe it was good to do it sooner rather than later, and… it wouldn’t do to wait for Grace to bring it up. “I’ll be honest, Grace, it’s… really hard for me to understand what’s happening.”

She nodded. “Same here.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I don’t make a habit of sleeping with a guy after speaking to them for 20 minutes, Oliver. I hope I didn’t come across as that type. That night at Thomas’ party was an exception. I wasn’t that drunk, either. I don’t know why we acted that way, but it felt right. I don’t regret it. Do you?”

I strongly shook my head. “Not in the slightest.” That made her smile. “T-That said, I… I still don’t understand why you are fine with me doing… uh…”

Grace nodded. “I just said it, didn’t I? It feels right.”

“Then what… What is this, Grace? Are we…” I lowered my voice even more to speak the next words, “sex friends?”

“I guess that’s the term,” she chuckled. “And we’re normal friends, too, if you’re not against it.”

I couldn’t stop the bashful smile forming in my lips. “Really?”

“Really. Oliver, I want to propose a little game for us.”

“Hm?”

“I want to ask you questions, and I want you to answer honestly. In return, you can ask me absolutely anything, and I’ll answer truthfully. And I do mean anything. Don’t hold back. We can go back and forth the entire day. What do you say?” She was very casual about it, but I had to wonder what kind of things she wanted to ask me. I think that if I trusted my sixth sense, I’d be able to tell whether or not Grace was telling me the truth to any question I asked, but… What if I asked something inappropriate?

“Why do you want to play this?” I asked carefully.

In return, Grace smiled. “Because I don’t know you and you don’t know me. But if I’ve learned something about you these days is that I could confess to being a serial murderer and you wouldn’t tell anyone.”

I chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

Grace laughed with me. “Joking, of course. But seriously, I don’t think you’re the type to go around spilling people’s secrets, and I like to think I’m a good judge of character.”

I smiled wryly. “I wouldn’t have anyone to tell, anyway.”

“You have Thomas, right? You two don’t have any secrets together?”

I stopped just before saying ‘no’, because I actually did know one of Thomas’ secrets. He knew some of mine, too. “Well, yes. I can’t tell you anything about that, though.”

“And I wouldn’t ask you to. In that same manner, I won’t answer anything that’s someone else’s secret. So? What do you say? Wanna play?”

“…Alright. But you need to tell me if I cross some sort of line with a question, okay? You know I’m not very good at this stuff.”

“Will do. But I told you I’d answer anything, so go nuts and don’t worry.”

Why did I agree to this? Because I hadn’t forgotten about one of the things I wanted to ask her the most. I wanted to know where all the rumors about her started. Things about her blackmailing people and having dirt on nearly everyone in school… My gut feeling kept telling me she wasn’t a bad person, but I still needed to know. I wouldn’t start with that, though.

“Then you can go first,” I told her, mostly to see what level of questions I’d be dealing with.