When Gracie Met The Grump

by Mariana Zapata

“Friends don’t let friends die. Everything’s gonna be fine. You’ve got something better than that knife. You’ve got me.”

Alex looked at me for a long, long moment. “It annoys me when you’re fucking cute.”

“Do you really think there’s a future for me without you in it?” he asked that time, enunciating every word, his gaze blazing into mine.

“It hurts my feelings that I’m right here, that you’re right there, and you still think that you’re ever going to be alone again.”

“There is no place I wouldn’t look for you. Seven miles deep in the ocean. On a planet in a distant galaxy. I would go anywhere for you if someone took you, Gracie,”