“Where did she get these?” someone asks. Ivan’s voice.
“My stash of booze. Remembering the good times in Berlin, I see,” she replies. “What happened last night, Grace?”
I press a hand to my forehead, pushing back the fog inside my brain, and force myself to remember. After leaving Josie’s, I came back to my dorm and decided to have some shots while waiting for MJ to text me back. As soon as I touched the box with the bracelet it was like opening Pandora’s box. One thing led to another, and before I knew it I was listening to Sol’s voice message. Then memories slammed into me like an avalanche after that. I was so desperate to drown them out I ended up drowning myself in alcohol.
“I, um, had a few shots while waiting for your text. What happened? Why didn’t you text me back?” I ask, sitting up. The room spins for a few seconds, then rights itself. “Heilige Scheiße,” I groan as pain shoots through my skull.
MJ chuckles. “Glad you still remember that. I did text you the address, but clearly you’d already started your own little party.”
I pick up my phone and tap the screen. Her message stares back at me. Ugh.
“What does that mean?” Ivan asks. “Those words she said before?”
“‘Holy shit’,” MJ says, then continues to explain. “Back at the bar in Berlin, we learned a few words. Some stuck, some didn’t. After each shot of whatever we were having, we’d yell ‘Prost!’ before each drink and ‘Heilige Scheiße!’ when the nasty taste burned our throats.” She turns to me and says, “Must be feeling very Jägertastic right now, girl.”
MJ’s gaze narrows on the phone in my hand. She reaches over and snatches it, then looks at Ivan and Levi as if to make sure they’re not paying attention before leaning closer and whispering furiously, “Have you been listening to the voice message?”
I start to shake my head in denial, but she shoves the screen in my face.
“We’ve talked about this. It’s not healthy at all.” She sighs. “You can’t move on if you keep looking back.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll delete it,” I grumble. She eyes me doubtfully. “Okay, you delete it.”
“You sure?”
I nod with conviction. She’s right. This message is like a ghost from the past. I can’t keep on using it as a crutch whenever I feel down. New Grace should be out there kicking ass and taking names. Besides, letting go means being okay leaving the past behind.
“Good. You know you can talk to me whenever something like this happens, right?”
“I do,” I say, giving her a grateful smile.
“I’m the worst drunk ever.” I climb to my feet, and I swear the earth moves beneath me. Levi suddenly appears at my side, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“Easy there, Miller,” he soothes with that rumbling voice of his. “Where do you want to go?”
“Shower.” I point in the general direction of the dorm door.
“Want to eat first? We brought you breakfast.”
My stomach rebels at the mention of food and . . .
“Oh my God. I’m going to throw up.”
“Whoa!” Levi pushes me onto a chair, snatching a plastic bin near my bed and setting it on the floor in front of me. My body lurches forward, and I unleash Hurricane Hungover while Levi holds my hair and his fingers brushing circles on my back.
Afterward, I stumble into the bathroom across the hallway and stand under the hot water, washing away last night’s trip down memory lane.
When I return to my room dressed in a pair of flannel pajamas with tiny cupcakes printed on them, Levi is sprawled in my chair by my desk like it’s normal, bouncing a tennis ball against the wall. Ivan and MJ are sitting on her bed.
Levi eyes me, flashing a smile as he jumps to his feet and sets the ball on my desk. “Feeling better?”
“Peachy.” I glance around the floor, searching for the trash can with my puke.
Ugh. My body feels heavy and achy; like someone used a mallet on it. On top of that, the cute boy in front of me stares with amusement in his eyes as if I’m a cute kitten or something.
“Where is it?” I point at the spot where I left the trash can before I went to take a shower.
“All taken care of.” Levi flashes me a winning smile, looking pleased with himself.
My cheeks heat. He took care of my puke? Oh, my God. My embarrassment just shot up a whole new level. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Well played, Mr. Jägermeister. Well freaking played.
“How about a ‘Thanks for being a trooper, Levi’?” he gushes with fake enthusiasm as he bats his eyelashes.
I roll my eyes, trying not to laugh, and concede. “Thank you, Levi.”
“And?” he prompts.
“Leave her alone,” MJ says from her bed. “It’s not like you haven’t done the same thing before, Captain Hold-A-Bucket.”
I start to laugh, but the buzzing of my phone on my desk stops me. Levi cranes his neck to peek at the screen, and I give him a withering look before I grab it and answer it without checking the caller ID.
“Hello?” I mutter, turning my back on him.
“Grace? Hello, my dear,” a familiar voice greets. My body goes stock-still, my gaze darting MJ. She mouths, “Who is it?” I put a finger up to let her know I’ll be right back, then walk out of the room.
“Emily?” I walk down the hall, away from my dorm room as nervousness creeps up my throat. Why do I always feel like this whenever I talk to her? She’s my grandmother, for goodness’ sake. “How are you guys? I mean, you and William?”
“We’re doing great,” she says. “How about you? Have you settled in okay?”
“Yeah. Things are going pretty well so far.”
“Good.” She breathes in. Out. In again. “That’s wonderful to hear, Grace.” She says my name with an endearing lilt to it. I kind of like it. It’s how I imagine a grandmother uttering her granddaughter’s name.
A lull in our super-short conversation follows after those words. A few seconds pass is all it takes for awkwardness to sprout and grow.
In the times Emily and I have spoken in the past—two in total; the first being to thank them for gifting me my Fiat and the second for setting up an account for me—our conversations ended up like this.
I hate it. She’s my granny. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with this kind of relationship, but I’d think it should be easier than this.
She clears her throat. “William and I were thinking of dropping by for a visit. I mean, just so we could get to know each other, you know?”
“Um . . .” Why am I hesitating? This is the chance of a lifetime for me to get to know the people who gave birth to my mother, the most badass woman in the whole world.
What if this uneasiness between us bleeds into our meeting? I’m officially freaking out.
“Grace?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Can I call you back in a few minutes?” Shit. Who tells their grandmother they’ll call her back?
There’s a long pause before she says, “Of course.” I swear I hear the disappointment in those two words.
“Okay. Talk to you in a few.”