Uncommon (BWWM)

Chapter 11

A/N: Hey guys. Just a bit of a warning that this chapter has kind of a dark subject matter. I've tried not to delve too deeply, but either way it's quite a traumatic topic so heads up xx

Grace once again skips her morning lecture. It's a bad habit, she knows, but if she manages to get good grades like this, then it can't be the end of the world.

Normally she feels a sense of guilt when she wakes up. Slight panic followed by a rush to check the course chat to see what she had missed.

Today though, she's relieved.

Ping

Ping

Ping. Ping. Ping

"What the fuck is going on?" She murmurs, blindly reaching a hand out to grab her phone, "Probably debating the likelihood of nuclear fusion or something."

Cindy: it's actually crazy. a whole family wiped out

Eric: yeah, this is gonna totally fuck with society

Pete: shit man, who's gonna take over?

Cindy: who knows, I guess whoever is next in line

Eric: that's gotta be like 7th or something though right?

Pete: do we even know who's that far down the line?

Grace frowns, what the hell are they talking about?

She scrolls up through the conversation, her thumbs aching by the time she reaches the first message.

Eric: HOLY SHIT GUYS THE KING IS DEAD

Eric: HUGE ACCIDENT

Eric: MIGHT BE TERROR RELATED

Eric: HIS WHOLE FAMILY

Cindy: WHAT???

Grace feels sick. Her phone falls onto her bed with an unceremonious plop. She rushes into the living room and turns on BBC News.

"- and the question everyone wants answered, I suppose, is what's next?" The news anchor says, her voice painfully solemn, "We're talking about the entire parental line of succession. It's been reveal that the grandchildren's families had flown together to cut on environmental impact. But this of course left them vulnerable to disaster. There is now no one from his own family left."

"Well, Annabelle, that's just it, isn't it. There has never been a situation where an entire parental line has been lost like this. I assume the protocol would be for the next in the line of succession to take over, whoever that may be. At the moment though, I assume all efforts will be focused on understanding what happened to cause this terrible tragedy. The country will most definitely be put into a state of mourning."

Grace feels devastated; an entire family, gone, just like that. Those poor, poor people.

She had never been that obsessed with the royal family, but she enjoyed keeping up with them, following them on Instagram, watching their milestones and such.

It's a huge blow.

Grace doesn't even realise how big a blow until the next few messages on the group chat.

Cindy: anyone figured out who'll be the new king/queen?

Eric: looks like the King's second child? Prince James

Cindy: oh shit yeah! I don't know anything about him

Pete: I think he has kids, but they're out of the public eye

Cindy: I feel bad for them. Imagine just minding your own business and suddenly half your family dies and you have to be king.

Nausea settles into Grace's stomach once again. In fact, she thinks she can feel last night's dinner making a resurgence.

Arthur.

It's the only thought on her mind right now. The last three weeks had been a dream since Grace agreed to be his girlfriend. He had taken her to a cute little art café in town and she told him exactly how she was feeling. It had been a continuous honeymoon stage since then. She's sure that she's fallen in love with him.

But now the penny drops.

Does she call Arthur? Is it her place? Grace isn't sure what to do. Arthur had just lost half of his family, surely it isn't her voice that he wants to hear. He needed his family, what's left of it, not some girl he's been seeing.

In that second, there's a knock on the door. It's quiet, and Grace has to strain to hear it. Almost by some sort of telepathy, she knows exactly who it is as she goes to open the door.

"Arthur." She whispers, her arms already open, ready for Arthur to collapse into them.

And collapse he does. He buries his head into her shoulder, hunched over, looking completely and utterly broken. His long arms are wrapped protectively around Grace's waist, as if letting go meant that he would lose her too.

"I'm here." She says softly into his ear, left arm rubbing his back and right arm coming up to card her fingers through his hair, "Shh... I'm here, Arthur, I'm here."

His sobs break her heart. He sounds like he can't breathe. Grace doesn't know what else to do besides hold him.

She manages to get the door closed without letting him go. For a while they just stand there, wrapped up in each other's arms. Grace is sure that her top is soaked through by Arthur's tears, but the thought doesn't stay in her head for very long, not while he's in agony like this.

Arthur isn't a loud crier, not in the slightest. But he's so close that she can hear everything. The small breathless gasps, the tiny noises of anguish as a new wave of tears rips out of him. It hurts him. And that in turn hurts her. In fact, it kills her.

Arthur's tears slow down slightly so that all Grace can hear now is intermittent hiccups. When she's sure that he's calmed down just enough, she takes both of his cheeks into her hands and guides him to look at her.

She almost closes her eyes, the sight is so hard to watch. Arthur's eyes are bloodshot, wet with unshed tears. His face is beet red, veins straining on his forehead. Looking at him, Grace can feel herself well up all over again.

"Hey," She whispers, her voice cracking slightly, "I'm here. I love you, and I'm here."

Arthur releases another wave of tears, but she can tell it isn't from his sadness. It's not happiness either. It's relief. Grace knows, perhaps from observing people for so long, that in times like this, people just want to know they're loved. It doesn't change what's happened. It doesn't make him feel better. That wasn't her intention. But at least he knew he had her, always.

A/N:
I told you some big things were going to happen! I'm sorry for putting Arthur through this trauma :(

Over the next few chapters we'll see what this event means for Grace and Arthur's future.

Serena x

Note (June 2021): Hey guys, I know some of you guys are a bit confused as to why Grace has said the L word so early in their relationship.

I know it seems really soon, but at this point, Grace and Arthur have known each other for a few months now, and to me the love they feel for each other stems from their familiarity. Think of the way you feel love for your friends.

So when Grace says, "I love you." She is comforting someone that she cares deeply for. I never saw this as her 'love confession'.

It's my fault for not writing this more clearly. I say I love you to literally everyone I care about all the time, so it never occurred to me that it'd be read that way haha.