Uncommon (BWWM)

Chapter 14

As it turns out, a national tragedy does not mean the end of exams. Once the initial shock of the event had passed, life seemed to go back to normal.

Well... except Arthur is yet to come back

He and Grace talk on the phone almost every night, and video chat when they can. But it just isn't the same as holding each other.

"What's the first law of thermodynamics?" Arthur asks Grace during their revision call.

She's lying on her back with her legs over the edge of her bed, bent at the knees. Her laptop is set on the desk to her left and her head is turned to look at its screen

"Something about energy..." She answers nonchalantly.

"Grace..." Arthur groans, "You know this. Stop messing around."

"I'm not messing around." She rolls her eyes and looks toward the ceiling, "It's just hard to focus with everything that's going on... I hate that you're there struggling without me."

With a sigh, Arthur closes his textbook and puts it to the side. Then he gets up, lifting his own laptop and travelling through his giant room to sit on his bed.

"Sunshine, I'm okay, I promise. Just a little stressed. Please stop worrying."

"How can I not?" She complains, "I'm always gonna worry about you, Arthur, I love you."

Arthur smiles softly at that. Grace obviously hadn't put much thought into what she was saying, but it still makes his heart flutter whenever she utters those words.

"I love you too, Sunshine."

"Actually," she says, propping herself up and turning to face the laptop, "I was meant to ask - why do you call me that?"

"What? 'Sunshine'?" At Grace's nod, Arthur continues casually, "Because your smile is bright, like the sun... You light up every room you're in."

Grace can't react, not verbally at least. Arthur was looking down at his notepad, scribbling down more notes. But at his girlfriend's silence, he lifts his head to find her gaping at him.

"Close your mouth, Sunshine, you'll catch flies." He teases.

"Can I give you a nickname?" She says suddenly.

"What? Why?" he laughs.

"I dunno." Grace shrugs, "It just feels more... intimate."

"I can think of plenty other ways to be intimate without nicknames, Love." He winks at her.

She laughs and swats a hand toward the screen, "When did you get possessed by the spirit of Richard?"

Arthur shrugs with a chuckle, "He's a bad influence."

"How is he anyway?" Grace asks seriously.

Arthur lets out a heavy sigh, "He hates this. He's the sort of person that likes to go where life takes him. It's probably killing him having follow protocol and stuff."

"Will's missing him."

"And he misses Will." Arthur huffs a laugh, "The two of them are joint at the hip, they act like an old married couple."

"If that's the case, then why didn't he tell Will he was leaving?" Grace doesn't bother asking why they hadn't revealed their royal identity to him. It was clear that that was just a privacy thing. And it wasn't her place to question it. In fact, it wasn't her place to ask what she had asked. But Will and Rich are her friends, and she hates seeing them hurt.

"Honestly.... I have no idea."

~~~~~

The next day, as she races into the library, Grace utters a phrase she never thought she'd use.