Graceless (Grace Notes #2)

“Lane!”

Lane sighed. They’d almost made it out of the building. They were halfway down the steps from the education faculty, their sunglasses back in place, earbuds already in, but the voice was insistent. They turned around.

“Where’s the fire?” Mia smiled widely at them, catching up.

“Oh, you know,” Lane tried, pulling one ear bud out and leaving the other in place as a hint. “Gotta get home, I’ve got work.”

“You’re a nanny, right?” Mia fell into step with them, tucking a soft green curl behind her ear, her eyelashes lowered just enough. Lane nodded, distracted. Mia was extremely attractive, there was no ignoring that fact. They couldn’t quite get past the weird prejudice they had against their fellow students, though. They’d been so alienated in the early days of college and so careful not to engage from then on, that it felt weird to consider the frank flirtatiousness of Mia’s every glance.

“What are they like?” Mia asked. “Nice people?”

“Yeah,” Lane said. “They’re like family.”

“Rich?” She raised her eyebrows. Lane shrugged.

“Yeah.” They didn’t trust anyone who wanted to sniff around Savannah, so they always kept that information on the down low.

“You allowed friends around?” Mia asked. “I bet you’ve got a pool, right?”

“Sure.” Lane was starting to panic. They weren’t sure how to get around this one. Mia was hot, but they had always enjoyed a good hard boundary between their school life and their home life. The idea of having a college girl wandering around the guesthouse, meeting the people Lane spent every other waking minute with and then seeing her back at school felt excruciatingly exposing.

“Ooh,” came another voice from behind them as Aria caught up too. “Pool study party?”

“Uh.” Lane hesitated.

“I haven’t got a bathing suit with me,” Mia cocked her head. “I guess skinny dipping is out of the question?” She glanced down at her curvaceous body and blinked innocently at Lane.

“Oh stop it.” Aria elbowed her. “How about after class tomorrow? That way, we can come prepared.”

She looked so hopeful that Lane found themself reluctantly agreeing.

The next day, both girls followed them out to the carpark.

“Shall we follow you?” Aria asked. “What’s the address?”

“I…” They hesitated. They’d never had to do this before, but even though Brynn and Savannah had always told them to treat the compound as their own home, there were still security concerns. And Lane barely knew either student. They pulled the papers Chester had given them out of their book bag and handed one to each of them.

“Non-disclosure agreements?” Aria looked startled. “Where in the world are you taking us?”

“My employers are kind of private,” Lane hedged.

“Is there going to be an orgy or something?” Mia mock-whispered.

“You wish.” Aria rolled her eyes. “Okay, this is weird, but sure.” She pulled a pen out of her bag and signed. Mia did the same.

“Okay.” Lane still felt super uncomfortable, but this was what regular people did, right? Invited classmates over and hung out with them socially? There wasn’t usually paperwork involved, but Lane’s life had never quite been normal. “I guess, just follow me?”

They drove in convoy through the outskirts of town and into the countryside, the two women in Aria’s little Toyota almost nudging Lane’s bumper as they turned into the gate to the compound. Lane’s security device opened the twelve foot gates to let them in. Lane tried to see the place through their classmates’ eyes as the long driveway through the rolling pasture slowly opened up to the big beautiful piece of modern architecture that was their home.

They remembered the first time they’d seen the place and fallen spectacularly in love with it. Sometimes they missed living inside the glass walls, how the light played on different days, the way you could see the night stars from almost every corridor. It sometimes felt more like an incredibly luxurious form of camping than living in an actual house.

Lane pulled into the parking space behind the guesthouse, and Aria followed suit. Tumbling out of the car, the two girls gaped at them.

“This place is incredible!” Mia enthused. “What the hell do your employers do?”

“Oh, you know,” Lane hedged again. They weren’t sure if anyone was home that afternoon. There was no point going there if they didn’t have to. “They’re in the industry,” they said as vaguely as possible. “I live here.” They gestured to the guest house. “Want a drink?”

“I’ll have a beer,” Mia said chirpily.