keep my hand in yours | prologue
ryland grace/reader
900+ words
title from everywhere, everything by noah kahan
consider this an interest check whilst i’m still finishing reading the book :> please let me know your thoughts!
“Where are the, uh… living? People?”
A man limps around the pilot room, distressed and confused. He stumbles against a wall of buttons, each one he’s pressed onto lights up against him. There is a slight sting in almost every part of his body that his mind cannot process right now as he tries to pull himself back on his feet.
He hears a voice echo before something blinding overtakes his vision.
He extends out a hand between the two of you. You are both standing in the middle of the apartment hallway, his door directly across where you are coming from.
You tilt your head in question as you take his hand, eyebrows raised.
“Wow. That’s- that’s way too pretentious. Never mind.” He rambles, “Grace is fine.”
He shakes his head as he looks down, feeling the awkwardness settle in the air.
“No, I’m. I’m sorry if you told me that before. Terrible with names.” You huff playfully. His head snaps back to look at you, again. There is a gentle smile spread across your face. Encouraging.
“You’ve never met me before.” Why did he say it like that?
Within this painful moment of silence, he slowly realizes that you both still have your hands wrapped around each other’s. He can tell that you’ve realized that too but it may be a little too late to let go right this moment. If that even makes sense.
There’s not really a reason why your hands should still be going up and down either.
“Hey, I’m going to do a really quick grocery run if you wanna go with me?” You offer, finally letting your hand slip away and rest by your side.
Grace takes his time to think. He really has to finish his dissertation, maybe finally do his laundry, or cook dinner-
He lets you walk a few steps ahead of him as you make your way down the hall. “Hey, I didn’t quite catch your name.”
“Right, I didn’t get to tell you…” You tell him your name. He repeats it back to you.
The voice echoes something again.
Grace doesn’t quite catch it as another memory hits him. It’s a little unclear this time, like his eyes are starting to unfocus.
Your name leaves his lips in a sigh as he stands abruptly. He sees you pull over the airport bay where he’s been sitting on the concrete, the car barely making a full stop before you are out of the driver’s seat. You stand against the car door, stopping to look at him over the roof of your car.
He knows you’re assessing his, admittedly, disheveled state. You open your mouth to say something but he quickly shakes his head, letting his gaze fall to the ground.
You nod once before the both of you start moving silently to get his bags in the trunk.
“I got fired.” He finally speaks up once both of you are inside, locking his seatbelt in as you drive away. He turns his body slightly towards the window, his arm resting against the door with his chin planted on the palm of his hand as he watches the cars pass you by.
There is a long pause between the two of you as you both watch the city lights blur against the sunrise.
The conference in Denmark was supposed to last about three days. Ryland got fired on the second day and immediately booked a flight home in the middle of the night. He couldn’t stay.
He called you as soon as he landed. You were there in less than an hour.
The silence between the two of you doesn’t last long before you start to snicker. And then giggle.
“Really?” His head turns to face you, looking at you over his glasses. “I tell you I get fired and you’re laughing.”
And boy, are you laughing.
“Alright, I can’t take this.” He mumbles as he shifts his body again, fully facing the window this time. “You think my failure is hilarious.”
“ ‘A staggering waste of carbon.’ ” You repeat his words to him. “That’s pretty hilarious to me.”
After a while, Ryland’s shoulders start to shake as well, trying to hide his chuckles against his hand.
“God, he’s gonna hate me forever.” He sighs through his smile.
“Eh,” You shrug, “You’re never gonna work with him again.”
Something about what you said feels a little bittersweet. He will never see that guy again, sure. But he might also never work for any research facilities ever again. He doesn’t even know if he can get any other kind of job after this, really.
He stays quiet for a moment.
“You know,” You start, as if reading his mind. “I have a friend that teaches at that school a few miles down from our place. Maybe you can ask about an opening.”
Ryland snorts, he finally has his body flat against the seat back, looking straight ahead as you are. “Imagine me with kids?”
“You’re right.” You nod solemnly before a smirk forms on your face. “You might call them an unfortunate winner of the sperm race when they get an answer wrong.”
He laughs out loud, like his body wasn’t expecting it.
“Okay, seriously, stop.” He warns, trying his best to seem serious. The big smile on his face might’ve given him away, though.
He watches as you turn left, right into the parking lot of a convenience store a few blocks away from your place. He gives you a curious look as you step on the brakes before fumbling with your seatbelt.
“You just got fired, man.” You tell him, opening your door as your eyes meet his. “We’re gonna drink!”
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