There’s probably never going to be much about Grace in canon, so: fanfiction ahoy!
Rafe is probably too excited to be going home for the weekend. He’s trying hard not to check his phone more than once an hour. Grace knows where he is; she’s not going to text him during the day even if he wants her to. She’s focused like that--nothing should get in the way of hockey, and he agrees with her. He really does. But he also misses her.
So, he’s not paying the most attention to Jared and Bryce. In hindsight, this is probably a mistake. Bryce skates up to Jared with some comment (again) about his backhand, and this time Jared actually takes the help and they appear to have a polite conversation before Bryce skates away.
Rafe comes back from his daydreams. Jared is pink-cheeked and a little wild-eyed. “What just happened?”
Jared looks away. “Nothing.”
He’s so transparently lying that Rafe almost wants to call him on it, but there is literally one hour to go until he can get in a car and drive to Lethbridge and so Rafe decides not to. A bad decision, as it later turns out.
He gets to his car and puts his stuff in the backseat. Checks his phone. A minute after practice ended, Grace sent him, see u soon, which he smiles at. He wasn’t the only one checking the time.
He plugs his phone into the cable, scrolls through for music. He looks up. Bryce is wedging Jared’s bag into the trunk of his car. Rafe looks away. This must be a hallucination. Jared is getting into the front seat of Bryce’s car. Another hallucination?
Leave it be, he thinks to himself, but he can’t help texting Jared anyway: make good choices. Rafe pulls out of the parking lot and leaves them to their fate.
He’s proud of managing to drive mostly under the speed limit, except for one particular long flat stretch of highway where--he just can’t help himself. He goes to his parents’ house first, overwhelmed in hugs and laughter.
His mama smooths his hair back and kisses his cheek. “How is it?”
“Good,” Rafe says. “I’m learning a lot.” He doesn’t mention that some of the things he’s learning aren’t about hockey.
His dad hugs him too. “Did you get Bryce Marcus’s autograph?” his sister asks.
Rafe shakes his head. He can’t imagine asking. He actually thinks Bryce would be weirdly uncomfortable with it--though it wouldn’t be as bad as Jared asking. The thought nearly makes him laugh.
“Are you making friends?”
Rafe shrugs. At this point he would call Jared a friend. If he spent part of his drive worrying about what Jared might be up to this evening, then he’s a friend. “I guess,” he says.
“Are you going to see Grace?” his mama asks.
Rafe blushes. His littlest sister pokes his face. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” his mama says. She likes Grace. She likes Grace because of all of the times she’s walked in on her and Rafe doing homework. She even likes Grace after the one time they were done with homework and she walked in on them making out. She knocks now. Rafe’s mama is the best.
He texts Grace that he’s back and eats dinner with his family. He brings his bag into the house and runs a load of laundry. He gets back in the car.
did u know bryce marcus is gay? Jared’s text reads.
you’ve been flirting for *weeks*, he sends back. He doesn’t expect a reply. Why is Jared asking rhetorical questions?
He drives to Grace’s house, parks in the driveway, and walks up to the front door. He drops the knocker two times. She opens the door.
“Hey,” Rafe says. Now that she’s right there he can admit how much he missed her. A lot, okay?
“Hi,” she says, and smiles. He comes in and she closes the door behind him.
“How’s camp?” she asks.
He shrugs and steps into a hug. He rests his head on her shoulder. Her hair smells flowery.
“Missed you too,” she says. They pull back from each other. Rafe leans in and kisses her. He means it to be a fairly polite hello, but Grace locks her hands around the back of his neck.
“Should I move the car?” Rafe asks.
“Parents won’t be back until late,” Grace says. “You can leave it for now.”
“Okay.” He follows her upstairs.
She closes the door to her room behind them, then kisses him. Rafe pulls her close. Then, “Sorry,” he says.
“Why?” She presses her hips against his and kisses him back harder. She gets one hand under the back of Rafe’s shirt, fingers warm against his skin. Rafe takes the hint and pulls it off. She traces her hand up his chest. “Wow.”
“You too,” he says, and moves back to let her take her shirt off. Then she tips him back onto her bed and Rafe lets himself fall.
They spend most of the time after the sex just lying there cuddling in silence, or talking about hockey. Grace’s team will start practicing again in a few weeks and she’s borrowing some of her conditioning from things that Rafe’s doing. She looks impossibly good and he tells her so.
She laughs. “You too.”
When Rafe finally has to leave--his parents aren’t strict, but he is expected to make an appearance at breakfast--he doesn’t even think to check his phone.
So he misses Jared’s account of his own evening, which was in certain respects similar to his, and in certain respects...fairly fundamentally different.
“I didn’t know Bryce Marcus was gay,” Rafe says quietly.
“What?” Jared looks around and nearly drops a barbel on his foot. Bryce has gone off into a corner to sulk again which is--great. Fine. Totally fine. Jared doesn’t notice him at all, ever, except to notice that he’s gone.
“Do you have another explanation for all of this?” Rafe asks, still quiet.
“You think he’s flirting,” Jared says.
“You don’t?” Rafe sets his weights down and picks up a heavier set.
Jared’s mind is splintering. Because, no, honestly, he hadn’t. Forget the fact that summer training is the last place--literally the last--he would look for a date. Now that he considers it, though...
“Just a theory,” Rafe says, like he can see the way Jared’s hands have started to shake.
Okay, they have started to shake. He sets the weights down hastily before anyone else can notice. And, Bryce is back for another attempt. “Here,” he says, and reaches across Jared. “Hold it like this.”
Jared copies him and lifts. He’s not going to lie: the stretch feels better immediately. When he lowers the weight Jared says, “Are you hitting on me?”
Bryce’s face goes flat. So that’s what real anger looks like on him, and not the pretend pissy stuff. He’s scary. “Do the other side the same way,” Bryce says.
He’s calming himself down. Jared watches him consciously relax the fingers of his hands and take short little breaths in and out through his nose and mouth.
Jared has to say something. He lifts the barbel to shoulder height and holds it. “I’m gay,” he says, staring straight ahead at the far wall.
Bryce doesn’t react.
Rafe doesn’t either. But Jared was already out to Rafe.
“Okay,” Bryce says.
Jared racks his weights. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
Bryce smiles over his shoulder at him and goes off to tell someone else they’re doing it wrong. And, okay. All right. Jared has just about decided that he doesn’t need an answer.
Later, Rafe looks at him, looks away, and laughs. “You get your answer, then?”
Jared scrubs his hand through his hair. “He’s still really annoying,” he mutters sulkily. And adds, in the privacy of his own head, but he’s really hot, too.
