Uncharted Territory

Grace

I closed my eyes and sighed as the plane landed at O’Hare airport in Chicago. Plane rides always made me nervous and this one was even worse because I knew what was awaiting me when I got off.

“Hey, you ready?”

I looked up and saw Kennedy standing in the aisle. I nodded and stood up to follow him off the plane. I was extremely thankful that Kennedy had agreed to come to Chicago with me. After I found out my mom couldn’t come with me I immediately thought of Kennedy. I knew that I should have probably called John since he was my boyfriend but I kept telling myself that I didn’t want him to be in the same room as my ex-husband and that’s why I called Kennedy instead.

I yawned and Kennedy smirked at me as he asked, “Tired?”

“Yeah, not all of us can sleep on planes. I’m jealous that you were able to fall asleep and stay asleep.”

“After going on tour overseas you learn how to sleep on planes,” Kennedy shrugged.

We walked towards baggage claim and grabbed our bags before heading out front to catch a cab. I laughed as Kennedy tried to get a cab to pull over and get us.

“Move over and let a pro do it,” I said as I pushed Kennedy out of the way. I raised my hand and five seconds later a cab pulled up by us. “Never let a man do a woman’s job,” I joked.

“I could have gotten a cab that easily if I was as beautiful as you,” Kennedy said as he followed me in the backseat. As soon as the word beautiful left Kennedy’s mouth I could feel the butterflies erupt in my stomach. I told myself I was being silly though and tried to take my mind off them by looking out the window. I loved the city scenery of Chicago and all the tall buildings, I just didn’t love the memories it held.

I looked away from the window and glance over at Kennedy who was staring at his phone with a frown on his face.

“Expecting a call from Paige or something?” I asked.

Kennedy shook his head, “No, I’m expecting a call from John.”

“John? I always knew you guys had some sort of weird bromance thing going on,” I laughed as Kennedy rolled his eyes.

“Actually he’s in Massachusetts.”

“Massachusetts? Why’s he out there?” I asked, confused. I didn’t remember John telling me anything about going to Massachusetts.

“Yeah, he’s out there with Rae. After she left we looked online about her court date and found at that she was raped at some party last year. The court date is her trying to charge the guy who raped her. I felt awful that she had gone through that and I didn’t even know plus had been awful to her. I didn’t want her to go through that alone but figured I was probably the last person she wanted to see at the moment so John offered to go instead.”

“Oh,” I softly said.

“He…umm…he probably didn’t tell you because it all happened so fast. I mean he bought the plane ticket and was headed to Massachusetts within four hours after we found out.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. So does John know you’re in Chicago with me?”

“I didn’t tell him.”

I thought about what this meant for mine and John’s relationship. We were both halfway across the country from our hometown with other people and hadn’t even told each other. We were our own people though and didn’t have to tell each other everything we did. I’m sure we would have told each other our plans if we’d had more time. Everything had happened so quickly though and that was why we had failed to mention our plans to each other. I was sure of that, or at least I thought I was.

“So what time do you have to be at the lawyer’s office?” Kennedy asked, breaking the silence.

“3 o’clock, so we have time to run to the hotel and change.”

Kennedy nodded wordlessly and soon we were at the hotel. We grabbed our bags from the trunk of the taxi and checked into our room. I looked at the clock and saw that we only had two hours. I quickly grabbed my stuff and got ready. I stood nervously by the door as I waited for us to leave. Kennedy gave me a soft smile and we silently walked to my lawyer’s office three blocks away. We finally got to the building and the receptionist began to bring us back to the room. I walked as slowly as possible and contemplated turning around and running. I knew that I had to go through with this though. If I didn’t go through with this I would forever be married to that monster.

The receptionist pointed to the room where the meeting would be taking place and gave us one last smile before walking back towards her desk. I stopped by the doorway and took a deep breath.

“Hey, it’ll be alright. I’m right here with you,” Kennedy said as he grabbed my hand.

I smiled up at him and clutched his hand tighter. I wanted to tell him thank you and tell him how much it meant to me that he was here with me but I couldn’t find the words. Instead I just pushed open the door and we made our way into the room where the lawyers and Evan, my soon to be ex-husband, were.

“So this must be John,” Evan spat. “Only a whore would bring another guy to a divorce settlement.”

“Actually I’m Kennedy, Grace’s friend, and you need to stop talking to her like that. She deserves your respect and that’s what she’s going to get,” Kennedy growled.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re just friends,” Evan rolled his eyes. “Listen Kennedy, Grace here is a wonderful actress so I’d watch my step with her if I were you. Throughout our marriage I could never measure up to her precious John and that’s why we’re getting a divorce.”

“Actually, we’re getting a divorce because you’re emotionally abusive and you only married me so you could become a partner in my father’s company,” I said as I finally found my voice.

Evan sneered at me but thankfully one of the lawyers cut him off so we could begin. The entire hearing went much like the first five minutes had gone. Evan would belittle me and Kennedy would defend me but it was no use, Evan words still cut me to the core. Evan had some sort of power over me that I never understood. With just one look he could make me feel worthless.

The lawyers finally decided to end things about two and a half hours later. The promised they would call the next day with their decision on who’d get how much money. After that we’d just have to sign the papers and the divorce would be finalized.

Evan said one last rude comment before getting up and leaving the room. I practically had to hold Kennedy back from following him and beating him up.

“I can’t believe you were married to that guy for three years,” Kennedy muttered.

“It wasn’t one of my finer life decisions,” I sighed.

“Divorcing him is the best decision, Gracie. You don’t deserve to be with someone like him. You should be with someone who loves and appreciates you.”

“Thanks Ken.”

“Are you hungry? Do you want to get something to eat?” Kennedy asked as we walked out of the building.

“Can we just go back to the room and order room service or something? I’m emotionally exhausted,” I sighed

“Of course.”

Kennedy and I finally got back to our hotel room. Kennedy ordered our food as I lay back on the bed. I kept thinking about Evan and everything he said, not just today but every day of our marriage. For the first couple months our marriage had seemed perfect but after that his true colors came out. Suddenly the tears began and I couldn’t stop them.

“Hey, hey. Grace, what’s wrong?” Kennedy asked as I felt him wrap his arms around me.

“I just wish I could change the past. I shouldn’t have married Evan. I was young and stupid and I hurt so many people along the way.”

“Grace, it’s in the past, and it may have been a mistake but you’re trying to fix that now. Remember, everything that happened in the past made you into who you are today and I really like this Grace,” Kennedy smiled.

“Thanks Kenny…for everything. I really mean it,” I said and suddenly our heads were leaning towards each other. I didn’t know who first started the movement but neither one of us stopped it.

As soon as Kennedy’s lips were on mine it was as if I couldn’t get enough. We just seemed to fit together. My hands were tangled in his hair and my skin burned every place his hand touched my body. We pulled apart for a second as I pulled Kennedy’s shirt off and he ripped my jacket from me. My brain was yelling at me to stop as I felt his hands search for the zipper on my dress but I couldn’t. Everything felt so right and I didn’t want it to end.

A knock on the door interrupted us and we quickly pulled away.

“That’s…umm….that’s probably our…uh…food,” Kennedy said as he pulled his shirt back on and tried to fix his hair.

I nodded and fixed my dress as Kennedy answered the door and grabbed our food. The rest of the night was spent eating and watching movies while we sat on our separate beds. I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t been interrupted, and part of me was upset that we had been interrupted. I tried to ignore that thought though because I knew that was getting into dangerous territory.