LXVIII. GRACE—CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

          After the commercial break had come to an end, Ellen clasped her hands together and looked to the couple, saying, "So, onto a more serious topic: there's been a lot of talk about the article that was released a few weeks ago. I won't show the images," — Grace nodded, mumbling a small thank you, knowing that Ellen had no intention whatsoever of making her uncomfortable, which was why she was so open to do this — "but I'd like to talk about it, if that's okay."

          "Yeah, that's okay," Grace replied, reassuring Ellen that even after she had arrived on stage, she was still open to talking about her experience. Sebastian grabbed her hand in his, lightly rubbing the back of it with his thumb, silently letting her know that it was going to be okay and that he won't allow her to get uncomfortable, either.

          "Good," Ellen began. "A lot of us have seen the images, of course. And we know they were obtained in a terrible way. I'm sorry about that, by the way. It shouldn't have happened. Those images were private, I understand. That's not what I want to talk about, though."

          Grace furrowed her eyebrows at the woman, not understand what she was talking about. She thought she was here to talk about the images?

          "I want to talk about the reactions to them," Ellen added, and Grace's breath immediately hitched. Ellen wanted to talk about the comments. "Is that okay?"

          Sebastian watched his girlfriend closely as she bit her lip before nodding her head. "Yes, that's okay."

          "This topic isn't a light topic," Ellen pointed out. "But most of us are very aware that if these images were released from a man's phone, the public's reaction wouldn't nearly be the same. I just want you to know that those images were completely normal. They aren't something you should be ashamed of, by any means."

Grace nodded. She knew she shouldn't ashamed of them, but all those weeks ago, she was. All those weeks ago Grace forgot who she even was.

"You've read the comments, I'm sure?" Ellen questioned, and she watched as Grace's hand tightened around her boyfriend's. At that, Ellen gave her a reassuring smiling, letting her know that she could, in fact, do this.

         "Yeah... I've definitely read them," Grace confirmed. She focused on the feeling of Sebastian's thumb rubbing her hand and the sound of his breathing — she needed to calm herself down. "And I never got to thank the people who stood up for me. I really am thankful for them. They're the type of people that understand people need privacy, and they're the type of people I would love to talk to someday — so I can personally thank them."

          Sebastian raised his free hand the rub his jaw as he thought for a moment. "I think...I think some people just don't realize the affect their words have on other people — especially if they can't hear the tone of their voice. How is one supposed to know that you're kidding when it's online? How is one supposed to know that you don't actually mean it in a bad way? That you're being sarcastic?

          "And I'd like for my fans to like my girlfriend — that would be awesome. But not everyone is going to like her, just like not everyone is going to like me, or you. But they don't actually know us, and they don't know what we have going on." As Sebastian finished what he was saying, Grace gave herself a minute to just breathe, because she could easily lose control again.

          Not that she was going to lose control, of course. But she knew she would shed a few tears talking about this.

          Ellen nodded, agreeing with Sebastian's words completely. "Yes, and Grace, you took a break from social media. Has that helped?"

          "Definitely, yeah," Grace said, nodding as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "I think getting off of social media for the time being is what gave me the opportunity to get better — plus having my friends and Sebastian.

          "Those few weeks ago...they were a very dark time for me. I didn't completely understand what was going on, or how those images even got out." Grace was beginning to feel a lump form in her throat, and she swallowed. She didn't want to cry. "Those people that commented those hurtful things had no idea what was going on in my life — or what is going on in my life."

          "Very true," Ellen agreed. Grace could see the sympathetic look in her eyes, but she chose to ignore it. "You seem better, though. Have you gotten anything out of this experience?"

          Grace thought for a moment. Had she gotten anything out of it? "Um, I'm not sure. What I do know is that I'm not the only one who's gone through this. There's people out there that are getting bullied online and they think they have no one to go to. But they do, and I want them to get help, because what I went through was completely and utter hell. I don't want other people feeling like I was."

          It was quiet for a moment, and Grace hadn't even realized her eyes had teared up until her boyfriend placed a kiss on the side of her head and squeezed her hand. He spoke up then, adding on, "Seeing someone you love go through something so terrible is — it's tragic. Especially because I couldn't be there for her, and I really wanted to be. What everyone needs to know is that what they say online, even if they don't mean it in a rude way, could very well come off as rude. It could come off as hurtful, or as mean.

          "I just want people to think about what they're saying. Is what I'm about to post going to possibly hurt this person? Could this comment be considered rude? They might not think they're doing any harm, but they are. It's just a matter of 'is this appropriate enough to post or not?'."

          "You're right."

          After a few more questions, Grace had decided it was too bad, and that she needed to do this. She needed to help other people who have been in her position.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: whelp. I don't know if this is good, but I tried to get everything that was going through my mind in it.

bUt the next chapter is happy, because Ellen has them play who's more likely and there's where you guys come in. I need things for Ellen to ask them, like "who's more likely to pee their pants while laughing" and stuff like that. IT WOULD BE SO HELPFUL. So please suggest so I don't fail on my own.

11 chapters left!