Playing Princess

31. Old friends

Conner's pov

I pull my car into the lookout and sure enough John's car is already parked there. When we step out of the car John turns around from where he is sitting on the bench and smiles when he see's its me. 

"Well Ill be" He says as he stands up slowly. He still looks the same since the last time I was here, hunched over a bit with lots of wrinkles and grey hair. "Hi John" I smile and hug his frail body. 

I pull away from the hug and Johns eyes go over to Mateo. "Is this your new guy" He asks. 

"Nope, this is the cheater that actually didn't cheat. It was a whole mess but he isn't a cheater like we thought he was" I chuckle. 

He walks over to him with his cane and extends his hand "John Morley but everyone calls me John". 

"Mateo Alvarez" He shakes his hand. "I recognise that name, I don't know where from though" John slurs his words from old age. 

"I'm the prince" He smiles. John turns his head around and gives me a thumbs up, making me chuckle at a bit. "Well then" John takes his hand back and walks back over to the bench.  

I sit down beside him and Mateo sits down beside me. "If I knew he was a prince when you were describing him for me I would have said go back" John looks over at me a smile and I can't help but chuckle a bit. 

"I'm sure you would have. Let's not forget that we thought he was a cheater that night though" I remind him. 

He scoffs jokingly as he shrugs. I glance over to Mateo who's looking out into the view. Once again its another beautiful sunset.

"John, do you have any family" I ask, looking back over to him. He smiles and looks over at me "I do, I have 2 very pretty daughters and a handsome son" He talks with so much pride and joy about his kids, almost the same way he talked about his wife the last time I saw him. 

"Are you going to spend Christmas with them?" I ask him another question, for some reason I love hearing about his life. He has lived through many years and has lived a life, I on the other am only 18 years old so I have barely lived at all. 

Even though I was already married and divorced since I graduated high school. I am siting where I am siting right now because Hannah, Gabbie and I decided to go to a girls trip to Vegas to celebrate graduating. Little did we know what would come out of it. 

"Yes I will be, every year I head over to my oldest daughters house to watch the grand kids unwrap their presents. Then my other 2 kids come over and we all have a wonderfully home cooked meal" His eyes beem with happiness. 

I can tell John loves his family very much. 

"Whats with you and all these questions tonight" He asks, looking at me. "I'm sorry I just think your life is interesting. I also love hearing you talk about your family" I reply. 

He smiles widely and pats my knee with his old wrinkled hand. "Don't be sorry, I love getting asked  questions about my life, I have lived a long time so I always like it when I get to share a bit of my story to people I like" He grins at me. 

"Would you like to hear it all, I have much time on my hands" He questions as he leans back in the bench so his back is up against it. 

"I would love to" I smile. Mateo and I have no wheres to go so what better to do than listen to John talk his life. 

"Well I grew up in a family that had to work for every penny so we never had a stable amount of money growing up. When I turned 18 and got out of school I was sent off to the war. By this time I was already dating my wife, we weren't married then but we were together" He talks. 

"I served in the army for 3 years before I finally was able to go home. I saw a lot of things and lost a lot of people while I served so when I came back I wasn't the same person I was when I left. I was cold and closed off but when I saw my wife waiting for me on the dock, everything dark went back to light. Because of her" He beems with so much joy. 

"The day I got home I knew I didn't want to spend another minute away from her so I took her here and asked her to marry me in this exact spot" He points to the ground ahead of us. 

"We got married rather quick since back in the old days you didn't wait long to get married. Then of course we went through our struggles of being husband and wife but at the end of the day we loved each other more than anything else in the world. When we welcomed our kids into this world our love only grew stronger. And to this day, the love still hasn't died off, it never will. When I cross over the rainbow bridge and into the light I am going to be met with the most beautiful thing on this earth, my wife. Her and I will finally be reunited again" He smiles so proud, looking into the sunset. 

I feel Mateo's fingers against mine and I open my hand so our fingers can interlock. I look over to him and he kisses the side of my head. 

"Sunsets let us know our loved ones that have passed are still looking out for us, that's why there is one every night, the more prettier ones are for the nights we need it most. My wife use to say that every time she would see a sunset" He talks about her like she's the only girl in the universe and to him, she probably is. 

I love John. Why can't love be like the old days. 

I'm just casually making myself cry over Johns story even though I am the one who wrote it. I think I have a soft spot for old people.