I'm in Heaven

Chapter 6

This is officially the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

A boy, about seven by the looks of it, is walking down his driveway, weed whacking.

A big, giant, dangerous weed whacker in the hands of a seven year old boy.

And he's doing a good job.

What is it with Heaven?

"Bryce, look at that kid!" I point him out to Bryce, laughing.

"That's priceless," Bryce said, before focusing his gaze back on the road.

We were currently driving down am empty road in the direction of some orchard. Bryce wouldn't tell me any more than that so I'm left to my imagination. After ice cream with Claire yesterday, he claimed that I was falling back into a depression of some sort, so he was taking me to his favorite place to cheer me up.

It was a sweet gesture and everything, he's really thoughtful.

"So, did Claire tell you about the Greenburrow Ball?" I perk up then and look at Bryce.

"No, what is it? A ball!" I shriek with excitement. Excuse me but I'm still allowed to enjoy Earthly activities even though I'm dead.

"Just an annual thing that the angels do. It's just a ball, like prom but less fancy. There are dates and limousines and dresses and tuxedos and a king and queen, stuff like that," he explains. I'm bouncing in my seat like an actual four year old.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Can I go?" I exclaim, grabbing his arm.

"Why are you asking me? You go if you want to,"

"Are you coming?"

"There's this girl I want to ask, so we'll see what she says,"

I can't help but feel slightly disappointed, I had wanted to go with him. Whether as friends or a couple, I didn't know, but I definitely wanted to hang with him.

"But you have to hang with me!" I whine, smacking his arm.

"Violence is never the answer, and why?"

"Cause I don't know anyone,"

"You know Claire," he points out.

"Hmpff, we both know she'll have a date to this thing," I grumble. Bryce laughs and turns onto a narrow dirt road.

"Almost there," he says.

We come to a stop at the end of the road and Bryce instructs me to get out of the car. I follow him through the woods until we come across a small field with trees in perfect rows.

There are apple trees and banana trees and orange trees and so many others towering above our heads as we walk under the canopy of fruit and leaves. My mouth was hanging wide open as I stared above me at the beauty of the place.

"This place is amazing!" I turn back around to Bryce, who is casually leaning against a tree.

"Yeah, it is," he glanced around at the landscape before settling his eyes back on me. I shifted on my feet and turned away, so I didn't have to meet his eyes.

I continued walking down the long rows of trees, cutting between some every now and then, almost pretending it was a maze. I walked until I found a nice apple tree with low branches, and I knew what I wanted to do next.

I hoisted myself onto the lowest branch and pulled myself higher into the fruit filled paradise. I settled, comfortably into a fork shaped branch as I plucked an apple off a nearby branch.

Bryce came into the clearing as I took a bite out of the apple, making a loud crunch noise. He looked up and around until he spotted me relaxing in the tree and he laughed.

"How'd you get up there?" He asked grinning.

"With my arms," he rolled his eyes at me and proceeded to climb up next to me. When he was settled into the tree, he took the opportunity to speak.

"Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?" He asked me. I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks and I looked down at my apple.

"Beside my parents? No,"

"Because you are," he continued.

"Well yeah, I kinda figured that out," I laughed lightly and bit my apple again.

"You're something else," he observed.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Definitely. But I think I might need to spend more time with you," I was beginning to worry about where this conversation was going.

"And why is that?" I ask, trying to sound completely oblivious to the fact that (I think) he was asking me out.

"To figure you out," I laughed again.

"Is that so?"

"I thought maybe I could try this at the dance," now my heart was starting to beat a little bit faster at his words. He really knew how to tease, he was such a flirt.

"Really?" I ask, pretending to be skeptical.

"That is, if you want to?" He still had that air of confidence, but not the bad kind. This was not your typical cocky, self-absorbed teenage boy talking, this was a confident, smart, and careful young man speaking.

"I'm not sure I understand your question," I tease him. Two can play.

"Kelsey, would you like to go to the dance with me?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Yes, Bryce. I would love to," he broke out into a smile and gestured toward the ground.

"Great! Should we go?" He asked, although not moving to indicate he wanted to leave.

"Nah, I'm pretty comfortable in this tree," I joked, but I was half serious, this tree was comfy.

"Here, wait," Bryce gracefully jumped out of the tree and pulled out a pocket knife. He scratched at the base of the tree for a minute or so before standing back to admire whatever work he had accomplished.

"Come here," he beckoned me and sighing, I descended the tree, wondering if I looked as graceful as Bryce did. I landed on the ground and turned around to face the apple tree again.

What I saw warmed my heart and I couldn't help but smile. Bryce had scratched the words "Our Tree" in tiny letters in the center of the tree, making it only noticeable if you looked hard.

"That way we can find it again, it's in row 26 and we marked it," he explained. I gave him a quick hug and pulled back to look at him. His brown hair was shining in the sunlight again and his eyes were dazzling.

It was hard for me to focus on what I was supposed to be doing, whatever that was. This boy! He made me forget everything when I looked into his eyes. Cliché? I know.

"We should, um, go," I said, breaking the silence but not my intense staring contest with Bryce. He looked away first.

"Yeah, come on, you're invited to dinner at my house," he announced, grabbing my hand and pulling me back in the direction of the car.

"Sounds wonderful!"

For the rest of the trip home, we talked about the dance, and Claire, and Earth, and my family, things like that. My family wasn't as touchy of a subject when it came to Bryce. It was nice to be able to talk to him about this stuff, especially since he was one of the rare few that would actually listen.

I just had a feeling that wasn't the last time something big was going to happen at Our Tree.