Forever {Dennis Wilson}

Grace

A/N: Hello and thank you for reading my first chapter of Forever. I really hope you enjoy it!
I want to make it clear what my main character's ages are at the start of this story. Dennis is 20, and Grace is 18. I did not want anyone to be confused as to why Dennis would be interested in a high school girl (she's a senior).
I will try to reiterate this in my story going forward.
Again, thank you for reading and please do not hesitate to give feedback/opinions you may have on my story. It really helps me out a lot and I'm always open to changes.
xoxo KC

December 18, 1964

Dennis

I could think of a million other things I'd rather be doing than spending an evening at a high school.

My little brother Carl was the one who told me about a Christmas concert for his senior class that a few students were putting on. It wasn't something of interest to him, until he found out that one of the songs to be performed was from The Beach Boys' Christmas album.

"Denny, come on. It won't be that bad," Carl smiled hopefully. "A good friend of mine is doing backup vocals in Little Saint Nick. She's really good."

"Shit." My eyes rolled back with my head, which hit the couch cushion gently.

What else could I really do at that time of night? Surfing was a no go—too dark. And my girlfriend was off carousing at a Christmas party.

"Fine." It was a less than enthused response from me, but Carl would have to deal with it.

"We should get going, before we miss the show," he nodded, grabbing a jacket from the nearby wooden rack that stood next to the front door.

I followed suit, yanking my keys from a glass dish on the coffee table.

A twenty-minute drive in my Corvette Stingray landed us at the Hollywood Professional School, and to my delight, not a parking space in view. No way would Carl want to circle the parking lot in an endless search.

"Well shit, we'll never find parking. Guess we should go back h—"

"There's a spot. Front row." Carl smirked, pointing to a Ford 300 backing out.

Damn my helpful little brother, and damn that fucking Ford.

After doing a shit parking job, the both of us made our way into the building.

Christmas decorations, such as boughs of holly and tinsel, were elegantly hung at the foyer, and the real eye-catcher was the aluminum tree complete with jewel tone ball ornaments. Square boxes decorated with metallic wrapping paper and pull bows sat underneath it.

"Good evening, the auditorium is all the way down that hall and to your r— wait a minute," a young woman smiled, pointing at my brother. "Carl Wilson, right?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm a student here," he nodded to the woman. "I'm seeing a friend of mine perform."

"That's wonderful. What is the student's name?" The woman looked down at a wooden clipboard, using her pencil to scan the list of names.

"Grace Adams."

"Oh! I see her name here. She's performing with Perry Richards' group," the woman confirmed.

"Yes ma'am, she's expecting me—or us, I should say," Carl said, pointing between me and himself.

"How lovely! I'm sure she'll be happy to see you. Enjoy the concert," she smiled and gestured towards the auditorium.

We found our seats, five rows away from the stage. It was enough of a distance to clearly see the performers without having to strain our eyes.

While Carl was excited to see his friend perform, I was still somewhat indifferent. My time in high school had never been a positive experience, and I didn't like that reminder swimming around in my brain as I sat in a dark auditorium.