Same Old Love

June 3rd, 1952

Conrad was currently hanging off the branch of a very high tree as Caroline couldn't help but laugh.

"Caroline would you please stop laughing long enough to help me?" Conrad asked as he struggled, starting to feel his fingers slip. He was about twenty feet off the ground and knew it would be a bit of a hard fall.

Caroline shook her head as she smiled. "You asked for it Conrad. Just hang on a minute. Let me enjoy this for an extra minute, okay?"

Conrad rolled his eyes, wondering how this happened.

Just like the rest of you are probably also wondering.

***
- Six hours earlier -

"Mama, do you need help?" Conrad asked as he watched his mom raced around the kitchen.

Conrad's mother had a friend who was pregnant, and today just so happened to be her baby shower. His mom offered to have it at her house because the couple just moved into their new home and weren't quite ready to have people over yet.

"Are you up for setting up table centerpieces saying 'It's a Girl!'?" His mom messed with him a lot, it was their thing he guessed.

Conrad rolled his eyes. "I'm perfectly capable." He grabbed a few centerpieces and began to set them up.

"So," his mother began, "Considering how well your date went with Caroline, you are going to ask her out again, right?" She raised an eyebrow at him letting him know that it was more of a clarification than a simple question.

"Well I told her I wanted to go out again and she said she wanted to, too. Doesn't that count as asking?" He asked, clueless as to how dating really worked.

"If you want a girl to lose interest in you, it counts," his mother explained. "But if you don't want that, which I'm not sure why you would, you need to ask her properly, Conrad!" She swatted him with one of the decorations she was holding in her hand.

He fake winced. "Mama, you don't need to go hitting me!" He laughed. "But you're right. I'll call her today."

"Go do it right now!" His mother exclaimed.

He didn't expect that. He wanted time to think about what to say, and even where to take her. "Well why don't I help you decorate this first?"

His mother scoffed. "I can handle some baby decorations, honey. You go try to win that girl over."

He knew she wouldn't allow him to help her anymore, so he walked defeatedly towards the phone in his room. It had been about two days since their date, and they hadn't spoken since so he had reason to be a bit nervous.

He dialed the number into the phone and waited anxiously for someone to pick up. Finally the phone stopped ringing and he heard a voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Caroline? It's Conrad."

She was quiet for a moment before speaking up. "Oh, hi! I haven't heard from you since the other night. How are you?"

"Oh, I mean, I'm good. Just wondering if you were busy tonight?"

He could almost imagine the smile spread across her face as she took a moment to respond. "How about right now instead? I'll meet you outside in ten minutes. I wanna show you some place. Be ready."

Before he could even say anything he heard the phone hang up and smiled to himself. She was something else.

He ran back to the kitchen where his mom was and kissed her on the cheek quickly before saying, "See ya later, mom. I'm going to see Caroline!"

As he ran out of the house a smile appeared on his mother's face, because she could already see that he would fall for Caroline faster than he would ever realize.

Connor drove his car to Caroline's house and saw her sitting in the swing on her front porch, reading a book while waiting for him. He smiled to himself when he saw how deep her head was in the book, as if she were in the middle of reading a part that was incredibly intense.

How is she so beautiful?, he thought to himself. He watched as a strand of hair fell from behind her ear and she quickly tucked it back. When she did so, she looked up and caught a glance of him.

Oh crap, she saw me watching her. God, now she'll think I'm a creep.

He cringed to himself as he stepped out of his car and walked up to her.

"That must be quite the book if it keeps you interested for so long," he joked and offered a small smile as he approached the white swing.

She let out a jubilant laugh as she closed it slowly. She had on a pair of light wash blue jeans and a white blouse. He hair was thrown up in a ponytail with a red ribbon tied in it, and she had on sandals. She looked gorgeous as usual.

"Maybe you should read sometime. Might do you some good," she teased as she stood up and approached him. "Lucky for you, I already have something in mind for today. It'll be fun."

***
-Present-

Conrad's idea of fun wasn't the same as Caroline's- not by a long shot. He was still hanging by his fingers off of a tall branch and Caroline was giggling like it was the funniest thing in the world. Finally though, she helped him by pushing his foot up with a stick to get him high enough where he could get back on the branch again and then climb down.

"Was that really so hard?" Conrad asked as he rolled his eyes yet again.

"No, it was just funny," Caroline giggled. "Have you never climbed a tree before?"

"Not since I was a kid. And even back then I was no good at it," he replied with a chuckle as he looked off and shook his head.

They were walking through the field they had come to now.

Caroline suddenly laid down in the grass, much to Conrad's confusion. She closed her eyes and kept them there until she realized he wasn't laying down next to her. She rolled her eyes.

"Lay down, weirdo," she said while she looked at him pointedly.

"I'm the weirdo? I'm not the one who suddenly lies down in grass in the middle of a walk," he replied, though he sat sat down like she asked.

They just stayed like that for a while and Conrad thought of everything that was happening that he never thought would. The girl of his dreams is laying down right next to him, who potentially likes him as more than friends. However he didn't want to get ahead of himself. He didn't want his heart to fall to pieces if he found out that his dream was only just that- a dream. As he thought about the possibilities, he didn't realize that Caroline had dozed off. When he did, he smiled to himself, leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm completely crazy about you, Caroline Davis," he whispered and chuckled to himself at just how deep he realized he'd become already.

As he put his arms behind his head he smiled and tried talking sense into himself, before realizing that romance has no sense, and that was just the truth.

***

I know it's short and I know it's been a while but I almost gave up on this book until I realized that would be stupid! Hopefully I will update regularly from now on! Thanks for reading!❤️

-Bri