Bellarke One-Shots

The Best Love Story

Authors note, this story is in the point of view of a ten year old girl.

Charlotte's Point of view

I was walking through the halls of my elementary school towards the front doors when I spotted him.

"Dad!" I said running towards him as he bent down and extended his arms to both sides. I leaped into his arms and he stood and spun me around, the force whipping my hair up. "Wheee!" I giggled as dad spun me around and around.

He set me down and asked, "How was school today?" He slipped his hand in mine. Side by side, we exited the school and walked to the sidewalk where dad hailed a taxi.

"Okay." I said as dad gave our address to the driver. "Ms. Lee said she was getting married next week and that we would have a substitute teacher for a while."

"Good for Ms. Lee."

"She said she met Mr. Green, he's the other fourth grade teacher, across the hall and that after he picked up the papers he accidentally knocked out of her hands, she looked into his eyes and fell in love with him."

"That's nice." My dad said. I liked talking to him. He always paid attention to me and he never texted on his phone like Uncle Tom did when we talked.

"When did you and mommy meet?" I asked wondering if it was like Mr. Green and Ms. Lee.

"Well that's sort of a long story..." dad said. He got a funny look on his face and stared out the window.

"Well you can tell me when we get home. It's pizza night, remember? Since mom had to work late on her deposit."

"Deposition." Dad corrected me.

"I don't hear a difference." I said. Dad laughed like I knew he would. Then he started tickling me and we were both laughing by the time the taxi pulled up in front of our apartment building.

After we ordered the pizza, we sat on the couch and channel surfed waiting the 30-35 minutes before the pizza would be delivered.

"So." I looked at dad after I'd declared there was nothing good on tv.

"So?"

"How did you and mom meet?"

"Are you sure you want to hear about it. It's just your average boy meets girl story."

"I'm sure." I said. Then I used my big puppy dog eyes and sure enough he cracked.

"Okay. Once upon a time, fifteen or so years ago, in a land not so far away I met the most beautiful girl in the funniest way. It's the best love story ever, in case you were wondering. At the time, I was twenty-one and a volunteer firefighter on the weekends. It was my first weekend on the job actually and I was being trained when we got a call." He said with a faraway look in his eyes. Suddenly I could see it in my mind and I dove into my imagination as he told me a story I knew I'd never forget....

"Alright we got a call from a park over on 8th street and we need a couple guys to head on over. Oh and bring a pair of bolt cutters." The chief said to the guy who was training me.

The man was fifty or so with mostly gray hair, but he had kind eyes and an easy going demeanor. His name was Kane and he said he'd been volunteering for over thirty years.

When we arrived at the park, Kane had told me to grab the bolt cutters from the car and I followed a step or two behind him as we marched through the park.

I didn't know what we were looking for at first. There were no fires and no one seemed to be having a crisis. In fact, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and I wondered if we'd made a mistake. Until, that is, I saw the young lady sitting in the baby swing. She looked to be in her early twenties and way to large for the baby swing.