Love Has Never Been Easy: A Bradley Will Simpson Fanfic (Sequel to AOY)

Chapter 15.

Abby’s POV

The air was icy and Bradley and my Doc Martens crunched through the white blanket that covered almost every inch of the world. I had asked him if we could walk back to my house instead of drive. Surprisingly he agreed to it and now we were half way there, freezing our asses off and doing whatever we could to keep warm. At this moment in time that required Brad resting his arm over me and pulling me into him. I was wearing my fall jacket—which was entirely too thin for this temperature—and Bradley’s dark blue knitted toque. As we walked along joined together in such a ridiculous way it was difficult to move along, we were quiet. Maybe it was due to the fact that even taking in a small breath of frigid air hurt our lungs therefore it was best to stay silent, or we were just content with the way things were. With the fresh layer of snow everything in the city looked different. The sky was overcast and grey but it made everything feel more closed in and cozy. I press myself into Bradley’s wool jacket and breath in. He’s wearing his cologne that his sister Natalie brought for him when she came and visited a few weeks ago. When I met her we connected instantly, this was nice because I think that impressing his family is more important to me than him impressing my dad. When he met my dad I think both of them were a bit wary... Bradley because it was my father and my dad because Brad seemed to be more grown up than any other guy I’ve ever let my dad meet whether it be my guy friends or my old boyfriend whom is easy to understand because we were fourteen and even though we acted as if we were mature, we really were just two kids dicking off. In fact, I’m pretty sure Bradley and I still are very immature. But this time it’s more like two kids in love, that I am sure of. All of this silence between Brad and I leads me to start over thinking our relationship which leads to me panicking internally which eventually leads to me breaking the infinite silence that hangs in the air with some frivolous start to a boring conversation.

“Brad?” I ask pulling away from his arm and taking hold of the hand that has left my shoulder.

“Mhm?” He replies, not looking at me but instead he looks down, trying to cover his face with the scarf that he has loosely wrapped around his neck in protecting from the biting air.

“We should jet off to Hawaii,” I say out of the blue, and quite honestly I have no idea where that even came from.

This time Bradley does look over at me, an amused smile growing, “Should we?”

“No,” I sigh looking down at the ground feeling a tad embarrassed by my imbecilic proposition, “I was only joking. I don’t think you or I have the money for that. Plus my dad would never let me go out of the country whilst I’m under the age of eighteen and with my boyfriend.”

“I don’t know,” he replies looking up again, we are nearly a minute away from my house and I am already regretting the walk back to Brad’s place, “we could go to Hawaii. If you still want to, that is.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask. A few more metres and I will be engulfed by the warmth of my home.

“We could save up and then when you graduate high school, we’ll go.”

I look over at the handsome boy standing beside me. I want to ask him if he’s being serious but at the same time I don’t. What if he pulls out a ‘just kidding!’ after and the slightest bit of hope that has sparked in me vanishes. But against my will it slips out, “Are you being serious?”

He silent for a moment which makes my heart sink just enough to hurt. Even if he is being serious there are so many things that could ruin that dream. For all we know we might not be together in two years, we might break up next month! Even the thought of having to end our relationship makes me sick. We have arrived at my house and we walk up the steps but before I can pull out my keys from my jacket pocket Brad grabs my upper arms and looks me square in the eye, “Hell yes.”

All I can do is smile, I smile so much my cheeks start to hurt, partially from the smiling but also because we were still standing outside in the freezing cold and the risk of frostbite was turning into a very painful reality. “You are the best person in the entire world, I love you and I’m freezing I will kiss you when we get inside!!!” Everything comes out all at once and my icy fingers fumble for my keys, I slip the key into the lock and open the door. I put my keys away and shut the door behind us pulling Bradley in and kissing him. My back is pressed against my front door and my hands are entangled in his hair. His breath is sweet, minty.

When the two of us finally pull away we are breathing deeply, “I take it you’re okay with that plan then?” He smiles and pulls my—or shall I say his—toque down over my eyes and I quickly slide it up again. Every inch of my being is warm and tingly. Even the ends of my hair feel happy.

“Yes, I am very okay with it, so okay with it in fact, I’m going to get a job,” the idea had just popped into my head but it was the only way I knew I would be able to pay for this trip.

“Then I will too,” Bradley says and I just smile pulling him into me, holding his body close, “Abigail?”

“Yes, Bradley?”

“I just thought of lyrics for a song, can I use your guitar?” he pulls away and looks down at me, his brown eyes twinkling.

“Yeah for sure, it just sitting by the piano on it’s stand. I am just going to go grab some stuff and get warmer clothes and have a shower and whatever else I need to do.”

“Thank you,” he says and kisses my forehead. We head our separate ways and the whole time I am downstairs I can hear him strumming my guitar and occasionally taking a break which I assume is when he writes down lyrics. I’m filled with joy at the thought of Brad writing songs again, after the accident he didn’t want to pick up his guitar for a whole month and I had to convince him to even start to sing. But now, it’s like my Bradley is completely back and that makes me happier than anything.