1969 | a.u. a.i

11

Grace's P.O.V

Monday rolls around and I'm heading to school. Ashton stayed over for the rest of the weekend because my mother didn't want him to be alone in the state that he was in. Mary Lou and Ashton got along very well. She thinks he's perfect for me. Now she wants us to try and convince Luke for her so we can both have Australian boyfriends.

She's been liking Luke since he moved here. We were in junior high when his family moved out here. He was a sophomore at the time. I told her he wouldn't want to go for a girl who was a child. But she proved me wrong three weeks ago. She finally got into that boys pants. But he just wants to mess around and have fun. That's what Mary Lou had told me. I get it. He's only 20.

I arrive to school walking to the commons area. Mary Lou is waiting for me by the little tree. She gives me a hug when I get close to her. "So Luke called me this morning. He's taking me out." She screeches. I'm excited for her. I bring her back into another hug, "Finally the boy comes to his scenes." I smile.

"Right! Like damn four years later." She laughs, letting go of our hug. I laugh, "Yeah. I should smack him for taking so long to realize you're a great girl." I gush. "Awe you're the best. Oh look it's the new exchanged student. His name is Calum Hood." She points behind me. I turn around and I see a kid with dark hair that's swoop to the side. He's wearing black slacks, with a red polo shirt tucked in, with black socks with black loafers. Fancy.

He has full lips and a jawline that can cut glass. All in all he's really attractive. Not my type but he's cute. "I think he's really cute. And I think so does Keeley Trahan." She motions to the tall petite girl. She's beautiful as well. From her tall frame to her personality.

We watch the two interact. So far what we see it's going great between the two. She laughs from what Calum says. Bell rings and we head towards the building.

Ashton's P.O.V

I'm riding around town just taking in more of the scenery of this small town. I'm riding on 3rd Street when I see Grace walking home. A smile is plastered on my face when I honk the horn. She turns around. When she realize it was me a smile forms onto her face. I pull over and she walks over to my car.

"Well you're looking better." She says, looking at my once bruised face. I laugh, "Why thank you. Does that mean I'll get my kisses back?" She blushes at my words, "I don't know. Maybe." She shrugs. I roll my eyes playfully.

"So what are you doing? Just riding?" She asks, leaning against my car with her hip looking at me. "Yeah. Get in." I motion with my head. She pushes off my car and walks in front of my car. She opens the passenger door and throws her book sack onto my back seat. She gets in and closes the door.

I pat the spot next to me. She smiles and scoots over where our legs are touching. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and let off the brake. I get back onto the road and cruised around town. After a couple of hours of just riding around I pull up to the lake. I put the car into park and shut it off. I look over and Grace is playing with her fingers, "You okay?" She looks up, "Yeah I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" I ask for reassurance. She nods with a forced smile. I leave it like that. I don't want to force her to tell me anything. I place a kiss on her head and brought her close to me. We got to know each other a little more as the sun went down.

We talked about stuff that we liked. She loves the color blue, her favorite food is pizza, she loves Motown, and her favorite animal is the elephant. She told me her birthday day. December 5, 1952.

I told her my favorite things. I told her my favorite color was yellow, I love shrimp, jazz music has been my favorite for awhile, and my favorite animal is a zebra. I told her my birthday. July 7, 1947.

We watch the sunset. It's beautiful. The colors reflecting off the water. Once the sun disappears, I start up my car. I back out and head towards Grace's house. We pull up to her house, "I would tell you to come inside but you already know what to do." She smiles reaching back grabbing her back. I smile at her. I take out my keys from the ignition and got out of my vehicle. I jog over to her door and opened it for her.

She smiles, "Thank you." Pecking my lips. I get sparks every time our lips make contact. As cliché as that sounds but it's true. I love this girl but I never said the words yet because I don't know how she feels about me. I think she's getting there. She grabs my hand and guides me to her house.

We walk through the door was greeted with a cooking Harriet. "Hey y'all. Grace get washed up. How you doing Ashton?" She stirs the pot. Grace gives me a smile and walks up the stairs. I walk over to Harriet giving her white cheek a kiss, "Fine now since I get to see your beautiful face." She laughs, "Such the charmer. Now get away. I want this dinner to be a surprise for you." She shoos me away.

I laugh and walked out the kitchen. I take a seat on the couch. I look at the pictures again. Harriet looked so happy with Daryl. She's still the smiley lady but I feel like it's forced for Grace's sake. I look at a picture with Grace and her father together. She looks around five years old. They're at the park. She's swinging as her father pushes her. Both smiling wide. She gets her beautiful smile from her father.

"Enjoying the lovely pictures." I look up and Grace is smiling down at me. "Yeah." I smile, sitting straight onto the couch. She sits next to me, "You look like your father." She looks at me and then at the picture of her and her father. "I get that a lot." She says looking back at me. As we waited for Harriet to finish cooking, Grace tells me her favorite memories with her father. All so beautiful. In a middle of a story Grace was telling me we hear her mother say, "Supper is ready."