amazing grace. christian yelich (book one)

thirty-eight. summer daze

          They won, the Yankees swept the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Charlie and I are waiting anxiously outside the club house. I can't stop bouncing on my feet, smiling widely knowing Aaron broke his slump against the Sox.

          It takes a while for the guys to start coming out. Luke is the first one out, waving to me with a smile before disappearing with his wife. Gleyber and Didi follow, both hugging me tightly as I congratulate them. It takes a bit for Aaron to come out, but once he does he rushes over to scoop me up in a tight hug.

          "Congrats, Judgey," I smile widely, hugging him as tightly as I can. "I'm so proud of you."

          "I've said it once, and I'll say it a billion times over. You are my good luck charm," he smiles widely, kissing my cheek. "You're the best, Gracie."

          "I think that's you Mr Solo Home Run," I smile, patting his forehead as I stand in front of him. "How about we have a little dinner? The three of us?"

          "I would definitely like to, but I'm not invincible like Grace Kingery. I'm fucking tired," Charlie speaks up. "But you two can have fun."

          "You sure? I can bring you something back," I offer to which Charlie shrugs to. "I'll surprise you, Hummy."

          "That doesn't sound good," Charlie chuckles, making me laugh. "But you two have fun. I'm going to catch a cab and go to bed."

          "Okay. Just don't take up the entire bed," I say, pointing to him with a raised brow. He nods, and we end up parting ways, Aaron putting his arm over my shoulders. "So where will we be going tonight, Judgey?"

          "How about ice cream," he grins, knowing my answer already.

—

          "Okay, ten years later and you still get plain vanilla," I laugh at Aaron who shrugs his shoulders, licking his ice cream cone of plain, bland vanilla ice cream.

          "And you still overload your chocolate chip cookie dough with more cookie dough," he chuckles, making me laugh as I take a bite of my ice cream. Yes, I bite my ice cream and make sure I get the cookie pieces. "How can you bite ice cream?"

          "Because I'm a bad bitch," I grin, Aaron snorting at that. "It's not my fault I don't have sensitive gums or whatever."

          We sit in silence on the bench and I put my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes for a second. "You falling asleep, Kingery?" Aaron asks softly.

          "No, just thinking," I mumble with a smile. "We haven't done this in years. It feels nice. I really missed it, and you."

          "I missed you too, Gracie Boo," he chuckles, kissing the top of my head. Feeling my ice cream run down over my hand, I stand up to throw it out, grabbing napkins from the ice cream stand to wipe it off.

          Aaron does the same, but his ice cream is more gone than mine was. "So, would you like to come over to my place or go back to your boring hotel?" he asks with a grin.

          "Lets go to your place," I say with a smile. We link arms and walk back to Aaron's cad. He opens the door for me, making me smile as I sit in the passengers seat. "Thank you, sir."

          "You're quite welcome, ma'am," he says, making me laugh at how terrible ma'am sounds. He gets in the driver's seat and he drives us to his place, both of us jamming to music like we used to in high school.

He stops in the driveway and opens the door for me, making me smile widely as I slide out of the car.  We walk up to the front door and I watch him unlock it, shoving it open for me to walk in first.  "Damn, it hasn't changed since the last time I was here," I chuckle, walking over to lay on the couch.

"Well, I'm either sleeping or eating here.  I never felt the need to change," he chuckles, locking the door before joining me on the couch, laying my legs across his lap.  "Now what would you like to watch?"

"The Dodgers game," I say with a grin.  Aaron snorts, rolling his eyes before he puts the game on the television.

          We watch the game for a while, Aaron getting me a water a few minutes in and himself a beer. I shift to sit beside him, putting my head on his shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Aaron," I mumble, taking a deep breath.

          He kisses the top of my head, making me smile before I look up at him. He smiles softly, putting his hand on my cheek. As soon as his skin touches mine, the butterflies come back, the tingles come back, the ache in my heart comes back.

          He slowly leans down, his lips almost touching mine. Then everything shatters. "Aaron, I can't," I choke out, closing my eyes as I turn away from him.

          "I—I'm sorry, Gracie," he mumbles.

          "I want to but I can't. I can't." I start to cry, hunched over my own legs with my hands covering my face.

          "Grace, what's going on?" he asks nervously, his hand on my back. "Grace, talk to me, please."

          I bite my tongue, sitting up with my body shaking. "I'm sick," I choke out, slowly looking at him. "Aaron, my cancer came back."

          "Oh my god," he whispers, his hand shaking as he puts it on my cheek. "Gracie." Tears brim his eyes and he pulls me against his chest, slowly, as if his touch could break me. Maybe it can now, maybe I'm more fragile than I think.