Until the Stars Fade

Chapter 3

The next few weeks pass in a blur. Every day that I'm at work, Asher shows up to buy some random thing for his apartment. I know he has an apartment now because we talk more and more each time he comes in. He obviously could have bought all this stuff at one time but he keeps coming back to see me, or at least that's what I like to assume. Jean tells me she doesn't see him on Thursdays because he's learned I'm off then.

He's learned that I work late on Tuesdays, so he comes in the evenings and sits on the towel folding table and we talk as I fold towels. I've learned that he's an actor who has moved from Indiana to Jacksonville to film a new television series. He doesn't start shooting until late August, but he wanted to move early to get settled and learn his way around. He moved the day after his high school graduation and apparently his mom was heartbroken. Excited about his huge opportunity but devastated he had to move so far away. He's acted in a few commercials and some well reviewed theater productions but this is his first big break.

I've shared that I only live in Jacksonville during the summers with Gogo because my parents travel with Doctors without Borders when they aren't teaching at the medical school near our home in Atlanta. I've told him about the fact that my parents have made it very clear I was unplanned and basically turned their lives upside down. I was apparently conceived after a night of celebrating their acceptance into med school, and they were only 21 when I was born. Maxwell and Olivia Davis are madly in love with each other and with their medical practices. They just aren't madly in love with me.

I can hear my manager coming around the corner and I tell Asher to hide behind the towel displays. I don't want to get in trouble for him being here. I actually really like this job.

"Kinsley, please tell Asher that we are closing in 15 minutes and he has to leave because we can't have customers in the store after we're closed," Kim, my favorite manager, says as she passes by. She looks at me and gives me a very knowing smile. I clearly look like a teenager who got caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing.

"Sure, of course, no problem Kim," I blurt out all the while I can hear Asher trying not to laugh behind me.

"Goodnight Kim," Asher calls when she's just out of sight. "Goodnight Asher," she calls back, "see you tomorrow."

"Oh my god, you're going to get me fired Asher," I exclaim when he pops out from behind the towels.

"Nah, she likes me," he laughs as he turns towards the front to leave. "How much longer until you're done? I'll wait out front for you. I can walk you home."

This is not the first time he has offered to walk me home but I keep turning him down. He says I shouldn't be walking home by myself at night, but it's only two blocks and it's hardly even dark yet since the summer days are so long.

I shallow hard. "I'll be out at 9 but you don't have to walk me."

"Kinsley, I'm not taking no for an answer this time. I'll be waiting out front. See you in 15 minutes." And with that, he turns and leaves.

When Kim unlocks the front door to the store to let me out 15 minutes later, Asher is sitting on a bench outside looking at his phone. He hops up when I come out and gestures for me to lead the way. I guess we're doing this.

I decide to take the long way home and walk Asher through Gogo's old neighborhood. I ramble about all the old historic homes and who lives there or who used to live there. And when I stop in front of Gogo and PopPop's old house, I tell him about how all my favorite memories are wrapped up in this house.

"I always imagined I would live here as an adult. It's silly really, but ever since I was little, I pictured myself living in this house and raising a family," I tell him, "but then PopPop died and after a few years, it was just too much house for Gogo. I think it made her too sad being here without him. So, she sold it and moved to her condo."

"You could buy it back someday," he says like this is the obvious solution.

"Yeah, sure, good idea," I say flippantly as if there is no way that would ever happen. "Come on, we better keep going, Gogo will be wondering where I am if I'm not home soon."

We chat casually all the way back to Gogo's condo on the river. "Well, this is it," I tell Asher as we approach the building, "Thanks for walking me home, you didn't have to," I say while I'm entering the code on the keypad to enter the building. I'm suddenly nervous but I don't really know why.

"I had a great time tonight Kinsley," Asher says while he's smiling at me. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow. You work in the morning, right?"

I laugh a little as I say, "Yes, Asher, I work in the morning, but you already know that because you have my schedule memorized." I have the same schedule each week, so it hasn't taken him long to figure it out. I wave to him as I walk inside, "see you tomorrow, goodnight." I stand in the lobby as he waves and walks away.

I take the elevator to the eighth and top floor. As I unlock the door, I hear Gogo call from the balcony. I usually find her on the balcony overlooking the river when I come home. It's a great place to see the sunset and she loves to read in her lounge chair.

"Hey Gogo," I shout from the kitchen where I'm rummaging for a snack. "Be there in a minute." I head out to the balcony with a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream and sit in the lounge chair next to her.

"So," she says as she puts her book down in her lap. Uh oh, she sounds serious. "Who's the boy?"

I've just put a bite of ice cream in my mouth and I start coughing and sputtering. "What are you talking about?" I ask after I've managed to stop myself from choking to death. I haven't said anything about Asher, so I have no idea where this is coming from.

"Grace called about 45 minutes ago and said she was out walking the dog through Five Points and she saw you come out of the store and start talking to some boy who seemed to be waiting for you. Then she said the two of you took off together. So, who's the boy?" she asks again.

Grace is Hazel's grandma, of course she would call Gogo if she saw me with a boy.

"Umm, he's umm," I have no idea what to tell Gogo about Asher.

"Oh Kinsley, spit it out already," she says in that very Gogo tone of hers.

"His name is Asher. I met him a few weeks ago when he came into the store and he's been coming back ever since. We're just friends and he offered to walk me home tonight. He's really nice Gogo, and funny, you'd really like him." I feel like if I keep talking she won't be able to say anything. But then she puts her hand up to stop me from saying anything else.

"Grace said he looked older and she didn't recognize him so he must not be from around here. You know Grace knows everyone," she says as she looks at me over her reading glasses.

"He's not from around here, he just moved here a few weeks ago from Indiana. He's eighteen and he's an actor. He's going to be filming a new television series starting at the end of the summer. You should know that he asked me out and I said no because I knew you wouldn't approve." I'm hoping this wins me some points. Even though Gogo is my grandmother, she practically raised me, and acts like more of a parent than my actual parents. I've always tried to make her proud of me.

"I see," she says glancing out over the river. The sky is an amazing mix of reds and oranges as the sun is almost set. "Well, it sounds like you have been smart getting to know him, but it seems that if you are going to continue hanging out with this boy, I need to meet him. Have him come over Friday evening. Does he know you are only sixteen?"

"Yes, he knows I'm sixteen. And I'll, um, see if he wants to come over on Friday." My ice cream bowl is empty, so I stand up to go put the dish away. "Thanks Gogo, I think you'll really like him." I lean down and give her a kiss as I head back inside.

I'm almost through the door, when she says, "And Kinsley, next time a strange boy is planning to walk you home, be sure you let someone know first. Goodnight dear." With that, she pushes her reading glasses back up and picks up her book like nothing ever happened.