Ashton's P.O.V

It's Friday night and I'm getting ready for tonight with Grace. I'm nervous. Ever since the incident, she hasn't really been talking to me. Her mother has been inviting me for supper everyday this week. Grace wouldn't even look at me. I put on some cologne and grabbed my car keys.

I walk out my house with my front door locked. I get in my car and headed towards Grace's. I pull up in front of Grace's residence and got out of the car. I walk up the short steps to the porch and knocked on the door. The door opens revealing Harriet. She smiles real big at me, "Ashton! Come on in." She steps to the side for me to enter the house.

"Grace will be down shortly. Come sit." She gestures towards the living room. I sit down on the couch while she takes a seat in the wooden rocking chair. "I'm sorry on how she's been treating you. She doesn't like it when people show her sympathy." Harriet tells me rocking. I look over at the white woman.

"It's okay. I understand. I just want to protect her that's all. Ever since the party. All I want to do is make sure she's okay." I confess. Harriet smiles at me. "You're going to grow on her. Just keep coming over and she'll get the gesture." She winks at me. I chuckle. I hear a door being closed and my eyes travel to the stair case.

In all her glory, Grace reveals herself with a navy blue two piece revealing her belly button. The top being long sleeve with the ends being ruffles and the pants being bell bottoms. She's wearing black stilettos making her three inches taller. Her hair his down with loose curls. I never knew how long her hair was. She always had it up in a bun. She's wearing a little bit of make up. Just mascara and lipstick. She's wearing silver earrings.

She looks at me, "You're staring again." She smiles. I clear my throat and stood up walking towards her rubbing my hands together. "You look beautiful." I tell her. She gives me a toothy smile. "Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself." She winks. I smile, "Why thank you." She walks past me to give her mother a hug. I watch the two interact. I smile at the sight.

I walk towards the two with my hands in my slacks. Harriet gets up. "You two have fun. Bring her back by midnight." She tells me with a pointed finger. I smile, "Yes ma'am." I lean in and place a soft kiss on her cheek. Grace walks towards the door. I follow behind her. We walk out of the house and went down the few steps.

She held onto my arm so she wouldn't fall in her heels. She let's go once we hit the pavement. I open the gate door for her. She smiles at my gesture. I close the gate and opened the passenger door for her. "Thank you." She says softly getting into my car. "Your welcome." I smile at her closing the door.

My hands are sweaty. I wipe them against my slack. I fix my peach button up shirt that's tucked into my black slacks. I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly calming myself down. I open the door and got in. I started up the car and putting it into drive, "Let's get this night started." And we were off.

~~~~

We make it to the diner. I open the car door for Grace. I extend my hand out for her to take. She takes it and lifts herself out the car. She doesn't let go, "Thank you." She smiles. I close the door behind her holding onto her hand. "Let's go." I motion with my head. I intertwine our fingers. I feel her thumb rub against mine. I smile.

I open the door for her. She smiles up at me and walks in letting go of my hand. I place my hand on her lower back and guide her to a booth. We slide into the booth sitting from across each other. I see that she crosses her legs underneath the table. I lean forward just taking in her beauty.

I look around the diner. The floors are black and white checker, as the walls are an off white, each booth has lights hanging in the middle, the counter being red and the chairs being black. It's quite beautiful. Moments later a waitress walks over to us, "Hello my name is Rose, I'll be your waitress for the night. Would you like to start with drinks?" She holds a note pad and a pencil looking between Grace and I.

"I'll like a sweet tea with no lemon." Grace tells her. She writes it down and looks at me. "A coke would be fine." She writes it down, "It will be right out." She disappears into the kitchen. Grace hands me a menu. I look through it as she does the same. I beam over my menu and look at Grace.

She's focused on her menu. I slowly move my foot towards her. Once my foot bumps into hers she looks underneath and then at me. I give her a wink and she gives me soft smile. She looks back at her menu. Rose comes back with our drinks, "Are y'all ready to order." We nod. She looks at Grace. "I'll get the classic burger with no onions and with seasoned fries." Rose writes down the order. She turns towards me, "And you?"

"I'll have the same." I say, putting up my menu along with Grace's. "Okay. I'll be back with your order." she says, walking to the kitchen. I look back at Grace and she's looking out the window watching the pedestrians pass by leaning against her hand. I grab her free hand and her eyes flicker towards me.

She drops her other hand on top of mine. I give her a smile. She looks down at our hands, "Why are you so protective over me?" I rub my thumb over her smooth light skin, "Because there's something about you. You're too beautiful to have these pricks walk all over you." She gives me a small smile. She gives my hands a squeeze, "Thank you." She let's go of my hands and lean back into her seat crossing her arms over her chest. I left my hands flat on the table.

"Why aren't you like the rest of them? How come you don't call me those names? Or why you like people like me?" She asks, with concern in her eyes. I lean back placing my hands on my lap, "I was raised to see each other as equals. Even if some of us are mixed with different races. We all have the same color that runs through us. We're no different from each other. It's so wrong to label somebody because of their skin color. And the name part. It's disrespectful. And people like you are just wonderful. I rather be with you guys then my own race." I smile at her.

Before Grace can ask another question, Rose appears with our order. She sets down the food in front of us. "Enjoy." She smiles and walks back to take care of the other customers. While we ate we had small talk. Grace told me her hobbies that she loves to do. She loves to hang out with her friends and listen to music. I told her mine. I told her I run and play soccer with a few mates that I made over here.

She told me about her dad. She was only fifteen when he passed. Harriet told me a little bit but not the full story like Grace. Her father was a hard working man. He had an accident over seas and they found his body of the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. She was devastated for months. A few tears rolled down her cheeks while she told the story. I grab her hand. She squeezes it to let me know she was okay. We get done eating and left the diner.

We get into my car and we're in silence. "Where you want to go?" I ask starting my car. "Let's go to the lake." She says, crossing her legs. I smile at her, "To the lake we go."

~~~~

I parked the car over looking the lake. The reflection of the moon on the water is calming. I turn off the car and lean against the seat. I look over at Grace and she's rubbing her arms, "Cold?" She nods. "Come here." I tell her. She scoots over to me leaning into my body. I wrap my arm around her shoulders bringing her closer to me. She rests her head on my shoulder, looking at the lake she spoke, "What's the reasoning for you to start over? Especially over here?"

I look down at her. I clear my throat and I start to tell her. I tell her how my family died in a car accident and that staying in Australia wasn't healthy for me. After four months without my family, I flew out to the states. I settled down in Louisiana. I got my mechanic job that pays more than I got back at home.

While I told my story, a few tears escaped my eyes. Grace cupped my face, wiping away the tears. I give her a soft smile, placing my right hand onto her left wrist. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked." She tells me taking her hands away from my face. I shake my head grabbing her hand, "No I'm glad you did. We're getting to know each other." She looks up at me with an emotion in her eyes that I don't know.

"What about you? You lived here you're whole life?" I ask her. She nods, "Born and raised." She smiles. I laugh. We talk more about each other. I checked my watch and it's 11:45 p.m. I take my arm away from her shoulders and started my car. "It's over already?" She pouts. I smile at her. I lean back and looked at her, "It doesn't have to be." I smirk at her.

She scrunches up her face, "Slow down Irwin. It's only our first date." She places her hand on my chest. I laugh and turn back to the steering wheel. I grip the stick and put her in reverse.

I make it to her house in time. Her porch light glowing in the night. I walk her to her front door. "I had a good time." She smiles up at me. I smile at her putting my hands into my slack pockets, "Me too. It was a great night." We're over come with silence. Grace takes a step towards me. My heart beat starts to rise.

She stands in front of me and places her lips against mine. My hands find their way to her hips to pull her close to me. My body tingling from our touch. She wraps her arms around my neck to deepen the kiss. She breaks the kiss when she hears the front door being opened. "I see you got her back on time." Harriet says through the screen door.

I give her a smile, "As promised." My accent making her smile deepen. Grace gives me a side hug, "Goodnight Ashton." She opens the screen door walking into her house. I wave at her and her mother, "Goodnight ladies." They close the door and I did a victory dance on their porch. She kissed me. It was great. I run to my car and started her up. I drove home with a smile on my face.