Please be sure to read the A/N at the end... Thank you

*************************************

...15...

After school let out, we had our first after-school dance practice. Barbie said that we had to be ready by the first football game in two weeks. The dances that we had done during the try-outs turned out to be the dances that we needed to perfect before the game. Since we already knew the majority of the dances, we just needed to clean it up and work on the timing because a couple of the girls were just a hair behind us and Marsha and Barbie both would not except anything less than perfection.

It felt good being in that routine because it was the first time I had felt alive in a long time. Even with all of the seriousness during the practice, we were allowed to have a little bit of fun and cut up. I never laughed so hard since my dad passed away and it was welcomed. Even when I looked over at my sisters and saw genuine smiles on their face, it made me feel good.

When we got home, there was a different car in the driveway that I didn’t recognize. The girls looked at one another also and when they turned to me, I just shrugged my shoulders. When we walked in, I heard voices coming from the kitchen. I could point out mom’s and I had to listen closer to figure out the others.

    “Nanny,” I smiled when I walked into the room. My grandparents looked back at me and PaPa stood to give us hugs. It was almost like being able to hug dad again, that’s how much they looked alike.

    “How are our girls?” he asked.

    “Pretty good,” I answered as he hugged the twins. I walked over and gave nanny a hug and kiss on the cheek.

    “Sweet girl,” she smiled. “Growing up on us, aren’t they Diane?”

    “They sure are. I just wish Luke was here to see them,” mom said.

    “Oh honey, Luke sees them just fine from where he’s sitting,” Nanny smiled.

I smiled the entire time that our grandparents were there. It was nice and bittersweet because they told us a lot of stories from when daddy was a kid and with his brother and sister. I remember meeting Aunt Lindsey when I was a child but I don’t remember her being at dad’s funeral. Uncle John has been in South America doing his photography but made a short appearance to pay his respects to his little brother.

We told them that with my job and dance, we just completely forgotten to come by but in all honesty, I think we were just afraid of seeing them. It was definitely long overdue and when they left, it was with a promise that we would come over for Sunday dinners. I walked them out to the car and hugged them once more as they left.

    “You are so much like your father,” Nanny said, kissing my forehead. “He would be so proud.”

    “I’m trying Nan, but it gets hard.”

    “I know but you have a whole support system that is behind you. And your mother tells me that you’ve become quite friendly with a couple of young men that are in the military.”

    “They’ve been great to talk to. They are the closest thing to best friends that I have.”

    “That’s good,” she said and with one more hug, she got in the car with PaPa and they went home.

I stood in the driveway until I couldn’t see their car any longer. I went up to my room and picked out something to wear to school tomorrow. I decided that I would keep it simple with a pair of jeans and a tank top. I sat down on my bed and turned my TV on and started flipping through the channels and stopped when I came across Lizard Lick Towing. I watched about ten minutes before I felt myself falling asleep.

                           *                    *                    *                    *                    *      

When the weekend finally arrived, I was over at the Redden’s once again. Today, Caroline looked the best she had since I started three months ago. I asked if the kids wanted to go out for ice cream and asked Caroline to come along. The kids told me that Clay was set to come home today so I sent him and Brent both a message with where we would be.

After eating our ice cream, the kids asked if it was okay to go to the park for a little while. I didn’t have a problem with it as long as Caroline didn’t. She said that it would be nice to get some fresh air. When we got out of the car, I looked at my phone and saw a message from Brent. I told him about coming to the park and he said that they would be there in about half an hour.

When I heard a car pull up, I turned around and saw Haylee skipping over to where I was sitting with Caroline. She gave her a quick hug and once Clay and Brent were standing next to us, she grabbed my arm and pulled me up. She told Clay to sat down because she needed to talk to me about the upcoming game. She claimed that there were a few steps that she couldn’t get but I had a feeling that it was just a tale.

    “They think I didn’t hear but I know someone who likes you,” she said.

    “Oh come on, Haylee. I’m not looking for another relationship right now,” I said. I automatically thought that it was her brother that liked me. I know that we were good friends and he flirted with me a lot so that’s why I narrowed it down to him.

Brent came over to us about an hour later and told us that Clay was going to use his car to take Caroline home because she was getting sleepy. I ran over to them and apologized for keeping her out so long but they both told me that it wasn’t my fault and Caroline actually told me that she enjoyed herself. This was the first time that she’d been able to get outside and enjoy watching her youngest kids be kids.

After Clay and Caroline left, Brent and Mike went and joined a couple of teenagers in a game of basketball while Haylee and I showed Hannah some of our dance moves. I let my mom know what was going on and that I would probably be late. She told me that it was okay but to be careful.

As the sun started to set, Brent and Mikey came back over to us and Brent swept me up into his arms. I couldn’t help but laugh but I knew I should probably stop because I didn’t want to encourage his crush. I didn’t look at Brent like that but he was just so much fun to be around. I thought maybe one day, the feelings would be mutual.

When we walked back into the Redden household, Clay told us that he ordered some Chinese food. We all sat around the living room and was playing a game when the door bell rung. Clay got up to answer it and was given the bags of food. After he paid for it, I got up and followed him into the kitchen. Things still seemed a little weird between us and I wanted to ask him about it. It’s been something that has been bothering me since that night at the park.

    “Thanks,” he said as I helped him sort the things out. I didn’t answer him and just nodded my head. “Are you a fork girl or do you know how to use chopsticks?”

    “I know how to use chopsticks,” I told him. “My dad taught me a lot of things growing up,"

 I said. I noticed he kind of froze when I mentioned my dad. Maybe he was getting sick of my missing my dad so much. I mentally told myself to stop talking about him so much with Clay.

When we walked back into the living room, Brent scooted over and made room for me. I sat beside him as we just talked. Haylee and I mainly talked about the upcoming games and the guys told us that they would come to all they games that they could.

After everyone was finished eating, we all grabbed a fortune cookie and we each went around and said what the paper read.

    “The fortune you seek is in another cookie,” Brent read.

    “Haha, that’s just your luck,” Haylee laughed. “Mine says, Are you tired? You been running through someone’s mind all day,” she read and busted out laughing.

    “A nice cake is waiting for you,” Hannah said.

    “Like you need any cake,” I laughed at her.

    “What’s yours say, Mike?” Clay asked.

    “Some fortune cookies do not contain fortunes,” he said. “Well, that’s nice. What’s yours say Claire?”

    “There are millions of people in this world but in the end it all comes down to one,” I read. Clay started cracking his cookie open and started laughing. “What?” I asked.

    “Mine says the same thing,” he answered.

    “Are you kidding me?” I asked, reaching my hand out for it when he handed it to me. “That is crazy.”

    “Aww, you two are meant to be together,” Haylee grinned.

    “I doubt that,” Clay answered a little to fast for my liking.

    “And why’s that? I mean, I know there’s an age thing but would you not even consider dating me?” I asked out of curiosity.

    “Um...” he started and scratched his neck. “It’s just that, the life I live is hard. It’s hard enough on my family and I would not want a girl to go through it.”

    “Well, in case you forget. I’ve already lived through it. I lived through it not hearing from my dad for so long then to find out that his platoon was missing and then the heartache of finding out that he was one of five that died,” I said, my voice raising. When I noticed that everyone was staring at me, I got up and without a single word, I grabbed my keys and walked out.

I didn’t mean to go off like that but I really could not help it. I was in my car and backing out of the driveway before I realized it. I vaguely heard Brent and Haylee hollering for me  as I walked out the door but right now I was just to hurt to care. I made it home through the tears and when I came in, I ignored my mom talking to me and just went upstairs.

I wanted someone to talk to and I almost called Duncan because that’s who was there for me for so long and now he wasn’t there. I turned on Facebook chat to see if Ken was on but he wasn’t either. Before I knew it, I heard the little ding that informed me I had a message. It was Marley and she said she just couldn’t go to sleep. There was a five hour time difference and I worried about her getting into trouble for being up so late but she assured me that she would be fine.

I explained to her everything that happened from the time she moved to Germany. She told me that she had heard about my dad but wasn’t sure what to say so that’s why she didn’t say anything to me after. Ken had told her that I had dated Duncan and then I told her about what happened while he was here. It was so good being ablr to talk to her even if it was only through chat. She told me that her and her mom was coming back to the states soon because her aunt was getting married in New York City and said something about trying to meet up since there was about a two hour drive between where I was and where she would be. After another thirty minutes, we said our goodbyes but we were going to stay in better touch through email.

                                 *                    *                     *                     *                    *

The next day when I woke up, I felt horrible. I looked at the time and realized that even though I wanted to stay in bed the rest of the day, I had to get up and start getting ready for our dinner with my grandparents.

After I took a shower and walked back into my room, I grabbed my phone and saw that I had a few missed calls and text messages. Every one of them was from Brent or Haylee. I sent Haylee a quick message and told her that I was okay but didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She sent one back and said that she understood and that she’d see me at school tomorrow.

I kept everything simple today and just wore a pair of jeans and a tank top. While I walked downstairs, I heard the girls walking down behind me. I wasn’t sure if they heard me come in last night and if they had, they didn’t say anything and for that I was thankful. When we got to the living room, mom didn’t even say anything about last night but told us that we would all be taking her car to go over to our grandparents. We also were getting ready to leave because Nanny called and asked us to come early.

The car ride was silent and it was almost driving me crazy. I wanted to tell my mom about last night but at the same time, I didn’t. The only thing I could think of was that I was just sitting here feeling sorry for myself. I knew that I owed everyone an apology and that I would take care of that as soon as I could.

    “Claire honey, we’re here,” I heard mom say. I came out of my daze and looked out of the window.

The house was a tri-level house. When you walked in the front door, if you walked downstairs, it was a big den like room and had an extra bedroom and bathroom off to the side. When you walked upstairs and to the right was the living room and kitchen and when you walked down the hallway, you were at the other bathroom and the other two bedrooms. I always loved the house as a kid but we didn’t come up here often.

    “Hello,” mom called out.

    “We’re up here, sweetie,” I heard Nanny say.

We walked up the stairs and into the kitchen. PaPa was sitting at the table and Nanny was pulling something out of the over. Mom went right over to assist her and me and the girls joined Papa at the table.

    “What’s going on, Pap?” I asked.

    “Reds are going to the World Series,” he said, folding up the newspaper. I smiled over at him because every time we would visit or they would come down, he always talked about the Cincinnati Reds.

    “I say it will be the Braves,” I smiled, knowing that Pap hated the Braves.

    “You are no granddaughter of mine,” he said.

The dinner with them was wonderful. Nan made oven fried chicken, fresh green beans with new potatoes, baked macaroni and cheese and homemade yeast rolls. For dessert she made an apple cheesecake that she had won several fair ribbons for.

The sun had already sat before we left for home. Once we got home, Cassie and Lacey went on upstairs and I sat and watched Once Upon A Time with mom. After the show went off, she turned the television off and turned to me. She asked me about what happened last night and I told her. She told me that it sounded like I had a crush on Clay and that’s the reason I reacted the way I did. I told her that it was ridiculous to insinuate that just because I got upset because he wouldn’t date, that I liked him. Besides, I just got out of a relationship and I certainly wasn’t ready to get into another one.

After my talk with mom, I went upstairs and called Brent. I told him that I was okay and sorry that I didn’t want to talk. He told me that he understood but then he said the same thing mom said. I had to deny it to him to because there was nothing there between Clay and I. I asked him why he thought that and he said that girls just couldn’t help but fall for Clay. If I was falling for him, could you blame me? He is nice, sweet, caring. He does what he does because he cares about his family. He had to grow up kind of fast because of being the main support of the family but it didn’t make him angry. If anything, it taught him the importance of life.

When I was finished talking to mom, I decided to head up to my room, I needed to talk to Brent. After talking to Brent for a few minutes, I hung up. I looked at the clock, trying to figure out if I should call Clay and apologize for my behavior last night but I decided that it would be best if I talked to him face to face. I had to go over there tomorrow after dance practice so I was already mentally preparing myself to face him.

************************************************************************************

Please remember those that have or will be affected by today's tragedy in Boston, Mass. It scares me to death knowing ehat the world has come to today and to know that my little girl has to grow up in this mess. One of my friends on my personal Facebook wrote the following, "There has been so much violence recently. We are still in the wake of Sandy Hook and the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. I don't understand the deep-seeded hate those who commit these tragedies harbor, and I don't want to. There is very little innocence in this generation. It's terrifying to wonder how much worse it's going to get." and I couldn't agree more. It's scary knowing what some people are capable of. It makes me want to build a protective shelter around those I love and cherish. May God bless the families of the ones who lost their lives and for those who were injured. And do me a favor, tell those around you what they mean to you and how much you love them because we are never promised tomorrow. #prayingforBoston (and yes, I just hashtagged in Wattpad... lol)...

On a lighter note......

Okay... I'll be the first to admit this but I know absolutely NOTHING about baseball. I know a few of the teams names but that is the extinct of my knowledge. I even had to Google some of the teams names and the Braves and Reds were the first two I came across so they worked for me.

I was bored and I've been sick so I decided to post another chapter for y'all. This crud that I have needs it's eviction notice like ASAP ! ! ! ! I'm so sick of being sick. If I could go just one day without feeling like I'm coughing up a lung or my chest is trying to blow up, I would think that I won the lottery.

Okay... I guess that's it for now. Baby girl is asleep, I'm going to finish watching Dancing with the Stars and then thinking about heading upstairs to either watch Teen Mom 2 or Lizard Lick Towing. Nice night of relaxation until I have to wake up before the sun rises.

If you enjoyed this chapter, let me know. Comments are below, fanning is on my homepage and voting is on the top and to the right.