WANTED: Love advice

4. Grandma

“Hey grandma.”

An old short thin woman with grey hair turned around from her oven. She beamed when she saw her only grandson. “Ash! My darling!”

“Hey—uhm…hey…” Ash tried to shift a bit. Her hugs were suffocating for an old woman, and the oven glove she had on was still hot. Ash was starting to feel it more on his back and it was kind of burning his skin.

“Grandma—the glove—it’s hot-”

“Oh—I’m so sorry darling!” Grandma Ketchum pulled away with a worried look on the face. She quickly lightened up though. “I’m so happy you came!”

“Uhm, yeah, me too.” Ash watched her as she opened the oven again and took out a tray full of biscuits. His grandfather ate them but not in big quantities. She mostly gave them to the children in the neighborhood. Grandpa always told her to stay away from the children because “some parents liked their kids skinny”.  

“It has been such a long time you didn’t visit, dear. How is school?”

Ash wasn’t sure why everyone today was asking about school. He thought maybe it was just an adult thing. “It’s fine.”

Grandma placed some biscuits on a plate and asked Ash to have some. He sat down at the kitchen’s table and decided there was no harm in trying some of his Grandma’s wonders. He could continue keeping the ‘no fattening food for a week’ promise later.

“Oh darling, do you even eat? You’re skin and bones!” exclaimed Grandma as she poured Ash some milk. She kept squeezing his arm in a her creepy grandma manner.

Ash arched his eyebrows and looked up slowly from his food. He slowly put the biscuit he was about to eat and leaned back. He almost forgot what he came here in the first place.

“Uhm, grandma, can I ask you something?”

“Of course—here, have some cookies! I baked them in the early morning!” another full plate of cookies was placed in front of Ash.

“No grandma I don’t-”

“Oh dear! I almost forgot I cooked pizza rolls! Let me get them for you!”

“Wait no!”

Ash’s grandmother stopped in her tracks. She gave her grandson an odd look. “Is everything alright?”

“Uh—uh, yeah. I just—I came for something else… I wanted to talk about something.”

“Oh, of course dear,” she said and sat down facing Ash. This latter thought maybe he’s gotten the right person. She seemed down to earth.

“It’s about a girl, actually.”

“Oh… aww sweetheart, I didn’t know you had a girlfriend!”

Ash shook his head quickly. The thought of dating Misty made him feel nervous. “I d-don’t.”

“Darling, you do realize that not all relationships end up like your parents’, right?”

Ash’s eyes opened. “What? Uh yeah-”

“Maybe they had a bad experience, but it’s not the case all the time. Look at me and grandpa! We’re happy together!”

“Grandma, that’s not what I meant.”

“It’s okay to feel that way; it’s okay! But let me tell you, just because it didn’t work out between your parents, it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work out for you!”

Ash wanted to cry. This was too much. Were his family members doing it on purpose?

“Grandma, please, this is not what I was going to talk-”

“Your parents love each other, Ash! They really do! You were still too young and you don’t remember how they really cared for each other!”

“I know I just-”

“Don’t hate them now, Ash; they’re doing their best to get back to each other! Love is a very beautiful thing, darling. Give it a try! Don’t be scared!”

“Okay okay I’m going to leave now!”

“This fast—darling! Wait! You didn’t have the pizza rolls yet!”

Ash was feeling totally hopeless now. He had only one person left.