It Was Always You

Chapter Nine

Maybe he should call it off.

His shoulders slumped with heaviness with that revelation. He had to call it off. It would cause to much happiness in him to take her and that wasn't a good thing at all. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold back his feelings at all. Then everything would hit the fan. Especially if he did something really stupid.

Like kiss her senseless.

In the distance, the school bell rang for end of lunch. Getting up he started walking off to his next class knowing what he had to do. He really didn't want to do it. And just moments before he was the happiest, he's been in a while; the depression came down like a heavy sledgehammer knocking some sense back into him.

**********

Mila was lying on her bed starring up at the ceiling of her room in thought. A knock sounding at her door.

"Come in." She said solemnly.

Her grandfather walks in. "Hello pumpkin." A huge smile on his face.

"Grandpa!" She jumps in pure joy at the sound of his raspy voice.

Throwing herself into his arms the air nearly got knocked out of him. Laughing he twirled her around making her giggle.

"How is my little pumpkin doing?"

"Oh, you know, just normal teenager stuff." She shrugged her shoulders.

Grunting, he pulled her away from him and stares deeply into her eyes. She fidgeted a bit under his scrutiny. Her grandfather was her favorite person in the whole world. She told him everything. He was always her rock to lean on, her foundation when she felt lost and ready to crumble under the pressure of being a high schooler. But the one thing she had never confided him with was Jared.

She couldn't seem to share that information with anyone, even Selena. A part of her felt ashamed of their first night meeting. Yet for some reason she couldn't help the feeling of pure elation when she thought of her very first kiss. Squishing that feeling down and forcing the memory to go away she looked at her grandpa with a straight face.

She did however tell him about the time at the pond. He met all three of her friends and unfortunately for her he took to Jared like a moth takes to light. Evan he can tolerate but other than that he didn't think he was a bad kid. He just wasn't anything like his precious Jared.

Yes precious, since he completely doted on him. Including Selena who he thought was a total sweetheart.

"So, anything new in your young teenage life?" He sits on her bed and pats the spot next to him indicating for her to sit. She sits down and takes a huge breath.

"Well, I got asked to the homecoming dance." She starts out.

Gale Jackman knew his granddaughter to well. In her conversations with him, he knew she always started off what was really bothering her. She would always go straight to the point.

"And who asked you?" He asked quietly.

She pulled her hair to the side and started playing with it. Something she did whenever she was unsure of herself. "Evan."

He nodded his head as if he already expected the answer. The sound of her voice stated it wasn't as it seemed, however. "Why don't you start from the beginning."

Mila told him what had happened that afternoon about Kristan asking Jared about the dance. Which he actually knew all about. She told him about Jared using her as an excuse that he already had somebody to go with, about Evan being the one to go with Kristan and that they would all go together.

"So, wait a minute. Evan's going with Kristan but also going with you?" He seemed to be a bit confused.

She looked at him. "No, papa, Jared is going with Kris and I'm going with Evan."

He slowly nods his head, knowing there was definitely more to this story. "Go ahead, tell me what happened."

"Jared came to me after school and asked if he could go ahead and take Kristan instead. I said sure, even though I was completely confused by his sudden change of mind." She sighed heavily.

"And then Evan came and asked you?"

She just shook her head. Jared told her he felt bad about the whole thing and decided to give Kristan this one chance to feel wanted and that Evan will be the one taking her instead. She was a little shocked. Jared can't stand her cousin, so why the sudden switch? It didn't make any sense.

But it made her feel a little proud of him. That he was willing to put his own feelings aside and take Kristan to the dance, regardless of how he felt about her and her insane craziness. She was happy, wasn't she? Now that Evan would be taking her? Then why did her heart feel weighted down?

She told her grandfather how happy and proud she was of Jared, that he was willing to do this for Kristan. She just prayed that it wasn't going to make the situation worse, where her cousin's delusional fantasies lied with him.

He frowned, thinking about the situation himself. He knew his youngest granddaughter pretty well. She was spoiled beyond reason and if she didn't get anything her way, she will find any means to get it regardless who it may hurt in the process. He knew she had her sights on Jared.

Who wouldn't?

He was a handsome young man. Brilliant without a doubt. A promising future ahead of him and best of all, in Gale's perspective, he cares about and protects Mila. He decided he would have a chat with him later on this evening when him and Selena came over for dinner.

Something wasn't clicking for him. Why would he go to the trouble to say he was taking Mila just to turn around and take Kristan anyways? Maybe he did get attacked with a guilty conscious of how he handled the situation.

But Gale knew Jared would never pretend to have feelings for another when he didn't. That was another thing he liked about the young man. He was honest.

So, he told her, "Well, if he thinks he's doing the right thing, who are we to question it?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "You're going to go talk to him aren't you?"

"Without a doubt my dear."

They both laugh.

He hugs her to him and they spend the day talking, playing cards and walking to the park to find ducks in the pond. She loved spending time with him, and he always made her feel better. Without him, she didn't know how she would have survived this confusing life of hers.