Serendipitous: Liam's Story

Almost

Liam was silent the whole ride back from the airport, contemplating and taking in Jolie's plan that she once again sprung on him. Three months... three months...

~~~

"No I'm sorry Liam, I can't!" Hope gave him a sad look.

"I just,"

"No Liam, Jolie just called us to make us promise not to give you her number until three months are over." Lena said crossing her arms.

"I'm not going to call her until the three months are over, I just want to make sure that if,"

"Liam, no, we can't! Stop giving us that pitiful look, it's not going to work!" Lena said turning away from him to face the television once more to all the girls' amusements. Kate though highly sympathetic found the situation adorable as did Ara. Melina though was just plain shaking her head at Liam as she tried to get Louis to stop using her as a pillow.

Niall was snickering from the floor meanwhile Zayn was trying hard not to do the same.

Liam shot them both a look before sighing. "What if,"

"No Liam!" Lena threw him a glare that could kill.

"Don't worry, I'll try to help." Hope whispered as she crossed over him to get to the clicker and change the channel.

Liam stared over at her confused even when she shot him a wink, causing Harry to eye him suspiciously as he saw Liam stare at Hope.

A week later Liam could almost kiss Hope, though he wouldn't dare, when he received a picture message of Jolie, smiling as she pooled over her homework on the kitchen counter.

He had stared at the picture drinking in Jolie's gem like eyes and soft smile. But his heart stopped as he finally noticed that something was different. Jolie's dark brown almost black hair was now cut to frame her face, the tips just reaching her chin whereas it used to fall past her shoulders, almost mid back.

~~~

"Grandma why did you cut your hair?" Twelve year old Jolie asked her grandma as she helped bake the red velvet cake that Jolie's father loved so much. It was the first time that Jolie had seen her grandmother cook since her grandfather passed away. It was also the same day that Jolie's grandmother had come with her hair cut to her ears, chopping off seventeen inches of hair that Jolie and her sisters loved to brush.

"Sometimes we need to start over and for a lot of women; they use their hair as an extended metaphor by starting over with new locks that mark a new beginning."

"New beginning?" Jolie echoed as she looked up from her red velvet cake.

"Now that your grandfather moved on without me, I have to learn to live a bit without him, and I will start this new brief journey with courage and embrace of change."

Jolie stared at her reflection in the large mirror at the hair dressers as she let her grandma's words flow through her. "New beginning," she bit her lip.

~~~

"Hi Grandma, hi Grandpa." Jolie softly said as she placed a dozen daffodils, her Grandma's favorite flowers, on the double tombstone that now was engraved with dates for both sides. "We miss you so much already Grandma but we know that you're both happily together now, so we are definitely doing our best to not  be sad."

Despite her words, a tear crawled slowly from the corner of her eye. "Grandma, remember me telling you about the boy in London and how I made Grandpa's favorites all from memory..." Jolie paused as she sat down, pulling her knees to her chest.