UNEXPECTED

Chapter 77

As the line slowly got shorter, Clay couldn't help but become curious about what movie they would be seeing as his parents had yet to tell him that information. Though, once it was their turn to purchase movie tickets, the boy smiled almost as soon as he heard what movie his father requested three tickets for. The worker slid three tickes through the glass to the man, and he used his credit card to pay the amount that was due.

"The Lion King?" Clay questioned as he and his parents entered the theater together. "Yup. You're father and I want to take all the oportunities we get to relive momemts from when you were younger. The three of us watched the cartoon version together when you were about 5-years-old, so we figured we'd recreate that memory by seeing this new version of it as a family." Lainie explained as she linked her arm with her son's and walked beside him as the trio made their way towards the consessions counter. Hearing the reasoning behind today's outing, Clay smiled brightly as he had secretly wanted to see this new movie anyway. Nodding his head as a nonverbal response, the boy took his left hand, placing it over his mother's as her hand rested against his right arm. After the small group in front of them moved out of the way after gathering their movie-watching snacks and drinks, the three Jensens stepped up and were immediately greeted by a familiar face.

"Hey, Hannah." Matt and Lainie greeted the girl as she offered them a warm smile. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Jensen. What can I get for you?" The Baker teen asked, glancing over at her boyfriend who was standing beside his mother with their arms linked together. Seeing them, Hannah offered the boy smile, resulting in Clay smiling back as he used his free hand to give a small wave at his girlfriend. "We'll just take a medium popcorn, a medium Coke, a medium Mr. Pibb, and a medium Diet Coke." The older man said. The young woman retrieved three medium-sized cups and filled them with the requested drinks before grabbing a medium-sized popcorn bucket and filling it with freshly popped and warm popcorn. "Will that be all?" She asked as she placed the items on the counter and stepped in front of the register. "Yes, that'll be it." Matt replied before digging his wallet out of his back pocket to retrieve his card again. Once Hannah recited the price to him, Clay's father used his credit card to pay for the items. After that, the trio said their goodbyes to the working girl before moving out of the way as more customers were waiting in line behind them. Walking further into the theater, with their popcorn and drinks in hand, the family of three entered a movie hall and passed screening rooms until they reached the room where their movie was being shown.

Once in the room, like he did with Allison and Harley before, the 19-year-old led his parents to the center row, where they moved to sit in the middle of that row, giving them the perfect height to view the large screen as they didn't have to look up or down at all while watching the movie. After a boatload of previews that didn't seem to want to come to an end, the movie finally started a little after 11:30am as the all-to-familiar opening song - a more recent version of Circle of Life, now performed by Lindiwe Mkhize and Lebo M - began to play as the film showed many animals heading towards Pride Rock for the presentation of Mufasa's son, and the future king, Simba. As it played on the big screen, Clay couldn't help but feel like a kid watching a movie for the first time, and he smiled as he turned his attention back to the film after taking quick glances at his parents who sat on either side of him.

Once the movie ended a little while later, the family decided to spend a little more time together as they decided to meet up with Allison and Harley at Eisenhower Park. Upon arriving at the surprisingly non crowded public play area, the family of five noticably became a bit younger as Matt ran off and soon joined his granddaughter on the green rocket slide. The older man went down the slide many times with the young toddler giggling happily as she sat in his lap. This went on for some time, and, as the young girl loved slides, her mother and grandfather soon began alternating as they took turns going down the swirly slide with her. Clay smiled and let out a small chuckle to himself as he watched his father and sister interact with Harley. He soon glanced over at his mother to see her watching them as well, and he soon got an idea as he left her side without her noticing, and the 19-year-old headed over to the nearby swings.

"Hey, Mom!" The boy called out a few seconds later, gaining her attention as she quickly turned towards him. "Care to push me?" He asked with a bright, childish smile as he lightly pushed off and slowly started swinging a bit. At the offer, Lainie smiled brightly at her son as she was quick to join him at the swing set, standing behind him as she began pushing him on the swing like she had done so often when he was younger. As he was being pushed by his mother, Clay already knew how much he would miss small moments like this when it came time to move away for college. So, right then and there, the 19-year-old vowed to spend as much time as he could with his family and make memorable momemts that he could fondly look back on when the time came.

Hours later, after spending a good chunk of time at the park, going out for ice cream, and walking around town a bit together, the Jensen clan finally made it home after ending their outing by stopping at a restaurant to have dinner together before going to Anthony's favorite place - the small secluded beach area - to watch the sunset. Today had been fun for the whole family. Sure, the movie was planned ahead of time, but the things that followed were spontaneously planned, which made them that much better and more enjoyable. Now, as darkness covered the small town, Clay sat at his desk in his somewhat dark room, the outside streetlights shining through the opened blinds on his bedroom window. Opening his laptop, the Jensen boy decided to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA for short. It was the last thing he needed to fill out before his college application would be ready to be sent off for consideration, though, like his dad had said earlier, the teen had a good feeling that he'd have no trouble getting in to this college.

Once he was finished, the 19-year-old placed his application into an envelope and wrote the right mailing address on it as well as placed a stamp in the upper right corner and a return address in the upper left corner. After that, the blue-eyed teen quietly headed downstairs before exiting his house to put the sealed envelope into the mailbox and raising the plastic red flag, signalling that there was something that needed to be mailed. Staring at the white envelope in the otherwise empty mailbox for a few seconds, Clay let out a breath before slowly closing the mailbox and heading back inside. Now, all he had to do was eagerly wait to here back from the college to see whether or not he would get accepted.