December

Chapter 6

"Yeah, he is," I said, my voice slow and thoughtful. "Anyway, I should get going. It was nice meeting you, Julia," I said, trying to pry my bag out of her grasp.

"Oh, wait!" she cried as I started to walk away.

"What?" I asked, turning. I failed to hide the annoyance in my voice and I saw Carter shake his head slightly.

"Let me take you shopping some time. It looks like you could use a wardrobe update," she said. I winced at her words and glanced down at my outfit from high school. She was certainly right about that, though. I was badly in need of some new clothes. I couldn't go back to the city to fetch my things because Grammy needed me by her side. I had no choice but to take Julia up on her offer.

"Sure. I'll meet you here at around 5," I said.

"Goodie!" Julia cheered, clapping her hands and then hugging Carter. Carter looked at me questioningly and I shrugged at him before turning around and sighing.

I may have just made a huge mistake.

                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Grammy," I said, walking into my grandmother's patient room.

"Hello, dear," she replied, looking up from the newspaper she was reading. She smiled warmly at me as I walked up to her and sat on the chair by her bed. Her eyes scanned my outfit and I she let out a small chuckle, making her greying blue eyes twinkle.

"I can't believe those still fit you," she said.

"Neither can I," I replied.

"It goes to show how little you eat. I know you live in the big city now, but you don't have to act like those skinny models that walk down the runway," Grammy told me. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Grammy, if you saw how much I eat when I'm at home, you'd be amazed that I don't weigh over 200 pounds," I said to her.

"Oh, I highly doubt that. You're a lawyer; you like to exaggerate things," she said.

"I'm not a lawyer yet," I said, pointing at her.

"But close?" she replied. I sighed.

"Not even. I still have to take my LSAT and get into law school, remember?" I said.

"Oh, yes. I forgot. But you're nearly there. And you work at such a big law firm. Surely you'll get into any school you apply to," she said.

"There are a lot of people out there with a ton of experience and really good LSAT scores," I said, frowning.

"Yes, but none of them are as pretty or charming as you," Grammy said. I smiled at her and then shook my head. "So why were you so late this morning? I thought you would be here by 11," she said. I felt my face drop and I averted my gaze.

"I got held up," I said, a little too quickly.

"By?" she prodded. I shrugged and leaned back in my chair, setting my purse down on the floor.

"Aria Elizabeth Hansen, you tell me this instant what happened to you this morning," Grammy demanded.

"Grammy! It's not a big deal!" I exclaimed.

"Well, you're face says otherwise," she answered. I gave her a look and she returned it. We continued staring at each other like this for a few moments before I gave in to her. She always won.

"If you must know, when I ran into Carter yesterday, I had asked him if he would get breakfast with me some time. He hadn't answered me and I didn't really expect him to show up, but when I went to Danny's diner this morning, he was there. So we sat and had a little chat to catch up on things," I explained.