Dear Future Husband,
Last day of school! Finally! Well, then we have finals, but at least I don't have to worry about homework or pop quizzes or dragging myself through Spanish every day.
Tenth grade was a good year, I really will miss it. I think I finally found myself and my people this year, and that's really nice to know, plus a great thing to have heading into the hardest year of high school.
Now myself and my people can enjoy summerrrr :)
Today was your classic last day of school, one big blowoff because teachers couldn't handle the anxious kids with no more tolerance for school, so we just signed yearbooks and watched movies to pass the time.
I had a rough time leaving chem. It was a great class this year, and I owed it some credit in getting Grant and I together. If he hadn't been switched into my class we probably wouldn't have gotten as close as we did, and I'm really grateful for that.
Speaking of that, Grant isn't too badly hurt, but he definitely gave me a pretty substantial blow. He completely disregarded me when I went to see him at the hospital and it really hurt me. I cried in the bathroom for ten minutes before calling my mom to pick me up and spent the time it took for her to get there trying to make myself look decent and forget about what he had said.
I felt so small, so useless, so unwanted. It was embarrassing. I was embarrassed that I had tried to care and been tossed to the side, and it hurt a lot.
I was too scared to text Grant, and even if I wasn't, I wouldn't have known what to say. I didn't think he wanted me anymore. I didn't want to give him anymore stress than he already had, and I most definitely did not want to be yelled at again, so I decided it was better to let him cool off before blowing up his phone.
Sunday night he called me and I thought for sure he was going to officially end it.
"Hello?" I answered, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Hey, Alina." He sighed.
"Uh," I was too busy freaking out I didn't really know what to say. I didn't want to piss him off but I didn't want to say nothing either. "How are you feeling?"
"Same." He said. "How about you? How are you feeling?"
I swallowed the tears crawling up my throat. "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"
"Because I was a dick." He said quickly. "I was a fucking asshole and I don't know how you're feeling after that and I wanted to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine, Grant, it's fine really-"
"No it's not fine, and I really need to apologize and I would've come over to tell you in person but I can't drive so I hope this is okay. I'm really sorry, Alina, I just spoke and I didn't think and I didn't mean it at all it was just the wrong words in the wrong places and you know I'm not good at talking but that's no excuse because I'm just an asshole." He took a deep breath. "You were right about everything, and I should've listened to you. I know you were just trying to help and I really appreciate it. I more than appreciate it, it's one of the reasons I'm so proud to call you my girlfriend, and I'm really sorry for making it seem otherwise."
I took a huge sigh of relief, the tears receding back into my body. "Thank you, I-" I took a deep breath. "I'm glad you're not mad and I'm glad you want me to be your girlfriend and-"
"God, I wish I was with you right now so I could just kiss you." He laughed.
I laughed back, biting my lip. "That would be a lot easier than trying to verbally kiss you."
"Talking is hard."
"It is, but it's not impossible, and we can do it." I gripped the phone tighter against my ear. "You can talk to me, Grant."
He took a deep breath. "I know, I'm working on it."
That call made coming back to school ten times easier. Clarissa and I picked him up from his house and brought him to school. Or should I say, I brought him to school as the driver of the vehicle. I've gotten pretty good for only driving for a few months and I'm so anxious to get my license. No more having to be taxied around by Grant or Clarissa or my parents, pure freedom. I should've gotten my permit a long time ago.
Finally, after what seemed like a hundred years, the final bell rang and we were free. Kids crowded around every exit of the school, dying to get their first breath of hot sticky air that tasted of freedom.
I found Grant among the masses and he grinned when he saw me, pulling him into his arms. "No more hell hole."
I laughed, kissing his cheek. "You're a senior now!"
He scoffed as we walked to the parking lot. "Assuming I passed."
Clarissa gave me the car, so I decided to take Grant out to a late lunch to celebrate summer.
"Where are we going?" He asked as he clicked his seatbelt in place.
"The Hideout, it just opened up downtown. It's kind of hipster but it's supposed to have really good food." I said as I turned the key in the ignition.
"Are you sure you can drive downtown? It can get tricky down there." He said.
I rolled my eyes at him. "I've been driving for two months, Grant, I can handle it."
"Do you even know how to parallel park?"
I pressed my lips together, turning my head to check over my shoulder. "I'll figure it out." I muttered under my breath.
He just laughed. "Oh this should be fun."
"Shut up!" I laughed, punching him on the shoulder just for him to grab my hand and lace his fingers with mine.
I looked over at him, then down at our hands. "It might be a little hard for me to drive with one hand."
He was just smiling at me, studying my face like it was a gift he's been waiting to open. "My bad." He said before leaning over and putting his lips against mine.
I put the car back in park and put my hands against his face, taking my first hot kiss of the summer.
Hell yeah, it's summer!
We had really started to get into it when a loud honk made me jump and I looked out the front window to see Brandon driving by in an SUV, his head sticking out the sunroof with his arms wrapped around himself, feigning making out.
"Fucking ass." Grant muttered as I laughed.
"Come on, let's get out of here." I said, putting the car in gear and pulling out before anyone else could berate us.
He was kind of right, driving downtown was very tricky. I had done it once before, but where I was going took one right turn and I didn't have to deal with navigating one way streets and no turn zones and parallel park jobs that were so far from the curb you would've thought they were driving on the road.
Luckily, the cafe had a parking lot close by and there was someone pulling out so I got the last spot. Talk about summer magic.
They were right about this place being hipster. It was your classic rustic chic cafe, fitted with smooth wood countertops, fairy lights, abstract art work, and of course, hipsters with their faces buried in computers.
We ordered our food at the counter and they gave us a little wooden coaster with a number on it so our order would be brought to our table.
"I feel like a need a beard and man bun to be worthy of eating here." Grant muttered as we sat down.
"Stop," I laughed. "Once this place picks up, the hipsters will be a minority I bet. It's such a cool place."
"So," He smiled as he took a sip of his smoothie. "We survived until summer."
I beamed back at him. "We did, didn't we?"
"Against all odds, well, at least the odds your parents were definitely giving us..."
"Oh my god," I laughed. "Now all we have to do is prove them wrong even further and last through the summer."
He sighed. "I don't know, I'm kind of sick of you."
I gasped dramatically. "What took you so long?"
He smiled, nudging my leg under the table. "In all seriousness, not even close. I don't know if I'll ever get sick of you."
"Good," I said. "Because I'm not done with you."
A waitress brought our food over, looking at me softly before saying "Have a nice meal." Then smiling and walking away.
"The moment of truth," Grant sighed. "Let's see if these hipsters know what they're doing."
I was just so happy around Grant. Being with him just made everything I was worried about disappear, I couldn't stop smiling around him. He just made me so happy that I glowed, I could feel warmth radiating through my body like there was a little sun inside me. I had never felt this way about anyone or anything before.
The next few months will be nothing but sun and smiles, and I can't wait.
Xoxoxo, Alina