Confessions Of A Broken Rebel

Two days after the girls and I bought our dresses, I returned to the Dress Emporium. A lot of the same dresses were there but a few new ones had come in. I noticed Granny wasn't at the front desk so I wandered around a little bit, looking over some of the dresses the girls had tried on. "Keaira?" I turned around to see Granny. "Hi Granny!" I smiled and rushed over to hug her. Her curly white hair framed her face, her brown eyes shining with excitement. "I'm so glad you came! I wasn't expecting anyone to come in here. Most people have already gotten their dresses for prom and I didn't think you would be back so soon! Such a pleasant surprise." She smiled and hugged me tightly. "Well, my boyfriend is out with the guys and I wanted to take a break from everything. "Oh? What's this about a boyfriend?" She winked at me. "Well, his name is Brett..." I told her everything about him, from the time we met to the incident at school and everything in between. She "aww"ed and sighed in all the right places. "He seems like such a great guy! Your parents must be so proud!" Her face dropped. "Oh, dear! I'm so sorry, I forgot. I can't believe I said that!" She sighed in frustration. "Granny, it's okay. Really, I don't mind." She smiled at me. "What about your family? You told me about your husband and daughter. Do you have other children? Or siblings?" "Well, I was an only child. My parents couldn't afford to have more than me but we made do. I have a son, too. He lives in this same town. He works in the hospital as an EMT. He knew I needed some help getting around and after my daughter left, he didn't have much of a choice whether he left or stayed but he's never complained. In fact, I'm a little hungry and he has the day off. I think I'll ask if he can grab me some food. Would you like anything?" "A smoothie would be nice. Just strawberry. Please tell him I'll pay him for it as soon as he gets here." "Honey, it's on me." She chuckled. She pulled out the phone for the store and punched in a number. "Clark, dear? Would you mind picking me up a bite to eat? I have a friend here who would like a smoothie too if you don't mind." A few seconds of silence passed as he answered. "Oh yes, she's a doll! She got her prom dress here, the one I made for your sister." "She looks even better in it than she would have if she had worn it." She winked at me. "Alright, thank you son. See you soon. I love you too. Bye" She hung up the phone. "He really is amazing. I can't drive well, not with my eye. I went partially blind in my right eye when I was young. There was an accident but I don't remember it. Anywho, it's difficult trying to drive when you have to turn your head twice as far to see what's coming on the right side. He drives me to work and picks me up. He's a great person." I smiled at her. "You deserve such great help and I see he got all his good traits from you." She laughed. "I see so much of his father in him: wanting to help people, his bravery, his courage, his love to take care of people. He looks so much like him too, but he has my ears." She smiled. "I can't wait to meet him." We continued talking for a few minutes when a voice sounded behind me. "Here mom. I brought you-" I turned and saw him. It was the EMT who was there with my dad, there with Sabrina. "Hi""Hi" we said at the same time. "Thanks for the food." "I brought you your smoothie." We talked over each other again. "Hi, I'm Clark." He held out his hand with a small smile. "Keaira." "It's nice to meet you. How've you been?" It seemed more of a question of if I was okay, considering everything that happened. "I've been good." "I'm glad." "Have you two met before?" Granny asked, raising a gray eyebrow. "Remember my dad?" I asked after a short pause. She nodded solemnly. "He was the EMT who was with him. And you remember about my friend Sabrina?" She nodded again. "He helped her too. He's really a great guy, like you said. He took care of two of the people I care most about in this world." He blushed and Granny beamed at him. "Thanks for everything. Especially the smoothie." I smiled at him. He smiled back as he handed me the cup and passed Granny a brown bag of food. "I'm sorry about the last time I saw you. I shouldn't have embarrased you like that." "Oh! You didn't embarass me. To be honest I just didn't want everyone else to remember and feel sorry for me." "I know how that is. I remember when my dad passed and everyone gave me the same look. It's frustrating, I know." "Yeah, that's exactly it. You and my boyfriend are the only two who get it." "Was he the one with the brown hair? Kind of tall? Baggy pants?" "Yeah, his name is Brett." "Oh, right! I remember. He was worried when you took off. I'm guessing he found you okay?" "Yeah, thanks." I smiled. Granny smiled at us. "Well I'm glad the two of you have some things in common. That mean if you'd like to bring your boyfriend around sometime, we can all hang out. Maybe get some dinner?" Granny suggested. "That would be great!" We all sat around talking. Apparently, Clark was married to a nurse at the hospital, Lucille. They'd been dating for about two years when they got married, nine months ago. Granny jumped in. "It's meant to be. I can tell when see the way she looks at him. It's the same way you look when you talk about Brett." I blushed. "It's nothing to be nervous of. Love is a good thing, a powerful thing. Something that should never be taken for granted." "Mom! You're embarassing her!" Clark laughed as I blushed harder. "He does love you, dear. I can tell." "Yeah, but nothing like Clark and Lucille." "Maybe." Granny said. Her eyes were wise and there was a look in them that puzzled me, fascinated me. Like she knew something I didn't. "Well the thing about being married, it's difficult. You see their bad side so much more clearly than when you were dating them, but the thing is, you love them more for it, for seeing everything they are, for knowing them like no one else can, like no one else will." Clark said. "That's very poetic of you." Granny smiled. "Although, it's very true. You see their worst side and somehow, you fall a little deeper in love than you ever thought possible. It's incredible. It's a feeling deeper than what can be described." Granny had a far-away look in her eyes before shaking her head and coming back to the conversation. "Clark, thank you. I know you have to get back to the house in case you get an emergency call. Please tell Lucille I said hi. Come over for dinner soon." "Sure mom. I love you." He said with a kiss on his mom's cheek. "It was nice meeting you for real. I hope I get to see you and your boyfriend soon." "Yeah it would be great to meet Lucille. Hopefully we can all get together for lunch or something." "Definitely. See you around." He walked out the door. As soon as he was out of earshot, I turned to Granny. "It makes me hopeful to see people like that." "Like what, dear?" Granny asked. "People who care. People who are willing to understand. People who can reach a person without needing to say words." "They're called good people. There aren't many of them, but if you find one, a true genuine one, they mean the world." Granny smiled. "Just like that boy of yours. Don't think that what you have isn't real because you aren't married, or because you haven't been dating two years. Eight months is a long time and love has no timeline. I was married when I was seventeen. We had only known each other for five months when we got married. He was supposed to go overseas and wanted me to go with him and since my family didn't have money to send me out there, we got married. He was a great man. Time is great, if you have it. The more you know someone the more you can be yourself with them, but don't hold back because you don't think enough time has passed. Each and every moment, every word, every action, counts." I sat and thought about that for a while. "Thanks Granny. That means a lot to me." She smiled and patted my hand. "Now, I've taken up enough of your time, go. We'll see each other soon." "Sure." I smiled and hugged her. "Bye." I walked out the door and headed back to Brady's house. I sat in my room for a while, relaxing when Veronica came in. "Hey." She said. "Hi! What's up?" I asked as I patted the bed. "Well.." She gave me a sly smile. "HEATH ASKED ME TO BE HIS GIRLFRIEND!" She blurted, giggling hysterically. "I knew it!" I smiled. "You guys are so cute together!" I added. "You think so? Oh my gosh! He's so cute. He called me and I was like 'hey!" and he was like 'um..hi' and I was like 'what's wrong?' and he was like 'I need to ask you something' and I was like 'yeah' and he was all 'willyougooutwithme?!' and I said what? and he said 'will you go out with me?' and I was like 'yeah' and he was like 'yeah? cool!' and he goes 'I wanna buy you a corsage for prom' and I was like 'okay!' and he was like 'okay! see you at school!' and I was all 'okay! bye!' and he said 'bye!' and I said 'bye!' Oh my gosh was that too many "bye"s? Will he think I'm weird? He thinks I'm weird!" She threw her face down in the comforter. "He doesn't think you're weird." I laughed and pulled her up. "Really?" She asked. "Really." I replied. "He likes you for you." I added. "Okay cool! Well, I'm going to pick out my outfit for tomorrow. Prom's in like five days! Oh gosh. I'm so excited. I'm gonna go pee." She said and flitted out of my room. I laughed and shook my head. I felt a vibration on my bed and my phone lit up. I got a text message that read "Hey babe. Out with the guys. Just wanted to check on you. Love you -B" I texted "Have fun, I'm fine. Love you too -K" He sent back a smiley face and I sat and thought about what Granny said. As I looked back at Brett's messages, I thought "Can this last forever?"