Stupid Boy

I woke up feeling bright Arizona sunlight burning my eyes. I shifted, noticing a weight on my chest before opening my eyes. I smiled down at her and ran a hand through her hair. Man, was she going to be hungover. I leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

I didn't know what would happen when she woke up. She would probably still be upset about yesterday. I was still upset about it. My family was never hateful, we barely even fought. I couldn't imagine what would happen if I'd seen my dad cheating on my mom. And he was so mean to her. I guess they never really got along. My mom said that he didn't even want kids, but Alison, Gracie's mom, was overjoyed when she found out she was having a baby. Probably even more so since her best friend was also pregnant.

Having Gracie back in my life reminded me of why we were such good friends in the first place. I really had a soft spot for her. I'd do anything to make her smile when she was sad, and she'd do the same for me. I started to really feel guilty about shutting her out all those years ago. I was never going to get that time with her back, so I have to do all I can to make up for it now.

If I knew she wasn't into all that rich kid stuff back then, then I would have still been friends with her. She deserved to be happy. She had a huge heart. She was just incredible.

"Gracie." I whispered, as I shook her gently. "Baby, it's time to get up."

She mumbled some sound and tried to cuddle further into me, but instead groaned in pain because she hit her nose.

"Are you okay?" I asked, stifling a laugh.

She stayed silent and my smile went away. She just sighed and looked up at me.

"I can't believe I skipped her funeral." She said.

"Gracie, you know she wouldn't care. She'd want you to remember her for how she was." I told her.

"I should've been there." She repeated with a blank expression.

"You know as well as I do that she doesn't care. She's looking down on you right now and she's proud that you stood up to your dad. She's proud that you didn't let his money control you. She loved you so much, Gracie. You were her whole world." I explained as I stared into her eyes.

"Do you really think that?" She asked.

"I know that." I replied in a stern tone as I held her a little tighter. "She was amazing. She was so smart and funny just like you. I loved her too."

"She thought you were so great." She chuckled. "She would always keep me up to date on everything you were doing. She loved your cover of Last Christmas so much. She played it in the car all the time." She smiled.

"I did that because of her! I was talking to my mom one day about what cover I should do and your mom came in and said I should do Last Christmas, so I did. She never told you that?" I asked.

"No, I can't believe she didn't. She probably wanted me to think that you did it for me since she was so set on you being her son-in-law someday." She laughed, then quickly looked away from me.

There was a short pause, and then I spoke again, saying what was on both of our minds.

"Do you remember our wedding?" I asked, with a small smirk.

"How could I forget?" She answered.

"Do you remember my proposal?" I asked.

"A little bit..."

"We were playing with your stuffed animals and you had some wedding Barbie in your toy box and you explained to me that she was marrying Ken and what marriage was. Then I told you that I wanted to marry you so that we could play forever and you said yes so you wore your flower girl dress from some wedding you were in and I wore one of your dads suits and we said our vows."

"Then we kissed." She finished.

"Yeah, we did." I grinned, looking down at her. I was just as in love with her now as I was all those years ago, probably more so.

I promised myself in that moment that I was going to made sure I married her for real someday. I hope I can keep that promise.

"We should go." She finally said as she started to get up.

"Aren't you hungover?" I asked, confused at how normal she seemed.

"No. I feel fine." She shrugged. I looked at my phone and realized it was almost 3 pm. She slept through her hangover.
---

"I'm starving." I groaned as I sat behind the wheel. "Wanna go to In-N-Out?" I asked, looking over at her.

"Sure. But can we please go through the drive through?" She pleaded, giving me her puppy dog eyes. She could get me to do anything with those eyes.

"Yeah, of course." I agreed.

I knew she was going to order chicken nuggets, so when I pulled up I ordered a cheeseburger for her and she didn't object. She was always worried about what she was eating, even though she worked out like it was nobody's business.

Once we got our food I parked and we sat in the car and ate. She devoured her burger in no time while I was still only halfway done on mine.

"Why do you eat so slow?" She asked as she picked at her fries.

"Why do you eat so fast?" I countered with a chuckle.

"Good question. You know, food is just awesome. You should eat more." She smiled.

"I eat plenty. I have a fast metabolism." I told her.

"You're manorexic." She giggled.

"Am not!" I cried.

"Are too." She grinned, poking me in the ribs. "Nothing but bones."

"But you still want me." I winked.

Her jaw dropped and her cheeks turned bright red and she looked away.

Oh my God. She has a crush on me. Why else would she do that? And she forgave me. She likes me.

---

Later that night I was in my room just jotting down some random stuff when there was a knock on my door.

"Yeah?" I called.

The door opened and in walked Gracie wearing just panties and a t-shirt. My throat went dry and my eyes wide.

"Hey." She said quietly.

"Uh, hey. What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing, um your parents went out for the night and Shane is in the basement..." She told me as she walked over and took a seat on my bed.

"Oh." I replied.

She didn't say anything else before leaning in and kissing me. This was not the shy Gracie Kline I knew, but I liked it. She slowly pushed me down on my bed and straddled my waist. She pulled her shirt over her head leaving her in nothing but a bra. I smirked, knowing where this was going.

After we finished, she fell asleep right away in my arms. I never would have guessed that she would be so...good.

I thought more and more and I finally came up with the perfect plan. We just keep having sex until I decide I'm ready for a relationship. Then she won't have to deal with tours or other girls or anything. That way I'm not hurting her and everything will work out in the end.

Everything will work out in the end...right?