The Bucket List

“Garrett can’t we do something fun?” Grace asked glumly from where she laid on his bed, staring blankly at the Mila Kunis poster that was tacked to his ceiling.

“Grace, I really need to finish this song this melody has been stuck in my head and I just need to get it out!” he explained frustrated running his hand through his head as he stared down at his tatty note book.

“Tell me what you got so for, I’ll try and help you” Grace suggested as he beamed at her, picking up his guitar from it stand next to his bass, looking sheepishly at her.

“I’ve only got a little bit so far, you know Ivory?” he asked Grace as she nodded at the band’s name “Well I kinda stole a line from there song, but this is what I have Two year’s now since I met you, and I just can’t forget about you, you don’t know what you’re doing to me” he sang, hesitant at first, as he waited for her criticism.

“That’s really good, so play it from the top and we can think of something, yeah?” she suggested as he just nodded, readjusting the pic in his hand as he began to play again.

“I’m on my own, but it’s nice to see you came along?” she half sang to the music, a shoulder raised in a shrug as he smiled, nodding at her as he stopped playing scribbling it down.

“And this might sound wrong, but I can only tell you through a song” she sang again adding the next line.

“And I will take my time, cause it’s the only thing that’s on my side, and this can’t be real, tell me do you ever feel?” Garrett began picking up from where she left off.

“Do you ever feel, do you ever feel, do you ever feel, do you ever feel?” Grace repeated, her voice a slightly higher octave than his, as his smile grew wider.

“Oh, I’ve been changing –”

“You’re still waiting on me” Grace cut him off a sly smirk on her face.

“Never let go, never let go” he sang his voice a sweet melody to her.

“She said ‘I’ll never grow up’” Garrett frowned when the word’s came out of her mouth but she just shrugged.

“Grace really?” He asked his frown still evident on his face.

“Garrett you can’t deny that it fit’s and plus it makes a really good chorus if you repeated it all and I thought you said you wanted help?” Grace started, ready to fight him on this.

“I guess you’re right, and then shall we go into the two year’s bit?” he questioned, as she nodded the smile returning to both their faces as he began playing again.

“Two year’s now since I met you, and I just can’t forget about you. You don’t know what you’re doing to me, oh you don’t know what you’re doing to me” he sang, nodding to Grace to continue, she bit her lip before singing the song.

“And baby I’m not lost, just a little confused on what to do –”Grace began, slowly moving herself to sit up on the bed.

“And its all on me,”

“Oh it’s not you why can’t you see?” Grace counted, rolling her eyes at Garrett’s interrupting statement.

“Do you ever feel, do you ever feel, do you ever feel, do you ever feel? Oh I’ve been changing” He finished, nodding his head along to the beat.

“You’re still waiting on me, never let go, never let go”

“She said ‘I’ll never grow up. and then we repeat it’” Garrett sang, hating the word’s that came out of his mouth

“Who are you now?” she cried, jumping off the bed, and twirling around.

“Oh, Who are you now?” Garrett mimicked as Grace glared, turning to walk to him.

“Who are you now?” she said, waggling her finger in his face before turning her back on him.

“Oh, Who are you now?” he repeated, his smile widening at the song being written before his eyes.

“This shit is so played out. It’s so played out. So played out” she continued turning around to look at him.

“Yeah, I've been changing, You're still waiting on me.” Garrett began, his voice soft and gentle.

“Please wait for me!” Grace added as the temp picked up again.

“I've been changing, You're still waiting on me. Never let go, never let go” he stopped letting her finish the song

“She said, "I’ll never grow up” the words falling gently from her mouth as the music stopped.

“Wow Gray that was great” Garrett exclaimed dropping his guitar onto the stand before leaning over scribbling furiously into his note book, tongue poking out of his mouth from concentration.

Grace watched patiently, her hand fiddling with the hem of her dress the silky material running smoothly against the pads of her fingers.

She laid her head back on his pillow, the navy sheet’s cold against the bare skin of her leg’s as she continued to stare at the Mila Kunis poster, wondering how it was possible for someone to be that pretty.

“Come on Grace, get your ass up” Garrett told her, tugging at her arm as he smiled down at her. She grinned back, leaping off the bed and grabbing her bag, straightening her dress as she left his room, following him downstairs and out of the house.

“Where we going?” Grace asked as she climbed into Bumble Bee, placing her feet on the dash board before raising her hand to adjust the stereo.

Replacing one of Garrett’s homemade cd’s with her own ‘From Under The Cork Tree’ tapping along to the beat on her kneecaps.

“Got to run an errand” Garrett replied simply, giving her feet a pointed look which Grace just shrugged off.

The ride was comfortable filled with laughter and obnoxious singing the air peaceful around them. Grace couldn’t help but smile at the boy sat next to her, the only one that was able to make her feel so calm and relaxed, like nothing could touch or hurt her.

He had the power to turn her grey storm cloud days into ones filled with happiness by texting her a simple dorky text or taking her mind off things, and for the first time in her life Grace was happy she had told someone about her cancer.

Though she wished she had told Bailey she knew her whole summer would be planned differently, her being wrapped in cotton wool and be constantly under surveillance.

But with Garrett things were different; he didn’t make her feel like she was incapable of looking after herself, and he didn’t have the look in his eye that everyone else who knew did.

He treated her like Grace a normal teenage girl who didn’t have a care in the world, allowing her to have the life she wanted when he was around her with the added bonus that there wasn’t any secrets between them.

But that didn’t make it any easier for Garrett, he knew that it would be hard for him to say goodbye to Grace, whether that was at the end of the summer before she went home or sooner, but he was on a mission to complete the list making sure that she got to do everything she wanted before she was stolen away from him.

Garrett pulled up outside of a store, quickly parking up before mumbling he would only be a minute, grabbing some money from running into the store leaving Grace confused in the car.

Before the next song had finished he was running back out of the store, a brown paper bag, tucked under one arm as he beamed at the girl sat in the passenger seat.

He opened the back door, placing the bag in before jumping back into the front seat, turning to grin at her.

“Get your list out girl, we got some work to do” his smile growing wider as her eyes lit up at his words.

She leant forward, digging around in her bag before pulling out the crumpled list, turning back to the boy as he drove down the road wondering what they were going to conquer next.