Chapter VIII

Chapter VIII – Saturday 3^rd May 2014

The day of Grant’s second date with Layla had finally arrived. Both excitement and nerves pulsed through his body, but he relished it. He was ready. He was sat at his desk doing homework while Rita sat on his bed texting on her phone as always. It was about eleven o clock in the morning, James hadn’t arrived yet because he had a doctor’s appointment regarding his arm that he insisted on going to alone. Rita had been at Grant’s house for about an hour, it was one of their normal hang outs, Grant had always felt more than comfortable around Rita, and likewise.

‘’You got another date with Layla today?’’ Rita asked randomly.

‘’Erm, yeah I do’’

‘’I hope it all goes well for you’’

‘’I really want you to meet her and stuff’’

‘’Don’t you think that would be really awkward?’’

‘’Could be… I guess’’

‘’Of course I’ll meet her, Grant!’’ she said as she laughed. ‘’I’m just joking. It would be immature of me to behave that way’’

‘’That’s great’’ Grant replied, smile beaming from ear to ear.

More time passed, it seemed James’ appointment took longer than usual. Rita had her earphones plugged in and was occupied with her music, Grant was still concentrating on his homework, he always liked to get it done on a Saturday afternoon. Grant eventually finished off his homework. Over the next little while that passed he managed to shower, clean his room as much as he could with Rita there, have lunch with Rita courtesy of Ruby and complete another piece of homework. Despite the time that had passed, James still hadn’t arrived. Rita looked up from her phone once more.

‘’Grant?’’ she said quietly.

‘’Yeah?’’

‘’What time are you meeting Layla?’’

‘’Seven’’

‘’Oh okay’’ she said as she nodded and casted her eyes back down on her phone. Grant turned his Xbox on and began playing his favorite zombie killing video game.

‘’Grant?’’ she called about ten minutes later.

‘’Yeah?’’ Grant replied as he paused his video game and turned around.

‘’How long have we known each other?’’

‘’Since our first day of Middle School’’

‘’You know how much I trust you, right?’’

‘’Yeah I know’’

‘’Almost as much as I trust James.’’

‘’Yeah, I know that’’

‘’Which is why I’m telling you this’’

‘’Telling me what?’’

‘’Me and James. We… we, er…’’ Rita stuttered as she began to blush. Grant moved his wrist in a circular motion as a way of gesturing her to finish off whatever it was that she wanted to tell him.

‘’We did it, Grant’’

‘’It?’’

‘’Yes, Grant, it’’

‘’What’s ‘it’?’’ Grant asked with a confused look on his face, and an even more confused tone in his voice. Then suddenly he put two and two together. ‘’Ohh that ‘it’’’

‘’Yes, Grant. That it’’

‘’For the first time?’’

‘’Last time I checked’’

‘’Wow… congratulations?’’

‘’Erm… not entirely sure if that’s the right response but, thanks?’’ she said as she laughed awkwardly.

‘’No problem. But on a serious note, how do you feel about it?’’

‘’I’ve been in love with James since I was twelve years old, I’ve never even half imagined having my first time with anyone else other than him’’

‘’When did it happen?’’

‘’Wednesday night’’

‘’At his place?’’

‘’His place’’ she said as she nodded.

‘’For real?’’

‘’Yeah. I’ve spent so many nights there over the last like two years, and every time he’s been such a gentleman, never tried to initiate anything like that. Wednesday night, I just felt so safe in his arms, and after everything that happened, I just wanted to be closer to him, as close as possible. I don’t regret it at all, even on that night he was so considerate, he made it clear that he wasn’t comfortable with doing it unless I was one hundred percent ready, and I was. I was more ready than I’ve ever been for anything in my whole life’’

‘’So you feel closer to him now?’’

‘’I didn’t think it was at all possible, but I do. I love him, Grant. Everything about him, his smile, his hair, his voice, everything. I wanna spend the rest of my life by his side’’

‘’That’s real cute, Rita. I had no idea that this happened, I’ll be honest I’ve asked Jimmy if you guys had did it a few times and every time he told me that he wasn’t gonna do it unless you were ready’’

‘’He’s been really grown up and considerate about the situation. He’s so perfect. Perfect in every way imaginable’’

‘’Yup, that’s Jimmy’’

‘’He’s just everything I’ve ever wanted. That night, I was quite nervous, I wasn’t sure how it would all play out’’

‘’I’m guess it didn’t play out too bad’’

Rita giggled lightly.

‘’Yeah not bad at all’’ she said, unable to conceal her wonderful smile.

Grant laughed.

‘’Alright, well level with me. How do you feel about him now? Like I know you just said you wanna spend the rest of your life with him, but like as of now, what’s next for you guys?’’

‘’Well I’m not entirely sure. This was definitely a big step for us’’

‘’Yeah, I’m sure it was…’’

‘’But like, I guess the next thing is to just stay strong and grow together’’

‘’That sounds great, Rita. I’m real happy for you guys’’

‘’Thank you! He’s just perfect, I swear’’

‘’Like I said, that’s Jimmy’’

‘’Ugh, you can say that again. He was sooo – ‘’

‘’La, la, la, la, I don’t need to hear any of that! You were good to stop at the cute stuff’’

‘’Sorry, Grant’’ Rita said as she giggled loudly. Their conversation simmered out, Rita finally grabbed her bag and started doing homework of her own. She sat at Grant’s work desk and scribbled down notes in her text books. She’d been in Grant’s room many times before, she always liked the atmosphere it had. It was quite a large room, he had two drawers, one for his under wear and another for his jeans, slacks and pants. He also had a huge wardrobe, the size was slight overkill though, Grant wasn’t exactly a fashion fanatic. There was mostly shirts and tops in that wardrobe, and it’s rich brown mahogany wood frame was matched beautifully with lavish brown wallpaper that was put up by Grant and Nick a few years prior. The room was always neat and rarely smelled bad, this was mainly down to his mother, she was a bit of a neat freak, and a messy room would make her freak out and lecture Grant for hours on end.

Not too much time passed until James finally arrived, he had his cast re-done; the previous one was covered in tags and graffiti done by the kids at school.  All of his other injuries were given the all clear a little while prior so he was almost back to being one hundred percent recovered. He could drive, run and do his exercise as he pleased now. He entered the room with a smile on his face.

‘’How’s it going, kids?’’ he asked jokingly. Rita stood up to greet him.

‘’Hey’’ she said as she kissed him softly. ‘’How was your appointment?’’ she asked.

‘’Just long, they re-did my cast and everything, they say my bones should be fully recovered by the start of June at the very latest.’’

‘’So like a month maybe?’’ Grant asked.

‘’Yeah, yeah about that, hopefully even shorter’’ James replied.

‘’That’s not so bad? You’ll be back in the football team by the start of the next semester at this rate’’

‘’Inshallah’’ James said as he winked at Grant.

‘’It’s catching on then is it?’’ Grant asked rhetorically as he laughed softly.

‘’That’s a story for another day. I just remembered that we haven’t filled out that form for that courier thing on 6^th’’

‘’Oh yeah, should we do it now?’’

‘’Yeah, get your laptop’’

Grant nodded and fished out his laptop from under his desk, he flipped open, turned it on and went on the courier company’s website.

‘’How much do they pay?’’ James asked keenly.

‘’Quite well, it says here they pay a thirty dollar base fee for every delivery and an five dollars for every mile away that the delivery is from the warehouse, each’’

‘’So we’d get eighty bucks each for a ten mile delivery?’’

‘’Looks that way’’

‘’Do the application. Do it now’’

‘’Alright just hold up’’

‘’Click there, ‘teenage duo jobs’ that’s us’’

‘’Jimmy, stop stressing. I got it’’

‘’Good, you know all my details, right?’’

‘’Yeah, I got you’’

‘’Cool’’ James said as he shook Grant’s hand. Grant filled out the application forms and put his laptop away.

‘’They said that they’ll contact us within three to five days’’

‘’Call or email?’’

‘’Either, wasn’t specific’’

‘’Aight’’ James said as he stood up. ‘’Well erm I’m hungry and your mom said that you guys finished all the lunch that she whipped up. So I’m thinking the diner on Royston’’

‘’James we always go there, man’’ Grant said, a sense of complaint in his tone.

‘’Can you suggest somewhere better?’’ James replied. There was a sustained silence, Grant looked from James to Rita and then back to James again. ‘’Well?!’’ James added.

‘’I got nothing’’ Grant said as he sighed.

‘’We’ll go to my house, I think my mom’s making paella or something’’ James declared.

‘’For real?’’ Grant exclaimed, he always enjoyed a plate of Elena’s chicken paella.

‘’For real, bring your stuff for your date, get dressed at my house’’ James said.

‘’Give me a couple minutes’’ Grant replied.

‘’Wait, do your parents know that you’ve got a date, Grant?’’ Rita asked.

‘’Not exactly…’’ he replied.

‘’So what you gonna tell ‘em?’’ James asked.

‘’That I’m spending time at yours’’ Grant replied.

‘’So, the usual save?’’ James asked.

‘’The usual save’’ Grant answered as he nodded.

‘’Let’s do it, then’’ James said as he ruffled his golden brown curls, he then turned to Rita. ‘’Cassidy you straight to sleep at mine tonight?’’ he asked.

‘’Yeah, sure. I just gotta go home and pick up a few things’’ Rita answered as she pulled up her left footed brown Ugg boot.

‘’That’s cool.’’ James replied. ‘’Grant, come on hurry up. I’m hungry’’

‘’Wait’’ Grant answered with a slight frustration in his tone.

‘’That shirt there, it’ll look good with the jeans you’ve already got on’’ Rita said as she pointed towards a dark shirt that was on the top rack of Grant’s large closet. Grant grabbed it and inspected it, he opened it out and checked for any marks or creases. When he saw that it was all fine he folded it back up and stuffed it into his bag, the bag already had the jacket he’d worn to the last date and a pair of navy blue vans that also went well with his jeans.

‘’I’m done, let’s do it’’ Grant said as he put on his sneakers.

‘’Finally’’ James said as he flung Grant’s door open. As he made his way downstairs he ran into Nick who was coming up the stairs and heading for his room.

‘’You straight, James?’’ Nick asked politely as he stuck out his hand.

‘’I’m straight, man. Just getting by I guess, you cool?’’ he said as he and Nick shook hands and hugged simultaneously.

‘’Can’t complain, man. Life’s alright right now, she’s treating me well’’

‘’That’s good to hear, man. How’s it going down at the bank?’’

‘’I got a new partner and stuff, just real hard tryna adjust and everything cos me and my old partner Melvin used to do things a certain way’’

‘’Sounds rough, man’’

‘’Real rough. Look I got paperwork to do, you guys look like you’re on your way out so I’ll let you do your thing’’ he said as he as she shook James hand and patted him on the shoulder.

‘’Yeah, cool see you later, Nick’’ James said as he patted his shoulder too.

‘’See you later, scrub’’ Nick said as he passed Grant, he then flashed a polite smile and high fived Rita as he passed her, they rarely spoke but the respect was there.

The three friends made their way down the stairs and said their farewells, Grant used the excuse of spending time at James’ house successfully and then quickly left with his two friends. They drove to Rita’s picked up her clothes and told her parents that she was spending the night at James house once again and as always they agreed. After a drive from Rita’s house to James house they arrived to see a majestic Rolls Royce Phantom parked outside his house. As they pulled up Rita peered out of the window.

‘’Babe…’’ Rita said cautiously.

‘’What’s up?’’ James asked.

‘’That… that Royce over there in your drive… that belongs to T- Thomas’’ Rita answered as her voice began to break, the usual beautiful redness of her cheeks also abandoned her and was replaced by a petrified paleness.

‘’What? What the hell is that asshole doing at my house!’’ James shouted angrily. They were about fifty feet from their drive, James didn’t even want to stay in the car any longer. He blasted the door open and ran to his front door. He slid the keys in and opened it up to see Thomas sitting there, fedora hat rested on the coffee table, and cup full of coffee in his hand. Across from him were James’ parents, sitting on the couch together, they too had a cup of coffee each. James felt sick to his stomach. He swiftly moved across the room and approached Thomas.

‘’Why the fuck are you doing in my house?!’’ he said between his teeth.

‘’Just paying my friend a visit. When I arrived your parents told me you weren’t back yet, so they offered me a cup of coffee while I waited for you to get back’’ Thomas said in a sinister tone.

‘’He said he was a friend of yours from football, James. We knew you’d be back soon so we just suggest he’d wait a bit’’ James father Eddie said quickly.

‘’He can leave now, I don’t want him here’’ James said quickly, he was shuffling around and getting anxious. He wanted nothing less than to knock Thomas’ lights out, but he obviously couldn’t do that in front of his parents.

‘’Son, calm down. He says he’s your friend’’

‘’Don’t tell me to calm down! He’s not my friend, he needs to leave right now!’’ James barked.

‘’Hey! Don’t you dare talk to me like that. I’m your father’’ Eddie barked back. James took off his jacket and sighed.

‘’Aight, okay sorry Dad. I’m sorry, aight? But he needs to leave. Now’’

‘’I’m getting too old for this’’ Eddie said as he stood up. ‘’You and your friend talk about whatever is going on between you guys, me and your mother have somewhere we need to be’’ he added as he and his glorious wife left the house.

As Eddie and Elena left, James peered through the curtain that covered the windows in the living room. He watched them leave and while he did this, Rita, who was obviously now scared senseless at the sight of Thomas was standing in the corner on the other side of the room, cowering in fear. Grant stood next to her, eyes fixed on Thomas and fully focused. When James was one hundred ten percent sure that his parents were gone and out of sight he spun around and thumped Thomas square between his eyes, he absorbed the hit and fell over the couch and landed hard on the floor. James rolled up his sleeves and walked over to him, Thomas at this point was trying to get back to his feet, as he got about half way James struck him on the side of his head with his fist, causing him to hit the ground again, harder this time. He opened his front door, leaving it open he grabbed Thomas by the collar aggressively and spoke directly into his face.

‘’You’re finished, you hear me? Finished!’’ he said firmly. He then head butted him firmly on his nose, the soft popping noise rung again and Thomas moaned in agony and dropped to the ground with thick blood leaking from his nostrils. James then began to psychotically kick Thomas loudly muttering ‘’You come into my house, sit on my couch, drink my coffee as if we’re best pals?!’’ Thomas eventually he rolled out of the front door onto the pavement. As he soon as he got into the sight of the Rolls Royce that was still parked outside, three men, one of average build and two about the same size as the man that tried to attack James all that time ago got out of the car and rushed over to aid Thomas. James immediately targeted the smallest one, he ran over to him and hit him with a football like tackle, putting him on his back and standing over him, he then started to relentlessly pound on him, even with his injured arm. Grant spotted the two bigger henchmen making their way over, he moved quickly and hit the left knee cap of one them with a quick jab, there was a snapping noise and he fell to floor quickly and showed no signs of getting up as he winced and writhed in pain. Surprisingly, the other one reacted too fast for Grant to notice, he levelled Grant perfectly with his right fist. Grant didn’t flinch or even react to the blow. It hit him square on the side of his face but it seemed to not hurt him one bit. He gritted his teeth and responded with a firm right hand of his own, on impact the henchman’s eyes rolled back and he passed out after back peddling for a few steps. Meanwhile James turned his attentions from the frail henchman that he had now incapacitated back to Thomas, who was stumbling back to his feet, trying to mop up the blood from his nose that had leaked all over his shirt.

‘’Hey! Hey! I know where you live now!’’ he said as James approached him sinisterly. ‘’I can do bad things, I have enough money to make your parents suffer on your own doorstep, is that what you want?’’ he added, hands up in front of him.

‘’Go to hell, Thomas’’ James yelled as he firmly grabbed Thomas by his collar and pinned him to the ground. He pulled back his right fist ready to thump him one more time.

‘’Wait! Wait! I didn’t mean any of that! Please, no more, please. No more!’’ Thomas pleaded. James got up and pulled Thomas up to his feet with him. He still had him by the collar, he pulled him in close and spoke once again.

‘’Whatever beef you have, is with me. You leave my parents and my house out whatever games you got planned. You hear me?’’

‘’Alright! I get it, no more!’’ Thomas had a real sense of desperation in his voice. James pulled him in closer and hit him with a firm blow to his stomach.

‘’You show your face at my house ever again, and I’ll end you’’ James said chillingly as Thomas fell to the floor coughing and gasping for air. It was then when Grant finally acted, he came over quickly and grabbed James.

‘’Jimmy, leave it. You’ve done enough’’ he said sharply as he tried to restrain James

‘’Get off me, Grant’’ James barked as she shoved Grant off of him and walked back into his house. Rita had been standing on the doorstep the entire time, frozen, watching events unfold. She followed James as he made his way up his room in a blinding fury. Grant stood there and watched Thomas help his henchmen regain their bearings and leave in the Rolls Royce. After this he took a deep breath and made a beeline for James’ room, making sure he closed the front door behind him. He walked in to James’ room to see him smashing his wall with his fist continuously in anger.

‘’Jimmy, what the hell’’ he said as he darted over and stopped him.

‘’My house, Grant! He came into my house! The bastard knows where I live’’

‘’Look, just stay cool, we can –‘’

‘’Don’t tell me to stay cool, Grant!’’ James screamed as he ran his hands over his drawer, causing deodorants, moisturisers and other things to fall on the floor.

‘’He knows where I live, he knows where Cassidy lives. Explain to me in what way this looks like it can end well for us? How did he even find out where I live?’’ James asked aggressively.

‘’I’ll take the gloves off, I’ll do whatever I have to’’

‘’Will you?’’

‘’I will’’

‘’There’s only so much that can do’’

‘’What?’’

‘’What happens when he comes down here with five goons and attacks my parents while we’re at school’’

‘’I dunno, I guess we –‘’

‘’We what?! Grant, listen to me you’re a freak of nature, seriously, you’re freakin’ incredible. Some of the things I’ve seen you do over the years defy all kinds of science. But honestly that’s not enough in a situation like this’’

‘’Why not?’’

‘’Because, we can’t be here twenty four hours a day, Grant!’’ James shouted as he hit his wooden wardrobe, leaving a large crack where his fist connected. He was getting really frustrated, and he was still quite agitated from the earlier events. ‘’If he shows up at my house, how will we even know it’s happened?!’’

‘’I dunno, Jimmy. But what I do know is that this is bigger now. Your family, Rita’s family, and with his money and connections, it could be my family too, even Layla’’

‘’Grant I –‘’

‘’Drop it, Jimmy. I mean it’’ Grant said, even Rita looked up at him, she was shocked at this authority he was showing. ‘’You need to calm down, this isn’t helping anyone’’ he added assertively.

‘’I’m just being realistic’’ James said as he winced in pain, clutching his arm lightly. The anger and adrenaline that was coursing through his body seemed to mask the pain from the impact his injured arm was taking. Now that he had suddenly began to calm down, the pain he should have been feeling was slowly starting to creep back.

‘’Call it what you want, either way it’s seriously not helping’’

‘’Grant, this could so easily not end well’’

‘’Yeah, that’s true. But I’m not gonna let it end badly and neither are you’’

‘’How can you be so calm in a situation like this?!’’

‘’What will losing my head solve?’’

‘’You’re taking this lightly, I know what this guy is capable of’’

‘’Yeah, and we both know what I’m capable of’’

‘’Grant –‘’

‘’James, shut up. Now. I’ve actually heard enough now’’

‘’Babe, he’s right, look just come sit down here, you need to calm down’’ Rita said.

‘’You’re right. Listen I’m losing my top’’ James said as he sat down next to Rita, he realised that he had to calm down now. ‘’He’s getting in my head. I need to cool off and you got a date soon. On top of that I think I fucked up my arm even more dealing with those cocksuckers’’ James said, once again wincing in pain. Rita softly grabbed his arm and placed his arm in a more comfortable position.

‘’Don’t sweat it’’ Grant said as he checked his watch. ‘’I still got a couple more hours’’

‘’Thanks for having my back, Grant’’ James said as he stuck out a fist.

‘’Always’’ Grant replied as he hit the fist with his own.

The trio stayed in James room for a while, it was obvious that he was really shaken up by the earlier events. He wasn’t Thomas was capable of or what he could have planned, what he did know was that it was about to get even harder to protect those that he cared about. The fact that Grant said he was ready to use his abilities if needed added comfort to a sticky situation. Maybe James could sit around and dwell on this, but Grant had to focus, he had to push it to the back of his mind and concentrate on his date with Layla. He stood in James mirror, he checked himself out and liked what he saw.

‘’Rita you were right, this shirt looks pretty cool with these jeans’’

‘’Of course I was right, Grant’’

‘’Don’t get carried away now’’ Grant replied jokingly.

‘’You nervous, bro?’’ James asked.

‘’Me? Kinda’’

‘’You’ll be straight, just relax, act the same way you did last time’’

‘’That’s the plan’’

‘’Cool, I’m not gonna bore you with advice then’’

‘’You can give me a ride though’’

‘’Can I’’

‘’You can and you will’’

‘’You might aswell, James’’ Rita stepped in.

‘’Who’s side you on, Cassidy?’’

‘’Look, your parents went out, so we didn’t get that paella you promised. I’m hungry again, so taking Grant to the movies is the perfect chance for you to drive up to Royston’’ she said, she finished it off by smiling and walking towards James’ bedroom door. James sighed deeply and grabbed his keys.

‘’Ugh, hurry up, then’’ he said.

They sat in James car and drove towards the movie theatre, on arrival Grant on out the car.

‘’Good luck, bro’’ James said as he winked.

‘’Have fun, Grant, tell us everything’’

‘’Thanks guys, I’ll see you tomorrow’’ Grant said. He then walked over to the ticket booth and addressed the young man sitting on the other side of the glass.

‘’Hey, man’’ Grant said confidently.

‘’Sup’’

‘’I’m good… I’m good. Look I have a date in a moment, and I was just gonna ask you if you had any suggestions for a half decent movie for me to watch with her’’

‘’You want my advice?’’

‘’Please’’

‘’Cool, watch the new Zac Efron, Bad Neighbours’’

‘’You think so?’’

‘’It’s funny, age appropriate, can’t go wrong’’

‘’Yeah? Alright bro, two tickets for it, please’’

‘’That’ll be twenty seven dollars’’

‘’How much?!’’

‘’Twenty seven’’

‘’How? Tickets are usually like eight bucks a pop’’

‘’Not today, these are the last two tickets, and I gave you advice, gotta throw a bit more in’’

‘’You can’t be serious?’’

‘’Twenty seven dollars. That or you can say goodbye to any chance of this date going well for you’’ the young man said as he smiled cunningly. Grant gritted his teeth in frustration. He knew that tickets were normally about eight dollars each, this guy was clearly taking him for a ride. He was annoyed at the fact that he was being overcharged but he wanted the date to be perfect, he dug his hand into his pocket reluctantly and took out three ten dollar bills and placed it down on the counter. He got his tickets and walked off towards the entrance in wait for Layla to arrive.

It was about ten past seven, it was only ten minutes but Grant was a bit anxious at the fact that Layla was running late. Had she lost interest? Was she not coming? Grant’s mind was racing and every second that passed by made him more and more paranoid. He began pacing up and down outside the entrance of the movie theatre, twenty minutes had passed now and Grant’s anxiety turned into annoyance. The movie was scheduled to start at eight o clock, it was now thirty minutes past seven and Grant had sunk into a state of self-loathing. He was sure that Layla was standing him up. His mind told him to blame himself, the same way he’d been blaming himself for everything that went wrong for the last seventeen years. Eight o clock now and Layla still hadn’t turned up. As Grant stuffed the tickets into his jeans pocket and began to walk off, he saw the headlights of a baby blue Volkswagen Polo shining on him, the driver honked the horn and smiled affectionately, it was Layla. Grant, who was seemingly disgruntled by her horrible sense of timing barely reacted. She got out of her car and quickly made her way over to Grant. She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

‘’Hey, Grant!’’ she said enthusiastically.

‘’Hey’’ Grant replied, barely any emotion in his voice and a blank expression on his face.

‘’Grant, what’s wrong?’’ Layla spotted his attitude instantly

‘’You’re late’’

‘’What? How?’’

‘’You were supposed to be here an hour ago, Layla’’

‘’Grant, check your phone’’

‘’What? Why?’’

‘’Just do it, go to our texts from Thursday’’ she said confidently. Grant duly took out his phone and check the conversation they had. Much to the amusement of Layla and do his own embarrassment, the text clearly showed that they had in fact agreed to meet at eight. Grant chuckled awkwardly.

‘’I’m sorry, Layla’’

‘’It’s no problem, an honest mistake’’

‘’You forgive me, right?’’

‘’I was never mad at you, don’t worry about it, Grant’’

‘’Good, in that case let’s re do that hello’’ Grant said as he smiled. Layla beamed a grin and threw her arms around him once more, this time Grant kissed her on the cheek and lifted her up affectionately, a bit like how Rafiki lifted Simba in the Lion King, only there was no weird animals around… and she was facing him… and… you know what, it was nothing like that. Layla giggled while in the air, when Grant put her back down she pinched his arm.

‘’Seriously, this is so hot’’ she said. Grant blushed uncontrollably and immediately changed subject.

‘’We better get a move on, I got us the tickets already and the movie started at eight’’ he said quickly. Layla nodded and Grant stuck his hand, they walked into the movie theatre and found two seats, about mid-way between the back and the screen. Grant felt comfortable with Layla. She had this aura about her that he’d never even knew existed in anyone. She was funny, intelligent, beautiful and most importantly, she was interested in him. He sat there next to her, not really knowing how to conduct himself. He’d only ever been to the movies with James and Rita, and they always spent the majority of the movie just making out. Grant was in no way ready for that. He sat watching the film, Layla scooched over a bit and rested her head on his shoulder, he blushed and had a quick brain wave, he stretched out his arm and put it around her, they were really cosy right now, and Grant had never felt more comfortable in his entire life. Not much was said during the movie, this was down to a combination of the movie being really good, and the pair not wanting to bother their serenity by speaking. They left the movie theatre, it was about ten o clock now.

‘’You wanna, erm… you wanna maybe go for a walk along the pier? It’s a few blocks down that way by the amusement park’’ Grant suggested timidly.

‘’Yeah I know the place’’ Layla said as she walked towards her car. ‘’Come on, get in’’ she added.

‘’Sure’’ Grant said calmly. He approached the car and noticed that it unlocked without Layla having to use keys, or anything of the sort. He stood back for a second and questioned her.

‘’Woah, how did your car just unlock like that?’’ Grant said.

‘’What?’’ Layla replied, a look of denial in her eyes.

‘’Your car, it just unlocked by itself’’

‘’Did it?’’

‘’Yeah I legit just heard it’’

‘’You sure?’’

‘’I… I dunno maybe I’m just hearing things’’

‘’Don’t worry about it, Grant’’ Layla said as she smiled, she always seemed to be smiling around Grant. Grant shrugged and got into the car quickly, and then Layla drove off towards the amusement park.

‘’Do you drive, Grant?’’

‘’Drive? I’ve never even kissed a girl’’

‘’What?’’ Layla said bemused. Grant started blushing again, it was only now that he realised the stupidity of his comment. Never kissed a girl? Layla probably thought he was a complete loser after that.

‘’Yeah… well that slipped out’’

‘’That’s so cute, Grant’’

‘’It is?’’

‘’So much, you’re so pure and genuine’’

‘’You think so?’’

‘’I really appreciate your honesty”

‘’I’m just an honest guy I guess’’

‘’I like that, I like that a lot’’

‘’On what we were speaking about before… I erm, I don’t drive but I do know a few things about cars’’

‘’Really?’’

‘’Yeah, this one’s real cool, it’s a manual, right?’’

‘’Yup’’

‘’Something’s kinda weird though’’

‘’Really? What?’’

‘’The gear shift, it’s been changing by itself all this time’’

‘’Has it?’’ Layla asked sheepishly as her cheeks began to turn bright red.

‘’Yeah, I’m not seeing things this time’’

‘’You sure?’’ she said quickly as she grabbed the gear shift and moved it.

‘’What’s going on?’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’How can it be changing gears without you moving it?’’

‘’I think my dad paid some mechanic to rig it so it changes for me automatically just in case I forget’’

‘’I didn’t think that was possible’’

‘’It is… you know, modern technology and everything’’

‘’Right…’’

‘’Yup’’ Layla was really embarrassed at the moment. Grant felt a bit paranoid; it was as if Layla had something to hide or something. He hadn’t been seeing her for very long and the last thing he wanted to do was scare her off with more questions. So he put it to bed for now, he remained silent for a little while and looked out of the window at his surroundings.

Soon enough they arrived at the pier. They held hands and walked around, enjoying the scenery and the crisp night time weather. They got the edge of the pier and sat down, their feet hanging off the side and feet pointing towards the water. They sat there for a little while, maybe twenty or thirty minutes. They enjoyed each other’s presence in a way that couldn’t be described, they just had this energy that couldn’t be replicated between any other two people. It was nearly eleven o clock now, Grant got up and Layla followed him. They continued their walk, then suddenly Layla stopped.

‘’Grant?’’

‘’What’s up?’’ Grant said calmly. Layla put one hand on his cheek and other on his shoulder, she planted a tender kiss on his lips, and pulled away for a second to see Grant blushing uncontrollably. She giggled and Grant smiled, he took a little breath and leaned back in, they made out tenderly for a very short while, Grant had no idea what he was doing so he just followed Layla’s lead. He didn’t know what to make of it… her mouth was soft, warm, and tasted kind of good, this kissing thing wasn’t half bad at all. They finished and exchanged a smile.

‘’Now you can say you’ve kissed a girl’’ Layla said jokingly. Grant didn’t reply, he just smiled and held her hand tight as they walked off back towards her car.