Grandfather's Romance

A/N: this is kinda wierd, but it is something I produced a few months ago and found it on my computer. After much revision, I completed it. Its kinda based on a true story. The part about my grandpa and grandma are.



The Romance of my Grandfather

He looked at me with sadness and anger in his eyes. I knew I had hurt him. I knew that he was angry because I had rejected him and everything he offered. I looked away across the green to the boy sitting with his friends. He was laughing and joking, as always, I could not help but smile and giggle as I remembered some of his best jokes. He was tall, with spiked-up hair and he always wore black, but he was not the sad, suicidal, anti-social person he was stereotyped to be. Alex was anything but! He often wore black to be different.

Perhaps that is what I loved about him, that he was different, that he didn't try to conform to the ways of any social group, the way so many fell prey to. He had an awesome sense of humor and deep personality. He opened the doors of my mind to new things; he showed me a completely new world and I was ready to seize it! Perhaps it was for those qualities that I enjoyed his company.

Jared cleared his throat, "Katie!" I snapped back to reality and I looked at him. His face showed his frustration and he did not attempt to hide it. I sighed, knowing this would be a long conversation. My books were already weighing my arms down, so I sat them on the curved bench beside me and stood up straight.

"What, Jared?" I asked, not hiding my frustration at his probing of my life and questioning my decision. He saw me look across the green at Alex, who was motioning me to join him, and his friends. He probably saw a myriad of emotions cross my face, some he probably did not like.

"Why him, Katie, why not me? You can do better!"

I felt anger rise in me, but I was silent a few seconds and breathed slowly. When I was calm enough to answer, I told him, "Jared, there are some things you can not judge by the 'cover' you have to look inside. That is what Alex is. I used to think that he was a depressed person, but once I got to know him, he's just like any normal person, except for how he chooses to act, how he dresses, and how he doesn't care what other people think!" Jared growled. "Katie! You know I can do anything for you!"

"Just because your father is the Supreme Judge of Ambren City, doesn't mean that you are God's gift to women. There are things that I feel with Jared that I do not feel with you. I feel loved by him, I feel secure and cared for when Im around him." I could not think of anything else and he raised his eyebrow to me. "His friends respect me!" I cried.

"Katie, how do you expect to find love if you are always going about it the wrong way?!

How dare he! How dare he presume that I was making wrong decisions? "Who are you to judge my life?!" I screamed. I calmed myself once again. "Jared, sit down, I want to tell you a story. The other night, I was talking to my grandpa on the phone. In 1950, he moved to Cincinnati for a year of college. When he met my grandma at a Christian youth retreat, he told his friends immediately, 'She's mine.'

"They began to date. After about a year, my grandpa proposed to her. They were engaged a year before they were married. He told me, 'I am a hopeless romantic. I am not afraid of dying, in fact, I would go know if the good Lord wanted to take me, but the only thing that scares me, is leaving Jackie, my wife, here by herself. We have been together so long, Im so afraid for her to be alone!'"

Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought of what my grandpa had told me. I remembered Titanic when Rose saw Jack's face. I pictured my grandpa, lying on his deathbed, remembering the first time he had saw his beloved Jackie. Perhaps her blue eyes laughed, surrounded by smooth porcelain skin without stain or wrinkle. Maybe her laughter reverberated through the rafters of the church like music. She was not just another stranger, not just another pretty face my grandpa would see. She was his.

"My grandma has gotten old," I continued. "She no longer has the youth she once did. She no longer has the slender figure or the smooth, ivory hands. Her youth has faded into wrinkles and her hands have blue veins coming through white skin."

Jared had a baffled look on his face. "What do I have to do with you are grandpa and grandma?" he asked.

I sighed heavily. I looked over his expensive outfit. He always wore the richest, most expensive clothes, drove the expensive car, and hung out with the rich people, which still confused me because I was far from rich.

"Jared, I know you're not asking for a marriage commitment, just one date. However, you are very superficial and I... want someone real. I want a hopeless romantic; someone like my grandpa. His love story with Jackie is my inspiration."

I glanced back across the green to Alex, who was starting to come over. I knew he did not like Jared and his band of friends, so I stood. "I have to go," I said.

Jared nodded, more confused than ever. I could not help but smile as I walked back to Alex, who put his arm around me and walked me to his friends.

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