The Falling of Love (2 page)

Michelle snorts out a loud laugh. “You have no idea.”

“She’s shy too, huh?”

“Umm, that’s putting it lightly.”

“How old are you girls?” Ian asks, turning his eyes to Grace.

“She’s seventeen and I’m sixteen.” Michelle answers before Grace can open her mouth.

“How long have you girls been friends?”

Michelle looks at Ian as if he is stupid and says, “Duh, since my birth.”

Ian's confused eyes dart back and forth between the two girls.

“We’re the Hathaway girls,” Michelle says, matter-of-factly.

“Missy, he’s new. Like he has any idea who anyone here is. Michelle is my little sister,” explains Grace.

“I would've never guessed that,” he says, as he shakes his head. “You can totally tell that
me
and my sibs are related. We all have this damn ginger hair and pale skin.”

Grace looks at Ian and smiles. “I think you have nice hair.”

“Oh geez,” Michelle says. “Okay, I’m outta here. I must go finish plotting my revenge on the bitch skank cheerleaders.” She grabs her tray and leaves the table.

Panic swells inside Grace as Michelle walks away. Her mouth falls open, ready to shout at her to come back. There is no possible way she can finish her food with this cute boy sitting next to her. Especially without Michelle there to carry on the conversation, since Grace seems to have lost her ability to speak in his presence. Her stomach twists into knots because she knows if she tries to open her mouth to speak, it will come out in a croak. Nerves tense up her entire stomach. Ian’s looks have her captivated. She compares his appearance to rock star’s she has seen in magazines, and she has never sat next to a rock star before.

Ian piles his food in his mouth as if he has not eaten in weeks. Grace just gawks at him.

He looks up from his empty plate. “You gonna finish that?” he asks, pointing at her severely mashed, mashed potatoes, that lay untouched on her plate.

“No. Would you like them?”

“Hell yeah!” he exclaims, and he dives his fork into her food.

She laughs.
He’s something else
.

The bell rings and the cafeteria
erupts
into a plethora of complaints about returning to class. Grace grabs her tray and stands up.

“So, do you mind if I sit with you tomorrow?”

Butterflies flutter in her stomach. “Not at all, Ian.”

Ugh, math
, Grace thinks as she walks down the hall and into class the next morning. Ian enters the classroom and her “Ugh” changes to feelings of excitement. Grace hangs her backpack on the back of her chair and places her notebook and pencil on the table. She notices that Ian has no school supplies.

“Do you need to borrow some paper or a pencil, Ian?” she asks, sweetly.

He smiles at her and shakes his head. “How ya doin’ today, Gracie?”

She looks at him puzzled. “Gracie?”

Raising his eyebrow he says, “Do you have a problem with that?”

An enormous smile crosses her face. “No, it’s just no one has ever called me that before.”

Ian elbows her lightly. “Well, now I do.”

The teacher begins his lecture, and they finish chatting. Grace resumes her usual doodling and daydreaming. Ian’s gaze burns into the side of her. Apprehensive to look at him she realizes that he is not staring at her, she was only imagining it.

At lunch, Michelle once again interrogates Ian. Grace never asks questions, but listens to all of his answers to learn as much as she can about him. From all of Michelle's nosy questions, Grace discovers that he was in a band back in Massachusetts and he loves to sing. He also writes his own songs and plays the piano. Since he can work on cars, he hopes to get a job as a mechanic in Ocean View so that as soon as he can afford it, he can move to Los Angeles and make a living playing his music. Most importantly, she learns that Ian does not have a girlfriend, a question Michelle seems to ask specifically with Grace in mind.

After only knowing Ian for two short weeks, Grace’s stomach
twists
and turns waiting for him to come over to her house. She does not actually need help with her math homework, but she asked him earlier that day at lunch if he would mind coming over to help her. She wants more time with him. More than just the couple of hours she sees him at school.

Ian quickly earns the bad boy reputation around school by getting into fights with one or two of the other students who bully him. Those students learn soon enough that Ian is someone they do not want to mess with. Now, all Ian has to do is glare at them and they leave him alone. At first, this frightens Grace, but she quickly becomes attracted to this side of him. She also suspects there is more to him than what the other kids see. Getting him to come over to help with homework is just one more way to get to know the real Ian outside of school.

In the bathroom mirror, she primps herself, puckering her lips and fluffing her hair while staring at her reflection. She sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, trying to calm herself. She glides lip gloss over her lips and then puts it back in the bathroom drawer. With one last look at herself she shakes her arms attempting to release some of the nervous tension that has built up inside.

Walking into the dining room she spots Michelle sitting at the table, her feet propped up on the top of it, and a book in her hands.

“Missy, do you mind if Ian and I sit in here to work on our math homework?”

Michelle ignores her.

“Missy, come on.” Grace huffs.

“Fine. Whatever!” Michelle says, as she drops her feet to the floor and gives Grace the evil eye. “When is he coming over?”

“He should be here any minute,” Grace says, as nerves rush over her once more.

“Since when does
the brain
need help with her math homework?”

Grace rolls her eyes and giggles.

“Maybe you’re not as brain dead when it comes to love as I thought you were.” Michelle laughs.

Grace waves her hands at Michelle shooing her out of the room.

As Michelle walks by eyeballing her, she smirks and stops right in front of Grace, “Make sure you sit next to him, pull your shirt down so he can see your cleavage, and act super stupid. Say things like, ‘Oh, Ian, I just can’t figure this out.’”

“Michelle!” Grace laughs. “You’re terrible!”

“Works like a charm every time,” she says, as she walks out of the room. “How do you think I got that
A
in woodshop?” Her voice echoes from the living room.

Just as Michelle’s voice fades away, the ring of the doorbell seems to shoot into Grace’s ears. She runs, and then slows her pace just before she reaches the door. Smoothing out her clothes, she takes a deep breath then opens it.

Ian’s back is facing her, and behind him the sky glows a smoldering orange. Wrapped around his waist he has a red and black flannel that covers half of his worn jeans. He turns and in her mind a chorus begins to sing.
He is so freakin’ gorgeous!

“Hey, Grace,” he says,
then
smiles what Grace feels is the most heart-melting smile she has ever seen.

She is stunned into silence and it takes her a moment before she can catch her breath.

“You gonna let me in or are we studying on your porch?” He smiles again.

“Oh, umm, come on in.”

Ian walks through the door and the clinks and clanks of his jewelry send goose bumps over her skin. She has come to love the sounds he makes when he walks and wishes she could listen to them all the time.
I’ve got it so bad
, she thinks, as she shows him into the dining room.

“We can study in here.”

“Cool,” Ian says, as he plops down in one of the chairs.

“Want a drink or something?”

“That’d be cool.”

Grace folds her arms behind her back and tries to remember what she has in the refrigerator. “We have diet cola,
umm,
apple juice, water, and I think we might have fruit punch.”

“I’ll have whatever you’re havin’.”

“Okay,” she says and then pushes her way through the kitchen doors. She digs around in the refrigerator and finds two cans of lemon-lime soda.

When she returns back to the dining room she finds Ian opening his math book.

“Here you go.” She places the soda on the table, not taking her hand off it, and her eyes catch his. She admires how blue they are and gets lost in them. They are like two perfect, sparkling sapphires.

“Grace?” Ian asks, pulling her out of her stupor. “Grace?”

“Oh, umm, here ya go,” she says, letting go of the can.

“Are you okay?”

She takes the seat next to him, remembering Michelle’s words of advice. “I’m fine.” Her gaze falls on the sweating can and she jumps up from her chair, “James is going to kill me!”

She runs over to the hutch, grabs two coasters, and hurries back to the table. She picks up both of the cans, inspects the table while wiping the damp circles off with her hand, and then places them on top of the coasters. “Whew! No marks.”

Ian’s eye brows knit together and he laughs. “What was that about?”

“This was my great grandmother’s table. It’s real mahogany. My brother would be so pissed if I got water marks on it.”

“Your brother?”

“Yeah, James. He’s my older brother.” She takes her seat again and scoots it close to Ian.

“Okay, well, are you ready?”

“Yep.”

Ian opens the book and reads a word problem to Grace.

After about an hour of pretending not to know how to solve the questions, Grace notices that the sun has gone down. She looks at the clock and realizes that she needs to get dinner started. She allows Ian to stop explaining the problem they are working on before she speaks, “I need to get dinner going.”

“You’re cooking dinner?”

Realizing Ian doesn’t know about her parents, she sits up straight and inhales. “Yeah, I always cook dinner. My mom…” She takes in another deep breath. “My mom and dad passed away when I was ten.”

“What?”

Grace fills her cheeks with air then blows it out. “They were in a boating accident when I was ten.”

“Oh, Grace, I’m sorry,” Ian
says,
his tone and expression showing empathy.

“Thank you,” Grace says, with a small smile. Over the years she has become accustom to the reaction she gets when she tells people that her parents died. It is always the same thing. People say their sorry and then become speechless. Grace knows this is because they are at a loss for words. There is nothing they can say that will make her feel better or change the facts.

“So…who do you live with?”

“My brother and Missy.” She smiles, trying to show him that she is okay.

“I had no idea. I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“No worries, Ian. I hadn’t told you yet.” She studies his expression and she can see curiosity written all over his face. “You can ask questions. It’s okay.”

Ian gulps. “It’s just you, Michelle, and your brother living here? No adults?”

“James is twenty-five.”

“Oh,” he says, still looking confused.

“My parents had him when they were very young. We’re eight years apart. He was eighteen when the accident happened.”

“Ah, Grace, that sucks. I’m sorry.”

Before she realizes what she is doing, she finds her hand on top of Ian’s. She likes the way his skin feels against hers and once she is over the initial shock, she finds that it comforts her to touch him. “You don’t have to keep saying you’re sorry, Ian. I can see it in your eyes. It does suck.”

“Wow, I’m just shocked. I had no idea. I wouldn’t have brought it up if I knew. That must’ve been so hard on you.”

Leaving her hand on top of his she smiles. “It was, but thankfully I have a remarkable family.”

“So, like, your brother is your legal guardian or something like that?”

“Exactly. We don’t have any other family. It’s just us three. Since that day, we are all we have left in this world.” Every time she talks about her siblings she feels a tremendous sense of appreciation for the sacrifice her brother made for her and Michelle. Before their parents passed away, he spent most of his time hanging out with his friends and being a normal teenager. Grace knows that at first, it was hard for James to assume the responsibility of caring for his younger sisters.

“But, your brother was so young.”

“He was, but he did a great job raising us.” Grace has watched James struggle over the years, mainly with the emotional aspects of having to grow up so quickly to raise his little sisters. Because of this, Grace does her best to always behave and help out around the house. Although she was only ten years old, she was able to step up and be strong for her siblings. She never wanted to give James a reason to worry about her, and over the years, she does everything she can to earn and keep his trust. Though Michelle has a spunky attitude, even she minded James once he took over the role of being the authority in her life.

“Was this your parents’ house?”

“Yep, sure was. They scrimped and saved to buy this place before I was born. I was actually born upstairs. My mom was a bit of a free spirit. She did the whole natural birth in the bathtub thing.”

“Whoa, that’s a trip.”

“Yeah, you think?” She laughs. “Imagine what goes through my mind while I’m soaking in the tub.”

Ian laughs. “How can your brother afford to take care of all of you?”

“He drives a rig. He hauls all sorts of stuff across the country.” Grace frowns. “He works really hard and super long hours. Sometimes he’s gone for days. He should be home soon. He called earlier and said he was close.”

“I can’t imagine having to raise two girls at my age.”

“I can’t either, so we do our best to help out. I cook and clean and try to help him look after Michelle.”

“That’s a chore all in its own, I bet!” Ian chuckles.

“Yeah, she’s a handful at times. She tries to be good. Sometimes I do feel like I’m her mom though. To both of them!” Grace giggles. “My brother is a big baby.”

Though her life has not left much room for boyfriends, there is something about Ian that makes her want to leave her adult responsibilities behind and just spend time with him. For the first time, she is terrified of liking a boy. If he does ask her out, she hopes James will like him when they meet, and that he won't be disappointed by Ian's bad boy appearance.