Chapter five

            Was he serious? What adventures of love would he take me on? The Ferris wheel of love?

            “No. I won’t.” I say as I put my journal back in my bag.

            “Aurora, please give me a chance. I promise you, you will get a story out of one of my adventures.” I look up at Theo. He had a serious face on.

            “Theo, you don’t understand. I made a deal with my publisher that I would write a partial romance novel by the end of the summer. I don’t have time to waste.” I grab my bag and sling it over my right shoulder. Theo got out of his seat and stood in front of me. As I tried to go around him, he caught my wrist. Something inside me clicked when his hand held my wrist. Theo felt the same as he pulled away, but still lingered closely so I wouldn’t leave.

            “Aurora, just give me one chance. Trust me.” His blue eyes enraptured me. As I looked at him with pursed lips, I realized that maybe it was time to take a risk. There were only so many days left for this book.

            “Fine. You can take me on these adventures.” Theo bit his lip trying to contain his smile, but no matter how hard he tried, the dimples in his cheeks showed.

            “Good. Let me hang up my apron and we can get going.” he said as he began to untie the knot on his apron.

            “Wait, we are going now?”

            “Yeah. I’m taking you on your first adventure.” Theo had taken off his apron and left me standing by the table with my mouth open. How could he possibly have an adventure of love already? He’s a teenage boy! There is no way he could come up with the meaning of love so quickly.

            “Aurora!” I looked up to find Theo already at the door of the diner waving at me to come. I made my way through the tables and walked outside as he held the door for me. The hot Florida sun hit me as I came out of the diner.

            “Okay, did you drive here?” He asked as he shielded his eyes from the bright sun.

            “Yeah. Why?” I asked as I looked in my bag for the car keys.

            “We’ll you’re driving then.” I looked up to him, but he was already in the parking lot searching for my car. Not want to argue with him, I yelled for him.

            “Theo. The car is in the other direction.” He turned on his heel and started walking the other way as I shook my head. Eventually we found the car and Theo got in the passenger seat as I started the engine.

            “So, where are we going?”

            “It’s a surprise, Rory.”

            “God, stop calling me that! I hate that name.” I say as I grip the steering wheel tightly.

            “Why? It’s cute.” A blush creeps into my cheeks but I make sure to look away so Theo couldn’t see.

            “It’s annoying and makes me seem like a lion. Rory the lion.”

            “Lions are cute. Well as long as they aren’t ripping your throat out.” I turn to look at him with a confused face.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “Nothing, oh and take a right here.” he said as he pointed to the right. I turned right onto the street and began to enter a neighborhood. Why is he taking me to a neighborhood?

            “And turn into the parking lot.” My thoughts came back to reality and that’s when I realized we were in the parking lot of a community rec center. After putting the car in park, Theo jumped out and pulled a keychain out of his back pocket.

            “What are we doing at a rec center?” I ask as we walk up the ramp to the door. Theo turns the keychain in his hand while his lips turned up in a smirk.

            “We’re decorating this place for a party.” I rolled my eyes at him while he opened the door.

            “That’s just the epitome of romantic. You make me swoon, Theo.” I say as I clasp my hands and pretend to look away dreamily.

            “Thank you, Aurora. I knew you would fall me someday.” He winked at me and walked away, leaving me red as a tomato. Screw cute boys, and their smooth lines. I stormed into the hall to find it to be quite vast in size.

            “Aurora. Grab some tables and set them up along this wall.”

            “Demanding child. What are we going to do after we set up for this party?” I asked as I grabbed a foldable table from the closet and undid the legs.

            “We are going to stay and party.” Theo started shaking his hips and I couldn’t hold back the laughter. As I clutched my side, Theo sent me a scowl, but it soon turned into a smile. He waltzed his way towards me. Before I could protest, Theo grabbed my waist and my hand and the two of us fell into step.

            “Theo, stop. You’re a terrible dancer.” I say as I continued to dance with him. Something about Theo made me want to be in his arms, and not be anywhere else.

            “A terrible dancer, huh? Like you’re a terrible romance novelist?” He asked as he wiggled his eyebrows making me laugh again.

            “If I agree, will you stop stepping on my toes?” Immediately, Theo let go of me. The connection we had was getting farther and farther away, and well, I didn’t like it.

            “Sorry.” He said as he scratched the back of his neck nervously, avoiding any eye contact with me.

            “It’s fine. Let’s get these tables and chairs set up.” So in record time, Theo and I had set up tables and chairs lining the walls. After unfolding the last chair, I stood up straight and cracked my back.

            “Thank goodness we are done.” I flop down into on of the chairs and lean back.

            “Done? Who said we are done?” My head snapped back as I gave Theo a death stare. I haven’t done this much physical work since... well since forever. Just as I was about to argue with him, he threw something at me.

            “Save your breath. You’ll need as much air as you can get to blow up these balloons.” Reluctantly, I began to puff air into the balloon. So after an hour of near heart attacks and heaving breathing, Theo and I managed to blow up fifty balloons, because apparently anything under fifty balloons wasn’t acceptable.

            “Are we done now?” I wonder aloud, the whiny three year old inside me get the best of me.

            “Yeah. My parents will be here in a few.” he said nonchalantly. My head perked up at the words “my parents”.

            “Wait, like your mom and dad?”

            “Yeah and my little sister. Oh god she adores you.” He said with eye roll.

            “Well at least someone in your family appreciates my writing.”

            “Aurora, I appreciate you for more than your writing. I-” Theo was cut off by someone calling his name at the door. Theo jogged across the center to where an older man and women were standing with a bundle of bags. I walked over and stood behind Theo so I wouldn’t intrude in their conversation; however, Theo’s mom immediately took notice of me.

            “Aurora. Oh my. You’ve grown up so much. I remember those days you and Theo used to build forts in my living room. It seems like yesterday.” She grabs me by my arms and pulls me into a hug.

            “Your father would not stop talking about how you were coming to Florida for the summer. And he was right; you’ve grown up to be such a gorgeous girl.” She said as she held me at arm’s length to get a good look at me. My heart swelled seeing Mrs. Simmons. She was like a second mother to me before I left Florida and for some reason the feeling was mutual still.

“Oh Claire, let her go. I think you might have bruised her arms.” said Mr Simmons from behind. Mrs. Simmons stepped aside and Mr. Simmons stepped forward and gave me a hug.

“Now I didn’t get to see you often, but now I’m back home for good. We’ll catch up sometime.” Now, it was true that I didn’t get to see much of Theo’s dad during my childhood, but that’s because he was in the army so he was out of the country most of the time. I do however remember a couple of times he came home.

“I want to see her! God, Theo!” yelled a teenage girl next to Theo. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Ashley, Theo’s younger sister. I remember when she was just a baby, and now she was a beautiful teenager. I had always wanted a sibling especially a little sister, so I treated Ashley like my own. I stepped forward to her as her eyes widened at me.

“God, Ashley. I can’t believe it’s you. I remember when you were a baby and always spit up your food, and how stubborn you were. Oh and all those clothes I gave you. God it’s been so long.” I say as I look at her. I couldn’t really tell if she was excited to see me or kind of freaked out that I knew so much about her.

“Oh my god. I am best friends with a best-selling author. Everyone at school is going to be so jealous.” The four of us started laughing.

“Oh Ashley, she was more than a best friend. She was like a sister to you. She even changed your diapers.” said Theo’s mom as  I nodded in agreement.

“Okay, I didn’t really need to know that, and I’m going to leave that part out when I tell my friends.” she said as she shuddered.

“This place looks great Theo.” Said Mrs. Simmons as she placed the bags she was holding on the table.

“Well thank Aurora as well. She helped too.”

“Theo! You made Aurora do work! She only got here yesterday!” Theo’s mom scolded.

“Oh no. It was fine. It gave me a chance to catch up with Theo.”

“Well let’s set up before Grandma and Grandpa get here!” she said as her and Mr. Simmons began to take out bowls and bags of chips and pretzels.

“Wait, what does your mom mean by “grandma” and “grandpa”? I didn’t know old people partied.” I say to Theo with slight sarcasm.

“Ha, ha. Very funny. But it’s my grandparents 50th anniversary.” he said and that’s when it all clicked.

“You brought me here to show me that love is real and can last a lifetime, right?”

“No. I brought you here to show you what true love is and to help me out with decorations.” I turned and punched his arm playfully.

“I almost died because of lack of air and it’s all your fault.”

“Oh. I’m sorry my handsome good looks stole your breath away.” I looked at Theo surprised.

“What? Just trying to be smooth.” Shaking my head, the two of us went to help with filling up bowls and other food preparations.

*

There were people laughing and pulling some really old dance moves on the floor. I tried covering my laughter by finishing of the last bit of my soda. I walked across the hall to the other side to refill my cup when I was stopped midway by none other than Theo.

“Hey, I want you to meet my grandparents, again.” he said. Before I could protest, he caught me by the wrist and dragged me to where his grandparents were talking to some guests.

“Theo, I don’t think this is a good time. They’re in the middle of something.” I say, trying to think of any excuse to get out of it.

“Please. You’re not getting out of this and why are you even worrying?” As I was about to answer him the guest in front of us left and I was now facing Theo’s grandparents. Now since I didn’t get to tell Theo why I was so nervous to see his grandparents, I’ll tell you the story. Now for warning, in no way did I mean to intentionally do this, this was all an accident, I just happened to be the one caught.

I was about five or six and cookies were my obsession. I even dressed like the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street one year for Halloween. Theo and I went to visit his grandparents one time and they owned this cookie jar that was absolutely filled to the brim with different kind of cookies. It was heaven to me. The only problem was that Theo’s grandma only gave Theo and I one cookie. That doesn’t really satisfy a six year olds taste bud. So being the mischievous child he is, Theo put a plan together for us to take more cookies without his Grandma knowing. It was a simple plan. Go into the kitchen, grab the stool, take out the cookies, and put the cookie jar back in place and Voila! Successful plan, right? Wrong. It’s one thing to say it, and it’s one thing to do it. Once Theo took out that cookie jar it slipped out of his little hands and crashed on the floor. Theo was quick to escape, but I was left behind in the midst of a broken jar and cookie crumbs and Grandma Simmons didn’t look too happy.

“Grandma, Grandpa! This is Aurora. I think you remember her.” said Theo with a wink. I threw him a quick glare before cautiously waving to them. I wouldn’t have been surprised if one of them jumped at me for breaking their cookie jar, but they didn’t. Instead they pulled me into a hug.

“Of course we remember Aurora. Who can forget the cookie disaster?” said Grandma Simmons with a big smile.

“I’m so sorry about that!”

“Oh Aurora! It’s okay! It’s been ten years. We bought a new cookie jar and all is good.” Grandpa Simmons added.

“Wow. Good because I have been having nightmares about that incident.” I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. I wasn’t going to die with the thought of upsetting Grandma Simmons.

“Well, Theo hasn’t stopped talking about you. Every time we came over, it was nonstop “Only this many days till Aurora comes back.” or “Maybe I’ll get to make up for all the birthday’s I missed.”” said Grandpa Simmons. I glanced over at Theo who was blushing and looking at his feet.

“Yeah, I brought her over here because Aurora’s writing a romance novel. She wants to know your story.” said Theo, trying to get away from the topic before.

“Well that’s a fifty year story we would have to tell you, Aurora.” smiled Grandpa Simmons as he wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist. Grandma Simmons looked at him and there was this unexplainable connection between the two of them. Like fifty years of being in love was just the beginning.

“Well I bet it’s a tale to tell. I’ve got all the time in the world.” I say. Grandma Simmons giggled as Grandpa Simmons brought her closer to him.
            “Well let me tell you, it wasn’t one of those love at first sight clichés. It took me two years to get this dang woman here to even consider going on a date with me. But man was it worth it.”

“Why didn’t you go out with Grandpa Simmons the first time he asked you out?” I asked Grandma Simmons.

“Well, I knew he was a smart, funny and handsome guy. A gentleman to every woman he met.”

“So what was wrong?”

“Well I could name ten other men who are smart, funny and handsome. I wanted someone who was different.”

“So what did he do that made you agree to date?”

“Well, my family was the richest group of people in town, and one day I stole a loaf of bread and was caught. The store manager was about to call the cops when he stepped in. It wasn’t just that he stepped in to be nice, but no one else in the store even tried to help the “poor girl”. He was willing to be associated with me. He accepted me. Something that most people don’t do off the bat. Just being around him makes me feel the same way that night. Every time we kiss, it’s the same butterflies. And every thought of mine is about him.” She says as she looks at him and sighs with a smile. What they had wasn’t just love. It was something else.  Now I just wanted to find someone who would save me from trouble and just take me away. Their love was contagious.

“I wouldn’t live a day without.” he said to her.

“Neither would I.” They leaned for a quick kiss and I could tell that fifty years of love was same as falling in love yesterday. The two of them bid Theo and I a goodbye and went to slow dance.

“So?” asked Theo eagerly.

“That. Wow. That was just amazing.” I doubted Theo, but he proved me wrong. But I wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“Let’s go dance.” He said grabbing my hand. As he held my hand, I tried to breathe but I couldn’t. There were shocks going all throughout my body, and my heart felt like it was moving up and down in my chest. I hated this feeling but then again I loved it. Theo placed his hands on my waist while I put mine around his neck. The closeness allowed me to realize Theo smelled vanilla and spice and everything nice. As we slowly move to the soft music, I break the silence.

“Thanks.” I whisper so only the two of us can hear.

“For what?”

“For believing I can write a romance novel.”

“Aurora, I will always believe in you. You just have to believe in yourself.” I smiled to myself.

“Okay, Rory, let’s actually get this party started.” He said as he ran off to put on some old tunes before I could grab hold of him. 

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Hey guys,

i really hoped you enjoyed this chapter because there is tons more to come and I can not wait to finish this book and have you guys fangirl over it with me :) anyways hope everyone is doing awesome and if youre then vote, comment, fan. And even if you aren't still vote, comment and fan because you are awesome no matter what :) 

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