Chapter 6

   Saturday morning and I'm currently out with Grid. Occasionally I'll take a selfie with Grid, or without, and send it to Greg. It's funny to see him complain about how he wishes he was here. Oh well, better luck next time.

I hope he's fun playing with balls. And baskets. Balls and baskets on a Saturday. I grin to myself with my hand covering my mouth.

"Oh, that's the seafood shack I was talking about. We should stop by there for lunch. The clam chowder is simply divine," says Grid.

   Today she's dressed in a flowery shirt and a skirt that falls to her knees. Her hair is in a ponytail, and the cat-eye sunglasses look great on her. I was smart enough to bring my black retro-square sunglasses. It'd been chilly recently, but today the weather decided to be sunny. And I mean really sunny. Not a cloud in sight. I brought a coat to wear, but seeing as how I didn't need it, I left it in Grid's car.

Grid picked me up this morning around nine-thirty, and we've been walking around the main street shopping since then. I got my planner already, along with a nice navy blue flat cap that I found. We'd also gone by Mrs. Miller's store, and she was more than happy to give me the job. I was starting to get hungry though.

"We can somewhere I know that great. Feel up to it?" offers Grid when my stomach sings Michael Jackson's he-he.

"Sounds good," I say.

   We head into the restaurant and get a seat near the window. It looks out onto the harbor. Ships float tethered to poles and fishermen go back and fro, carrying their catches and nets. A waitress walks up to our table and asks what we'd like to eat. Music from a radio plays some tunes, and the beat of the song has my feet tapping to the tempo.

"I'll take the chowder special, please," says Grid, "with extra fries."

"Okay, and you," she says turning to me.

"I think I'll have the same," I reply.

Too lazy to read the menu right now. Brain power is precious.

  The waitress smiles and walks to the kitchen to place our order. Grid looks a little surprised.

"Are you sure you can eat a chowder special, Cace?" she asks.

"Well, I thought if you're ordering it, it's bound to be good. Why, is it not tasty?" I reply as well as ask.

Grid laughs and replies, "No, it's good in every way possible. It just comes with alot of food."

"Oh," I say. "What does it come with?" I ask.

"A bowl of chowder, fish and chips, and corn on the cob. Oh! And some cornbread. All with a healthy amount of butter."

My stomach growls. Like the animal that I am.

"Sounds delicious," I say.

Grid grins. "Oh, trust me. It is."

We talk some more before the waitress is back with our meals. Service is excellent in this place.

"The chowder special with extra fries?" she asks.

"That's me," says Grid. She takes her tray of food and immediately digs in.

I get my tray of food and the food smells amazing. But there's definitely a lot of food. I eat the meal in a state of hunger, but halfway through I'm already full. Grid has already finished though.

"How can you eat that much?" I ask. She finished her meal with extra fries in less time it took me to eat half of mine.

"I just have a high metabolism," she replies simply.

"Are you sure?" I ask teasingly.

She blushes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend," I apologize quickly.

"No, it's okay," she says, "I was just...surprised that you asked me that."

She smiles to show that she's okay. I smile in return.

"I wish I had a high metabolism," I say, "then I wouldn't have to take all this home with me," I gesture to the remaining chowder and bread.

"That's okay," says Grid, "we can get it put in a container, and I'm pretty much done for the day, so we can go back home now if you want to. Or if you want to shop more we can drop it off at the car and carry on."

"No, I think I've got all the stuff I need for now," I reply.

She nods. Calling the waitress, I ask for the food to be packed up for me, and soon it is.

As we leave the restaurant, I say, "I really hope you didn't take that question too personally. I would hate to hurt the feelings of somebody as nice as you."

Grid looks at me and smiles. "Don't worry, I'm okay. I know you would never say anything to hurt me, even in a moment of anger." I smile back.

We walk along Main Street back to the parking lot where Grid left her car. The Main Street runs down parallel to the beach line, and the far end of it is where the shack where we ate at is. The end of the beach shifts into a harbor.

Walking back to the lot, we're also heading back in the general direction of my house. My house actually is on the land that is the edge of the peninsula that Handerville is on.

"Speaking of which, you do have a brother right? You only mentioned him once, on Monday, and you haven't spoken about him since, so I'm starting to think he might not be real." I say.

Grid turns and looks down at me with a grin. "Oh, he's real alright. A real pain."

"How so?" I ask. I don't know why, but her mysterious brother I don't know has me intrigued.

"Well," starts Grid, "he's very protective. I know he's only looking out for me and my other brothers, but it gets annoying sometimes. And he literally gets in the way."

"Oh, well, at least he cares about you," I say positively. Grid smiles.

"I know." She smiles, "and that's why he's perfect for you."

"What to do you mean?" I ask as I turn to her.

   Her eyes are wide, but in a second she's recovered, smiling.

"I mean as a friend," she says.

"Oh, okay," I say. We walk in silence for a little.

   "You didn't tell me you had other brothers," I say.

"I didn't?" says Grid. She seems happy to move on to a different conversation. "Yeah, I have two younger brothers. One is sixteen, the other is eight."

I see we near the parking lot where Grid's red Chev is parked. "I wish I had two younger brothers," I say wistfully. Younger brothers sound adorable.

Grid snorts. "You really don't. Teddy is still cute, but Neil has a real attitude, and he's obsessed with his muscles."

  I laugh and Grid smiles as we hop in the car, and pull out of the lot, driving off to our sweet homes.

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On the way back Grid plays her favorite 1D songs. They're okay, but not my type.

"Are they gay?" I ask curiously.

"I'm...I don't know," says Grid, "Why?"

"I recall a huge amount of gay 1D stuff on reading websites. Just felt like asking."

"If it's written there, maybe it's true. Who knows?" says Grid with a shrug.

We talk about our siblings, and how bad some are, how bad others aren't. It seems that Bennet is haughty, but a big teddy bear on the outside. He does go to our high school, but I don't think I've seen him yet. Teddy is her other eight-year-old brother, and he's super cute, but don't make him mad or you'll have to deal with him taking your candy. Good thing I don't eat candy.

"Thanks for taking me out today," I say as we pull up to my house, lI truly had a great time."

"Awww, me too!" she says as she ruffles my hair. I scrunch my nose which only cracks her up.

"Well, I'll see you on Monday," I say as I step out of the car. I wave good-bye and step into my house. I've just walked into the kitchen when I realize I forgot to grab my coat from the back of Grid's car.

"Shucks."