~Six Years ago.
"Why are you such a spaz?" questioned Bright as he was setting up his GI Joes on the floor. He sat down in front of the TV, and was killing time till four o'clock when his favorite cartoon would start.
"Am not, you're the spaz." shot Amy as she hung on to Grover, sticking out her tongue at her brother.
"Are too!" said Bright through one of his GI Joes.
"Am not." replied Amy through Grover.
"Are too" said Bright through a different GI Joe.
"AM NOT!"
"You totally are! You spaz out every time C's around. He keeps saying you're always funny around him." Bright decided to run over bunch of Cobra troops with his GI Joe tank, making little tank sounds.
"C? I spaz out around a letter?"
"Colin, you dork." said Bright through his GI Joe Tank.
"You're the dork. Tanks don't talk." Amy stuck out her tongue again. "And Colin is a poo head, just like you."
"It's the guy INSIDE the tank." It was Bright's turn to stick out his tongue. "And you're the poo head!"
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I 'm not!"
"Yes you are! You're a Poo-Head-Spaz!" laughed Bright.
"GRAMA EDNA! BRIGHT'S MAKING FUN OF ME!" she yelled as she ran away from the room into the kitchen.
"Bright, front and center!" ordered Edna.
Bright slowly and carefully sidestepped all his toys and walked timidly into the kitchen to face his grandmother. "I didn't do anything wrong! SHE started it!"
"At attention soldier. Intelligence says that you've been mean to your subordinate. Is that true?" Edna stood in front of both children, waving a large wooden spoon in Bright's face.
"No sir!" Bright snapped. "She started it!"
"Did not!"
"Did Too!"
"Did Not!"
"DID TOO!"
"ATTENTION! Both of you. You," pointing to Bright, "are confined to family room till 17:00 hours. DISMISSED!" Bright left the room quickly, counting his lucky stars he didn't have to do pushups and went back to his GI Joes.
"And you," pointing to Amy with her wooden spoon, "are on mess duty with me. We're baking cookies." Amy broke out into a cute little smile, and placed Grover on the kitchen counter facing them. She went and grabbed her little apron and put it on.
Her Grandmother was sort like a mean drill sergeant and she was an even worse baker. But she taught Amy everything she knew about baking. She loved baking with her because it was the only time she seemed like a normal lady instead of the mean drill sergeant.
Amy grabbed her bowl from cabinets and her mixing utensils. Edna was carefully measuring out two portions of flour, handing one to Amy. Amy greedily picked it up and dumped it into her bowl and started stirring the flour around.
"So what did Bright say to you?" asked Edna as she was measuring out coco powder.
"He called me a Poo-Head Spaz." Amy frowned as she inattentively stirred her bowl of flour.
"That's not very nice. What's a spaz?" asked Edna as she gave Amy the coco powder.
"I don't know." Amy's frown grew bigger. Amy added the coco to her bowl and frantically stirred her bowl, trying to not to think about Bright's stupid comments.
Edna measured out a few more ingredients and Amy in turn placed them into her bowl and proceeded to mix them. Eventually Amy broke the silence.
"Grama Edna, how do you know if you have a crush on someone?" asked Amy bashfully.
"That's a good question hun. The easiest way to find out is to ask yourself: what do you feel when you think of him? Or when he's around?"
"I don't know, when I think about him I remember how bad he is. He's icky! . But when I'm around him I got all these butterflies in my tummy." She paused in thought, thinking about Colin.
"And other times when I think about him he's so nice and sweet. Like last week when we went to the field trip to the Brewery* and I got on the wrong bus. Colin thought I missed it and he walked back three miles to look for me." Amy stopped stirring and looked at her grandmother smiling at her. Which was odd, cause Grama hardly smiled much, unless she was yelling or making fun of someone.
"Hmmmm" Edna processed her granddaughter's comments.
"And there was this one time he stole Grover and wouldn't give it back to me till I gave him a kiss. So we closed our eyes and he leaned over and I kicked him in his boy place. And when mommy and daddy came in to see why Colin screaming, he didn't say that I did it. Only that Grover did it." Edna could see a small spread over Amy's face.
"And other times he's a meanie head. Like when he steals Grover!" Amy picked up Grover and gave it a big hug. "I'm so confused."
"You know Amy, lots of boys act meanest to the ones they like the best."
"Really?" Edna could see the hope in Amy's eyes. "Do you think . that Colin might like . me back?"
"Oh so you like him now?" semi-taunted Edna.
"I didn't say that!" defended Amy.
"Let me tell you about my first big crush. Back when I was a bit older than you, there was this strapping young boy. His name was Irv. He came from a simple family, but he was the nicest guy on the earth. He sure was a sweet talker that one."
"Wait, isn't Grampa's name Harold? Like Daddy's?"
"Shhhh. Don't tell your father. But Irv was before your Grand Daddy." Edna walked to the fridge and grabbed some eggs, and a beer. She opened it and took a sip.
"Irv was in my class and we've been making googley eyes at each other all semester. When the Thaw Festival finally came, he scrounged up all his nerve and asked me to go." Edna took another sip from her beer and looked at Amy who was watching her intently.
"I still remember the day he asked me, he was so nervous; fidgeting around with the flowers he got me, dropping most of the petals in the process. He was a real sweetie pie. We went and we had a great time. He took me to the Ferris Wheel and told me how he felt about me. It was beautiful, sitting up there with him holding my hand peering over the landscape." Edna sighed taking another sip, remembering that moment, bring a smile to her lips. "We had our first kiss on a school bus of all places. It was on a field trip and we were in the back. And he just reached over and just kissed me. He was such a darling."
"So what happened?" asked Amy anxiously.
"Well we went on for a long time, but my parents didn't really approve of it. Irv wasn't. really what they had in mind for me."
"Why not?"
"Oh it doesn't matter, but I still loved him the same. We had some great times, I'll show you the pictures some day. But then left me. His family moved away. We promised we'd meet back some day and be together again." Amy could see the sadness wash over her face, a sudden pang of guilt hit her for bringing this all back to her grandmother. Edna sensed Amy's feelings and reassured her:
"Oh don't look like that, I'm not really that sad. I'm just reminiscing about the past and what could have been. When you get older you'll do it too." Edna cracked a couple of eggs and placed them into their bowls.
"So anyways I stayed faithful to Irv for a long time, but I got lonely, really lonely. Then I met this other boy, your grandfather. He wasn't Irv, but he was a good stopgap. NEVER tell anyone that, you hear? Or you'll be doing pushups till the cows come home! It'll be our little secret, k?" Edna winked at Amy.
Amy gasped at the thought of doing that many pushups, and at the same time she felt closer to her grandmother than ever before. They typically never shared any big secrets as this with each other.
"But as time went on I got really attached to Hal. I hope you never get in the position where you're in love with two boys. It's not a fun situation. And after while I almost started to forget about Irv." Edna placed the cookies into the preheated oven and closed the door.
"Then one day Irv came back, for me. It didn't take him long to hear I was with Hal, and he got really upset and we had a big fight." She sighed. "He blamed me for cheating on him, and I blamed him for leaving me. And Hal wasn't too happy either. I got so mad with everything and everyone. I just picked up and left."
"And that's when you joined the Army?"
"Smart girl. I joined the army and got all my frustrations out. It was a good experience you should join someday. " Amy made a disgusted face and stuck out her tongue.
"But when I came back Irv was gone. He left town again. Instead I found Hal waiting for me. He was really good to me; he didn't care about what happened in the past. He was just there for me, no matter what. And I loved him for that. Hopefully you'll find someone that will love you that much in the future honey. And when you do, you hold on to him for dear life. Like how I did with your Grampa Hal."
Hal Senior walked into the kitchen and smelt the baking cookies. "Smells good in here honey. Did you help make them Amy?" Amy nodded furiously, proud in her baking abilities.
Edna quickly walked up to Hal and gave him a giant bear hug and kissed him on the cheek.
"What was that for?" asked Hal.
"For being you." Edna turned to Amy and gave her a wink a smile, and they both giggled.
"I'll be playing with Bright if you need me." said Hal as he walked out. He was thoroughly confused with the scene in the kitchen, feeling that he was definitely interrupting a girl moment.
Amy watched the cookies in the in the oven for awhile, while Edna enjoyed her beer.
Amy turned and faced Edna. "Do you ever think about him?"
"Besides when you ask me about him?" Amy smiled. "I think of him every time I see a yellow school bus." Amy giggled, putting a smile on Edna's face. "I know it's silly, but it brings me back to that first kiss on the bus."
"Do you still love him Grama?" Amy looked almost too scared to ask the question.
"Yes. Absolutely. There's always a sweet spot for you first love." She sighed again. "Just don't let that get in the way of any other loves you might have. They shouldn't be punished for being there second."
DING!
"They're done! They're done!" Amy hopped up and down excitedly and watched as Edna took the trays out of the oven and placed them on racks.
Amy grabbed two hot cookies from the tray, one for herself, and one for Grover. She headed over to where she left Grover. She dropped the cookies in horror when he wasn't there. She could hear running in the other room.
"Mission accomplished! YO JOE!" yelled Bright as he ran up the stairs with Grover.
"BRIGHT, GIVE HIM BACK." Amy started running out of the kitchen and into the foyer, where Colin was sitting cross legged playing with some GI Joe's.
Amy completely lost her ability to run and fell on her face.
"You're such a spaz" said Colin as he reached out to help her up. Amy gave a puzzled smile and reached out to grab his hand, but he pulled it away before she reached him. "HA HA! Loser!" and he quickly ran up the stairs after Bright.
Amy could feel tears creeping into her eyes, both from the loss of Grover and confused feelings about Colin. She picked herself up and ran up the stairs.
Edna smiled to herself, witnessing the children playing. She walked up the stairs and made sure that Bright and Colin had given Grover back before walking into her bedroom.
She walked up to shelf and pulled out an old photo album and flipped through it till she found her favorite picture. It was a picture of Irv and herself sitting on the hood of an old yellow school bus holding hands. She smiled again reliving those memories.
"Sorry sug, I guess it just wasn't to be. Too bad, I really did love you."
----
A/N: *Brewery tours are SO much fun. If you ever get to go, do it. If it's a nice brewery there's a free 'taste test' at the end. :) Oh man that was a good time.
"Why are you such a spaz?" questioned Bright as he was setting up his GI Joes on the floor. He sat down in front of the TV, and was killing time till four o'clock when his favorite cartoon would start.
"Am not, you're the spaz." shot Amy as she hung on to Grover, sticking out her tongue at her brother.
"Are too!" said Bright through one of his GI Joes.
"Am not." replied Amy through Grover.
"Are too" said Bright through a different GI Joe.
"AM NOT!"
"You totally are! You spaz out every time C's around. He keeps saying you're always funny around him." Bright decided to run over bunch of Cobra troops with his GI Joe tank, making little tank sounds.
"C? I spaz out around a letter?"
"Colin, you dork." said Bright through his GI Joe Tank.
"You're the dork. Tanks don't talk." Amy stuck out her tongue again. "And Colin is a poo head, just like you."
"It's the guy INSIDE the tank." It was Bright's turn to stick out his tongue. "And you're the poo head!"
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I 'm not!"
"Yes you are! You're a Poo-Head-Spaz!" laughed Bright.
"GRAMA EDNA! BRIGHT'S MAKING FUN OF ME!" she yelled as she ran away from the room into the kitchen.
"Bright, front and center!" ordered Edna.
Bright slowly and carefully sidestepped all his toys and walked timidly into the kitchen to face his grandmother. "I didn't do anything wrong! SHE started it!"
"At attention soldier. Intelligence says that you've been mean to your subordinate. Is that true?" Edna stood in front of both children, waving a large wooden spoon in Bright's face.
"No sir!" Bright snapped. "She started it!"
"Did not!"
"Did Too!"
"Did Not!"
"DID TOO!"
"ATTENTION! Both of you. You," pointing to Bright, "are confined to family room till 17:00 hours. DISMISSED!" Bright left the room quickly, counting his lucky stars he didn't have to do pushups and went back to his GI Joes.
"And you," pointing to Amy with her wooden spoon, "are on mess duty with me. We're baking cookies." Amy broke out into a cute little smile, and placed Grover on the kitchen counter facing them. She went and grabbed her little apron and put it on.
Her Grandmother was sort like a mean drill sergeant and she was an even worse baker. But she taught Amy everything she knew about baking. She loved baking with her because it was the only time she seemed like a normal lady instead of the mean drill sergeant.
Amy grabbed her bowl from cabinets and her mixing utensils. Edna was carefully measuring out two portions of flour, handing one to Amy. Amy greedily picked it up and dumped it into her bowl and started stirring the flour around.
"So what did Bright say to you?" asked Edna as she was measuring out coco powder.
"He called me a Poo-Head Spaz." Amy frowned as she inattentively stirred her bowl of flour.
"That's not very nice. What's a spaz?" asked Edna as she gave Amy the coco powder.
"I don't know." Amy's frown grew bigger. Amy added the coco to her bowl and frantically stirred her bowl, trying to not to think about Bright's stupid comments.
Edna measured out a few more ingredients and Amy in turn placed them into her bowl and proceeded to mix them. Eventually Amy broke the silence.
"Grama Edna, how do you know if you have a crush on someone?" asked Amy bashfully.
"That's a good question hun. The easiest way to find out is to ask yourself: what do you feel when you think of him? Or when he's around?"
"I don't know, when I think about him I remember how bad he is. He's icky! . But when I'm around him I got all these butterflies in my tummy." She paused in thought, thinking about Colin.
"And other times when I think about him he's so nice and sweet. Like last week when we went to the field trip to the Brewery* and I got on the wrong bus. Colin thought I missed it and he walked back three miles to look for me." Amy stopped stirring and looked at her grandmother smiling at her. Which was odd, cause Grama hardly smiled much, unless she was yelling or making fun of someone.
"Hmmmm" Edna processed her granddaughter's comments.
"And there was this one time he stole Grover and wouldn't give it back to me till I gave him a kiss. So we closed our eyes and he leaned over and I kicked him in his boy place. And when mommy and daddy came in to see why Colin screaming, he didn't say that I did it. Only that Grover did it." Edna could see a small spread over Amy's face.
"And other times he's a meanie head. Like when he steals Grover!" Amy picked up Grover and gave it a big hug. "I'm so confused."
"You know Amy, lots of boys act meanest to the ones they like the best."
"Really?" Edna could see the hope in Amy's eyes. "Do you think . that Colin might like . me back?"
"Oh so you like him now?" semi-taunted Edna.
"I didn't say that!" defended Amy.
"Let me tell you about my first big crush. Back when I was a bit older than you, there was this strapping young boy. His name was Irv. He came from a simple family, but he was the nicest guy on the earth. He sure was a sweet talker that one."
"Wait, isn't Grampa's name Harold? Like Daddy's?"
"Shhhh. Don't tell your father. But Irv was before your Grand Daddy." Edna walked to the fridge and grabbed some eggs, and a beer. She opened it and took a sip.
"Irv was in my class and we've been making googley eyes at each other all semester. When the Thaw Festival finally came, he scrounged up all his nerve and asked me to go." Edna took another sip from her beer and looked at Amy who was watching her intently.
"I still remember the day he asked me, he was so nervous; fidgeting around with the flowers he got me, dropping most of the petals in the process. He was a real sweetie pie. We went and we had a great time. He took me to the Ferris Wheel and told me how he felt about me. It was beautiful, sitting up there with him holding my hand peering over the landscape." Edna sighed taking another sip, remembering that moment, bring a smile to her lips. "We had our first kiss on a school bus of all places. It was on a field trip and we were in the back. And he just reached over and just kissed me. He was such a darling."
"So what happened?" asked Amy anxiously.
"Well we went on for a long time, but my parents didn't really approve of it. Irv wasn't. really what they had in mind for me."
"Why not?"
"Oh it doesn't matter, but I still loved him the same. We had some great times, I'll show you the pictures some day. But then left me. His family moved away. We promised we'd meet back some day and be together again." Amy could see the sadness wash over her face, a sudden pang of guilt hit her for bringing this all back to her grandmother. Edna sensed Amy's feelings and reassured her:
"Oh don't look like that, I'm not really that sad. I'm just reminiscing about the past and what could have been. When you get older you'll do it too." Edna cracked a couple of eggs and placed them into their bowls.
"So anyways I stayed faithful to Irv for a long time, but I got lonely, really lonely. Then I met this other boy, your grandfather. He wasn't Irv, but he was a good stopgap. NEVER tell anyone that, you hear? Or you'll be doing pushups till the cows come home! It'll be our little secret, k?" Edna winked at Amy.
Amy gasped at the thought of doing that many pushups, and at the same time she felt closer to her grandmother than ever before. They typically never shared any big secrets as this with each other.
"But as time went on I got really attached to Hal. I hope you never get in the position where you're in love with two boys. It's not a fun situation. And after while I almost started to forget about Irv." Edna placed the cookies into the preheated oven and closed the door.
"Then one day Irv came back, for me. It didn't take him long to hear I was with Hal, and he got really upset and we had a big fight." She sighed. "He blamed me for cheating on him, and I blamed him for leaving me. And Hal wasn't too happy either. I got so mad with everything and everyone. I just picked up and left."
"And that's when you joined the Army?"
"Smart girl. I joined the army and got all my frustrations out. It was a good experience you should join someday. " Amy made a disgusted face and stuck out her tongue.
"But when I came back Irv was gone. He left town again. Instead I found Hal waiting for me. He was really good to me; he didn't care about what happened in the past. He was just there for me, no matter what. And I loved him for that. Hopefully you'll find someone that will love you that much in the future honey. And when you do, you hold on to him for dear life. Like how I did with your Grampa Hal."
Hal Senior walked into the kitchen and smelt the baking cookies. "Smells good in here honey. Did you help make them Amy?" Amy nodded furiously, proud in her baking abilities.
Edna quickly walked up to Hal and gave him a giant bear hug and kissed him on the cheek.
"What was that for?" asked Hal.
"For being you." Edna turned to Amy and gave her a wink a smile, and they both giggled.
"I'll be playing with Bright if you need me." said Hal as he walked out. He was thoroughly confused with the scene in the kitchen, feeling that he was definitely interrupting a girl moment.
Amy watched the cookies in the in the oven for awhile, while Edna enjoyed her beer.
Amy turned and faced Edna. "Do you ever think about him?"
"Besides when you ask me about him?" Amy smiled. "I think of him every time I see a yellow school bus." Amy giggled, putting a smile on Edna's face. "I know it's silly, but it brings me back to that first kiss on the bus."
"Do you still love him Grama?" Amy looked almost too scared to ask the question.
"Yes. Absolutely. There's always a sweet spot for you first love." She sighed again. "Just don't let that get in the way of any other loves you might have. They shouldn't be punished for being there second."
DING!
"They're done! They're done!" Amy hopped up and down excitedly and watched as Edna took the trays out of the oven and placed them on racks.
Amy grabbed two hot cookies from the tray, one for herself, and one for Grover. She headed over to where she left Grover. She dropped the cookies in horror when he wasn't there. She could hear running in the other room.
"Mission accomplished! YO JOE!" yelled Bright as he ran up the stairs with Grover.
"BRIGHT, GIVE HIM BACK." Amy started running out of the kitchen and into the foyer, where Colin was sitting cross legged playing with some GI Joe's.
Amy completely lost her ability to run and fell on her face.
"You're such a spaz" said Colin as he reached out to help her up. Amy gave a puzzled smile and reached out to grab his hand, but he pulled it away before she reached him. "HA HA! Loser!" and he quickly ran up the stairs after Bright.
Amy could feel tears creeping into her eyes, both from the loss of Grover and confused feelings about Colin. She picked herself up and ran up the stairs.
Edna smiled to herself, witnessing the children playing. She walked up the stairs and made sure that Bright and Colin had given Grover back before walking into her bedroom.
She walked up to shelf and pulled out an old photo album and flipped through it till she found her favorite picture. It was a picture of Irv and herself sitting on the hood of an old yellow school bus holding hands. She smiled again reliving those memories.
"Sorry sug, I guess it just wasn't to be. Too bad, I really did love you."
----
A/N: *Brewery tours are SO much fun. If you ever get to go, do it. If it's a nice brewery there's a free 'taste test' at the end. :) Oh man that was a good time.