I know... I didn't update last night. My bad. But! To make up for it, I made this chapter really long! Whoop whoop. Hope you guys like it!

MzMickey0014: Haha they are, aren't they? :D And you're so right, the reviews give a huge push! Thanks so much for the review!


Chapter 12

He woke up the next morning at 9:30. He took a shower and put on a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt. He checked the local weather to make sure it wasn't supposed to rain-which it wasn't- and then grabbed his keys and headed out the door.

On his way to Allison's house, he was kind of nervous, but didn't know why. He was excited to see her, but forced himself to keep from going over the speed limit. He had left earlier than planned and he didn't want to show up early and make her feel rushed.

He remembered the things that stuck out yesterday and finally spotted her house and pulled into the driveway. He walked up to the door and decided to knock instead of ringing the doorbell. Even though it wasn't too earl, he didn't know if her parents would be up yet. He knocked on the door and stepped back. He waited for a minute, and then debated knocking again, but he soon heard the door unlock and Allison opened the door. She smiled as she stood there in a pair of jeans and a white tank top.

"Good morning." He couldn't help but smile, too.

"Good morning." She motioned to her outfit,

"Is this okay? To fish in, I mean?"

"Yeah, you look great."

"Thank you." He smiled, clearing his throat,

"Well, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me go tell my parents I'm leaving."

"Okay."

She disappeared inside and then re-appeared a few seconds later. She closed the door,

"Okay, I'm ready."

"All right, let's go."

They walked off of the porch and headed to his truck. He opened the door for her and she smiled and said thank you. He walked to the other side and started the truck. As they drove down the road and he asked,

"So your parents are okay with you coming with me?"

"Yeah, I told them they had nothing to worry about." He looked at her,

"Really?"

"Yep. But they know where I'm at and who I'm with so if I go missing they know I'm with you." He laughed,

"Don't worry; we're just going down to Kure Beach. They have nothing to worry about."

"Good. So where exactly are we going?"

"We're going to the Kure Beach pier. It won't be that busy, it's the off-season and there aren't any tourists." She nodded,

"Okay." They sat together before he asked her,

"So, what else do you like to do, except going go to the beach and volunteering for your church?"

She thought about it and then told him that she liked to read and she was interested in astronomy. She had taken a couple of astronomy classes in high school and it really got her interested. She would sometimes go to the beach and just lie on the beach and look at the stars. She also told him that she liked to play the piano, sing, bowl and just relax and spend time with her family and friends.

She asked him some basic questions like what his favorite color was, what his favorite restaurant was, his favorite song- which was Kashmir by Led Zeppelin- and his favorite kind of music. He, in return, asked her all of these questions, too.

Her favorite color was green, her favorite restaurant was Chili's and her favorite song was The Cave by Mumford and Sons. Her favorite kinds of music were alternative rock and Christian and her favorite movie was Steel Magnolias. They also talked about their childhoods

He found out that she had an older sister; her parents had met in high school and were still crazy in love, even after twenty-five years of marriage. She had made straight A's throughout high school and graduated in the top ten of her class.

He told her that he had played football freshman and sophomore year and quit because of his grades. He debated whether or not to tell her about him being a rebel his junior year and then finally decided to. There was something about her that made him want to be completely honest with her. With any other girl, he would have told her anything to impress her, but with Allison that wasn't possible.

He told her about falling into the 'wrong crowd' and doing anything that would make him look cool, which explained the tattoos on both of his arms. He drank regularly and stayed out late, partying.

"Wow, you were pretty rebellious, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess I was."

"I would have never guessed." He looked at her,

"Why?"

"I don't know; you just seem nothing like that now." He smiled,

"Thank you."


They continued to drive and made their way through Wilmington and headed towards Kure Beach. They talked some more, then Allison must have recognized a song on the radio,

"Oh, can I cut this up?"

"Sure."

She leaned towards the radio and turned the volume up. She started singing immediately and he recognized the song. He rolled down the windows and cranked it up even more. She looked at him and smiled. She sang even louder and Ben joined in. The song was Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival. They sang the rest of the song in unison and when the song ended, another one came on that they knew. They sung that one together, also, and when that one ended, a commercial came on. He turned it down and she was smiling,

"That was fun" He smiled,

"Yeah, it was. I thought you only listened to Rock and Christian?"

"I do, but I grew up on these songs. My dad loves classic rock and whenever I rode with him in his truck, we would always listen to it. We still do actually."

"That sounds nice."

"It is." She turned towards him in the seat,

"So tell me about your father." He suddenly got a lump in his throat,

"My father?"

"Yeah, you know about my parents; I don't really know anything about yours." He cleared his throat,

"Well his name is Mark and, along with my grandfather, he was my best friend growing up. We did almost everything together and I spent almost all of my time with him." She smiled,

"He sounds nice."

He shrugged his shoulders, thinking how rude his father had been. He was talking about her when he knew nothing about her. He had only spent yesterday with her and the day of the accident, but he knew he had never met anyone like Allison before. She was one of the nicest people he had ever met. She saw him shrug his shoulders and she asked,

"What is it?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, maybe another time." She smiled,

"That's what you said yesterday at the cemetery. When I asked you if your day had been emotional, you said yes and I asked you whether or not you wanted to talk about it and you said maybe another time." He smiled,

"I did, didn't I?"

"Yep. Do you want to talk about that?"

He didn't really want to but, again, there was something about her that made him want to be completely honest with her. He wanted her to know him and he didn't want to hide anything from her. He took a deep breath and began the story.

He told her about his mom dying and his trip back to the U.S. He then told her about the letter his mom had written him and the picture that she had left on his dresser. She was the first one he had told his mom's letter about. When he finished telling her, she wore a sad expression,

"I'm so, so sorry, Ben."

"It's okay. A certain someone told me that pain heals in time." He nudged her shoulder and smiled. She smiled as well and they drove together in silence for a while. He drove through Monkey Junction, a part of town before you got to the bridge that led to the beaches.

Monkey Junction was named for a historical event. When the local zoo was close to the only thing that was down there, a lot of monkeys had somehow escaped from the place and, since then, everyone had begun calling it Monkey Junction. Ben told Allison this and she was impressed. He shrugged his shoulders,

"My grandpa was a history buff."

"You know I've never been to the zoo?"

"What?"

"Nope. Not just the one down here, but anywhere." He smiled and shook his head,

"What else have you not done that you want to do?"

She thought about some things for a minute, and then started naming them. She wanted to go to the zoo, the aquarium and the battleship.

"Whoa, wait a minute; you've never been to the battleship?"

"No. Everyone has that reaction by the way." He smiled,

"Sorry. But how have you never been to the battleship?"

"I don't know. My parents just never took me."

"I'm going to have to have a talk with your parents, then." She smiled and nudged his shoulder,

"Don't be rude. They're just not that kind of people." He smiled,

"What kind of people are they, then?"

"You know if you're walking or driving down the road and you look at a house and you see two older people, or even younger people, sitting in their rocking chairs and just enjoying each other's company?" He nodded and she continued,

"That's the kind of people they are- the kind that can just sit and be content and there not be an awkward silence I'm kind of envious. They seem to be just as happy now as they were twenty years ago." He smiled,

"Okay, I don't have to talk to them, then." She laughed and he continued,

"No, they sound like really nice people."

"They are."

He was about to say something else but, as they drove over Snow's Cut Bridge, she looked down with her head almost in her lap. He looked over at her,

"Are you okay?"

"Are we over it yet?"

"What the bridge?" She nodded and he drove a little faster to get off of it,

"Okay, we're off."

She looked up and took a deep breath. He looked at her and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye and laughed, embarrassedly,

"Sorry, I'm just kind of scared of bridges?"

"Don't be sorry, everybody's afraid of something."

They rode for a half of a mile and he slowed the truck. He pulled into a lot in front of a big sign over the pier that said 'Kure Beach Pier.'

"Alright, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

He parked the truck and got out the tackle boxes and fishing poles. They walked up to the pier and paid the man a couple of dollars and they headed onto the pier. He led her down towards the end. Ben was right- the pier was dead. As they walked, they passed about five other fishermen; ones that you could tell came and fished regularly. They stopped a couple of feet before the very end of the pier.

"Is this okay?"

"Yeah, this is great."

"Okay, now we have to bait the hooks."

"Okay, just tell me what to do." He smiled,

"If you'll hold your rod, I'll bait it for you."

She nodded and he handed her a rod. He reached into the tackle box and pulled out a shrimp that he had bought the day before. He grabbed the hook on her line and put the shrimp on it.

"Alright, you're set."

"Thank you."

"No problem just let me bait mine really quickly and I'll show you how to cast it out." He baited his hook and then put his rod up against the railing.

"Okay, this is how you do it. You see this little button here?"

"Yep."

"Alright, well you hold it down and then bring it back over your shoulder and, when it gets right in front of you, let go of the button." He demonstrated for her and the line went flying out in from of them, over the railing and into the water. She smiled as he handed her the rod,

"Thank you."

"No problem. But, be sure when you reel it back in that no one is behind you before you cast it back out. You could hook them with your hook and it wouldn't be a pretty sight." She laughed as he grabbed his rod and repeated the procedure he had shown Allison and cast his line into the ocean.


It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The pier was about nine hundred feet long- it was one of the longest piers in North Carolina. Ben estimated that they were about 800 feet down and they were all alone in their spot.

They were standing behind the railing and, from their viewpoint, the view was beautiful. To their left was the beach; it was almost empty. There were a couple of people walking and holding hands, but that was it. The water was as blue as could be and they saw seagulls flying up in the air. One of them swooped down into the water and came up with a fish. Off in the distance there was a boat with a parasail on the back of it.

Even though it was only 11:00 in the morning, the sun was blazing and it was already getting hot. The high for today was supposed to be eighty degrees, but Ben knew it would get higher than that. They stood together before Allison broke the silence,

"Do you remember when you asked me what I wanted to do more than anything?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well the things I told you about were just basic things. What I really want to do is fly." He looked at her,

"Really?"

"Yep. That's why I was so interested to hear you talk about being in the Air Force. Ever since I was a little kid I've wanted to fly, just over the ocean. It's like my dream." He smiled,

"That's an amazing dream. And I can tell you from experience; it's something you would never forget. Maybe you'll get a chance to do it one day." She smiled and was about to say something when her rod began to bend.

"Ben, what's happening?" He put his rod down and went to her side,

"You've got a bite."

"What do I do?"

"Reel it in!"

She started reeling and he stood by her side. She looked nervous and he looked over the railing to see if he could see her line.

"Holy cow, this is heavy." He smiled at her choice of words,

"Do you want me to help you?"

"Yes, please."

He stood behind her and placed his hands above hers on the rod. He tried not to make it too awkward but he didn't know how else to help her. As he stood behind her, he felt nervous. Allison was unlike any other girl he had met before. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable in any way. When he moved behind her, he asked,

"Is this okay? I mean I don't want to make you uncomfortable." She smiled and shook her head,

"It's fine. Thanks for asking."

"All right, pull!"

She pulled and he started reeling it in and even he had difficulty with it. 'Wow, this is a big one.' He thought. He continued to reel it in as Allison continued to pull on it. They finally saw it come over the railing. They stopped reeling and they looked at the line as it landed on the pier. Ben said, in a disgusted voice,

"Oh my god."

On the reel was a huge clump of seaweed. She looked at him and then busted out laughing. He smiled and laughed,

"What are you laughing at?"

"I'm sorry, that was hilarious. We did all of that and it turned out to be a big clump of seaweed." He laughed,

"Well let's hurry up and throw your line back in there so you can catch a fish."

They stood together, fishing and talking and laughing for almost twenty minutes before Allison's rod began to bend again. This time, she knew what that meant and immediately called his name. He turned to her and told her to reel it in, just like they had before. She reeled it in and, a couple of seconds later, the line came over the railing and a little guppy was flopping around on the pier. Allison jumped back,

"Oh my god, Ben, get it!"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Get him! He's going to die!"

He leaned down and grabbed the hook out of the fish's mouth and released it. He grabbed him and stood back up. Allison was still standing back as he asked,

"Do you want to see him?"

"No, just throw him back."

"Come here; come see your first fish."

She looked at him for a minute, and then slowly came towards him. She stood in front of him and looked down at her fish. He was breathing heavily and there was a small, bloody hole where the hook had been.

"Awe, Ben, throw him back, please."

"Why? He's your first fish."

"So, I don't want him to die." He smiled and lifted him up to her face,

"Don't you want to kiss him first?" She put her hand over her face and backed up,

"Eww, that's disgusting!"

He laughed and ran towards her. She ran down the pier and he chased her until she yelled back to him, laughing,

"Ben, stop!" She slowed down and he stopped chasing her. He laughed,

"Come on, he just wants a kiss before I throw him back."

"I am not kissing that fish."

"Alright, how about this? If you kiss this fish, I'll buy you a Britt's donut." She looked at him, obviously thinking about it,

"Mouthwash, too?"

"Mouthwash too." She walked towards him,

"I can't believe I'm doing this." He smiled,

"Go ahead; you're getting a Britt's donut and a bottle of mouthwash out of it."

She wrinkled her nose and closed her eyes. He smiled again and lifted to fish to her lips and she opened one eye. She quickly gave him a peck and then immediately wiped her lips,

"Eww that's disgusting!"

He laughed and threw the fish back over the rail and into the ocean. He smiled at her and she looked at him and wrinkled her nose He grinned and she finally smiled at him as they walked back to their spot.

They continued to fish for the next hour. They talked and laughed together and, after an hour of not catching anything, they paced up their stuff and made their way off of the pier. While they were walking, she nudged his shoulder,

"So, are you going to buy me that Britt's donut?" He smiled,

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Yes you did."

"Do you want it right now?""

"Yes I would." He laughed,

"Okay, let's go then."


Isn't Ben just so sweet, I wish they made guys like him now :D Hope you guys enjoyed it! Almost done typing the next chapter so it'll be up in mere hours! Holla back. Oh, and as always, please review!