Hey babes! Back again with the FINAL CHAPTER of this little story. Thank you so much to everyone who's read and reviewed this story. Your love and support means the world.
But don't worry. We're not done with this quite yet. I do have another multi-chaptered story planned out for this world. So keep an eye out for that. :)
And now, without further ado, the final chapter.
Enjoy!
Grant takes a deep breath as he approaches Skye where she sits on the steps of her trailer, her laptop open in her lap. This is it, it's now or never. This is his chance, the moment he's been biding his time waiting for. He felt bad for turning down her invitation to hang out when she asked him, but he had already started formulating a plan of his own and she completely threw him for a loop with her question. She never explicitly said it was supposed to be a date, though, so maybe she really did just want to hang out and he was reading way too much into it.
Shaking his head to focus his thoughts where he needs them to be, he clears his throat quietly and puts a genuine, albeit nervous, smile on his face. "Hey, Skye, can I talk to you about something for a minute?"
"Sure." She smiles up at him as she closes the lid of her laptop, laughing a little when Max immediately jumps up onto her lap to greet her with a soft bark. "What's up?"
"Well, since we've finished shooting here they're giving us tomorrow morning to kind of explore the town a bit before we all head back to LA. There's this mountain here, the one with the giant Y on it, that I've been wanting to hike since they told us we were coming here and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hike it with me and Max before we leave."
She raises an eyebrow at him as she runs her fingers through Max's fur. "Hiking?"
He shrugs his shoulders, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Yeah. I thought it'd be something fun that we could do together. But if you don't want to do it then—"
"Whoa whoa whoa. I never said I didn't want to."
"So you're going to come with me?"
"I never said that either."
He sighs. "Well can you decide, please?"
"Fine, fine." She smiles up at him. "Yes, I'll come hiking with you tomorrow."
He smiles back. "Awesome. Max and I will pick you up at your hotel room at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. Some of the locals said it only takes about an hour or so to hike up the whole thing so maybe we can have a late breakfast/early lunch up there before we hike back down."
"Sounds great. See you then."
"Great. Come on, Max." He gestures with his head for Max to follow behind him as he makes his way toward his own trailer.
That definitely wasn't as bad as he made it out to be in his head. He got all worked up for no reason at all. She said yes. She wants to go on a date with him.
His eyes go wide for a split second. Did he actually clarify that it's supposed to be a date? Or did she think that they're going to be hanging out as just friends? Did he just mess up completely? Oh, why did he do this? Why did he think this would be a good idea?
A knock at her hotel room door pulls Skye's attention away from the screen of her laptop. She closes the lid, stands from her bed and walks over to her door, undoing the latch and pulling it open. She manages to get a deep, steadying breath in before the door opens fully and smiles when she sees Grant and Max standing on the other side, dressed and ready for a hike.
"Hey, are you ready to go?" Grant asks her with a smile on his face, briefly adjusting the straps of his backpack.
"Just about." She opens the door a little bit wider, allowing the two of them to step inside as she moves to finish getting ready.
"Well hurry up."
"Oh relax," she says back with a small roll of her eyes, searching the hotel room for her shoes. "The mountain will still be there even if we're running late. But I don't even see how we could be running late because it's not like you have to set up appointments for these kinds of things. You didn't have to set up an appointment for this, right?"
He chuckles. "No, I didn't have to set up an appointment to go hiking. But I don't think you want our food going bad before we even get to the trailhead."
Skye looks up at him from where she's sitting on the edge of the bed lacing up her tennis shoes that she thankfully had the idea to bring along. "What did you bring for us to eat?"
He smiles. "You're just going to have to wait and see."
"Oh, come on." She stands from the bed and walks toward him, no shame in the little bit more sway she puts in her hips. "Not even a little tiny hint?" She stands with just inches between them, her head tilted back to look up at him.
He swallows thickly. "Nope."
She pouts. "You're so mean."
He shrugs and then smiles. "Nah. I just really love surprising people."
"Right. Of course. Now, shall we go hiking?"
"Yes, we shall. And I have a water bottle for you in my bag as well."
She sighs and gives him a small smile. "You are amazing because I didn't even think about that."
"I figured as much. Now come on, let's get going."
She smiles up at him, letting out a breath and resting her hands on her hips. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's do this."
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"How much longer is this hike?" Skye complains as she and Grant slowly make their way up the dirt path of the mountain. Max is walking happily in front of them, despite the fact that he's on a leash as per the trail requirements.
"Well, we just did turn nine," Grant explains, "and I think the person I spoke to back at the school said it's eleven turns. Maybe twelve. So only two or three more to go." He smiles down at her.
"Stop smiling," she tells him as she drags her feet alongside him, ready to be done hiking for at least a little while. Despite all the training she's done for the show, it doesn't make hiking up a mountain any easier. And she completely forgot until they were halfway up that they have to hike back down too. Her legs are going to be killing her in the morning when all this catches up to her.
"Want me to carry you the rest of the way?" Grant offers.
Skye raises her eyebrows at him. "You really want to carry me up this hill? Are you even going to be able to do that?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Skye, I work out a lot. Even before booking the show."
"Oh I've noticed," she mumbles under her breath. Then she speaks louder to him, "You really want to carry me up the rest of the way?"
He nods his head. "Yeah. You seem like you're getting pretty exhausted."
"I am. So a ride up the mountain would be pretty awesome right about now."
"But you have to carry the bag," he tells her. "I can't give you a piggyback ride while I'm wearing a backpack."
She crinkles her nose despite the smile. "A piggyback ride? Really?"
He shrugs. "You know you want one."
She waits a moment, watching him, and then sighs. "Yeah, I really do." She holds her hands out to him. "Give me the backpack."
Grant smiles and hands the bag over to Skye. She slides it onto her back and then looks up at her friend, taking a deep breath in.
"Alright, I'm ready."
"Then climb on." Grant smiles, turning around and squatting down to allow Skye to climb onto his back.
She takes another deep breath in and then steps forward, jumping up just enough to hoist herself onto Grant's back. She wraps her legs tightly around his waist and her arms loosely around his neck to hold herself up. A shiver quickly runs down her spine at being so close to him, despite the warm weather around them. This is unlike anything they've ever done before and she's not quite sure how to feel about it just yet.
"Let's go," she says to him, trying to keep the waver out of her voice.
"You sure?" he asks her.
She nods her head. "Of course. To the Y!" she exclaims, extending one arm and pointing a finger out in front of them. Grant laughs before turning and continuing his walk up the hill, Max walking dutifully ahead.
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"Yes!" Skye shouts when she sees the edge of the white Y a few feet in front of them as they get closer to it. "We made it! That was such an exhausting walk."
"Says the one who didn't have to carry another human being on their back for the last part of it," Grant mutters.
"Hey, you offered," she reminds him.
"Unfortunately," he mumbles under his breath.
Skye leans her head down so she can look at him better. "Oh, you loved carrying me up the hill."
"I can neither confirm nor deny that."
She laughs quietly. "Sure you can't."
They're quiet for a few minutes as they approach the giant white Y painted on the rocks in front of them, Max walking right beside them and stopping when they do.
"Wow," Skye breathes out, "this is actually really cool. Cooler than I thought it was going to be."
"You glad I suggested it?" he asks her.
"A little bit," she says with a smile.
He smiles back. "Me too."
"Let's take a picture."
"You really like to take pictures," he replies as he turns his head slightly to look at her.
"I know." She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and unlocks it, going into Instagram. "Now smile."
She holds the phone up in front of them, switching the camera on her phone to face the two of them.
Grant leans his head back slightly, so it's resting right next to Skye's, and smiles. Skye rests the side of her head against Grant's and smiles as well. She hits the capture button and then pulls the phone down, looking at the photo.
"Oh, I love it." She grins, staring at the picture of the two of them.
"Yeah, it looks good," Grant agrees.
Skye taps the photo and tags Grant's face before posting it.
Made it to the top of the Y! Please never make me do it again. #provoutah #Ymountain #wehikedtheY
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"Okay, next question," Skye says as she takes a bite out of her sandwich, chewing patiently as she waits for Grant's question.
"Alright. Um…" Grant tilts his head and taps his chin, thinking for a moment. "Okay, I think I've got one. What made you get into acting?"
Skye smiles. "Ooh, good one."
He smiles back. "I thought it was. And I want the real story here, not just the condensed, watered-down version you might give during future interviews when you're asked."
"Well," she begins her explanation, taking a deep breath, "when I was younger I was always getting into trouble, usually just little things here and there. But this one time, I guess it was worse than the others, so my foster family at the time gave me a choice, I could do a bunch of hours of community service picking up trash at the local park, even though I was only in elementary school, or I could participate in the school play because they didn't have enough actors."
He furrows his brows. "Wait, you were in foster care? For how long?"
"From the time I was a baby. I was dropped off at an orphanage when I was just a few months old. I don't know anything about my birth parents."
"Wow. I'm so sorry."
She waves him off. "Thanks. But I've moved past it all and gotten over it. Besides, I got adopted by a really great family when I was about ten."
"That's great," he says, smiling wide. "Max! Get away from there."
Skye smiles at the memory of that moment that changed everything for her. "Yeah. They're pretty great. The Campbell's; a mom and dad who love me, and a big brother to tease me relentlessly yet love me all the same. They fostered me for the minimum amount of time required before they could adopt me. The day I was officially adopted by them they threw me this huge party and Lincoln immediately took on the big brother role. We were always pretty close growing up. It was like I was always a part of the family."
Grant smiles. "Well, I'm very happy for you."
"Thanks. But back to what I was saying before, I didn't want to pick up trash so I joined the school play. I ended up loving it and I stuck with it when I got to middle school as well as high school. Then I decided to pursue acting in college and move out here permanently to try and make a career out of it. It took a little bit of time, but I think I'm finally doing it."
"Well, I'd have to agree with you there. And that is quite the story."
She nods her head. "Yes, it is. But now it's your turn."
"My turn for what?" he asks, reaching out to rub Max's head as the dog lies down next to him.
"To tell me how you got into acting. I mean, I've followed your career pretty closely since very near the beginning and I've seen all the interviews you've done, but there has to be more to the story. I could tell that there's something you were holding back anytime that question would come up. I'm dying to know the real reason."
He sighs. "My older brother used to hit me."
Skye's eyes go wide. "What? Wait, are you serious right now?"
He nods his head. "Yeah. He'd been hitting me for years, most of the time it was over really stupid stuff. I wanted to fight back, but I knew he'd just hit me more if I tried. And if I tried to tell someone, I knew my parents would just make it seem like I was lying."
She lays a hand on his arm. "Hey, if you can't get through this, I understand."
He shakes his head. "No. I'm fine. I just don't like reliving it so I don't speak about it to a lot of people."
"Okay." She removes her hand from his arm.
He takes a deep breath. "So, in seventh grade, I joined the school play as a way to stay out of the house longer and away from my brother. I would have done sports, but I wasn't really the athletic type back then. It also doesn't hurt that a girl I liked was doing the play. Anyways, when my brother found out I was doing theatre, he tormented me even more. I had thought about quitting so he wouldn't hurt me as much, but I realized that being on stage was the only place I really felt safe."
"Wow. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that."
"Thanks. But it's over now. I continued theatre in high school and then graduated from a performing arts college at the top of my class and now I'm one of the biggest names in the industry." He sits up a little straighter and smiles proudly.
Skye returns his smile. "Yes, you are."
"And as for my brother, when I went off to college he was furious at our parents for letting me leave home. So he got involved with the wrong people, did some really stupid stuff, and got arrested. He's been in prison ever since."
"Well," Skye speaks as she places her hand on his arm again, "I'm glad you got out of that situation."
"I am too." Grant smiles back at her as she removes her hand from his arm and takes another bite of her sandwich.
"Hey, Skye, can I ask you something?"
Skye nods her head, her mouth too full of her sandwich to answer.
Grant tilts his head a little. "Well, it's less of a question, more of a statement of sorts."
She smiles, laughing quietly as she swallows. "Okay, and what is your statement of sorts?"
He takes a deep breath. "When I asked you to come hiking with me today, it wasn't just to hang out together outside of work. It was actually supposed to be a date, but I'm not sure if you knew that, or even really care. But I just—"
"Grant," Skye cuts him off with her hand on his arm again. "I know."
"You know?"
She removes her hand and nods her head, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I knew you were asking me on a date."
Grant's eyes go wide. "How did you know? I didn't even tell you it was a date until just now. At least, I don't think that I did."
"I'm not an idiot, Grant. I knew you were asking me on a date because one, I'm an attractive woman—"
"Yes, you are," Grant replies instantly and then goes even more wide-eyed at his own statement.
Skye blushes slightly and then continues, "Two, you and Jemma broke up which means you're single. And three, you were always flirting with me, ever since we met."
"What? I never…" Skye raises her eyebrows at him. He sighs. "Fine. So maybe I flirted with you a little. But you flirted with me too."
She smiles. "I know what I did."
"So uh, does this mean that you like me?" he asks her.
With a smile on her face, Skye glances around to make sure no one is watching them and then leans forward to gently plant her lips on his. When she pulls away from the kiss she's still smiling. "Does that answer your question?"
"I think so. Could you repeat it for me, though? I think the answer may have gotten a little lost in translation." He's smiling brightly at her.
Skye laughs quietly and shakes her head before leaning forward, placing her hand on his cheek and pressing her lips to his.
Grant smiles into the kiss, placing one of his hands on her waist and the other on the back of her neck.
"You know what," Skye says as she pulls away from the kiss. "I think I can definitely get used to this." She smiles wide up at him.
He smiles back just as wide. "Me too."
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*AnnikaDavila: They went hiking together?! I can't with these two!
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gears-of-ward posted
Okay, but I'm pretty sure the rest of the cast was spotted in town the morning after filming finished, except for two very important people. And no one else posted about going hiking. So Grant and Skye were definitely hiking together. By themselves. You are welcome.
#grant ward #skye
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Jellybean96 out!