The Love Between Us

“Ashton! ASHTON!” my grandmother shouted.

I leaped out of my bed and rushed to the kitchen, scared that something bad happened. “What’s wrong grandma?!”

“How do you spell there?”

“Grandma, I thought this was important!”

“This is important!”

I sighed. “T-H-E-R-E.”

“Thank you.” She continued typing on her phone, ignoring my presence.

“Who are you texting anyways?” I asked.

“My senior helper from the Senior Citizen Center, Terra,” she said.

Wait, Terra? Have I heard of that name before? “Oh, okay.”

“Hurry and get ready. We need to get to the center,” grandma demanded. I hurried up and got dressed to take grandma to her little home. She loved the Senior Citizen Center. Even though the center was a place where elders lived, they made an exception to let my grandmother stay there throughout the day, but she would still live with me.

When we made it to the center, I checked my grandmother in.

“Oh, Edith! You made it!” a woman greeted her at the front desk. I turned and saw a beautiful woman walking towards us. She had long, blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. She reminded me of an old friend named-

“Terra!” my grandma squealed as she ran towards her, giving her a big hug. She began introducing me to her friend. “Terra, this is my grandson, Ashton.”

“Ashton, it’s nice to meet you.” She shook my hand. “You remind me of a guy named-”

“Ashton Smith. And you must be-”

“Terra Johnson,” she responded, shook by her sudden greetings.

“Do you guys know each other?” my grandma questioned us, bewildered.

“We were best friends in school,” Terra answered.

“We even dated,” I chimed in.

“Terra, I’ll handle this!” the lady from before intervened, treading towards us.

“Casey, I can take care of this,” Terra commanded.

“Well, since I’m your best friend from the old days, I can at least help. Now, I’ll take Edith back to the rooms, so you can talk to your long lost lover,” Casey replied.

Now I remember her, Casey Brown. Been with Terra through thick and thin. She was with Terra throughout our breakup. Which is weird because Terra broke up with me.

Casey walked my grandma to the back and Terra and I stood in silence. It took us some seconds to say something till Terra decided to say the first word.

“So, how have you been after four years?” she asked.

“I’ve been good. You?”

“Alright.”

“Hey, why don’t we hang out tonight,” I suggested.

“Okay, where?”

“Maybe a restaurant. How about Olive Garden?”

“Sure! What time and what should I wear?” Terra questioned me.

“Um, at 6 and maybe we should dress formally.”

“Formal?”

“Yeah, like royalty.”

“I know what formal means, Ashton.”

“Oh, sorry!”

She giggled. “You always make me laugh.”

I blushed, remembering that every time I was awkward, she laughed at me.

“I’ll make sure to wear my favorite dress,” Terra said.

“Oh, and the Olive Garden we’ll be eating at is on Walnut Street,” I declared, to make sure she didn’t end up at the wrong place. I was known for that, but I’m just hoping Terra doesn’t remember those situations.

“Oh, okay. Well, see you tonight!”

Terra walked towards me and kissed me on my cheek. She waved goodbye and walked towards the back of the room. This dinner was very important to me. I wanted to get down to business. Why is she working at a Senior Citizen Center? And the most important one is why did she break up with me?