Between You and Me

Chapter 11

Dear Diary

Gregory officially asked me to be his girl and I said yes!

Oh, I made him think I had to consider it as if I had other offerings. I did not want to play too many games with him, I want him to see me as a woman. I may be only fifteen but my dear grandmother Ruthanne said I'm wise beyond my years. As the youngest of seven, she said I was the wisest of even my oldest brother who is thirty-two and married with two children.

A lot of girls my age only want to be a housewife and a mother, but I told Gregory I had plans to have a whole life of my own. After college I would teach, then we could start a family. Gregory is graduating next summer and still has eyes on being a lawyer. Doesn't know how he will pay for that much schooling, but he's smart as well as good-looking.

He holds my hand when he walks me home, so now everyone knows Gregory is mine. I caught the other girls watching us. Jealous. Ha! I know they wish Gregory was theirs.

Gregory has not tried anything more than holding hands. Not even a hug. Not much at all! I'm sure with other girls he would go all the way, but I guess I should be happy with that.

He is all I will ever want, I'll wait for him forever.

Her grandmother drew lots of hearts over the page that were faint and faded now. She rubbed her hand over it as she sat outside on the porch again. The journals made her daydream about what it must have been like to fall in love.

How did her grandmother know he was the one? After her grandfather passed, she never remarried, never even dated again as far as she knew. That was a shame because her grandmother was a very gorgeous woman. Her great great grandmother was a Black woman who could pass for white, is what her GiGi told her.

Back in her day, she would have been what they call, "paper bag" light skin. Colorism was a big thing back in the day. Heck, still to this day with some people. She was considered dark skin, a mix of her father's ebony brown skin, and her fairer-skinned mother's. Zee was lighter than her by a few shades.

She wondered what her grandfather looked like. She had never seen any pictures of him and her grandmother had pictures of all her children, even her deceased son, and all of her grandchildren on walls in the hall.

She got up from her spot on the porch and went back into the house. She did not know if Tristan was there and did not care to see him. If she did, she would simply say hello and walk on by. He was not worth her energy.

She headed upstairs and went into the bedroom with all the boxes. There had to be some more things about her grandfather there. Pictures of them, maybe wedding photos. Every woman kept those.

None of the boxes were labeled. How did she know where things were?

She shook a few boxes. Lighter ones she figured weren't much of anything. Heavier ones may be photo albums. After opening a few with no luck, she finally found one with framed pictures.

"Oh my gosh!" She had hit the jackpot.

Framed wedding photos. Not just that, but what looked like her prom pictures with her grandfather. She held up the largest, picture of the two of them together. This was her first time seeing her grandfather, and oh my, he was pretty handsome. Her grandmother did not lie about that. He was dark-skinned, like really dark, like her father.

He was tall and towered a good foot over her grandmother. Funny, because her father was not that tall. Both her Uncle Richard and Aunt Rita were taller than him. Her father must have gotten his height from her grandmother. Her father looked like a mix of both his parents so he was good-looking, that's why he could catch all the women he dated.