Barista Boy (boyxboy)

SEVEN

"Hey, mom." Landon smiled as his mom pulled him into a hug. It only lasted a second before they pulled away, Landon stepping further into the house.

His sister, Vivian, was sitting on the couch, coffee in hand as she focused on the TV. Landon's mother followed behind him as they walked into the living room. Vivian instantly shot up from her seat to embrace her older brother.

It had been since Landon's last paycheck, which was last Friday. The young male likes to hand deliver his checks so he has an excuse to visit his family. And he hasn't ever had something else to do or someone else to hang out with.

"Hey, Viv. It's good to see you guys again. I'm sorry I haven't been around this week. I've just been... kinda busy, I guess." Landon felt extremely guilty for not visiting his mother and sister, but was too distracted with Zayden's toxicity to even remember.

"No worries," His mother waved her hand dismissively, "We've been all good here. I'm just glad you agreed to come today. I know you've been working odd hours recently."

Landon offered a small smile to his mom, "Yeah, speaking of... what is the big 'announcement' you have?" He glanced at his sister who was just as interested in their mom's answer. He assumed she didn't know either.

"Now, now. We can get into that in a moment, but for now I want to catch up with you. It's been almost a week since we last talked. Has anything new happened?" She led both her kids back to the couch and sat down on the far left side, Landon in the middle, and Vivian to his left.

"Uh, nothing much." The brunet shrugged, darting his eyes around the room. He had never been much of a liar and he could never look someone in the eye while he lied. As convincing as he wanted to be, he just couldn't.

And his mom saw right through him. But instead of questioning him up front, she lightly grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her, reading his expression. The two of them were complete opposites. Landon wasn't good at lying, and Georgina was good at reading people. Exactly what Landon hated about his mother when he was growing up, but loved when he was struggling too much to speak his mind.

"Ohhh," she smirked and let go of his face, turning to Vivian who sat behind him. "He met someone."

Landon's eyes went wide, "What?" His voice was frantic, "No! How in the world did you come to that conclusion?" The brunet rubbed the back of his neck and darted his eyes around the living room.

"Oh~! Who's the lunatic crazy enough to settle for you?" Vivian snickered at her own joke. Their mom lightly smacked her in the arm, telling her to be nice.

Landon stood up and walked out of the living room, but the house was built so the living room and kitchen were in clear shots of each other. Which meant, Landon didn't have a chance of escaping his mother and sister's curious gaze.

"I- You got any juice, mom?" Landon quickly changed the subject. Poorly, which neither female let slide.

Landon's mom and sister both stood up and surrounded the male in the kitchen, giving him no room for escape. He sighed and slowly looked his mom in the eye. Her green eyes peered into his hazel green ones, and she was clearly shorter than him. Standing around 5'5" while he was 5'9". His sister was no different, her similar green eyes and short height blocking Landon's backside.

"Who? Tell us! Tell us!" Georgina begged, bouncing slightly in her spot.

Landon chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Um... J-Just this person that's been coming by the cafe recently. Don't read too far into it. It's nothing serious, just a nice customer."

Gina and Vivian gave each other sly smirks before turning back to Landon; V took her brother's hand and dragged him back to the living room where she sat in a chair across from the large couch. Gina sat on the right side of the couch and Landon sat in the center, angled to see both V and Gina.

"How nice of a customer?" V asked with a smirk.

Landon rolled his eyes and leaned back against the couch, "It's nothing! You guys are reading too far into this."

"Okay, fine. Then just tell us about them. Name, appearance, personality. C'mon, give us something." Gina smiled and lightly nudged her son's arm.

He glanced between them before sighing, focusing on the twiddling fingers in his lap. "Alright, uh... His name is Zayden, and he's actually one of the James' kids. He's really tall. I'm not sure how tall but he has to be at least 6 foot. Uh, I dunno... he's really funny- witty, actually." Landon paused as he tried to think of what he could tell his family without it seeming like he liked Zayden, even if he did. "I know he likes music, and he's really freaking good at it. Guitar mostly, but he can also sing really well."

Landon's mom gave a genuine smile, "He sounds lovely. You should bring him by sometime." V nodded along, very excited about that idea.

But Landon couldn't help but scoff, "What? No way! Something I didn't mention: he's insane and obsessed with me so him meeting my family will not go over well. Trust me." The young male looked down at the ground, thinking about Zayden meeting his family. He didn't know what the brunet or his own family would say but he knew they weren't going to be good things.

"Well-" Gina placed her hands on her knees and got ready to say something, but the sound of the doorbell ringing caught all their attention. The brunet's mom stood up with a smile and walked over to the door, which was just a few feet away, splitting up the living room and kitchen.

The door opens at an angle so Landon and Vivian can't see but can definitely tell someone was there. Gina smiled and greeted the mystery person before nodding and stepping back, letting them in.

A moment later; a tall, light haired, older man smiled at the two kids. Landon looked the man up and down, taking note of every single thing about him. The way his hands were stuffed in his pockets, thumbs out. The way his white button-up shirt was lazily tucked, the way his brown leather shoes looked worn but clean, and the way his hair looked newly cut and washed. Overall, the man appeared pretty average.

Landon and Vivian stood up to properly greet the man but didn't make a move to do so. The man, though, stuck his hand out with a kind and welcoming smile. Landon timidly shook it, about to introduce himself but the man beat him to it.

"Landon, right?" His voice didn't really match his obvious age, which Landon guessed was somewhere between 40 and 50, but instead had a higher pitch to it. Not like a kid going through puberty, but just not something that Landon would have guessed belonged to him.

The young male nodded and flicked his gaze over to his mother who took the hint of what he was getting at. Gina stepped forward and gestured her hand towards her two kids, "Andy, these are Landon and Vivian, my kids. Landon and V, this is Andrew... my boyfriend."

Both kids snapped their necks to look at their mother, pure shock written over their faces. Their dad had been out of the picture since Landon was six, making Viv one year old, and their mother had never shown interest in dating. Until now, that is.

"Boyfriend?!" Vivian jumped from her spot in the living room to properly greet the new male. Gina bit back a smile and nodded, glancing between the other three people in the room.

Landon retracted his hand and nodded at Andrew, a kind of nod of acknowledgment. Don't get him wrong, he was happy for his mother. Happy she trusts someone enough to introduce him to them. But something about the whole situation felt... off to him. Weird, in a way.

But instead of speaking his confusing thoughts, he spent the rest of the night listening to his mother and Andrew talk about how they met, interesting stories, little details about the male's life, and Landon's mother told little stories of her own. Most about himself and Vivian since she had spent a large portion of her life with them, creating a large portion of her memories with them.

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1.4k words

Sorry for not updating, here's a double update to make up for it :)