Mixed Emotions: The Story Of Us | TMF

oneshot - Twenty Minutes

written by Strxwberry_Sugxr and i as a filler before chapter 1 

(part 1/2, written by ciel) 

Twenty minutes. 

Her brother had disappeared down the stairs twenty minutes ago. Throughout the entire morning, the boy was either dancing in his seat, frantically running around and tidying up every small unnoticeable detail, or making small talk with his sister with questions that had been answered years before. Sometimes, he'd be doing all of them at once. 

It abruptly ended twenty minutes ago. The house was finally silent. 

Hailey turned a page in her book. She was so close to finishing it, if she could get one more moment of silence, she could finally turn the last page. 

The silence was pierced by a ring of the doorbell, followed by a near-immediate swing of the door. Two voices erupted at each other, filled with bubbling joy.  

Her focus moved to the conversation on the first floor. 

"What do you want to do first? We have a trampoline in the backyard, we could go to the music room in the basement, we could go upstairs and you can meet my sister-" 

"Ooh, you never told me you had a sister!" 

There was a pause in the conversation as Zander said something too quietly for Hailey to hear from her room. 

The mysterious kid laughed in response. "Oh, come on, I'm sure she'd be fine with taking a small break from reading!" 

Hailey scoffed to herself. 

"Wait, wait, I forgot! We could go to the beach; it's like a twenty minute walk from here!" 

"I'm sorry, Zander. I have to go in about twenty minutes; my parents want me back to help them with moving the boxes in." 

"Aw, well I suppose we can go to the beach another time." 

"Yeah, of course!" 

Their voices dimmed, being replaced with footsteps advancing toward the second floor. 

Zander's voice filled the room with his lively introduction. "Hailey, this is Luke!" 

Just a moment of silence, she thought to herself as the aforementioned folded a corner of the page she was on and put the book down.  

- 

(part 2/2, written by scythe) 

Captivating butterscotch eyes blinked back at her. 

"Hi! I'm Luke, I'm assuming you're Hailey!" The boy beamed, "Pleasure to meet you!" 

Hailey took a moment to take in his facial features. Fluffy auburn hair, a small mole that accompanied his dimples, caused by his bright, winning smile, big golden eyes so gorgeous they could easily be mistaken for the sun. 

Hailey had never been that type of girl, the kind to mentally note how cute a boy she crossed was, but she couldn't deny, Luke was very good-looking. 

His smile eventually faded, down-grading to a small grin in the long, rather awkward silence. 

Zander cleared his throat, pulling Hailey out of her small daze. She lightly shook her head, turning back towards Luke, "Right! Hey!" She exclaimed, "Likewise!" She held out her hand, in hopes to shake his, however, she wasn't sure why, but she pulled her hand back just as Luke held out his own. 

Luke let out a gentle, breathless laugh, "I'm not making a very good first impression, am I?" 

"No, no! You're fine!" Hailey quickly gushed, perhaps a bit too eagerly, "Or, um..." Her face flushed, and instead of continuing her sentence, she reached her hand over, slipping it into Luke's to shake it. 

A perfect fit, like two pieces of a puzzle. 

Zander only watched, his eyebrow raised, a clearly unimpressed scowl planting itself where his smile was not too long ago. 

"Maybe you could come hang out with us!" Luke suggested, pulling his hand out of the handshake. He raked his fingers through his chestnut hair, freeing his honey gaze from the strands that lingered over it. He glanced over at Zander, a small, simple smile on his face, "Right, Zander?" 

"Huh?" The latter glanced up at his friend, slightly taken aback from the sudden attention on him, "Oh, sure..." His quiet tone indicated he was reluctant, and something in Hailey's gut told her he wanted alone time with Luke. 

"Sweet!" Luke chuckled, turning back towards Hailey, "Is that alright with you?" 

As much as she wanted to, for the sake of her brother, there was something about Luke's crooked smile that made the offer seem utterly irresistible. 

Within the short, twenty minutes they spent together, Hailey couldn't help but notice how sweet Luke was. He was so kind, always making sure Zander and Hailey were comfortable and okay with whatever they were doing. He also tried to include Hailey as much as possible, and she also found him quite funny, on top of his charming generosity. 

Never once had she felt similar butterflies in her stomach as when she was around Luke. 

Twenty minutes. 

That's how long it took for Hailey to fall for him. 

word count: 810