Burning Dandelions (5SOS/Ashton Irwin)

2

Danielle's POV

"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen. She looked like she was rushing.

"I can't find my sunglasses," she said as she looked under papers.

"Um, Mom." I pointed to my head, so she knew her sunglasses were on her face. She took a deep breathe. "What's up?"

"I'm running late. I have to meet my boss at three, and it's--" she looked at her watch, "time for me to leave."

"Oh, Mom, I'm going to introduce my people to the new people in the neighborhood. When should I invite them over?"

She closed her eyes and thought. "Thursday." She opened her eyes. "I had to think about a free day. Today was Monday, so we had enough time to prepare. "If that's not a good day for them, I'll be available Friday, of next year," she joked. I laughed. She laughed a little. "Thursday or Friday is good for me." She walked over to me and gave me a side kiss. "Love you. Be careful!"

"I will be," I said as she left. I walked to the door after my mom left and looked in the mirror. I fixed my hair, just in case there was a cute boy. You never knew. I headed out. I had to walk up the street and take a left to get to Mrs. Johnson's old house. I could see the moving truck from my house, so I knew they would be there.

When I reached the corner, I texted Cassie. "I'm at the neighbors. Call me in five."

She responded rather quickly. "Gotcha back."

I walked over to the lady who was standing in her yard. "Hello," she greeted me first.

"Hi, my name is Danielle. Welcome to the neighborhood," I said and put out my hand to be polite.

"I'm Liz Hemmings, but you can call me Liz." She shook my hand. She turned her head away from me. "Andy, come meet one of our neighbors!" Liz turned back to me with a smile. "I'm so glad you came over. I never know if I should go to my neighbors or wait."

I smiled. "My mom likes to introduce herself to the neighbors. Are you guys free Thursday or Friday night? She would be over now, but she had to go to work."

Andy approached us. "I'm Andrew, but everyone calls me Andy."

"Danielle." We shook hands.

"This young lady just invited us over for dinner on Thursday or Friday night. Which night is better for you?" Liz told, I'm assuming, her husband.

"Thursday is good for me," he answered. I smiled. "And I eat just about anything."

"Hey, Dad?" A boy yelled from inside the moving truck.

"Yeah?" Andy turned his head a little towards the truck.

"Which one is Luke's room?" the same voice yelled.

"Upstairs, first one on the right!" Andy turned back to us. "Excuse me. Oh, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," I said as he began to walk off to take more boxes.

"That's one of my sons," Liz said and pointed to a boy carrying a box inside. "His name is Ben. He doesn't live with us, but my son, Luke, who does live with us, stayed at a friend's house last night. He probably wanted to avoid me because he got his lip pierced, and he knows I'm not up for that." She turned back to face me.

"My best friend just got her nose pierced. Her mom doesn't like it either."

"How old is she?"

"She's eighteen, same age as me," I answered.

"You and Luke are about the same age," she replied. My phone rang.

"Excuse me," I said to Liz. I took a step away. "Hey, I'm kind of busy right now. Can I call you back?"

"Is the boy our age? Is he cute?" Cassie asked.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later," I said and hung up. These people weren't half bad. Liz reminded me of an older version of Cassie. She just shared information when she wanted. I walked back over to Liz. "Sorry for that."

"It's fine." She turned her head to look at the boys moving stuff. "Ben, put that box down and get over here!"

"Yes, ma'am!" he shouted back and gave the box to his father. He power walked over. "Hello."

"Hi, I'm Danielle."

He stuck out his hands. "I'm Ben." I shook his hand. "I don't live with them, but you might see me around a lot."

I wouldn't mind to see him around a lot. He was cute, but he was definitely not my age.

"Which house is yours?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. I kind of need to know that," Liz commented.

I pointed through someone's backyard. You could barely see my house. "Take a left at the four stop, and my house is the first one in the turnaround."

"That was really nice of you to walk all this way to introduce yourself," Liz said.

"Oh, it's not a big deal," I explained. "I've walked all around this subdivision to introduce myself and invite people over to dinner."

"And I'm glad you invited us," Liz spoke again. I smiled. "Thursday will be fun."

"Too bad I won't be able to come," Ben mentioned.

"Jack won't either." Liz turned to me. "That's another son of mine. He doesn't live with us, but he's visiting tomorrow and Wednesday."

"But Luke will be here, right?" Ben asked his mom.

"Yeah, he should be," she answered. She turned back to face me. "What time should we come over?"

That was one thing I'd forgotten to ask my mom. "I think six or six-thirty will be good." I had to wing that. I didn't know what time was good for my mom, but we usually ate around that time when we invited people over.

"Sounds good," Liz said.

"I guess I'll see you guys then?" I questioned.

"We'll see you Thursday," Liz said. I waved bye and began to walk home. When I got back to the corner I decided to call Cassie back.

"That was really rude for you to hang up on me," she answered.

"I'm sorry! I was having a conversation," I replied.

"So was I right about how many of them their are?"

"Kind of. Its a mom and a dad with one son that lives with them, and two don't."

"Is that one that lives with them cute?" she asked.

"I don't know. He wasn't there," I answered. "But he's coming over when they come have dinner with my mom and I."

"DIBS!" she shouted.

"Don't do that," I said. We used to call 'dibs' on boys, and it usually resulted in a fight. "He might not even be your type."

"Cute is my type," she uttered. I chuckled.

"Well, if he's anything like his brother, he will be your type." I reached my front door. I entered and sat on my couch.

"That's good," she said. "Look, my dad is staring me down because I'm on my phone. I'll see you later."

"Bye," I told her.

"Bye," she said and hung up.

(A/N- No one IN 5 SOS has been introduced yet. Luke will be soon, but it will be about 2 or 3 chapters before they're all introduced. Give me time to get everything situated.)