Love at First Skype

Chapter One- Melissa

UPDATED May 20, 2020!

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading this story!! I really appreciate it and hope you love it. Please take the time to comment and vote. That would mean a lot! This chapter is dedicated to the amazing Sarah73. Thank you for all your help!

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locals is purely coincidental.

Love at First Skype

COPYRIGHT @ 2013 by sierramist107

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations.

Cover art by Sarah73. Edited by Sarah73

Chapter One- Melissa

"Cause I don't wanna lose you now, I'm looking right at the other half of me." My headphones blast Mirrors by Justin Timberlake as I brush my teeth. Too bad I don't have another half, I think to myself while I'm looking in the mirror. Six AM is definitely way too early to wake up during the summer. At least there are rays from a beautiful, orange sunrise shining through my window.

I quickly throw on my uniform, brush my long dusty brown hair, and continue quietly humming Mirrors. Checking the time, I notice that I need to move faster-- I'm close to running late. I run downstairs, and as I'm making my iced coffee, 2 french vanilla creamer and 2 sugars, the fact that I've never had a boyfriend crosses my mind for the billionth time. Well, I guess technically I have had one, if you count Danny Pinochet in the fourth grade. But, our relationship only consisted of sharing gummy bears and holding hands around the playground. So I haven't had a real boyfriend.

I hop into my blue Honda Civic, and I am sure that I'm probably the only person who still rocks out to Nickleback on their ride to work. As I pull into the Chick-Fil-A parking lot, I scan the parking lot looking for Jen's cute little black hatchback. It's definitely not here. I roll my eyes as I get out and walk inside; I know she's late again. Five minutes after the start of our shift, Jen rushes in looking frazzled with her hair in a red, frizzy mess under her hat.

"Hey girl, you have a rough morning?" I ask; I'm concerned about her. She doesn't normally seem this frazzled when she's late.

"You have no idea," she sighs with a look of exhaustion.

And she was right. I really didn't have an idea. With four younger siblings, she was always busy babysitting, cooking, or taking one of them to some sort of music lesson, sport, or playdate. Poor thing. I only have one little sister and at thirteen I don't really have to do all that much for her.

"I had to stay up so late last night cleaning the kitchen since my dad was out of town again. I had no idea 5 people could make such a giant mess!" She smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll cover for you with Holly. But, go fix your hair. It's a mess," I tease, trying to comfort her. "No one wants to find a strand of fiery red hair in their food."

"Thank you so much," she says gratefully. "Want to grab dinner tonight? We can talk about your little boy problem!" The smile does reach her eyes this time. Why is she so excited to talk about this?!

"How can you have a problem with something you don't even have?!" I laugh. "But sure we can get dinner. Now go!"

The shift ran smoothly, and we took lots of orders, handed out food, and took care of customers. ​Luckily, we were able to avoid all of the angry customers. We clock out and run across the street to grab Mexican for dinner. Before the waiter sets the chips and salsa down, Jen starts to bombard me with a million questions about who I want to be set up with. However, it's a very unproductive conversation since I truly have no idea.

After dinner, I climb into my bed with my bright blue laptop and grab the black remote to turn the TV on. As I flip through the TV Guide looking for a good show, I think I hear footsteps outside my door.

Knock Knock

"Can I come in?" asks my mom.

"Sure," I reply as I mute the TV.

"Sweetie, I'm a little worried about you. You never go out on dates, and you rarely go to parties. You've never even told us about a crush except that sweet boy back when you were in what, elementary school? Are you okay? Has anything happened to you we should know about?" she questions with her blue eyes full of concern as she sits down on my bed.

"Yes, Mom, I'm fine. It's just that all the guys I know are jerks and I don't particularly want to date any of them. Doesn't mean something's wrong with me!" I smile, trying to reassure her.

"Okay, honey. I'm just making sure. You know you can tell me anything. I'm only asking because I love you." She gets up and she kisses me on the forehead, smiles, and then walks out of my room.

​What's up with everyone asking me to get a boyfriend? First Jen, now my mom? I wonder as I press my index finger down on the power button. Maybe I should do something about this. Should I actually go on one of those stupid blind dates Jen's trying to set me up with?

​Pulling up Skype, I look for Jen's name, but I don't see it. Maybe she's on, but has her status set as invisible.

Ding ... Ding ... Ding, screech my speakers. Not even bothering to look at who's calling, I answer right away knowing it has to be Jen. Who else would it be? But my rhetorical question rings with irony. When I pick up, instead of seeing my crazy red-headed friend, a beautiful teenage boy is staring back at me. His appearance is astonishing. I hope he can't see me drooling over his perfect brown hair and gorgeous big, brown eyes.

​"Who are you?" he asks, looking just as surprised as I am.