The final bell rang. The first day of school had been a struggle today. I got stares from everyone, and it turned out that I had a lot of classes with Luke. I was still trying to determine if that was a good or bad thing. I left my photography class and started walking towards the buses. I had a car, but it was still on its way up from Virginia with the rest of my stuff. As I was about to walk out the doors, I felt someone grab my arm. I turned around to find Luke. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked. "um, home?" I replied. "No, your going with me for coffee." "Wait, now? I thought you said sometime?" I wondered why he was so eager to hang out with me. "Well, it's sometime, isn't it?" He smirked as he pulled me along.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked. "To my car" he excitedly replied. As we walked I wondered what kind of car Luke had. Probably a Jeep I thought. I was wrong. Luke owned a Beautiful 7th generation Ford F150. It looked like it was a little used and beaten, but the rust marks and small dents everywhere gave it character. The blue paint matched Luke's eyes perfectly. I stood there and gazed at the truck in awe. "She's beautiful" I admired. "She?" Luke looked puzzled. "The truck," I laughed, "People call cars she sometimes. I'm not sure why but it seems right"
Luke walked up to the passenger side, opened the door, and gestured for me to climb in. I stepping into the vehicle and put my seat belt on. As Luke was about to start the truck, I stopped him. "What?" He looked a little worried. "Wait do you know how to drive here? Like is it different in Australia?" I didin't want to die on my first day. "Yeah it's a bit different" He giggled at my concerned look, "We drive on the left side and the steering wheel is on the opposite side as well. But I learned how to drive like Americans, don't worry." "Alright" I let go of his hand holding the keys and allowed him to start the truck.
We drove through the town looking for the coffee shop. Lakeside was a cute little town. Everything was in walking distance and there were no big chain stores anywhere, except for the one Walmart and Mcdonald's. We finally found it and pulled in to a parking space. "You're horrible at parking" I judged as I viewed his crappy parking job. We were almost completely diagonal and practically in two spaces. "Yeah, that's the one part I haven't mastered in this truck" He shrugged and started walking towards the door, so I followed.
As we walked into the sore, the aroma of coffee and croissants hit me. I hadn't had coffee in a while because my dad had stopped drinking it, and in that process, stopped buying it. And I never had time to go get coffee back in VA. We walked up to the counter and waited for the two girls in front of us to order. I was looking up at the menu on the wall behind the counter and reading it when I noticed Luke watching me out of the corner of my eye. I turned to face him and he immediately looked at the menu to try to play it off like he hadn't been looking. I giggled quietly and looked back at the menu.
"Do you know what you want?" Luke asked, not taking his eyes off the menu. "Yeah, a medium caramel macchiato." I answered. "I'll order. Why don't you go find us some seats?" He suggested. "Alright" I scanned the shop to find two open seats. I found some over by the front window looking onto the street and walked towards it. As I was about to sit down, one of the two girls who had been in front of us in line snatched the seat from me, causing me to almost fall. It turns out that they were the same girls who were laughing at me in first period. I stumbled backwards and was surprised to be caught by a guy walking into the shop. The girls laughed and pranced out of the shop like they were the best thing since sliced bread. The guy helped me up and I turned around to thank him but stopped when I saw his face.
How many god damn attractive people are in this town? I thought as I looked at him. He was tall, but not as tall as Luke, with captivating hazel eyes. His hair was brown with hints of light in. I assumed it had been dyed, but it still looked so soft. Like Luke's. He was just as attractive as Luke. He smiled at me, showing the cutest dimples I had ever seen, and said "You alright?" He had an Australian accent too. What is happening right now I thought. What the hell? Why was everyone Australian? I snapped out of my daze and said "Yeah, thanks for catching me." He laughed and said "Anytime. What's your name?" "Ryan" I replied, again, looking down at my feet, afraid that this attractive guy would think it was weird. "Hmm, Ryan? I like that" I looked up to find him smiling at me. "I'm Ashton" he said.
At that moment, I heard Luke shout from behind me "Ashton!" I spun around to see Luke charging towards us with the coffees in hand. Before Luke Reached Ashton, I stopped him and took the coffees from him before he had a chance to spill them. "What are you doing here?" Asked Luke, hugging the boy. I was so confused. "I thought you and the others weren't coming up until it was winter here?" I remembered Australia was upside down. "Calum and Michael are, but since I'm not in school anymore I thought 'why not come early?' So I did!" said the boy named Ashton. They looked extremely happy to see each other. And out of school? Ashton didn't look older than 17. "Oh!" exclaimed Luke, drawing me out of my thoughts, "have you met Ryan?" he grabbed me from the side and pulled me over to him. "Actually yeah" Ashton smirked, "I just saved her" Luke looked at me, puzzled, and I said "one of the bitches that were standing in front of us in line pulled the chair out from me and your friend Ashton here caught me" I pointed to a proud looking Ashton.
"Well where are you staying?" Luke asked Ashton as we sat down at the table. Ashton looked at Luke hopefully, "Actually, I was hoping I could stay with you. I literally just got here. All my bags are right here" he pointed to the side of the door to two suitcases and a duffle bag. "Yeah sure my parents love you" Luke said." I was sipping my coffee silently when I heard Luke say "So, Ryan! Tell us about yourself!" I looked up to find the two boys staring at me, intrigued to find out about my life. "Like, basic facts? What do you want to know?" I asked. I wasn't used to telling people about myself. "Everything" the Aussies said simultaneously.
"Ok. My favorite color is purple, I have an older brother named Chance who is 19, I love photography and I dance." Ashton interrupted me and said "I love the arts! sorry continue," I smiled and obeyed. "I'm 17, my birthday is July 23-" I was interrupted by Luke this time, "My birthday is July 16th! keep going" "I love horses, my favorite show is How I Met Your Mother-" Luke whispered "Me too" "I listen to Heavy music-" Ashton whispered "Me too" "I live alone with my dad and those are the only interesting things about me." Luke chirped up after I was finished and asked "Where's your mom?" I paused and looked at my coffee. After a moment I said quietly "I don't know."
When I was about 5 years old my mom left us. My brother was 7 and he remembers why she left but he won't tell me. I always assumed that she found someone else and ran off but my dad would have told me if it was that simple. I spent two years of my life worrying where she was but gave up when I realized she wasn't coming back, and that she didn't care about us.
Luke realized that I wasn't comfortable with that particular subject so he said "Are we ready to go?" "yeah" I said pulling myself from the thoughts of my mother. The three of us stood up and walked out of the little coffee shop to Luke's truck. "Wow Luke, how is it possible for your parking to get worse." joked Ashton as he opened the door for me. I climbed into the middle of the seat, followed by Ashton. Luke got in the drivers seat and started the truck. "So, where do you live?" Luke asked me. "Off of Emils Crest road. It's literally on the edge of town. About a 15 minute drive." I answered.
My house was far away from everyone, and I liked it that way. No annoying neighbors, no dumb kids playing in the street and no traffic. The property I lived on was huge and empty except for old and unused barn, and it was beautiful. There was a little pond a bit behind the barn with a gorgeous, old willow tree towering over it. I was really quite beautiful, and I planned to turn that barn into my own little art studio. Like a place to dance and paint and hang my pictures. There was only one other house by me and I could see it through my bedroom window. It was about two football field lengths away. "Hey that's the road I live off of!" Exclaimed Luke, "We're neighbors!"
He started the truck and pulled out. I wasn't sure if I was happy that he lived near me or not. This whole situation was so weird for me. I normally didn't want friends. And normally people realized that. What was wrong with these two boys? Why did they want to get to know me? And why the hell were they so attractive?
