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Leigh pressed the doorbell, wringing her hands anxiously. She had heard about the Clarks before. Her fellow babysitter friends always recommended this family. They always gushed about that hot football guy in the family. She really needed a distraction since that 'Earl incident'. Pulling a strand of her hair, she waited.
Soon enough, the door opened and she let out a huge sigh of relief. The family might have had drove to Las Vegas only to leave her alone and prank her. Or was preparing to tip over a tank of sharks on her. Or she should stop thinking now.
She really needed some money now by doing odd jobs. She had spent so much money with her mother that her dad forced her to go earn money. At least she knew who her favourite parent was now.
A pretty woman was in front of her and the woman smile, shaking Leigh's hand. "Nice to meet you, Leigh. I have to get going right now." Leigh pulled off an uncertain face. "Don't worry. It is going to be okay. I will pay you five bucks an hour so I will be paying you...twenty-five bucks? Have fun taking care of Megan and Earl!"
Leigh felt her stomach plummet. Oh no. Earl? Earl Clark? She stood frozen on the porch while Mrs. Clark just swept pass her, as if she did not like socializing with teenagers. Which might exactly be the case. Leigh could not believe it. Earl was in this house. This CENSORED house? How did she not see it?
She stepped into the house reluctantly with her heart beating furiously in her chest. Then she saw him. Earl, whom she immediately recognised as the boy she bumped into at school the previous day, whom she had talked with almost every single day for almost three weeks. And he was looking back. Shock filled his face and his mouth was hanging open. This was followed by a pregnant silence which was painfully awkward.
Earl looked at Leigh. Leigh looked at Earl. Megan looked at both of them.
A pug came out from a room and started rubbing itself against Leigh's leg.
"Aaaaw...what is this pug doing?" Leigh asked, smiling at Megan. She tried to ignore Earl's disturbing presence but all she could think of was that goddamn handsome face.
Megan grinned and grabbed the pug away. "Sir Fenwick was masturbating. Sorry."
Oh. Leigh tried not get weirded out and walked to the living room. There was a shiny wooden table laid on a velvet red carpet adorned with flowers. The 60-inch television was so big Leigh thought about her daily entertainment of watching squirrels fight outside her house. The plush beige sofa behind the table had a gold frame and square pillows neatly placed.
Rich. That was the only word that appeared in her head when she saw everything.
She was being featured in the show 'Keeping up with the Clarks'.
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"So what do you like doing for fun?" Leigh asked Megan as they played with blocks. That had diamonds embedded on each side.
"Well, Mummy likes hiring entertainers to play with me. Did you know I met Kat Dennings before?" Megan asked eagerly.
"Okay..." Leigh replied. She was pretty sure parents did not let any Sex and City stars meet their children.
"You should talk to my brother! He talked about you all the time!" Megan squealed.
"Talked?" Leigh questioned.
"He does not do that much anymore. Go talk to him. He became really happy when he started this whole Cupid Helpline thingy." Megan said.
Leigh just shook her head and tried continuing to build her dick-shaped structure.
Megan pouted and whined, "Leigh, you neeeeed to! I just want my brother to be happyyyy!" She grabbed Leigh's arm and pulled back and forth. "If you don't, I will tell my mother you tried frying my arm by overheating the-"
"Okay, Megan, okay! I will go now!" Leigh said.
She took in a shaky breath and started walking towards Earl, who was at the kitchen table doing a paper. When Leigh entered the kitchen, Earl barely glanced up and her smile faltered.
"Nice pug you have. You never told me about it," she said nonchalantly, looking around the kitchen.
"Why are you the one talking to me now?" he asked, still not looking at her.
Leigh felt a pinch of irritation and blurted, "At least I was not the one that cheated in our relationship first."
Suddenly, Earl rose from his seat and pulled at his hair. "I DID NOT DO THAT, LEIGH!"
"Yes, you did! You CENSORED cheated on me? Who is CENSORED Holly?" Leigh screamed out loud. Tears streamed down her face and she finally felt free to bawl out her thoughts and emotions.
"You thought that I cheated! You kept on gushing about how hot Theo is! How handsome he is! what the heck is wrong with you!" Earl shouted back, his face red.
"Then why did Holly answer the phone when I called? And said that she was your girlfriend?" Leigh cried, gasping for air.
"I thought you would be jealous, Leigh," Earl said softly, looking downwards. "I thought you would be CENSORED jealous because I did not know that we were not supposed to be dating other people when we were already in a relationship. You know how hopeless I am in romance. I knew nothing."
Instead of feeling sorry, Leigh felt furious. How could he just think that. How could he do that? That stupid dating book, that stupid voice of his, that stupid act. How could he just go pretend to date someone else to make her jealous. That was just so...incredibly stupid.
"I am leaving now," she said and took her bag.
As she walked out, she could hear Earl calling her name. Megan crying to herself and her leaving a path of destruction. And she only getting paid five bucks an hour?
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Hey, readers! If you see the song above, it is actually a song which I really want to include in the playlist of this book. And yes, I am fabricating a very own for this story! I really want your song requests for Cupid Helpline and consider them all. I want them to fit this story, something that would be sweet and bright but yet deep and everybody can relate to it.
Also, the Kentucky Hotline, which is on my collab account with my other fellow knights, KnightCollab, is out and published with an introductory chapter and a first chapter! It is going to be a spin-off about this book and HOLLY is going to be in it! What, that is crazy? Not really.
