Handle With Clare

Chapter 3: Glares Don't Work On Everyone

song for the start of the chapter!

The tray of sweet chocolate cupcakes that I clung to be the only thing I forced myself to think about as mom and I walked down the road to get to our new neighbor's house. She chatted away the whole time about the trees in the neighborhood or something just as pointless. Unaware I was not paying attention to her, I forced a smile to my lips as I realized who we were visiting. 

Fear engulfed me as I looked at the same house I stopped at this morning. Questions filled my mind, wondering if the boy recognized me or if he called me out. If that happened, I could say goodbye to the rest of my free will. I bit my lip as I thought about how badly this could turn out. My feet stuck to the pavement, unwilling to continue, knowing I shouldn't have come with her.

"Come on Clare! We don't have all day!" she called out to me, already at the front door.

Well, it was too late to back out now. If I was lucky, maybe he wouldn't say anything or maybe he wouldn't even answer the door. With my head held high, I passed the for-sale sign and stopped beside my mother on the porch.

"This is it," she said with a smile, then knocked on the door.

"This is it," I replied. He was going to call me out, I knew it. 

We waited for a second until we heard voices on the other side of the door. "No, mom, I said I got it!" a voice called out from the other side. Instantly, the door opened to reveal a young man that I saw that same morning. Oh, he was better looking now than when I last saw him. His dark hair was curled and styled lightly and his light eyes stood out against his light skin tone. He leaned against the doorframe and smiled. Amusement played across his face as he recognized me. Shoot.

 "Why hello there, twice-"

I cut him off before he said anything more. "Hey, we're your neighbors from down the road. We wanted to welcome you into the neighborhood," I said, shoving the tray of cupcakes into his stomach with enough force that he had to take a step back.

Breaking us from this awkward moment was a woman who looked to be his mom, who walked to the door. She was a small lady, probably smaller than I was and I was only 5' 4". She had this thick, crazy curly dark hair and a bright smile that seemed to welcome me instantly. Her skin had a sun-kissed look, making it apparent that she spent a long amount of time outside. She looked like she loved life, something that I hadn't seen in a long while.

Mom spoke up. "I'm Tracy Atkins, and this is my daughter, Clare. I have a husband, Scott, and one other daughter but sadly they're busy and couldn't walk down to introduce themselves. We live right down the road from you, and we thought we should drop by and introduce ourselves. Welcome to the neighborhood."

"Hi," I said, and gave a small wave to her.

She beamed at us as if this was the most pleasant encounter she had in her life. "Hello. I'm Dorothy Smith and this is my son, Peter. My husband's in the office today, but his name's Robert. We're so happy to be welcomed into this neighborhood. When we found out that a house was for sale in this area, we had to get it. Something about this area felt like home and this just sealed the deal for me."

Peter nodded at us, but his eyes lingered on me causing me to shift on my feet, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Why was he staring at me? Did I brush my teeth? Did I have chocolate around my mouth? Didn't his mom tell him that staring was rude?

"Pleased to meet you. We'll not keep you long because I'm sure you're busy unpacking, but we wanted to invite you over for dinner tomorrow if you're not too busy," mom told them.

Shocked by this news, I shot my mom a look. She didn't tell me that she would do this. We never invited people over for dinner, let alone people we barely knew. This was not like her, and I wondered what possessed her to entertain this idea.