Worth the Effort

Chapter 2

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"Josh, go away."

I was sitting on the couch, pulling my notes from my backpack while Josh was flipping through the channels. Instead of responding to me, he simply looked at me for a few seconds and turned back to the TV.

"Josh," I groaned in frustration. "Please! He's going to be here any minute and I don't want the TV on distracting him. It's going to be hard enough to tutor Chris as it is."

After staring at me in silence for a few more seconds, my brother let out a heavy sigh and stood from the couch. He threw the remote on the spot beside me, leaving the TV on, and stomped up the stairs to his room, slamming the door shut.

I stared up the stairs after him in disbelief. Brothers.

My attention was quickly torn away from my dramatic brother by a much more important thought: within the next 5 minutes, Christopher Dalton was going to show up at my doorstep.

I so wasn't ready for this.

I'd gotten home about 10 minutes ago from dropping Greta off at her soccer practice. The tutor sessions Mr. Moore organized fit perfectly into my previous schedule; Mom and Dad didn't get home until 6:00 so I would normally drop Greta off at her 4 o'clock soccer practice down the street. Then Mom and Dad would swing by the fields on their way home after work to get Greta. With my parents and siblings home, my tutor session with Chris would end at 6:30, and I would be left with just enough time to help with dinner.

As I continued to pull my school work out of my backpack, I couldn't help but worry. Was Chris really as cruel and selfish as people say he is? If so, I don't think I could ever be ready to meet him... I mean, sure, I'd seen him in the hallways at school, but meeting someone in person was totally different than seeing them in passing.

My worried thoughts were cut short when the doorbell rang.

Well, I thought as I stood slowly from the couch and turned towards our entryway, I'm ready for hell.

I started for the door, but before I even made it one step the doorbell rang again.

Um, impatient much?

It came as no surprise when the doorbell rang again. And again. And again.

Before the doorbell could be rung a sixth time, I hurried to the entryway and whipped the door open.

And I was met with the most beautifully intense eyes I'd ever seen.

My heart dropped to my stomach. My words caught in my throat. Instead of sharing a greeting or spouting insults at him for being an 'inconsiderate asshole with no regard for the speed at which people can move', I just stood there.

Staring at him.

Staring at Christopher Dalton.

In reality I was probably only standing there for a second or two, but it felt like ages, ages that had my heart beating straight out of my chest. Those two seconds were plenty of time for me to get a nice good look at him, and I noticed three things:

One, he was very handsome. Well, clearly, considering I was standing there staring at him like a moron. But he was, like, really handsome. It's amazing how much more you can notice about someone when they're standing so close to you. I'd only ever seen him from a distance in the lunch room or hallway at school, but now he was standing here at my doorstep and I could see just how his hairs twisted into a stylish mess atop his head and how a strong jaw leading to a cleft chin could actually be attractive on someone instead of being an odd chin dent that I never understood. Therefore, he was handsome.