From the Beginning

Chapter 2

Leah's POV

I set my keys and bag down next to the front door, ready to embrace a weekend of staying home and being lazy by myself, except for Saturday, which I internally groaned about. I wonder what Kevin was going to make me do since I ditched going to the party with him. I walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water to see my mom sitting in the living room, reading a book like always. My mom was a total bookworm. She went through at least 3 or 4 books a month. She looked up and smiled at me, her beautiful white teeth showing. I got my hair and body structure from my mom, but my eyes and face structure from my dad.

I smiled back. "Hey mom," I said as I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. "How was your day?"

"Good," she turned a page in her book and continued to read. "I met the people that are moving in next door to us. They have a son who's your age who's going to be at your school on Monday. I invited them over for dinner tonight so they know at least one family in the neighborhood," she said as she looked up at me in a way to ask if I was going to be here tonight. I nodded absentmindedly, my mom did this every time someone moved to town. It really helped to develop my socializing skills as I was growing up, so I was always willing to meet new people and help them feel welcome.

"Alright, I'll be up in my room. Call me if you need anything." I ran up to my room and shut the door, flying onto my bed and grabbing the remote and turning on my TV. I settled on How I Met Your Mother for a couple of hours before I started to get a little bored, so I turned off the TV and grabbed my guitar. I was strumming some random chords when I heard a car pull up outside.

I set the guitar down and I saw that a brand new Tesla Model S was parked in our driveway. My eyes widened as I looked at it, I wasn't really into all the nitty-gritty details of how cars worked, but I could definitely appreciate when I saw a nice one. I ran downstairs, hearing the doorbell rang right as I reached the bottom. "I got it!" I yelled to my mom so she knew not to get up.

When I opened the door, I put on my best smile to see 3 very friendly-looking people. There was an older woman and an older man, and then somewhat behind them there was a boy who looked about my age. "Hi," I said, still smiling at them. I stepped aside so they could come in. "I'm Leah, it's nice to meet you." I heard a small, melodious chuckle and I looked over to see that it was coming from the boy. I was stunned, just looking at him. Standing in front of me was probably the most gorgeous boy I'd ever seen. His skin was tan, but I couldn't tell if that was his natural complexion or if he just spent a lot of time outside. His hair was styled with light waves, some of it falling over his forehead. His eyes were a striking grey with some flecks of dark blue around his pupils. He was wearing a dark grey Henley shirt, showing off a portion of his chest. The sleeves were rolled up partially, making his arms look amazing. His jeans gripped his legs in all the right places, and they were complimented by a pair of black combat boots. I took all this in within a few seconds. If he wanted to quit school and become a male model, he would not have a hard time doing so.

"Leah," he said, slightly laughing. His voice was deep, sexy sounding, and it sent a shiver down my spine. "Like, Princess Leah from Star Wars?" He smiled at me, and it wasn't a mocking smile like I would've expected. It was a friendly, joking smile, and I honestly couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, exactly like that," I said, still smiling, clearing my throat where I sounded slightly breathless. "My best friend Kevin calls me that. It's sort of his nickname for me. You might not wanna say that in front of him, he gets protective of his nicknames."

The boy smiled wider and nodded before holding out his hand. "I'm Ian Harding by the way." I smiled and shook his hand, noticing the small tingles that went through my hand when they made contact. I ran my eyes over him again before I blinked, realizing I was totally perving over this guy in my mind, and I hadn't even known him a good 5 minutes. When I looked back up at his face, I saw that his eyes were scanning over me, as well. At least I wasn't the only one.

My mom went straight to the adults and pulled them both into hugs. "Hi, Tom, Beth," she said as she pulled back. I guess I didn't ask them their names, whoops. "Thank you so much for coming tonight. I hope you don't mind but my husband's running late from the office, so I was hoping we could wait until he gets here."

The man smiled and so did the woman, both of them had the same type of smile Ian did. "It's not a problem at all. That'll give us some time to get to know each other better," Ian's mom said. My mom turned to Ian and I. "Leah, you and Ian can go and hang out in your room while I get to know his parents?" I smiled and nodded, and she smiled back. I motioned for Ian to follow me up the steps, and when we reached the top I opened the door to my room.

"Nice room." Ian brushed by me and walked into my room, examining the walls, seeming to memorize everything he looked at. My room was painted navy blue on the walls with my bed pushed into the back corner and my giant plasma screen on the wall directly opposite. I had my desk resting next to my bed, my dresser positioned on the wall next to it with a small photo wall that held pictures of all my closest friends over the years. Overall, my room was tidy and cozy, my safe place away from the rest of the world's bullshit.

"Thanks, I wanted to make sure my room didn't feel like a dungeon to all my visitors," I smirked, walking over to my bed and sitting back against the headboard.

He looked over at me, raising his eyebrow suggestively. "You clearly haven't been to the fun kind of dungeons."

I smirked, crossing my arms and relaxing against my headboard. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. That's a story for another day."

He chuckled as he continued looking around my room, and his eyes lit up when they landed on my guitar. It was a Dean brand with a turquoise body, the first big purchase I'd ever made on my own. He walked over to it and started to pick it up, then he looked up at me and smiled. "Do you mind if I play?"

I shook my head and smiled. He sat down on the bed and looked at where he placed his fingers before he started playing. I instantly recognized the song as Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade, and I watched as he played through the song, absentmindedly humming some parts as he went. His voice had entranced me earlier, but it had a slightly higher tone when he was humming. Watching his fingers flow so smoothly through the chords in the song made me wonder how they would feel combing through my hair, over my cheek, down my neck...

I blinked as I realized my thoughts were going in a very inappropriate direction, and I had just met this guy twenty minutes ago.

What the fuck is wrong with me?