Lucien

Chapter 3-Reagan

     "Thanks again for letting me have the car seat Susan!"

     "Oh it's no problem dear, my children have long since grown up so I won't be needing it anymore." Susan, my neighbor tells me as I walk out her front door. She's agreed to let me have her children's old car seat.

     I rush back to my house with the car seat so Lucien isn't being left alone for too long. I realized that he needed new clothes, so we're going to go shopping at Target and hopefully find something he likes.

     After putting the car seat in the back of my car I run inside to grab Lucien. I find him sitting on the couch, watching cartoons I put on earlier. "Hey, you ready to leave bud?" I ask him. "Where are we going?" he asks curiously. I tell him we're going to the store to buy him some new clothes for winter.

     We walk out to my car and I help strap him in the car seat. Safety first. I then get in the driver's seat and turn the car on, pulling out of my driveway soon after.

     Once we get there I help him out of the seat and we walk inside together with Lucien clutching the side of my jacket. As soon as we get inside I start walking him towards the little boys section. While we walk around the racks I tell Lu to point out anything he sees that he likes. Turns out he's pretty picky.

     Finally he points out a few things. After he chooses some outfits I grab a couple extra items like underwear, socks, and a coat because it's almost winter. We then head to the shoe section so he has something to cover his feet.

     We walk down the aisles until he finds a pair of light-up sneakers that he likes. I talk him over to a bench so he can sit down and try them on. I start looking around and my eyes land on a boy I recognize from school. Xavier Kingston, aka the school's so called "bad boy".

     Soon Lucien spots him too, and he instantly hides behind me. Xavier is dressed in black jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. I guess he does look kinda scary. As if he feels my eyes on him, he turns around and looks right at me and then turns his head to Lucien.

Xavier's POV

    
     I walk into Target and head straight for the shoe section. My idiot of a friend Liam thought it would be funny to spill neon paint all over my favorite pair of black and white vans. So now I need a new pair.

     I find the shoes I'm looking for and sit down on a bench to make sure they fit. I am so going to get Liam back for this. Those were my favorite shoes. Nobody messes with my shoes and gets away with it.

     I'm about to get up and go check out when I feel a pair of eyes on me. I turn around to see who it is. I recognize a girl I've seen around school. I then notice the little boy hiding behind her. I don't remember her having a little brother.

     "Hey, you need something?" I ask her, a little more harshly than I intended. The boy hides his face behind her leg and his hands are wrapped around her. She reaches behind her and rubs his back a little, which seems to calm him down.

     "Sorry," she says, "I just happened to notice we had on the same pair of shoes." I look down and realize that we are indeed, wearing the same pair of black and white vans, only mine are covered in paint.

     "Oh," I say. "I recognize you from school, but who's this little guy?" I ask her curiously. She seems to panic a little at this. "O-oh, this is um, h-he's my cousin?" she says more like a question than an answer. I don't believe her but I go along with it anyway.

     "What's your name little man?" I ask the boy. He manages to hide even farther behind her. Alright then. "Sorry, he's a little shy around people." she tells me quietly. She bites the bottom of her lip. She's not bad-looking, I think to myself.

     "I understand, so is my little sister." I say. Right then the little boy starts crying. I didn't think I was that scary, geez.

     She picks him up and he rests his head on her shoulder. Aw that's kinda cute. Wait... when have I ever used to word cute? What has gotten into me?

     "Aw Lu, are you tired buddy?" I hear her whisper to him. Lu huh? He nods at her sleepily.

     "I guess we should be heading home, it's nap time." she tells me. I nod at her and she walks away with a basket full of clothes. Why would she need to buy that many clothes for her cousin? Strange.

     As she walks away I return to my senses and carry on with my business. I grab my shoes and begin making my way towards the checkout aisles. Number three seems to have less people so I head in that direction.

     As soon as I get there I realize that Reagan is in front of me trying to put all of the clothes on the table one-handedly; she's holding the kid in her other arm. She looks like she's struggling so I should probably help her. "Hey," I say, "you need some help with that?" I ask her. She begins to turn around and as she does so she drops the rest of the clothes accidentally.

     I immediately crouch down and start picking them up off the floor. I notice that Lu is asleep on her shoulder. "Oh thank you so much, I'm such a clutz." she says in an embarrassed voice. I see that she's blushing slightly and it's actually kinda cute. Great, here we go again with the cute thing.

     She looks up. "Oh, hey it's you again." she says once she recognizes me. "Yeah, it's me. I never caught your name by the way." I tell her. "Oh, right sorry. I'm Reagan, and this is Lucien." she says. "I'm Xavier." I say. "Yeah I know who you are, you're kind of a big deal at our school. Everybody knows who you are."

     I'm a little surprised by her response, but she does have a point. Everybody knows who I am. My father owns a very large and very successful business, therefore we get lots of attention. My family is extremely wealthy and everybody wants to know us, but my sister and I don't like the attention.

     I'm brought back to my senses when I hear Lucien start crying. I immediately drop the clothes back on the table and take a step back. I'm gonna give them their space, Reagan seems to know what she's doing.

     "Hey Lu, it's okay buddy, we'll be out of here soon. We're gonna go home, okay?" she says as she rubs his back, gently. This seems to calm him down. She pulls out her wallet and I notice that she hardly has any cash on her. It doesn't seem like nearly enough to cover the cost of all those clothes.

     "Oh, sh-nickerdoodles," she says, catching herself before saying a curse word. "I left my card at home." she says quietly to herself. Before thinking, I put my hand over her wallet, stopping her. "Here, I say, let me pay." I tell her, surprising her and myself. What has gotten into you man? You don't even know her.

     She looks at me with a shocked face. "No, that's not necessary." she tells me. "No, no, I insist, please." I say to her. I put my shoes on the table and pull out my mastercard to give to the cashier. He quickly swipes it through the card reader and gives it back to me after I enter my pin number.

      As the cashie puts our things in bags, Reagan turns to me, surprise still written across her face. "I don't even know how to thank you. I'm going to pay you back." she tells me. "Please, there's no need to pay me back." I say. I've already got more money than I know what to do with, hers won't make a difference.

     After everything is checked out, I help Reagan carry her bags to her car since she is still holding Lucien. There must be twenty different bags full of clothes just for this kid. Why would she need to buy so many clothes for her cousin? I wonder.

     "Thanks again for helping me out Xavier, I really do appreciate it." she says gratefully. "It's no problem, really. I'm glad I was able to help." I tell her honestly. It's nice to help people out every once in a while.

     As I start walking back to my car, I turn around. "Hey Reagan," I shout, "it was nice to officially meet you, and Lucien too." She smiles at me, and gets in her car.

     Once I get to my jet black Lamborghini Aventador, I open the door and sit down inside. What in fuck just happened?