A Thousand Little Promises

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

We milled outside the high school, waiting for the others to come out. Archer stood leaning against the railing, his face turned up to the sky.

For the first time I that day I really looked at him, taking in his tousled sandy blonde hair and strong build. His strong shoulder stretched the material of his black t-shirt, leaving nothing to imagination of what lay beneath.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I'd only just met him today.

The door opened once more and Teddy came out hand-in-hand with Ryder.

"Took you long enough" Archer muttered, opening his blue eyes to look at the couple.

"Sorry, we were held back" Ryder said, as Teddy blushed profusely.

I couldn't help but laugh at their blatant lie.

"Echo, I don't know where you live but if you're close to the basketball courts here in the neighbourhood you should come there at four. The guys and I are meeting up to shoot some hoops." he said.

I grinned, "Sure, I have some bio homework to finish with Archer first, but afterwards yeah" I felt happy that they felt comfortable enough around me to invite to me play.

"Richard's Square at four?" Archer asked, checking his phone.

Ryder confirmed before puling Teddy away from us and towards the parking lot.

"Onwards we move then. We have stuff to do" Archer said, leading the way to the cars.

He stopped in front of a ford '69 and I almost went to my knees.

"This is you car!" I exclaimed, gently running my fingers across the shining black hood of the beautiful old timer.

He laughed, "yeah it is"

"Oh god its beautiful. I've always wanted this car" I sighed, walking around to the passenger side.

He made a show of revving the tuned engine, before pulling out of the lot, making me sigh contently and slouch back into the soft leather seats.

I rolled down the window, relishing in the feel of the warm summer air blowing through my hair. Closing my eyes I hummed along to the gentle lull of the radio, enjoying every minute of the ride.

"Here we are" Archer said, slowing the car and pulling into the driveway of a beautiful house.

Its facade was white washed, glowing in the sun. The clean green shutters of the windows gave the home a friendly vibe, alongside the many flowers that bloomed in the beds leading up to the door.

"Its beautiful" I marvelled, studying the house.

"Hmm. Handed down from my gramps, my parents renovated it."

He unlocked the front door and lead us into the tastefully decorated interior of the house.

He showed me to the kitchen, telling me to make myself at home before leaving for his room to change.

*

"So there's Totipotent, Pluripotent, Multi-potent and Adult Stem cells right?" Archer asked, scribbling down the answers.

"Yup" I said, snapping the textbook shut, "And that was that. We're done" I smiled up at him as he leant back in his chair.

He grinned back at me, his eyes flickering across my face.

We sat in comfortable silence for a minute, just looking at each other before Archer's phone rang.

He set the phone to loud speaker and put it on the table, standing up to clear away our glasses.