cherry flavoured

2

THE NEXT MORNING I'm ready dot on time. I pull my hair up into a ponytail before grabbing my car keys. Once I'm in the car, I make sure I've packed my charger and my sketchpad, then I type their address into my phone. It takes me around 20 minutes to arrive at the Ashford house. I thought it was big on the maps, but it's four times bigger than that. Gosh, this is a palace.

I get out of the car to dial the four digits into the keypad, and the huge black gates slowly open. Once they do, I pull in, parking amongst the cars. My car feels minuscule compared to these ranges'.

Taking a deep breath, I finally walk up the stairs to the front door, which is also abnormally huge. I press the bell once, hearing it ring out on the other side of the door. A few moments pass, before it's pulled open.

A guy appears in the doorway and my jaw almost drops as I look at him. Oh my god. I should've put two and two together. It's Parker Ashford.

His dark hair is a little curly, and tousled like he just woke up. He looks back at me, his eyes dressed with unfairly long eyelashes. Light freckles cover his entire face and arms from the sun. He's wearing a black t-shirt which is tight around his biceps with grey shorts and white nike socks.

God, he's hot.

Parker is our soccer teams captain, and Preston High's golden boy. He's also a notorious heartbreaker. Well, so I've heard. I shouldn't really judge someone from rumours.

"Can I help you?" he looks at me expectantly.

Shit, I've been staring this whole time.

"Uh, I'm Elena Kinsley." I press my lips together.

My skin burns as I watch him eye me, suddenly all to aware of my tank top and short shorts.

"The babysitter?" he raises an eyebrow and I nod.

"Come in." he takes his arm off the doorframe but he doesn't move.

I step into the house, awkwardly brushing past him. I thought the outside of the house was pretty, but the inside is otherworldly, the whole floor is open-pan, a wide marble staircase in the middle. I step out of my shoes, placing them neatly next to my bag on the floor.

"Jack!" Parker calls up the stairs.

A few moments later, a little boy appears. His hair is a light blonde, and he has blue eyes. I glance at Parker. They look nothing alike.

"Hi Jackson." I smile. "I'm Elena."

Jackson gives me a small smile.

"I'll be in my room if you need me Jack." Parker mumbles, typing something on his phone before he starts walking up the stairs.

Well, he doesn't seem very friendly. I look back at Jackson. He blinks up at me expectantly.

"What do you wanna do?" I ask him , unsure of what else to do.

He shrugs his shoulders, pushing his hair out of his eyes with a chubby hand.

"Your mom told me you like to draw. Should we draw together?"

His smile widens a little at my words and he nods.

I hold out a hand, smiling myself. "Come on then."

Jackson shows me to all his art supplies; he has a load of pens and pencils, sketchbooks and watercolours, which are way to expensive for a child. I guess it doesn't matter when money isn't a problem. We set up on the kitchen island. I put out some newspaper so we don't make a mess on the white marble counter.

After about forty-five minutes, we've both drawn three pictures each. He's only eight years old, but Jackson is an amazing artist. I watch him as he looks over at my drawing. He notices that I've noticed, then looks away.

"I like that one." he says, his voice small.

I hold up the drawing of Black Widow that I did at the start. "This one?"

He nods. "It's really cool."

"You can have it." I smile at him, holding it at arms length.

He looks at me and I nod. The little boy smiles a, taking it from my hand.

My attention is drawn from Jackson as Parker enters the kitchen. He looks up at us from his phone briefly, before walking over to the fridge. He pulls out a juice box, walking to the island and placing his phone down.

"Can I see your drawing Jacky?" he softens his tone a little while talking to his brother, which is cute.

Jackson grins, handing him the picture of Spiderman that he just finished. Parker smiles, reaching it right up to his eyes. He has a beautiful smile.

"It's for you. Because your name is Parker." Jackson explains. "Like Peter Parker."

My heart warms as I watch the interaction. I wish I had siblings. Parker looks up at me, and then down at my drawings.

"These yours?" he says, pointing at one. There's a silver band ring on his middle finger.

"Mhm." I push the papers in his direction and he takes them, his eyes scanning over.

"Nice." he nods, sliding them back to me. "What did you say your name was again."

Ouch. We've only been going to school together for three years.

"Elena Kinsley. We have Bio and Chem together." I point out.

Parker frowns. "You go to Preston?"

I nod. He watches me for a moment, his face blank as he inspects mine. I fold under his gaze, jumping down off the barstool.

"Would you like a snack, Jackson?" I ask, walking over to the fridge and taking out an apple juice box for the kid.

He nods. "Can I have grapes?"

"Of course." I take them out the fridge, grabbing a bowl and a knife from the cupboard and drawer beside.

"What, I don't get a snack too?" Parker teases, watching me as I take the grapes off the stem, slicing them each in half before placing them in the bowl.

I look up at him. "I'm a babysitter, not a maid. Get it yourself." I deadpan, cutting the final grape.

A hint of a smile plays on his lips, which gives me an unwanted feeling of satisfaction. I push it to the back of my mind as I wash the grapes, walking over and placing the bowl and juice box in front of Jackson.

"Thank you." he says quietly. He's adorable.

Parker reaches out for the bowl, and I push his hand away before realising what I'm doing.

"Get your own snack." I raise my eyebrows at him. Jackson giggles a little beside me.

Parker's eyebrow arches in amusement. I clear my throat after a few moments, the eye contact making me squirm. Silently, he gets up, walking around the counter. He stops in front of me and my heart begins to pound in my chest. I tilt my head back so I can maintain eye contact with him, unwilling to back down. His lips turn up into a smile and he leans forward, making me back up into the counter. He reaches past me. Less than an inch of his skin touches mine, yet it still burns at the contact.

As he pulls back, I realise he has Jackson's juice box in his hand. A little 'hey' sounds from beside me but I don't take my eyes off Parker's. He brings the straw to his beautifully defined lips, and drinks it.

I finally tear my eyes away when he pulls back, squeezing the carton and finishing it. I lick the top row of my teeth, blinking a couple times. God, I feel like I was in a trance. He chuckles a little as he tosses the empty juice box in the trash, before walking out of the kitchen.

My heart still thumping, I walk over to the fridge and grab Jackson another juice.

"Here you go." I pierce the straw and give it to him, to which he smiles gratefully.

My eyes can't help but flicker over to the stairs.