After walking Rowley home, you head back to your new house and see that the movers are just finishing up. They had already been paid so they left and you were by yourself once again on that lawn. However, the sun was setting in a purple haze and the last of the cicadas were screaming their little heads off, signaling that it was only minutes before the streetlights would come on meaning it was time to get inside. While all your boxes were now inside, you had totally forgotten that you needed to get food. You debated on whether or not you should order takeout once more or actually make the trip to the grocery store. But you had no idea what to buy or even where the store was.
Before you wanted to go inside, you had to move your lawn chair off since you knew the sprinklers would go off in the morning. Which you think is pretty wasteful. Why can't you have a moss lawn like you did in Maine? That was a great place. A lot of the places you move to are just houses your Father bought and wanted to turn into rentals, but he needed someone to live in them first and explore the town and write on what was around to see. You were basically being a tour guide for people you would never meet and a travel agent all in one. It was a fun job you guess, but you never stayed in those places long enough.
Even though your Father's company was in town, he wasn't living with you. He had decided to live in a suite downtown closer to his work. Which meant you had to be pawned off somewhere else like usual. Instead, you were living with your aunt, Mabel. She was the radio host of Mabel in the Morning, a popular radio channel here at Plainview. She had an extra room in the basement so you took up residency there. She wasn't home often and mostly lived at the radio station rather than here. She was your Father's sister who never left their hometown and honestly she did really well for herself. She had never married, never had kids. Since you moved a lot, you don't even remember her. Today would be the first day you meet her as a fully, conscious teen.
You head inside to grab a top to cover yourself so you aren't just in a bikini top anymore in case Mabel decides to show up. You pick up your purple and pink tye-dye hoodie that you had taken off earlier to tan on the lawn. THE LAWN! You thought that if you kept thinking of meeting your estranged aunt, you would forget the lawn chair and ruin it and your aunt would have a reason to dislike you already. Opening your front door, you were greeted by Greg once more. His hand froze on the doorbell and he pushed it anyway even though you were already at the door facing him. You both stared at each other in silence while the bell tolled it's way through the foyer.
"Greg." you say in greeting. "It's been so long since I last saw you. I almost forgot what you looked like." You push past him off of your porch to bring the lawn chair in. He once again just stands on your porch unsure of how to speak to you. You tend to have that effect on people as some people saw you as intimidating. You were so tired of small towns and how people could never be up front and honest with what they want. You could assume Greg wanted something which was why he was still standing like an idiot at your front porch, not speaking.
You pick up the lawn chair under one arm, and the radio in the other. Walking towards the open garage, you set the lawn chair in and put the radio on the top shelf near the house entrance inside the garage. You turn around and Greg is standing there almost giving you a heart attack. How the fuck did he move so quietly?
"Greg, I am going to go inside. So, I suggest saying whatever you came here to say before that happens," you put your hand on the doorknob to the door and raise your eyebrows at Greg. He finally starts to speak, "My mom wanted me to ask if you wanted to come to our house for dinner." In your head you think, finally he tells you what he wanted. You mull over in your head your options. A home cooked meal would be great since you didn't even know when the last time your aunt went shopping or if you even enjoyed the same foods.
"Greg, I would love nothing more than to eat dinner with your family." You clasp your hands in front of you, acting ever-so grateful for the offer. One of the last days of summer and you have a freshman boy asking if you wanted to eat dinner with his family. Which meant speaking to his dad who worked at your Father's firm and meeting the brother, Rodrick, who could not drive and stared at your half naked body in bewilderment. You shiver at the thought of the toddler and his blanket at the dinner table as well and who knows what the mom would be like if the children were like that?
You shut the garage door and walk with Greg once more towards his house. He wasn't very talkative still so you assume that he didn't want to ask you dinner and he definitely didn't want to see you after the stunt you pulled earlier. You didn't think he deserved to know like Rowley did that it was always a prank. If Greg didn't like you it didn't really matter. You still disliked him for almost taking your head off earlier.
As you arrive back to Greg's house, he opens the door and goes in first, not much of a gentleman then, you guessed. You follow after him and see the living room to the right and the dining room to the left and a kitchen just past that. As you shut the door Greg yells out, "Mom! We're back!" Frank comes to greet you again, this time a toddler is not hanging off of him. Thank goodness, you were kind of scared of kids who were attached to something so gross. The blanket he carried, you were not referring to Mr. Heffley as gross, the blanket was gross as was the toddler holding it.
"Hi again, [Y/N]. Sorry to make you walk back here again, but we thought you might be hungry and not fully unpacked yet." Frank finally led you to the dining table and he took a seat at the head of the table closest to the door. You sat next to him on the left. Pulling out your chair you begin small talk and pray it wasn't going to be long.
You notice Greg is sitting to your left and across from him is the toddler, playing with that gross looking stringy-booger combination. Which meant that across from you, as you lifted your eyes to his, was Rodrick. He was wearing a different shirt this time. It was a black t-shirt with a picture of a tiger. You thought at least this one doesn't have noticeable stains.
He stared back at you and you remember your earlier encounter of you in your jean shorts and bikini top dragging away Rowley. Not the best way to meet a guy, you thought. He didn't say anything to you and seemed worse than Greg in your garage. Seems the Heffley men were quiet and didn't say much. Except for the dad, Frank. "You know, I didn't even know there was a house for sale in the neighborhood." Frank says as he straightens out his chair.
"The house wasn't for sale, it's my aunt Mabel's. She lives here and works at the radio station and my father wanted me to move back to his hometown and get close with my aunt since-" You hear a gasp from the kitchen. Your words taper off and you see a woman in a floral button down and copper hair approach you with a casserole dish and oven mitts.
"Your aunt is Mabel in the Mornings!? I listen to her when I drop the kids off or when I'm running errands. She is so funny and relatable. She grew up here with Marcus, did you know that Frank?" The woman sets down the dish and you see inside some pasta noodles. You start to notice some salad on the table as well and feel your stomach grumble slightly. You would eat anything at this point, "Oh sorry! My name is Susan, Frank's wife. Frank?" You take a look at Frank and see him staring at you with wide eyes bordering on almost bug-like the way he was staring at you. Susan calls his name again and he looks up at her.
"Your dad is Marcus? As in the CEO of Mabel & Mora Partners? The place where I am employed?" You watch Frank stutter out the words. Well, you thought, it was bound to happen sooner or later that someone was going to recognize you as the CEO's daughter or the radio host's niece. You smile and nod your head. So, now you definitely know that they didn't invite you here for that connection with your dad, they only just figured it out. Susan slightly hits Frank's arm because you think she was worried his eyes might pop out of his head the way he was looking at you in awe.
"Haha, yeah that's my Father. He wanted me to meet my aunt and live with her for senior year. He's not staying with us since work is more important right now, you know." You say slightly embarrassed. You knew your dad loved work more than he could tolerate you. You definitely had an acting out stage that resulted in being sent to a Catholic girls school in Ireland. Thinking that if you started to act out maybe he would care, but you realized when something happened he would just send out his assistant's to check in on you.
Now you weren't sure if you should stay for dinner. You didn't want to speak about your father anymore because you hardly knew him. You were fine making up lies about your own life, but if it got back to your Father, he would get mad saying you were ruining his reputation. As if he could ruin his reputation just because of his daughter.
"Well, isn't that something then! Our new neighbor is the daughter of your boss and the niece of our local celebrity! I'm a local celebrity too, I write for the Daily Trumpet." Susan sat down and took her oven mitts off. That was everyone's cue to start serving themselves food. You watch Roderick grab almost a third of the casserole. You start on the salad first and wait until he sets down the casserole serving spoon. You reach too soon and your hands touch briefly. His eyes flick up to yours and he goes straight into shoving a forkful into his mouth. How charming. Susan then goes into a lengthy conversation or more like interrogation about yourself. You tell her how you'll be a senior at Crossland High school.
"OH! So will Rodrick! Maybe you'll have a class together. Greg and Rowley will be freshmen at Crossland so maybe you all can drive to school together!" She puts her hands together and looks so happy you don't want to break it to her that you were more introverted than anything. And you may actually just straight up hate people. Plus, Greg and Rodrick haven't really impressed you enough to warrant hanging out together.
"I already offered to Rowley that if they needed a friendly face they could sit with me at lunch, actually." You put a mouthful of salad to your lips and hear Rodrick laugh. Loudly. You set your fork down and ask, "What's so funny, Rodrick?" You tilt your head at him waiting for an answer once he finishes laughing.
"That's social suicide for yourself if you have Chunky and Greggy at your lunch table as your only friends." Frank tries to tell Rodrick to stop talking like that, but you have other plans.
"I would worry more about your social standing than mine, Rodrick. New kids usually have priority over every other ranking and judging by what your mom said about my so-called celebrity status family, I think I'll manage. But hey, if there's a seat left at the table, you can always come sit with us." You stab at your plate once more smiling and turn to Greg who was holding back a laugh. You hate when people make fun of how others look. Rowley was a bigger kid, but that wasn't a reason to make fun of him since there was nothing wrong with the way he looked. You especially hated when anything involved kids. Sure you weren't the biggest fan of them, but you still had some morals left unlike Rodrick.
"I have my own table actually. My bandmates sit with me, maybe you've heard of us? Löded Diper, we've played shows around town, we're a rock band and have over a million views on YouTube." Rodrick leans back in his chair and almost falls. You let out a small laugh kind of hoping he would fall back.
"Considering this is my first day here in Plainview," You set down your fork and lift the napkin on your lap to your mouth. "This is my first time ever hearing your name or your bands. But a million views, wow, that's a lot. You'll have to send me the link then," you're feeling bold and wink at him. He looks taken aback by it, which means you're under his skin. Good, you think, someone like that needs to be taken down a peg or eight. You look at your watch and know you should probably head back home soon so you can meet your aunt, but you were having too much fun at the Heffley residence getting to Rodrick.
"Oh, um," Rodrick stumbles over his words. "The video got deleted for violating guidelines. The show was pretty crazy-" Greg interjects Rodrick laughing. "Oh no, the video only did so well because our mom was dancing on the stage. And the video is still up, I can show you after dinner, [Y/N]." Greg sat back in his seat smiling and you look at Rodrick who is mouthing the words I'll kill you to him.
"Thanks Greg, I would love to see the rock legend play. Oh, maybe I can be a groupie or even a backup dancer! Wouldn't that be fun, Rodrick? Me and Greg can support you for your next concert, Rowley too. I'm sure you've been on my aunt's radio show too since you had a million views on YouTube." You were enjoying it a bit too much. Rodrick looked so frustrated with you and probably couldn't wait to leave. Susan looked so excited about how involved you wanted to be, but I think Frank could tell you were joking about it. You slide your chair out and place your napkin on the table.
"I do have to get home to my aunt. I actually have to meet her for the first time so I don't want to be too late, I'm not even sure if I have a curfew. Thank you for the dinner Mr. and Mrs. Heffley. Greg nice seeing you again, don't be a stranger. Rodrick," You wanted to say something to make him mad. You don't know why, but you felt a need to say something he would remember you by. Something. Anything. Rodrick looked at you, eyes fuming from the radio show comment.
Instead you say nothing and head for the door. When you turn the knob and have the door open only an inch, it closes again abruptly. You look up to see what shut it and observe a large hand. You turn around and see Rodrick with his left hand resting above your head. You feel glued to the door. Another step forward and Rodrick would be pressed against you. That was the last thing you wanted, you felt the cold metal door mold to your backside bringing goosebumps to your exposed legs. Your lashes lift up to look into his dark, black eyes.
"You know, you don't have to be such a bitch." Rodrick mutters under his breath. Ah, so you did get under his skin. Quite deep, you must say and judging by his reaction, he has never been on the radio and isn't as famous as he says. You tilt your head to him realizing he's leaned in closer to you. Your eyes dart to the dining room and you realize you were out of view so no one from the rest of the Heffley family could see you.
You decide to go on your tiptoes and wrap your hand around the back on his neck to steady you. You feel his neck become hot under your hand. He tenses up and you lean into his ear, smirking, to whisper, "Likewise, Heffley. I would say 'sweet dreams,' but we both know you won't get any sleep tonight because you'll be thinking about me." You go back onto the flats of your feet and pull away, smiling. His cheeks and neck were all red and his face faltered and you could tell you got him all flustered again. While still facing him, you grab the doorknob and turn it, sliding out the door while maintaining eye contact.
You lean against the front door, smiling to yourself. Boys were so easy to work up. But you had to admit to yourself, God, it was so much fun. You still hoped you wouldn't see Rodrick in school let alone any of your classes. He was far too smug about his band and you could probably bet they weren't any good either. After taking a deep breath, you head to your new home. Walking in, you slid off your shoes and heard the sound of footsteps coming towards you. You see a pear-shaped woman walking your way with outstretched arms.
"[Y/N], it is so good to see you again. I haven't seen you since you were so little! Were you out exploring the neighborhood? Are you hungry?" Instantly you feel bad. You hadn't even thought of having dinner with your aunt. Now she probably made something and you were going to hurt her feelings, great.
"Actually, I met some of the neighbors and had dinner with them, the Heffley's. They're big fans of yours and fathers. I'm sorry if you made something, I can still sit down if you'd like." You move your eyebrows in sympathy hoping you didn't hurt her. Instead, Mabel laughs and claps her hands.
"Oh thank God! I didn't want to cook dinner, I am so fucking tired from the station preparing for this contest thing that I was worried about you, but you seem pretty self-sufficient. If you'd like, make me a list of your favorite meals or snacks and I'll Instacart it and we can be done with the whole feeding teenagers thing," Mabel is not what you expected at all. She seemed really laid back and cool. "You know I never had a husband or kids so it's always been me on my own. However, I have had roommates before. No going into my room and other than that I'll think up some other rules later. I'm heading to bed for now, I won't be here when you wake up tomorrow so you'll have the house to yourself so decorate your room or go swim in the pool in the backyard. Peace!" and Mabel actually threw up a peace sign as she went up the stairs to go to bed.
You think since you still have your swimsuit under your clothes might as well head for a night swim before bed and check out the pool. You get to the backyard and find an in-ground swimming pool with lights under the water. You even find a cabana that has a remote to change the pool lights and the temperature, you change them to a soft, white light and raise the heat. You can start to see steam mixing with the cold night air.
You decide to get out your phone and play some music quietly while you swim. You play one of the many playlists on your Spotify account called "Meet Me in the Technicolor Leaves" And pull your hoodie over your head. You use the steps of the pool to slowly submerge yourself and swim around slowly, letting the water move around your body.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me? You live directly behind me?" You hear Rodrick's voice before you see him and he looks over the wrought iron fence. You hadn't considered the thought that the Heffley's lived behind you, on the next street over. You also wouldn't have thought Rodrick would be outside at night the same time as you.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me that you don't mind your own business." You mock back. You swim to the edge of the pool closest to where he's leaning over the fence post. The fence was only coming up to maybe his hips so you thought he could easily jump over. As long as he stays over there, you thought, you were fine talking to him still. You rested your chin on the tops of your hands as Rodrick watched you floating at the pool's edge. What he said next made you want to jump over that fence and strangle him.
"You know, I think you like me."
Author's Note
Alright ending chapter 2 here and I wanted it to be a long one. SO enjoy and be on the look out for Chapter 3, the first day of school! Add this to your library so you'll get updates as well! Thanks!