Hey everyone, I’ve been helping out with stage crew at school for the musical and it’s three hours a night. A lot right? Yeah but it will look good on my record, anyway… I know last chapter was sort of boring but I hope you like this one. Oh also I had a solo and ensemble competition this weekend and sang for a judge and got a one star the highest score you can get! I’m giddy lol.
It was early the next morning when I went to talk to Julie. I told her that I had a small family emergency and would like to take the car and drive home for the night. She didn’t seem too upset, and easily handed over the camp car keys to me. I felt like a little rule breaker but it didn’t matter. I knew that I had to talk to Landon, it was like this gut feeling.
It was a hard thing to explain even to myself, but there was nothing stopping me now. “Hey so I’ll see you tomorrow. Wish me luck.”
I leaned over to squeeze Gavin tight. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my closer. “Everything will be okay; Landon likes you I can tell. Trust me.”
Smiling, I detached myself from him and reached to open the car door. The red jeep looked fairly new so I would have to be extra careful driving it around. Once I was seated, Gavin shut the door behind me and slapped his hand to the side of the car.
“His house is only twenty minutes away; I know he lives in a big gated community so if you find yourself somewhere sketchy you are definitely in the wrong place,” he told me as I turned on the car and thr rumble of the engine filled my ears.
Okay, gated community. So Landon was rich…
“Did you hear me Mia?”
I nodded my head and turned back to face him. “Yeah he’s rich I got it.”
Gavin chuckled and backed away from the car. I waved him goodbye before putting the car into drive and speeding off towards the exit of camp. Trees flew by and my hair whipped in the open wind. Putting on a pair of sunglasses, I looked down at the paper directions I had printed off earlier. It was pretty much a straight run, but knowing my sense of direction I would get lost.
I let a sigh escape my lips as thoughts ran through my head. What if Landon thought I was crazy just showing up to his house? It’s not like I’m a stalker, I just don’t want to mess up a whole new friendship and maybe even relationship. After Cole I thought I would never want to be in another relationship but ever since I met Landon it just felt right.
God what was I doing? Just barging in on someone’s life…
Landon’s mother could have died or something, I can’t just race to his home and confess my feelings for him. He’ll think I’m crazy.
Banging on the wheel in frustration I made a fast U turn and headed back for camp. And then another thought raced through my mind. What if Landon would be happy to see me? What if he was waiting for me to come by and explain myself?
Once again, I made another U turn and started following the directions. After about twenty five minutes of feeling totally lost, I came across the gated neighborhood called Winter Hallow. And then a thought struck me, how was I going to get into a very unfamiliar gated community?
It felt like hours I sat next to the gates waiting for an answer. How come this didn’t cross my mind when I was driving here? Thankfully, a car came rolling up soon enough and I managed to squeeze in after them. Hopefully no one noticed.
I practically drove off the road when I saw the first house. My assumptions about Landon were right, he was rich. I had never seen such a beautiful neighborhood in my life. Not even in movies. The houses were huge—mansion huge, with balcony’s held up by big white pillars. Every front lawn seemed to be cut to perfection, with just the right amount of landscaping. I couldn’t even count how many times I passed what looked like a custom car that must have coast thousands of dollars.
When I could see into the back yard, there was always a pool or a tennis court. Damn, why couldn’t I live here, I thought to myself a I drove past a big green house with what looked like to be a stable in the backyard. Finally coming out of my day dream, I looked down at the address printed on my paper and scanned the nearest houses. I was on the right road, so his house must be nearby.
Finally, after searching just about every house in the neighborhood I found the right one. It seemed to be up on a hill overlooking the whole rest of the subdivision. The house—or mansion—was very modern, with large glass windows and a four car garage. The lot seemed bigger than all the other ones around it, so I assumed that Landon’s father was a part of the construction of the neighborhood. How else could he get the best lot?
Sighing, I parked on the side of the street and jumped out of the jeep. By now my hair was so snarly from the wind all I could do was pull it back into a pony tail. I wiped my sweaty hands off on my jean shots before heading up the driveway and towards the front door. My heart was thumping against my chest by the time I was on their porch.
What was I going to say?
Trying my best not to overthink everything, I pushed on the doorbell and took a step back. After waiting for five very long torturing seconds, the door swung open to reveal a little boy with deep brown hair very similar to Landon’s. He had the same nose too, just much smaller, and his cheeks were dotted with small freckles.
“Hello beautiful,” he said with a small lisp.
I smiled down at the boy who seemed to be around five years old and laughed. “Hi little guy, I’m looking for Landon is he around?”
The boy narrowed his eyes at my question. He seemed a little upset. “Why do you want to see Landon he’s a turd!”
The sound of footsteps echoed off the front porch as someone from inside approached the door. “Hey Luke don’t be so mean to your big brother.”
I held my breath and Landon stopped in the doorway and ruffled his brother’s hair. He finally looked up at me and when his eyes met mine, he frowned. Oh god, he frowned.
“Mia?” he asked, his voice cracking a little.
I bit down on my lip and held my hands together. “Uh hi Landon,” was all I managed to get out.
We stood there for a second, starring at each other in aw before Luke tugged on his older brother’s hand. “I want some cereal Landon,” he demanded puling on his hand a few more times.
“Go in the kitchen I’ll be right there,” he replied not looking away from me.
Luke frowned but followed orders. As soon as he disappeared behind the door silence fell over us once again. All the things I had rehearsed in the car seemed to have flown away the instance I laid eyes on Landon. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a black t shirt. He could make the simplest clothes look good.
After what seemed like minutes, Landon finally spoke up. “What are you doing here?”
I winced as the words left his mouth, and even though I knew he was going to say them it still sort of hurt. He was definitely not happy to see me. “Ah, well Julie told me you left and I didn’t get to say goodbye. And you weren’t answering my calls and text.”
He frowned. “You came by to say goodbye?”
“No, look what happened at the bonfire wasn’t-“
“A big deal, I know. Look I didn’t leave because of what happened at the bonfire Mia. I have stuff going on right now.”
I nodded my head. It really was stupid of me to come all the way out here, but I couldn’t just sit back and lose him. He probably hated me, and I couldn’t have that.
“Look, I just think we left off in a bad place. You left without telling me, or anyone for that matter and I was just worried about you,” I finally said.
Landon laughed. “You’re not my girlfriend Mia, I don’t have to tell you everything.”
“I never said I was! I just thought that you would have said goodbye.”
He sighed and pulled a hand through his messy hair. Leaning against the doorframe, Landon looked outside and past me. God I would just kill to know what he was thinking for once. But it really did seem like he wanted me gone.
Shaking my head I backed away from the door. “Look it was a mistake to come by, you're right.”
I turned around stiffly and headed off towards my car. “No wait Mia, at least stay for a little while, you must be thirsty of hungry.”
Stopping, I spun back around to face Landon. His expression was unreadable. “No, I shouldn’t have come by—“
“Just shut up and get inside,” he said nodding towards the house.
Cracking my knuckles, I headed back up the walk and entered the house. I wiped my hands off on my jean shorts once again as I took in the beauty of his home. It looked like something out of a catalog. Creamy yellow walls with gorgeous artwork actually made the whole place feel rather homey. A large marble staircase led to the second floor where I could see a family picture. Landon stood stiffly in the middle of two adults, and one of them was holding a younger looking Luke.
Landon nudged my elbow and led me down the left hallway. After passing a few rooms, we made it to the kitchen. Once again, it looked like something out of a magazine and I instantly fell even more in love with his house. Luck was sitting at a stool at the island with an empty bowl in front of him.
Landon opened a cupboard and pulled out some fruity pebbles. After making his little brother a bowl of cereal, he turned back to face me. “Hungry?” he asked.
Even though my stomach was food deprived, I shook my head. “No I’m alright.”
“Suit yourself,” Landon mumbled pulling out a box of pop tarts and ripping open a package.
He tore into the food like he hadn’t eaten in days and finished it in about two minutes. Rubbing his stomach with a smile Landon threw away the rapper and turned to face me.
“So if you haven’t figured it out this is my little brother Luke.”
I nodded my head and ruffled the little boy’s hair. He was still eating his cereal. “It’s nice to meet you Luke,” I said.
After swallowing a mouthful of food, he smiled up at me. “I already met this pretty lady Landon.”
This made both me and Landon chuckle. “I see you’re taking after Landon Luke, that’s a bad path buddy,” I said sarcastically.
Landon rolled his eyes and nodded towards the back yard. “Let’s go put out feet in the pool.”
Saying goodbye to Luke, I followed Landon outside. We slipped off our shoes and dipped our feet into his ridiculously beautiful pool. Everything about Landon and his family was beautiful. “So I do need to tell you something, not that it will make a difference.”
Landon peered up at me, he seemed to be in a different world. “Go ahead,” he said.
Hey everyone! Whoa, so I know boring again. Vote and comment! Ps sorry for the errors. !