I put on my pale pink lipgloss before walking out of my bedroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen.

I spot my mother dashing from the stove to the oven, back in forth in some weird frenzy and yell, "Bye mom! I'm going to go to Jade's so we can head to the party now!"

Mom doesn't turn around, but her voice rings out from the kitchen. 

"Bye honey, have fun! Don't let Jade do anything she'll regret later!" 

I sigh. Mom knows how wild Jade Wilkins gets at parties and dances. There was almost no stopping her when she wanted to party.

Jade is my best friend, but honestly it is no secret that when she parties, she parties hard. To top if all off, she is a lightweight so that makes things 100% worse. As her best friend, I am the designated save her sorry ass person.

On top of that, I hate going to parties. The smell of sex, sweat, alcohol, and hormonal teens is gross. I only go to them to watch over Jade.

I walk up to the front door and stop, placing a hand on it. "I'll try mom, but you know all I can really do is be there when it's all over."

With that, I waltz out of the door, close it, and lock it. 

At least, I tried to. 

Some guy wearing a jean jacket, a white shirt and some black joggers blocks my way down the porch steps. His hand is lifted, as if he was about to knock on the door.

Well this is awkward.

We stand awkwardly, me in my dress and heels, all done up and ready to go to a party, him not so subtly gaping at me in my dress, not saying a word.

I watch as his hand slowly moves down to his side as he continues to awkwardly blink up at me from the step below the threshold. I blink back at him. 

He quirks a brow before slowly looking me up and down. In response, I squirm under his gaze and look away.

After a few seconds, he clears his throat, which causes me to look up and meet his mesmerizing green eyes. 

I tear my eyes away from his own and ask, "Can I help you?" 

He reaches a hand up and scratches the back of his neck before looking me in the eye and saying, "Well I was just—uh.. wondering if you needed any lawn work done on the house and such."

What?

I don't respond, just continue staring at him. 

His dark brown hair must be so soft.. I wish I could run my hand through it.

Wait.. say what now?

He continues.

"My uncle Joe does some yard work and I'm helping him get more business by going door to door." 

I blink, barely registering a word that he just uttered. 

Wow, his eyes sparkle like emeralds...I feel as if even the king of Emerald City would be allured by this young man's eyes.

My stares must have creeped him out a little, because he began to squirm. I shake my head to clear my thoughts just as he clears his throat, which completely snaps me out of my trance. 

I nod my head slowly, finally processing his words. 

"Um yeah, we do need some yard work done. My dad has asthma and can't do it anymore and I am terrible at cutting the grass so yeah."

Ugg, why must I talk so much?!

My cheeks redden in embarrassment, but if he notices he chooses not to comment on it.

Instead, he smiles and clearly says, "Cool. Here's my uncle's business card. Give us a call when you're ready to set up times for us to come and work."

I clear my throat and stick out my hand for him to shake. "Lucas. Lucas Reed." 

His eyebrows shoot up a bit upon hearing my name, but he nonetheless takes my hand and introduces himself as Lamont Davidson.

We exchange a smile that lasts for light years, until I look down and spot our hands, still encircled within each other.

I slowly pull my hand out of his, suddenly feeling weird that our hands had still been together.

He notices and lets go of my hand, albeit reluctantly, and looks into the distance. I stare down at my toes and sigh.

We stay like this for a few beats, quiet, so quiet that the only sound around us being the chirping birds. This left me counting every second that passed. 

240 seconds passed, which means we had been in this position for three minutes.

I look up and mumble, "Well, I uh... I should get going now." 

He jumps a little, no doubt startled by my sudden intrusion of the silence.

"I'm supposed to meet my friend at her house to go to a party and I'm running a little late now so..." my voice trails off as I run out of words to say.

"Oh yeah, for sure, for sure! I should get going too... nice to meet you Lucas." 

With that, he turns and jumps down my front steps, whistling as he walks down the sidewalk to the next house.

A/N

Cast:

Maia Mitchell as Lucas Anne Reed

Louis Tomlinson as Lamont Davidson

Lindsey Morgan as Jade Wilkins

Lucas and Lamont