Placid (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter Three

| emma’s pov |

My mother gave me an encouraging push towards the new neighbor’s house before running off to Heavens know where. I rolled my eyes at the basket of fruits I was carrying, way to have a first impression. Now everyone’s going to know us as the “fruity family”, which was as horrible as it sounded.

I, nonetheless, pressed the doorbell of the sky blue house. This home was actually really nice; it felt serene, in a way. It was extremely different from our bright yellow abode, as my mom fondly calls it. My eyes hurt every single time I catch a glimpse of it.

The thoughts I had dispersed as I was greeted by a very, and I really mean very, tall guy. My mouth was agape at his height. I’ve seen everyone here, and no one is as… long as this lad. I bet he was even past six feet and three inches!

“Hi,” he said, meekly. He looked really nervous, like he hasn’t spoken with anyone else here. He ran his hand through his blond hair, averting his blue eyes to anywhere else but me.

I cleared my throat, “Sorry, um, you… you’ve just moved, right?” Well, obviously, the truck outside was enough to tell anyone that they were new here.

He nodded, slowly opening the door for me, most likely figuring out that these fruits were for him. “Make yourself at home,” he mumbled, quickly walking away from me and to wherever.

“Right, of course.” I placed the basket on their counter, which was thankfully a few steps from where I was. I took this time to look around from where I stood, since I had nothing better to do. The awards sprawled out on the floor were for someone named Luke. My self-esteem seemed to go down, he was smart- no doubt about it.

“I’m sorry, my son’s quite anti-social,” a woman said, laughing heartily as she greeted me with a hug.

“It’s okay, ma’am! I was just here to… um, give these to your family,” I awkwardly replied, pointing at my mother’s 'welcoming gift'.

She grinned, “That’s very sweet of you, dear. What’s your name?”

“Emma, ma’am. Emma Robinson. My family lives next door.” Strange as it sounds, her eyes lit up when I mentioned that.

“I’m Liz Hemmings! There’s no need for the ‘ma’am’. It makes me feel older than I am,” she giggled. “You can call me Liz. And my son, you know, the one from earlier, his name is Luke.”

With her oddly contagious happiness, I found myself smiling, despite the earlier feeling of degradation. “It’s nice meeting you, Liz. And um, I should be going now. My parents might be worried.” I shook my head at my reason; that was such a horrible excuse.

Liz nodded, giving me a quick hug before escorting me to the front door. “I’d love to see you and your family over for dinner. Around seven, maybe?”

I didn’t know how to properly decline an offer for a dinner, so I did what I never thought I'd do- I agreed. My parents were probably going to cheer once I tell them that I actually complied to this. That I wasn’t as secluded as they thought.

“See you, Emma, dear!” She called before I heard their door close.

I looked back, only to find this certain six feet something boy peeking from the window of their living room. He quickly closed the curtains and tried his best to hide. Unfortunately, his stature didn't allow this.

Shaking my head from amusement, I headed to my own home. I liked the new neighbors.