My Lifeline

25

There's a knock on the front door after I've tied up two front sections of my hair and left the rest down in its natural state.

I try to get to the door before mum, but she beats me to it. I'm on the bottom step of the stairs when the door cracks open and she greets Will in a friendly tone.

"Oh, hello, poppet. I'm sorry, I'm not looking to buy anything today."

I smack my hand against my forehead and swear under my breath, embarrassment consuming me.

"Oh—I'm not selling anything. I'm here to pick up River. I'm Will," he explains.

"Oh. Oh, you're Will? Sorry, sweetheart. Are you going to the party together?"

Not being able to handle the embarrassment for a second longer, I appear from around the corner and make eye contact with Will who is stood in the doorway, desperate for me to save him from the awkward situation.

"Yes, mum. I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you Will was coming by."

My mum pivots. Knowing that Will can no longer see her expression, she decides to wriggle her eyebrows and wink in my direction.

If dying of embarrassment was a thing, I would be on the floor without a pulse.

"You two have fun," she tells us. "It was so nice to finally meet you, Will."

"You too," he replies, showing off a charming grin that makes my mother smile in response.

She waves and walks back to the living room, finally leaving Will and I to have our space. I pull my coat sleeves over my arms as I walk towards him, offering an apologetic smile for leaving him to talk to my mum.

The grin on his face does not go unnoticed by me.

"So...you've been telling your mum about me?" he teases.

"What? No," I lie, scoffing in the process.

"Is that so? Strange, I swear she just said that it was nice to finally meet me. Clearly she knew about me beforehand."

I scowl in his direction. I've never been embarrassed this much in only a matter of minutes.

"I'll take that silence as a confirmation," he hums. "I hope you've been telling her good stuff about me. Not too good, though. If that's the case, the pressure to act up to those standards will be—difficult."

Luckily Will is staring at himself in the reflection of the mirror that's hung in the hallway of my house; playing with his hair and moving it into different positions, so he's not able to see the smile on my face that is beaming towards him.

Everything about him captivates me.

"Ready?" he asks, still oblivious to the fact that I was accidentally gazing at him.

"Yep."

He turns away from the mirror and looks at me. Properly looks at me this time, scanning his eyes over my usual black jeans and my black top that hangs lower than usual. I'm unable to make eye contact as he reaches my face and stares deeply into my eyes, scanning over each aspect I own.

"Looking good, Smiley."

My flushed face is all he needs to know that his words have an effect on me.

I want to hear him say it again. Just one million times more. Is that too much to ask?

"Thanks. You—um—look good, too," I stammer. My face grimaces at the awkwardness of my own voice. Will seems both amused and thankful.

"A compliment. That's something new," he counters.