Young Hearts (Book 2) COMPLETED

Chapter 51: Landon

Friday after school I'm surprised to see a cherry red Mercedes in the driveway. I park my car then grab my bookbag before heading in. I make my way into the house to find Irene, Fiona and her mother Maureen all sitting in the study.

"Ahh there he is," Irene chimes. "Where have you been? I thought school let out over an hour ago?"

"I had a Young Investors Club meeting," I reply.

"Oh ok, well no one told me. Anyway, don't be rude Landon, we have guests."

"Hello Mrs. O'Malley. Fiona," I nod.

"Hello, Landon," Maureen replies. "Your mother and I were about to go out. We thought it might be nice if you and Fee spent some time together."

"Oh? Ok." It's really not ok, I just got home and I want to relax but I go along with their plan to be polite.

"I'm pretty hungry," Fiona says, "Can we go get something to eat?"

"Yeah. Just let me change out of my uniform."

I head up to my room to change and try to figure out where to take her.

***

A few minutes later Fiona and I leave the house and get into my car.

"So listen, I know I didn't explain anything when we left the party. I'm really sorry about everything. Things have been really complicated." I falter, "I don't know how much your dad has said, if anything. But the main reason my dad wanted us to start spending more time together is because he didn't approve of my ex-girlfriend, Olivia."

"Ex? You sure about that because it didn't seem like she was an ex at the party."

"Yeah, well after the party we decided to break things off. It's for the best given the situation. I just hope you can forgive me for not being truthful with you."

"My father hasn't said anything to me about why he wanted us to start dating. He just said it might be nice if we started spending time together. I know our dads have often said it would be nice if we did end up getting married, but to be honest I was surprised when my mother told me it really might be happening. I wasn't expecting it at all. So I understand if you don't want to do this, we don't have to."

"No, no. That's not what I'm saying. My father thinks this is what is best for the both of us. For both of our families. I just wasn't prepared when he presented the opportunity to me. But I've ended things with Olivia and I'm ready to move forward. I'm just not ready to put a label on this. I think we need to spend way more time getting to know each other before we call each other boyfriend and girlfriend."

I'm not sure if this is what I really want but I don't want to disappoint my father anymore. I don't know if I will ever love another like I loved Ollie but with time I know I could grow to care for Fiona.

"Ok, yeah. Maybe you're right. No labels, we're just getting to know each other."

***

I pull into Cosmo's and spot Connor's car. Great we can hang out with Connor then I won't have to be alone with Fiona. We walk into the restaurant, and I spot him at our favorite booth.

"Hey, there's my friend. Let's go over and say hi."

"Ok," Fiona agrees.

As we approach the table, I see a half-eaten pineapple and ham pizza. That's strange, I've never known Connor to like pineapple and ham but it is Olivia's favorite. I also see that there's a Comic's Inc's bag on the table. He is always pestering me to go there but comic books and trading cards aren't my thing.