Third Love's The Charm [PUBLISHED]

Chapter Twenty-One: Lion Cub

Surprise was a complete understatement.

I kept on rapidly blinking, as if it would make the scene in front of me change. But no, Leon still stood there with the whistle in his hand.

Look, I was completely aware that he had that whistle. I skipped class because of shocked I was when I saw that the same whistle existed in the same time frame. However, to have him show it to me on the exact moment after I questioned him about time travel was just something else.

And my brain was taking its sweet time to comprehend the situation.

All the while his words kept repeating inside my head.

Did you figure it out? Did you figure it out? Did you figure it out?

What was there to figure out?

"Leon?" somebody called out, finally cutting through the silence and tension. I whipped around so quickly that it actually made me dizzy, but I could only stand there like a deer in the headlights when a high heeled shoe came into view from behind one of the bushes, "They said you were out here with a guest."

What came was a beautiful blonde woman, her brown eyes showed warmth and welcoming but her gait yelled authority. Very much like Leon.

I know her and I've seen her before because I went to the same school as Leon since the sixth grade so of course she was very familiar to me. The person standing in front of me, the one who walked like she was floating due to how graceful she was, was Leon Colten's mother.

"Mom!" was all he could say, "You're home."

She walked over to us and grabbed her son's face, planting a kiss on his cheek as a greeting, before facing me, "And you brought home a friend."

I stood in attention immediately, trying to find the right words not to make an outmost fool of myself.

Kind of impossible considering my brain still was processing everything that had happened.

Still, I managed to raise a hand and stammered a pathetic excuse for an introduction, "I... umm, I'm uh-"

The more I stared at her, the more the words slowly started to die in my throat. I was desperately glancing towards her son, almost pleading him to put a stop on my misery. Thankfully, he managed to collect himself and take over the conversation, "This is Avery, she's a classmate."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she smiled invitingly, shaking my outstretched hand. While she did so, I could feel her gaze deeply assessing me, causing me to be more conscious than I already was.

Calm down Avery, this just the mother of the guy who like, nothing to fret about.

Oh hell, I had every reason to fret.

"So," she said as she released her grip, "Will you be joining us for dinner?"

She talked so formally.

Okay, we just have to match that energy and we should be good, "I wouldn't want to impose."

"Impose?" she laughed lightheartedly, "Leon rarely brings home friends from school so it would be really nice if you stayed."

My eyes then switched frantically to Leon, trying to gauge whether it was alright with him. While his mother made it clear that she was eager for me to say yes, he was another story. The last thing I wanted was to weasel myself into a part of his life where he didn't want me to.

But I couldn't even describe my joy when he subtly nodded in approval. So I turned back to his mother, accepting her offer, "Then I guess it's a yes."