I was about to ask where his dad was when a voice that made my heart did multiple back flips, called, "Felix? Where are you?!"
The boy perked up and ferociously wiped at the invisible tears that never fell from his eyes.
"B-Big brother...?" he called back.
"Felix!" the familiar voice got closer.
"I'm here, Big brother!" Felix said, stronger.
"Felix?" a person appeared with a brown hair girl in his arms. He was out of breath and looked like he was searching for a very long time, judging by his heavy breathing and messy hair.
As soon as Felix's eyes landed on the person who was supposedly his brother, his eyes widened and he immediately latched himself onto his brother's leg.
"Oh my gods Felix," the boy exclaimed, setting down the girl gently to the floor and picked up Felix, whose tears have begun to flow.
He stood back up, the girl clinging to his side.
I stood up slowly, my eyes widening each second as I stared at the boy.
It couldn't be. He couldn’t be standing in front of me.
"I'm so sorry for the trouble," Samuel began apologizing as Felix sniffed silently in his arms, holding his sword tightly in his hand. "Thanks so much for watching after my little brother. I really can't than-"
He stopped mid-sentence when his eyes landed on mine and I was staring back into those brown orbs.
We stared at each other. Felix... Of course! Why didn't I see it? I thought. Samuel had told me before that he had a twin sibling called Felix!
Felix finished wiping his nose and eyes and his defiant and confident face returned.
"I saved the princess!" he announced as if he completely forgot that he was crying just a second ago.
Samuel jolted out of his trance and looked at his brother with confusion. "Huh?"
"The princess," Felix repeated and grinned. "I killed the evil dragon. We're going back to the castle!"
I snapped out of my stare as well.
"Um... hi, Samuel," I said and mentally slapped myself. Way to go, Eleanor, I thought bitterly. Great opening.
"Uh, hi," Samuel greeted back, but it was just as awkward. We lapsed into total silence again.
"Do you know the princess?" Felix asked, breaking the silence once again. Samuel blinked.
"Oh, uh, yeah," he said. His eyes looked like they didn’t quite believe what they were seeing.
"Who is she?" Felix asked promptly.
"Um, she's... a friend of mine," Samuel said and gave me a nervous look as if asking me if this was okay. I nodded. "Felix, meet Eleanor."
Felix turned to face me with a huge smile. "Then, I shall call you Princess Eleanor! I'm your knight from now on!"
A slight blush appeared on my cheeks. "T-Thanks," I stammered. "Yeah, you can be my knight."
"Eleanor, uh, meet my siblings," Samuel said and gestured to the brown hair girl who was silently staring at me the entire time. "This is Susanna and you already met Felix. They're twins."
I gave Felix and Susanna a smile. "It's great to meet you guys. Um..." I squinted at the twins. "They're... 4?"
Samuel nodded. "Susanna is older."
"I'm stronger though!" Felix butted in and thrust out his sword, almost causing Samuel to topple over. "I'm a knight!"
"But you're an idiot," Susanna muttered in soft voice that made people strain to hear her, but Felix heard her. He gave her a glare.
"Shut up," he pouted and crossed his arms across his small chest.
Samuel sighed and gave me an apologetic look.
"Sorry, they argue a lot," Samuel told me. I suppressed a giggled. The Rose family is definitely interesting.
"Nah, it's fine," I said and flicked my wrist. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Oh, uh, we're buying some clothes for our mom," Samuel slightly blushed. "It's going to be her birthday soon."
This caught my attention and before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "When?"
"Tomorrow," Samuel told me. "We're buying her a new dress because she loves Banana Republic's dresses."
I smiled. "You know, Marisol is also a huge fan of their dresses. You should ask her for advice."
Samuel smiled back. "Yeah, we might need advice. We suck at fashion!"
I laughed and Samuel's smile brightened. I felt really happy inside. Samuel's smile was making me feel like Heaven struck the Earth.
Felix pulled at Samuel's collar impatiently. "Hurry, Big brother!" he urged. "I wanna go home!"
Samuel adjusted his hold on Felix and gave me one last smile. "Well, I need to go now. Guess I'll see you at school then."
"Yeah," I said, a tiny bit of disappointment laced in my voice. "See you, too."
Samuel turned to go when he suddenly remembered something. He turned around, a red blush tainting his cheeks, and asked, "C-Can you come tomorrow?"
I got confused. "Come where?"
Samuel's blush deepened as he clarified, "I thought that we could use Sunday as a tutorial day. You never came to my house before, right? You can come over tomorrow."
"But isn't tomorrow your mom's birthday?"
"Don't worry. She won't mind. It'll be quick, I promise," he assured me. I wasn't sure what to make of this.
Just a week ago, I couldn't bring to think of Samuel. And now, he was inviting me over. What was I supposed to do and say? I went with the answer that was by instinct.
"Sure," I said and nodded. A huge wave of relief passed over Samuel and his smile returned.
"Great, then tomorrow at 10 in the morning?"
I smiled. "Why not?"
Samuel gave me one final smile and a wave before Felix tugged at his collar again and Susana pulled on his pants leg.
"See you tomorrow, Eleanor," Samuel said and turned and walked around. I watched the little Rose family walking away, my heart thumping way too loud in my chest.
My smile didn't disappear from my face. In fact, I was beaming the entire way back to Marisol and Chloe who were waiting for me at the cashier.
Yeah, I was definitely going nuts.
CHAPTER 14: Let The Rain Fall
I held up two shirts: a light pink long sleeve with a huge, dark red bow on the middle and a white sweater with a hood.
"Which one?" I asked Marisol who sat cross legged on the edge of my bed.
Marisol smirked.
"Trying to impress your lover?"
I consciously felt my cheeks heat up and I glared at her even though I couldn't stop my heart from fluttering at the word 'lover'.
"Hell no."
Marisol laughed. "Definitely the white hoodie with a yellow tin-top underneath."
I put back the light pink shirt and pulled out a yellow tin-top.
"You sure?" I asked and held up the outfit up to myself to see for myself. Marisol nodded.
"It's totally Samuel's style."
I glared at her again, causing her to laugh again.
"Just kidding." She grinned. "You’re ready for your lessons?"
I slipped on the clothes and pulled my hair up into a loose ponytail.
Blowing a stray hair out of my eyes and putting my hand on my hip, I said, "Never more."
~*~
I was literally mind blown when we pulled into Samuel's neighborhood; not the bad mind blown, but the good mind blown.
Samuel lived behind the school in a small village where either few people lived or was filled with seniors. Or at least, that was the story told to me by others. I never expected to come into a neighborhood where everything almost seemed like my own except with more one-story houses and more people roaming on the streets.
Marisol whistled. "Pretty cool if you ask me."
I snorted and pretended to not care. "What's so cool about this place? It's too shabby." Why am I still holding on? Why am I still denying. Why, oh why, am I lying to myself?
Marisol rolled her eyes as we turned a corner and came upon a street where the houses seemed smaller. "You never think anything is cool."
I propped my el
bow onto the car door and looked outside instead of answering her. We drove pass a few kids playing basketball on the sidewall with a small basketball made out of cloth. The kids didn't look older than 9, but you could never be sure. Once I had thought that a boy was 16, my age, but he turned out to be 21. And even worse, he was our substitute for the day in place of Mrs. Jackling (Which I was very thankful for. At least he didn’t yell at us every few seconds.).
Marisol parked in front of a red brick house.
"Ta-Da," she said as she looked at the sheet of paper in her hands. Samuel had called me the night before to tell me where his house was, though I had no clue where and how he got my number. I searched up the address on Google Maps and printed out the map and gave it to Marisol.
"Welcome to the Rose Estate," he joked as we climbed out of her car.
I wasn't so sure about the whole 'estate' part. Sure, Samuel's house wasn't as shabby as I had thought it would be, but it wasn't near as fancy as mine.
The Rose's house was small and simple. The front consisted of a white wooden porch that I noticed was very old, considering that some areas were worn down to yellow. On either side of the side was a window with yellow flower curtains drawn down. There wasn't even a garage, much less a car. The closest thing to a transportation device was a bike as worn out as the house.
We walked up the steps to the door, the wood creaking beneath our feet. Marisol knocked twice because there wasn't a doorbell.
From inside, I could hear multiple feet running to the door. There was a click and the door swung open. I was greeted with a mop of brown hair and a huge smile.
"Princess Eleanor has arrived!" Felix exclaimed gleefully and flung himself onto my leg. Marisol giggled beside me.
"Felix, manners," Susanna, who was right behind her twin brother, scolded. Felix pulled back enough to glare at her.
"I can do what I want," he huffed and puffed out his cheeks. Susanna gave him a cool stare.
"That's why you're so stupid," she muttered under her breath. Felix got red and opened his mouth to say a retort when a voice that made my heart squeeze called, "Felix, Susanna? Has she come?"
Samuel opened at the bottom of the stairs out of breath. A towel draped over his shoulders even though he was fully dressed and his hair was wet. I could only guess he just took a shower.
When he saw me, he smiled.
"Hi Eleanor!" he greeted and walked forward to stand beside his siblings. The scent of the shampoo he used flowed into my nose and I almost squealed. Samuel's shampoo smelled of a mixture between morning roses and honey on a farm. It made my heart flutter against my chest.
"Princess Eleanor is here!" Felix announced to Samuel. Samuel smiled and leaned down to pry his brother off of me, but Felix didn't want to budge.
"Uh..." Samuel tried to pull Felix's fingers from my pants leg, but Felix just clung onto me harder.
"Let's go eat ice cream," Susanna suggested to her brother when she saw that a little help was needed. At the mention of ice cream, Felix's ears perked up and he let go of me.
"Yay! Ice cream!" he yelled and immediately let me go. He turned and dashed away, aiming directly for the kitchen. Susanna followed after him.
"Sorry," Samuel apologized and ran a hand through his hair. It was either my imagination or it really happened but I saw Samuel's muscles flex under his clothes. I swallowed a loud and obnoxious squeal.
Marisol clapped me on the shoulder, startling me.
"Well, you two have fun," she chirped happily and gave us a wink. I felt myself heat up.
"Later!" she smirked and walked back to her car. Before slipping in, she gave me a wave and drove away.
"So, uh, should we start?" I asked and adjusted my bag that I brought on my shoulders nervously. Samuel blinked.
"Huh?"
"The tutoring," I reminded him. "That's what we're doing right?"
"Oh, right," Samuel agreed as if he was still in a dream and didn’t quite comprehend reality. "Tutoring. Wait here."
I gave him a questioning look as he rushed upstairs. There were some bangs and creaks and a second later, Samuel was rushing back down with a cap covering his damp hair and a bag slung over his shoulders.
"Come on," he said. "We're going somewhere special for today's tutoring."
~*~
I didn't believe it. Samuel Rose took me to the lake to tutor me.
But I wasn't one to complain. The lake he took me to was not only near his house, but was also calm and quiet. The water glistened and the grass beneath me felt soft. The sun gleamed across the lake, making the water look almost like the colors of the sunset.
It was so beautiful that for a second I thought I was looking at a painting.
"This is my favorite place to study," Samuel explained as we pulled out the materials and laid them onto the floor in a huge messy pile.
"Let's start with Reading and Language Arts today," Samuel announced as he handed me a book titled 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief'.
"I'm sure that you have already watched the movie, but the book has some differences that make it even more interesting," Samuel told me.
I remembered the time Marisol dragged me out to rent a movie at Redbox. We couldn't decide on anything and ended up choosing 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief'. Thinking that it was boring, I spaced out for most of the movie so I wasn't exactly 100% sure what happened.
I was pretty sure Percy Jackson was the son of Zues. Right?
The cover of the book looked even more boring than the movie. I wasn't sure I would enjoy reading it. Heck, I rarely read any books!
I opened the book to the first chapter and began to read.
It wasn't as bad as I thought. I fact, for the first time since a long time, I found reading enjoyable.
Samuel helped guide me along with unfamiliar vocabulary or paragraphs that I didn't understand. I got so much into the book that I didn't notice the clear blue sky slowly starting to turn gray.
It was only when the first raindrop plopped onto my cheek that the realization hit me. It was raining.
"Oh my god!" Samuel and I hastily packed, but we weren't quick enough. It began to pour down quicker and soon we were sitting in the middle of a rain shower.
"We need to get to a dry place!" Samuel yelled over the splashing sounds of rain.
"What about the stuff?" I yelled back.
"Leave them here! Let's go!"
Samuel grabbed my hand and pulled me up. The book tumbled from my hands as we raced through the rain towards a huge oak tree.
"We'll just take shelter here until the rain stops," Samuel breathed. His hair dripped with water, making it glisten like the lake. I swallowed my heart that almost escaped through my throat.
Despite the canopy of leaves above us, water seeped through and continued and dripped down upon us. I shivered a bit when a soft wind blew through my clothes, making my wet shirt chill my bones.
Samuel gave me a worried look. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "I-I'm fine."
But Samuel didn't believe me.
"No, you're not," he declared. Before I could protest, he pulled me toward him and wrapped his arms around me. Warmth immediately came back to me and I wasn't as cold as before.
"W-Wha...? H-Hey, what are you-"
"Sorry," Samuel apologized, his voice ringing in my ears. My eyes widened and I gulped. My face was as red as a tomato and my head felt light like a feather.
"We shouldn't have come outside..." he muttered. “I should have checked the weather forecast first. It's my fault."
I swallowed again and for the first time, I noticed that my hands were clutching the front of Samuel's shirt tightly.
"You're getting wet," I told him, desperate to change the subject.
"No, I'm fine," he said and for a second, I could hear a small thump of a heart beat race in his chest. My own chest tightened.
"No you're not," I insisted and tried to pull back. "You're getting wet and it's the middle of Spring and yo
u're probably cold since you're only wearing a shirt and a thin jacket and-"
I was rambling since I had no clue what to say. That thump of a heart beat made my heart beat a beat faster.
"Don't worry about me," Samuel said and hugged me tighter. "I'll be fine."
We stayed like that as the rain continued showering down, but all of the sounds sounded distant, like they weren't really there.
Everything turned silent slowly until all I could hear were the rhythmic beats of the boy in front of me. I looked up and milky brown eyes met with my blue ones.
That was it. That was all it took before I pulled Samuel down and pressed my lips onto his. I could feel his shock pass through his body and I began to mentally scold myself, but for now, I didn't care. All that mattered was the beating rain and Samuel's lips on mine.