A Second Chance

I looked at the boy who caught me when I fell; he was a little beyond cute, but only a little. He had dark brown hair slightly coming down over his eyes. His jeans had multiple rips in them, most likely from manual labor. He wore a plain white shirt, that was splatted with dirt marks, and his open arms showed amazing muscles. I thought I was about to start drooling. He chuckled under his breath.

“I haven’t seen you around before. You new?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m Mallory.” He smiled at me.

“Luke.” He politely raised his hand so I could shake it.

“Nice to meet you.” and I was not lying. We released hands when he once again chuckled.

“Likewise.” He paused for a moment, seemed to look at something past me, and then looked back at me. “Looks like you need some help.” I looked at him confused.

“What?” He pointed behind me to the bunches of strawberries that lay contently in the moist dirt. I looked back at Luke. “Oh, right, them…” I said quietly. Out of nowhere I suddenly hated the mayor for voluntarily making me James’ work monkey. He grinned at me like he had heard my thoughts.

“Want help?”

“Yes please.” We both walked over to the ground covered fruit and began putting them back into the boxes they came in. Luke laughed to himself suddenly as he asked,

“Why do you have so many strawberries anyway?” I sighed apathetically.

“I’m part-time working at Honey Milk Farm. The guy that runs that place? Total and complete jerk.”

“James? Yeah, he’s not the nicest of people. I’ve just learned to ignore him; he was a jerk to me too. How come your working there?” I looked over at him and paused with the strawberries for a moment. I felt like blurting out that the mayor was a stupid idiot, but I decided against that.

“The mayor voluntarily made me work there. Since I’m new and need the money.” Luke chuckled. I didn’t know if it was at me having no money or what the mayor did. I decided to blow past it either way. I went back to picking strawberries.

“Oh mayor…” He trailed off in his thoughts and went silent for a second. He seemed to then snap out of that little trance and continued talking to me. “How long you working there?”

“Well I’m not just working there. I’m also staying there until my house is done being built.” Luke abruptly stopped picking the fruit and looked at me; I too stopped and looked at him. He had a serious face on.

“Wait, did you order a house on Keane Road?” I nodded. “That house has been done for a while. I’m a carpenter, I helped build that house. I’ve seen it vacant for a while now, and been wondering who was going to move in there.” We finished putting all the strawberries back in their boxes and stood up. I was angry at what I had just heard, very angry. And I would be having a seriously pissed conversation with the mayor quite soon.

On the other hand I totally take back what I said about the carpenters playing ping pong…

“Great.” I said sarcastically. Luke smiled again.

“Well, since we’re already out, how about I help you deliver those strawberries then I show you to the house.” I grinned at the boy.

“Totally fine with me, considering that I have no idea where any of these people live.”

“Well, lucky for you I’ve lived on this island my whole life, so I kinda know where everyone lives.” He said playfully. I smiled, but then quickly frowned.

“But wait, the strawberries, they fell in the dirt. They’re all dirty now.” He grinned a little devilishly.

“What they don’t know won’t kill them.” He winked at me, and I could feel my face get bright red. “Besides, they started in the ground at one point, so I don’t think it’s that bad.” He chuckled as he turned and started walking. Smiling at him from behind, I followed.

“Ok so, who’s the first person you gotta deliver to?” I looked at the first box and read the name out loud.

“Someone named Tyler.” Luke openly laughed and slowed his walking a bit.

“Ok, so since you’re new here I’m gonna give you the rundown on some of the people here; starting with Tyler.” We were just barely outside the entrance of Bell Fall Town. We both stopped walking and stood just under the entrance gate. “Ok, Tyler is Mayor Clayton’s only son, and he’s the total complete opposite of the mayor.”

“So he’s skinny, smart, and cute?” Luke just stared at me with half a smile. “Well you said he was the opposite…” I trailed off. Luke’s half smile turned into a big bright smile.

“Ok, I’ll give you skinny and smart, but well. I dunno. If I was a girl I wouldn’t date him.” I quietly stared at him with my brows raised and a small smile on my face. Luke looked at me until it clicked in his head. “Not that I look at him like that!” He blurted out as I burst into laughter. He blushed embarrassed.

“Haha, I’ll keep that in mind.” his face was still bright red, but he managed a smirk.

“But uhm, on a serious note,” He said as he desperately tried to change the subject. “Tyler is kinda stuck up and rude. He’s got that rich pretty-boy attitude. So unless you want him to insult you a lot, I suggest staying clear of him whenever possible.” We started walking again and Luke brought me to the mayor’s house where Tyler was at the moment. I walked up and knocked on the door gently, but loud enough for whoever was inside to hear it.

Pretty-boy was an understatement. Tyler was in a long-sleeve orange sweater vest and orange and green Bermuda shorts. His hair blonde was perfectly placed, except for one that stuck up away from the rest. His hands were filled with important looking papers. He looked me up and down, and made a face like I was a disgusting bug.

“What do you want? I’m kind of busy.” He said in a snobby I’m-better-than-you kind of way. I was definitely going to listen to Luke’s advice and steer clear of Mr. Pretty over here.

“Uh, strawberry delivery from Honey Milk Farm.” I said strictly business.

“Oh yes. Thank you.” He took the package from me and put it on a table next to him. He looked back at me and just stared for a moment. “Hm, I don’t recognize you. You must be the new rancher everyone’s talking about.”

“Again with people talking about me.” I said under my breath.

“What was that?”

“Uh, I said my name is Mallory.” He stared at me disapprovingly.

“Huh, yes. I’m Tyler.” Then without even the slightest warning, he abruptly shut the door right in my face. I had to move my head back so I wouldn’t get hit.

“So that was rude.” I said out loud to myself. I walked back down the small steps and wandered over to Luke who was laughing at the fact that Tyler slammed the door in my face. I mock laughed at him.

“Haha, oh it’s so funny. Just tell me where this next person is,” I looked at the name on the box. “Where’s Lidia?” Luke had stopped laughing at me by this point.

“She’s normally at the Sunset Inn. Her family runs the place.” He began walking down the small dip in the road to the inn. I looked at him skeptically.

“Kyle and Celine?” I ran to catch up to him. He looked back at me surprised.

“You know them?”

“I met them when I first arrived on the island. I didn’t meet anyone named Lidia though.”

“Well, lemme tell you about her,” Luke began; we were only yards away from the inn. “She’s a nice girl and all, cute personality, but—” He stopped walking and grabbed my shoulders to force me to look at him in the eyes. He had really pretty topaz eyes. “I’m going to warn you now,” His expression and tone were serious but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. His eyes were still playing a devious little game. “Do not eat her food. That is, unless you wanna go bulimic or in some cases suicidal.”

“That bad?” He removed his hands from my shoulders and nodded. At the edge of his lips I could see a smile forcing to stay back.

“Horrible. But she thinks she’s not that bad. Mallory, I’m trying to save your life.” Finally his smile broke out of its cage and came shining out. “Don’t eat her food. Ok?” He was chuckling now a bit. I grinned back at him.

“Got it. Don’t eat Lidia’s food.” I turned from him and was just at the entrance of the inn when he called to me one more time.

“Not even water!” I chuckled to myself and walked inside.