The Beating of Our Hearts

I was in charge of the lemonade stand, corny as it sounds. My class of 15 were split in half and were running their own stands on either side of me; except for my volunteer helper: Poppy. It was still quite early so I suspected Poppy was spending a few minutes playing with her friends. By the time everything was up and running, Poppy was yet to be seen.

“Miss Dawson, I’m here! I had to wait for my uncle to come!” Poppy suddenly appeared at my side, giving me an apology hug.

“You’re Uncle Tomo is here? I thought he would have been busy.” I said smiling, smoothing out Poppy’s slightly ruffled hair.

I knew exactly who Uncle Tomo was, and his band, which I’d been a huge fan of for years. There were quite a few kids at the school who had famous relatives; I’m pretty sure one of the little boys in Mr. Ridley’s class had a grandmother who just so happened to be Betty White. So even though I had seen a few famous faces around the school sometimes, it still didn’t cover the fact at how nervous I was that one of my kids (yeah I thought of them as my kids) had, in my opinion, the best famous relative ever.

“Nooo, Uncle Tomo was here ages ago, we had to wait for Uncle Jay!” She smiled up at me.
“Uncle Jay?” I questioned her. She just nodded.

“That would be me.” I heard a quiet chuckle.

I looked up from the little girl still clinging to my leg to rest my gaze on Uncle Jay. Who just so happened to have a bleach blonde Mohawk which had been left down, and who happened to be wearing a pair of large sunglasses over a pair of eyes which I knew were ice blue. My stomach flipped.

Suddenly, my heart started beating a thousand times a minute, this, stood in front of me, was none other than Jared Leto. Insert fan girl scream here.

Of course, I had to be professional, I could do my amazing impersonation of a twelve year old girl when I got home and shut the curtains.

“Nice to meet you; Jay, is it?” I greeted, holding out my hand.

“Nice to meet you too, and yeah, it’s Jay. And you must be the famous Miss Dawson.” He smiled, taking my hand and giving it a friendly shake.

He knew who I was; what a strange feeling to be known before you introduce yourself. Mind you, I guess that’s how he, Shannon and Tomo must feel all the time.

“That would be right.” I smiled.

“And Mr. Milicevic, we’ve already met. How are you?” I asked, extending my hand out to greet him as well.

“I’m good thanks. So I see you’re running a lemonade stand.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, brings back all the memories from setting one up my sidewalk.” I joked. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jared smiling at my comment; it made butterflies swirl around in my stomach.

“And I’ve got my little helper with me, so we should rake in the cash shouldn’t we?” I smiled down at the little girl who was stood at my side, she nodded enthusiastically in response.

“Well then I’ll have one.” Jared spoke up, stepping forward to receive his plastic cup of lemonade from Poppy.

“Thank you darling.” He smiled at her affectionately.

“No problem Uncle Jay.”

“How much is it?” He asked, standing straight and looking over at me.

“A dollar.” I smiled.

He passed over a slightly crumpled one dollar bill and I put it into our money box.
“Well, we’re gunna have a look around. We’ll see you later Poppy, you be good for Miss Dawson.” Tomo said to his niece, who ensured her uncle that she would.

I watched their retreating backs out of the corner of my eye as I served a mother who had just arrived.

*Jared’s P.O.V.*

Wow.

Was basically all I could think when I looked at her. This Miss Dawson was definitely not my usual type. Usually I went for the blonde, statuesque, model-type. But she just seemed different. Even though I’ve only seen her for a grand total of about three minutes, I noticed the way she tied her hair in a casual ponytail, and how she arranged her stand in a neat, precise way. But mostly how she didn’t seem at all fazed by Tomo and me, it was a breath of fresh air to just be talked to like a normal person.

“Stop thinking about her.” Tomo’s voice suddenly cut through my thoughts, making me jump slightly.

“What?” I asked, pretending not to know what he meant.

“Oh come on dude, the blatant flirting at the lemonade stand wasn’t enough? I thought I was gunna have to cover Poppy’s eyes.” My band mate chuckled.

“I wasn’t flirting!” I said, my defiance somewhat half-hearted.

“Sure man, sure.” Tomo just patted me on the shoulder.

“What’s her first name anyway, this Miss Dawson?” I tried to seem nonchalant, I don’t think it fooled Tomo though, judging from his smirk.

“Riley.” He answered.

Riley. Riley Dawson. I wonder if she’s single.

“Don’t go getting any ideas about her man. She’s Poppy’s favourite teacher, and is gunna be her teacher for at least another two years; and you’re one of her favourite uncle’s. If something happened between you two and it didn’t work out, Poppy would be devastated.” Tomo advised.

He was right. But it was too late, she was already stuck in my head.