You Make Me Smile

I was a junior at the time, living at home with my parents while my older brother was away at school in Connecticut as a sophomore doing who knows what.
It was about Thanksgiving time and Raymond was coming home to celebrate with us. We didn’t know that he was bringing someone else with him.
I’d been close to Ray growing up, so most of his friends became my friends as well. A few even ended up being some cheap and cheesy dates, while one or two even got to be my boyfriend.
But Beau Lesage was different, you could tell that the moment you opened the door of the house to let him in. From the way his coal black hair swept over his beautiful hazy green eyes, to his sweet Southern accent and manners you knew he wasn’t like other boys.
Opening the door for my older brother, I stood still when I saw the cowboy standing behind him.
“Hey Fancy,” Ray said after a few moments of the three of us awkwardly standing there before hugging me. As Raymond backed up, I caught a glimpse of the boy in the flannel shirt.
He had a scar on the left side of his nose that was about three inches long, he had cute little freckles on his cheeks, and when he saw me looking at him he smiled showing off his dimples.
“Oi, Beau this is my sister Fancy.” Beau tipped his hat at me before walking over to shake my hand. “And Fancy, this is my friend Beau.”
I smiled as my right hand automatically moved to push my copper blond hair out of my eyes before going to sake his rough yet gentle hand.
“Nice to meet you Fancy,” His Southern drawl left me weak at the knees but I managed to hold myself up. If only because Ray would make fun of me for the rest of my life for falling at his friend’s feet as if to worship him.
“Nice to meet you as well,” I murmured with my eyes glued to the ground. “You guys will want to come on in then. Mom is cookin’ dinner and cleaning for tomorrow.”
Ray caught my eye and I knew I would hear about this before the end of the night.

By the time that everyone has actually gone upstairs for the night its midnight and I haven’t heard one remark from my brother since he got home.
Heading up to my room on the second floor, I bump into my brother and Beau as they lug some blankets down the stairs to the living room so that Beau can sleep there for tonight and the next couple of nights.
Moving out of the way quickly, I wish the boys a good night’s sleep before rushing to my bedroom to change into booty shorts and a tight belly tank top. Although the second that I looked at myself in the mirror with it on, I felt ashamed.
Raymond would hate to know that I would stoop so low as wearing almost nothing to impress a guy.
Sighing, I ripped the tank top off and changed into my Daddy’s old sweater from when he was in college and on the football team.
Pulling my curls into a ponytail, I heard a knock on the door and when I opened it I found Ray standing there with a smug little smile on his face.
“Don’t even,” I snapped as I moved over for him to enter before shutting the door. “I really am not in the mood.”
“Oh shut up, you’re just PMSing Fancy.”
“Raymond you arrogant ass,” I started in on him as if I were totally serious before cracking up.
He rolled his eyes at me as he sat on the edge of my bed and motioned for me to sit down with him.
“So Fancy,” he started in on me and I sighed heavily.
“C’mon Ray, I know what you’re going to say. He’s bad news, keep away Fancy Lynette.” I mocked his voice which made him smile.
“Actually Fan, I was going to say Beau’s a decent guy. So don’t screw it up,” He winked before walking out of my room leaving me stunned.

The next morning I woke up around nine to find that my parents had gone to Mass with my grandparents down to the church in the town, whereas Ray was asleep in bed leaving Beau and myself pretty much alone.
Yawning, I went downstairs to go and try to scrounge up something to eat before the parade started on television and the food would become off limits to the older kids.
However when I got to the bottom of the stairs, I smelled bacon, eggs, and toast cooking. A very rare occurrence because we were usually too busy in the morning to even have cereal.
Frowning, I looked around the corner to find Beau in the kitchen cooking.
“What are you doing?” I asked sincerely curious.
He looked up from the stove, “Making breakfast for ya’ll. It’s the least I can do.”
‘Oh,” I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the able. “You don’t have to, we have an old box of cereal.”
He smirked at that.
“If you don’t mind Fancy, I think ya’ll will like this better.”
“I doubt it, old cereal is full of protein after all.”
“Protein such as...?” He waited with amusement in his eyes.
“Oh, you know. Moths, little bitty worms, those things,” I said taking the box down to pour into the bowl I’d placed on the counter.
For some reason this cracked the both of us up and we were gasping for our breath while the food Beau had been cooking burned to a crisp.
I think it was at that moment I knew I wanted to get to know this strange Southern boy better.