*** Distance, Be Here

‘Haha it’s fine. c: you actually helped a little.’ I send the text, a smile on my face. We finally pulled into the driveway and I got out of the car quickly, not waiting for mom, but going to my room.

‘Hell yeah! Score one for Dakota! xx’ I giggled at his reaction and replied with the first thing that came to mind. ‘You’re so weird c: I like it. By the way, what do you look like?’ I just started staring at the ceiling while I waited for a reply. I’m still surprised he called me adorable. I mean, I’m nothing special to look at…at all.

‘The one with the sexy red hair is my friend Jarrid, then theres me the lanky awkward looking one with black hair. xx’ I scrolled down hesitantly, not sure what to expect. But when I locked eyes on the black haired boy in the picture, I couldn’t really take my eyes away from it. He’s freakin gorgeous, oh my god, how are we even talking?

‘You look…incredible xP’ I hit send before I can rethink it and blush bright red, my heart pounding, not sure what else to say. I hear a knock on the door.

“Landon, I forgot that I had to go to the store to get some things for dinner. You wanna go with and pick out what you want?” If I didn’t, she would probably pick out something with a lot of vegetables that I didn’t like at all.

I sighed. “Yeah,” I got up from my bed. “As long as you get me Sour Patch Kids for desert.” She rolled her eyes and nodded, walking back down the steps.

I don’t check my phone until we enter the market, going straight to the candy aisle and pulling the device form my pocket.

‘Thanks love xx’ I smile like an idiot and tap at the screen formulating a response.

‘Your friends hair is pretty fantastic haha.’ I hit send, looking over the bright bags filled with sugar. I grab a huge bag of Sour Patch Kids and one of gummy worms, not able to decide on my poison. I then go grab a can of Red Bull, knowing that my mom would give me “the look” but not caring because it could keep me up longer to talk to Dakota.

I find my mom in the can aisle, looking over vegetables. “How about, I just eat ravioli and you don’t have to worry about cooking. Tomorrow is Sunday and you always made dinner, so today you can have a break.” She grins at me and ruffles my hair making me huff exaggeratedly.

I check my phone again, grabbing a couple cans from the shelf for dinner. The ravioli had weird meat in it, but if it gave mom a break, I could handle it. ‘I’m not telling him that. He’ll get a big head.' I chuckle and pocket my phone, heading toward the register with mom.

“What’s got you so smiley today, Landon? You haven’t stopped grinning at your phone since you woke up this morning. Is it a boy? Who is he?” I shrug, grabbing the bag and walking toward the car.

“I texted the wrong number and a boy answered. I guess he’s from the UK? I don’t know, he’s funny.” She frowns.

“Landon…that could be anyone…just be careful, okay? Don’t get too attached because you;ll get disappointed.” And I held back a response. 'like you did, mom? To dad?' I nod instead and slip into the passenger seat, waiting to go back to the house so I could face plant into bed and relax. At least we weren’t at Grandma’s and she didn’t hear our conversation….