I had received the dreaded we need to talk text after my mom said she would help take care of Bennett for the next few days. I was acutely aware of what she wanted to talk about: Nathan. So I took the long way home after school and walked up the pathway to the front door one little shuffle at a time in order to stall as long as possible.

But eventually I twisted the knob on the front door and slid my backpack off of my shoulders and onto the ground as I called, "Mom, are you home?"

At the first moment of silence, I felt myself exhale in relief, but all temporary relief was squandered when she yelled back a muffled, "I'm in my office!"

With a heavy sigh, I begin climbing the stairs and start for her office. The door was ajar already and I pushed it all the way open slowly before stepping inside and immediately spotted her crouched over her laptop on her desk. She glanced up at me, her glasses sliding down her nose, but her fingers never stopped typing.

"Give me a minute honey," Her eyes dart back to the screen. "I'm on a roll."

Silently, I sit on the armchair in front of her desk coated in colorful fabric before looking around. The walls were covered in tapestries that she's gotten from different states, countries, and continents as a result of always traveling for book tours, signings, and interviews. She swears by the tapestries and says they're good inspiration or calm her down when she needs to write. 

There was a wall with three overflowing bookshelves with books of all shapes and sizes stuffed in every nook and cranny. The books ranged from the children's books that she read Luke and I when we were younger to her beloved Jane Austin, which she made me read when I was turning fifteen. Just like her tapestries, she takes great pride in her book collection. 

As I'm looking around her familiar office, the typing stops and my mother sighs contentedly, then shifts her gaze to me. "I wrote eight and a half pages in an hour."

Easily impressed, I raise my eyebrows and ask, "What gave you the inspiration?" 

She takes her glasses off and smiles mischievously to herself, as if she's the only one in on a secret, and answers as vaguely as possible. "Just some things that have been going on."

"Very informational," I tease her with a small smile. "Does this mean you're writing another book?"

And, just as rehearsed and vague as the last answer, she tells me, "I wasn't planning on it but I got inspired."

Even though my mom was giving me minimal information about her newest work, I could feel the excitement radiate off of her in waves. She closes her laptop and leans back in her chair as her secretive smile lessens while she examines me. The memory of her we need to talk text hits me full force as my smile fades as well and I sigh in anticipation.

"So, Lauren," My mother gives me a mock stern look. "When were you going to tell me that you and Thomas broke up?"

I look down at my hands sheepishly and mumble, "Eventually. We kind of ended on a bad note, so I don't exactly like talking about him."

"I can't say I'm disappointed," She offers me a warm yet wicked smile. "I never liked him."

"You and everyone else who knows him," I tell her as a small smile grows on my lips as well. 

"So, who's this Nathan fellow?" The smile wipes clean off my face as the interest piques in her voice. "He's very handsome and seems like a nice young man."

I bite my tongue from telling her that she's the only one who thinks he's nice and instead focus on getting rid of the blush that threatened to spill on my cheeks. "We're jut friends, mom."

She rolls her eyes and mocks, "And I don't think Ryan Gosling is the most handsome man on the planet."

I can't help but laugh at that one, but it slowly dies down as I look at her seriously. "Seriously, mom, we are just friends. He doesn't like me like that."

"But you like him more than a friend," My mom infers quickly and the deepening of my blush surely confirms her suspicions. "It's alright to admit it. It's not like I'll tell him."

And, even though my mom was interrogating me about Nathan, I couldn't help but feel a warmth in my heart return. We used to be so close when she was home and writing her last book. We would talk about anything ranging from boys to books, just like this. It didn't matter that she was my mom: we were practically best friends. 

Because of this, I admit sheepishly, "Yeah, I guess I do."

"I knew it!" My mom cries as a large grin stretches over her lips. "You seemed so smitten with him on Friday night." By now my cheeks were bright red, and I think my mom even decided to take mercy on me, because she changes the subject. "So, what's wrong with his brother?"

I was grateful for the change in subject and eagerly delve into the new topic. "His younger brother, Bennett, has Bronchitis. You remember how I had it last year, and it takes a few days to get better? Well Bennett is too young to stay home alone and Nathan has to go to school. He has an older brother, Ty, but he has to work during the day."

"So you need someone to take care of Bennett while Nathan is at school and Ty is at work," My mom summarizes. "What about their parents?"

I shrug, equally as clueless as she is. "I don't know where they are, but I know that they aren't around anymore. Nathan and Ty take care of Bennett." I sigh and begin my lecture. "I know it's a lot to ask, but they really need the help and-"

"I'm happy to help," She says as a motherly smile passes her lips. "It's not like I have anything else to do anyway. I can write while he rests." 

"Thank you so much, mom," I begin to gush, but stop short when her smile turns to a smirk.

"Besides," She says nonchalantly as a wicked look passes her eyes. "I bet this will help you win points with Nathan, huh?"

In the matter of seconds, my blush returned as aggressively as it had been before it subsided, and my mom began snickering as I covered my burning face with my hands. "Mom!" 

In between her laughter, she coos, "Honey, there's no reason to be embarrassed."

"You're embarrassing Lauren without me?" Luke's voice comes from the doorway and I look in between my fingers to see him smirking evilly at me. "Why wasn't I invited? What are you talking about?"

Much to my dismay, my mom tells him just as evilly, "This Nathan guy."

Luke's smirk widens as he glances at me. "You told her about Nathan, huh? Are you guys dating now?"

"We're just friends," I groan. "Can we stop talking about this now?"

But why would they stop when they could keep embarrassing me? Luke turns to my mom and says, "We should start betting when they get together. At this rate, I think by April."

My mom's eyes light up as she says, "Definitely before graduation, I think."

"Oh yeah? Then let's put money on it, if you're so sure," Luke tells her smugly, and then digs a twenty out of his pocket. 

Absolutely mortified, I cried, "You're betting on my love life?!"

Both of them ignore me as my mom pulls twenty dollars out of her purse and puts it on the table. "Game on."

With a huff, I get out of the armchair and storm out of my mom's office, all the while Luke and her place bets on when Nathan and I will get together. My cheeks were forever flushed and I was an unhealthy mixture of uncomfortable and embarrassed. When I finally get to my room, I shut the door behind me and collapse on my bed before I release a breath of relief. 

At least I was safe in here.

** *

"Hey Lauren," My moms voice is as soft as her hands shaking me awake. "Wake up."

I moan and force myself to open my eyes. "What?"

She chuckles at my groggy, sleep induced state as she says, "Get up, honey."

Sighing, I sit up in my bed and run a lazy hand through my hair. I look at my mom, who is way too happy and awake, and frown. "What do you want? Are you here to place another bet on Nathan and I?"

"I made Bennett some soup and picked up some ginger ale," She explains excitedly and ignores my sarcastic question. "Can we go meet him?"

The prospect of fully getting out of bed is so unappealing that, even though I think it's a good idea they meet while Nathan is around, I groan. "Can't you meet him tomorrow?"

Mom pouts at me and reasons, "I don't want to scare him tomorrow morning when I show up to take care of him."

Defeated, I sigh. "Okay, yeah, but give me a minute to call Nathan first."

My mom nods and leaves me in my room as I struggle to get up. After a reluctant moment of contemplating falling back asleep, I get off of my bed and reach for my phone on the bedside table. I scroll to Nathan's contact and press call before putting the phone against my ear and it only rang twice before he picked it up.

"What's up, Collins?" He answers as the overwhelming sound of pots and pans clink together in the background.

I decide to ignore the background noise and ask tiredly, "Hey, are you at home?"

"Yeah," I hear something loud crash moments before Nathan hisses, "Fuck that's hot!"

Unable to help my amusement and curiosity, I finally ask, "What's going on over there?" 

He groans bitterly, "I'm trying to make Bennett something to eat but I just spilled the fucking soup all over the stove," A few more questionable noises come from the background, including Ty's voice. "Fuck off Ty, you try making soup!"

I bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Listen, Nathan, if you're not busy, my mom wants to come over and meet Bennett. She made soup."

The background noise stops and it takes a few seconds before he speaks. "She made soup?"

I can't help the smile that quirks up my lips. "Yes, she made soup."

"Then of course she can come over." I laugh into the phone, and he assures, "I'll make sure Ty is on his best behavior. Actually, I'm going to make sure he isn't in the house."

I laugh again. "Probably for the best. I'll see you in ten?"

"Yeah, I'll see you then." Just before I move the phone away, I hear Nathan say sincerely, "Thank you, Lauren."

My heart flutters when he says my name so tenderly. Usually when he calls me by my first name, he's pissed or acting like a jerk. "No problem."

The smile is still firm on my lips when I hang up the phone. Not even a minute later, my mom knocks on the door, and opens it up before I can tell her to come in. She sees my smile and a grin breaks out on her face as well, like she knows exactly how I was feeling, and maybe she did but I would never admit that to her. 

"Yes?" I ask as I attempt to hide my smile but to no avail.

She simply grins wider and shakes her head lightly. "Nothing. Are you ready to go?"

I nod and follow my mom downstairs. She grabs the tupperware of soup and I grab the two large bottles of ginger ale before we venture out to her car. Thankfully, we had exactly the same music taste, and listened to Van Morrison the entire ride to Nathan's house. 

By the time we got to Nathan's house, I realized that I should probably warn her not to bring up the most sensitive topic between Nathan and I: his parents. So before we knock on his front door, I turn to my mom and speak with a low voice.

"Don't mention anything about their parents, okay?" I ask quietly and nervously. "Nathan gets upset when you talk about it."

Upset is an understatement, but I would spare her the details. 

A somber expression overcomes her face as she nods. "I wasn't planning on it."

While I have her attention, I add, "And don't tell any embarrassing stories about me."

"No promises," She smirks at me as she knocks on the front door. "But don't worry. I'm your mom; it's my job to embarrass you."

Before I can so much as groan at her behavior, the front door opens and Nathan stands in the doorway with a kind smile on his lips. He's wearing black sweatpants and a white t-shirt that clung to his chest and, as always, managed to look wildly attractive in the simplest of clothes. 

With one hand on the door knob, he extends the other to my mother and greets, "Hi Mrs. Collins. It's good to see you again."

I stifle a groan in anticipation of what I knew was to come. She merely looks at his hand and then focuses back on him before grinning widely and pulling him into a hug as she exclaims, "It's good to see you too, Nathan."

Nathan looks at me with wide eyes as he hesitantly hugs my mom back, clearly not expecting the affection. I smile and bite my lip to hold back a giggle at his surprised expression before my mom releases him and smiles sweetly.

"Sorry, I'm a hugger. Please, call me Marie." Nathan smiles widely at her. "So, where is this Bennett I've been hearing about?"

"Right," Nathan moves to the side so my mom and I can enter the house. "Come in."

When we enter, I look around the living room and see Bennett wrapped up in blankets on the couch as he watches Disney channel. My mom follows my gaze and sees Bennett too and I recognize the motherly smile that crosses her lips. Bennett looks over and smiles at me as he wiggles his hand out from under the blanket to wave.

"Hi Lauren!" Bennett exclaims enthusiastically but his smile eventually twists down as he succumbs to coughs.

I walk over to him with my mom behind me. "Hey Bennett. This is my mom, Marie," I introduce as my mom kneels down on the couch to be level with him. "She's going to be spending some time with you this week while you're home sick."

Bennett blinks his big blue eyes up at me in confusion and then looks at his brother for assurance. "Than?"

Nathan walks over and stops next to me. I glance over at him and see his warm smile as he looks at his Bennett, as if his big brother instincts kicked in. "Marie is going to keep you company during the afternoon while I'm at school. Me and Lauren will be back at three o'clock everyday that you're home from school." He looks at Bennett levelly. "Is that okay?"

Bennett glances between Nathan, me, and then my mom before he nods slowly. "Yeah, that's okay."

Mom grins at him. "I made you some chicken noodle soup for tonight if you're hungry. Homemade soup is Lauren's favorite when she's sick."

He grins toothily. "That's my favorite too!"

She insists on making some soup and treads to the kitchen as she rejects Nathan's offer to help show her where things were. I smile as Bennett gives the television his full attention once again, as if no one disturbed him in the first place. 

I could tell who nudged on my shoulder and took my attention off Bennett merely from the tingles that shot up my arm. I glance at Nathan and see him smiling at me, but there was something different about this smile. It was warm. Genuine. 

"Your mom is awesome," Nathan tells me with somber eyes. "Seriously. Thank you both for making dinner."

"It was all her," I say honestly with a smile. "She loves to cook."

"You two look a lot alike," He continues. "The last time we met, I didn't really get a good look at her. But I can see it now. You have her smile." My grin grows wider, and he adds: "It's a beautiful smile, by the way."

In an attempt to bring my attention off the wild hammering of my heart against my chest, I tease, "Don't go crushing on my mom now."

"I won't," Nathan smirks widely, his sparkling eyes locking with mine, and he assures me confidently, "I have a thing for green eyes." 

It was all over now. My heart officially commenced overdrive until it was pounding in my ears and I'm sure he could see through me with his electrifying gaze. I looked away because I was sure that if I kept looking at him, I was going to kiss him. And, unfortunately, the list explaining why "kissing Nathan would be a very very bad idea" was far too long to ignore. 

Luckily for me, that was the moment my mom herself came back gracefully into the room with a cup of ginger ale for Bennett. She pulled the coffee table closer to the couch and instructed Bennett to sit up for his drink and impending soup. When he complied, my mom turned around and finally glanced at Nathan and I standing.

"The soup will be ready in a minute," She tells us with a friendly smile. "Do you want any, Nathan? I made extra."

"That's all Ben," Nate said, and at the sound of his voice, I finally glanced over at him. His eyes were bright. "Thank you though. Ty is bringing me home a burger from work."

The transition from shamelessly flirtatious to utterly sincere in his voice made my heart skip a beat. I wasn't proud of how much Nathan affected me when he teased me like that. His gaze shifted to me as my mom left to go back into the kitchen, and I looked away almost immediately.

"Slow down, Bennett," I murmur as I see the poor kid gulping down the ginger ale. "There's more in the kitchen."

Nate glances to Bennett just as he slurps his last gulp of the cup. "Ben!" He groaned, but despite the exasperation in his tone, Bennett just grins at him lazily before burping. "Don't drink so fast or else you're going to get a stomach ache and we'll have to amputate your left leg."

I gaped at Nathan as he tries not to let the humor in his eyes show. Bennett's eyebrows crinkled in fear and he cried, "I'm sorry! My left leg is my favorite leg!"

"Nathan!" I hiss beside him with amusement in my eyes yet somberness on my expression. "Tell him you're lying." 

His eyes turn to me and they're surprisingly blue as he pouts at me. "You ruined it."

My mom comes back in bearing a bowl of soup, a spoon, and a few napkins to place on the coffee table in front of a very confused Bennett. "There you go, buddy. There's more in the kitchen if you want it." 

Bennett's confusion vanished into a smile. "Thanks Marie." He says happily. "It smells so good!"

"No problem," Mom smiles lovingly at the little boy before eventually turning and smiling the same motherly smile at me. "Are you ready to go?"

Her gaze shifts to Nathan as I nod. "Yeah, sure."

Her smile twists into a different kind of smile and I glare at her before she turns back to Bennett to say goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay Bennett?"

"Okay," Bennett nods, his eyes still transfixed on his beloved show. "Thanks for the presents!"

We take a few steps toward the door, where Nathan led us, before we stopped. "I suppose I'll see you tomorrow, too. It was nice seeing you again, Nathan."

He shot her a million dollar smile that I was jealous of. "Thank you so much, Marie. You have no idea how much I appreciate you doing this."

My mom grins. "I'm happy to help."

She opens the front door to show herself out and Nathan says, "I'll see you tomorrow morning." And as she's walking down the pathway and I'm passing him to get out the door, he was smiling at me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say his smile grew when he turned to me. "See you tomorrow, Lauren."

And there he went, saying my name like that, as if he were made to utter the syllables. I was practically putty on the floor. "Goodnight, Nathan."

Thankfully, my mom was silent on the walk back to the car, but I'm well aware of the self satisfied grin on her face. The wheels were turning in her head and I knew exactly what that meant: she was going to go to her office and write when we got back. I put classic rock a few decibels higher than usual to stop potential conversation. 

Mom managed to tell me how she felt with her offhanded comments about how handsome Nathan is, how kind Nathan is, how much better than Thomas Nathan is. I