I locked the apartment door behind me and headed outside. It was Saturday morning, at 6:50 am.

    Why am I awake at such an awful time, you may ask?

    Volunteer club.

    I signed up to mow an elderly person's lawn in the spring, and now that it's been warm for a couple weeks, it's time to start doing that a bit early. But because Chelsea has this personal vendetta against me, she gave me the crappiest time to do so.

    Ms. Ward was almost 90 years old. She still lived by herself, though she had two grandsons nearby  to check up on her once in a while. She doesn't drive anymore and takes the bus if she needs to get to the store or something. Her grandsons are apparently too busy to mow her lawn every week so they searched around for someone to do it for them. Chelsea had put up flyers for the club at different local businesses saying we were always looking for community service opportunities and we were flooded with messages about this.

    I hop in my car and plug her address in my phone, even though I already know where I'm going. I checked the directions on the computer last night because my phone GPS often takes me to the wrong place.

    I turn the radio to the local country station and start driving to Ms. Ward's house.

    Once I arrive, I knock on the front door to let her know I'm here, and to find out where the lawn mower is. I wouldn't bother her at all, except I don't know where she keeps it, and I'd feel bad poking around in her stuff.

    The door slowly opens and a short woman appears. She's short and hunched over with curly white hair that rests just above her neck. Her eyes are a chocolate brown and looking at me with caution. She's wearing a white and purple floral shirt with matching purple pants.

    "Good morning, Ms. Ward. I'm Vi. I'm here to mow your lawn." I smile sweetly at her.

    "Oh, hello dear." She opens the door and regards me with a smile and warmth in her eyes. "I wasn't expecting you so early."

    "You weren't?"

    She shakes her head, motioning for me to come inside.

"Come on in, I'll plate you up some breakfast before you start."

    "Oh, no, that's all right. I couldn't-"

    "I've already made pancakes!" She calls over her shoulder as she walks inside the house, leaving me no choice but to follow her in. I smile and cross the threshold, closing the door and removing my sneakers before following her to the kitchen. She pulls out a chair at the end of the table and motions for me to take a seat.

    "What did you mean when you said you weren't expecting me, ma'am?"

    "Please, dear, call me Flora." She busies herself at the counter, placing a stack of pancakes on a plate. "The people who set this up for me, they asked when I'd prefer you come. I told them I'd be around from 7 am until about 3, but that it didn't matter when you came because I was going to be here." She turns around and sets chocolate chip pancakes and a jug of syrup in front of me. "Tea, water, or milk, dear?"

    "Water is fine. Thank you so much for all of this."

    "Oh, it's no problem." She sits down next to me with her own plate. "I have no one to cook for anymore. All my kids are grown up and have their own kids, and my husband passed away almost ten years ago."

    "I'm so sorry."

    She looks up and smiles sadly.

    "It's all right. My children come and visit every Christmas and they try to come for my birthday. They all live in different states across the country. I still get to see them, and they bring my grand kids." She smiles wide this time and I question her about her family. She grins the entire time, telling me about her four kids and nine grandchildren, and her twin great-grandsons. After I finish my pancakes, she takes the plate and puts it in the sink.

    "All right, well you're probably bored with my stories by now, so I'll let you do what you came here for."

    "Oh, no. I loved listening to you, your family seems lovely." My family is very small and we're not close at all.

    "You're too kind." She smiles, picking up a hand towel from the back of a chair where she'd set it earlier and hanging it over the handle on the stove. "I'll show you where I keep the lawnmower." She leads me out of the kitchen and through a wood door that leads into a stairwell. There are three short steps down that give you the option of going outside or down more stairs into what appears to be a cellar. She opens the door and walks outside, with me following. The ground is made up of grey stones that lead in a narrow path to the dark green garage that's the same color as the house. She opens the side door to the garage, but doesn't go inside.

    "It's in here," she says, moving around me so I can go in. "There's a gas can somewhere if you need it. I'll be inside if you need anything, dear."

    She turns around and goes back inside.

    I step into the garage and look around. It's dark and smells like oil. There are two windows on the wood walls, but they're tinted brown from dirt, it doesn't allow much light in. In the center, there's a large empty space with things scattered around the walls. There are cans and bottles on shelves that line the walls. Nails hold various garden tools and brooms. In one corner, there's a shelf with a small barbecue and charcoal. In the other corner, I find a red-stained wooden picnic table, and next to it, the lawnmower.

    I pull it out and take it outside, where the light is better. I check the gas, but it has enough, so I don't search for the can. I put in my earphones and pull the starter cord a couple times until the engine turns on. I mow the large backyard first. There are three sections, separated by the stone pathway, and it takes about twenty minutes for me to finish. I walk around to the smaller front yard, which takes about half the time.

    The front yard is flat until it gently slopes down near the sidewalk. There's a tiny pine tree in the center of the yard in a bed of red rocks. There's a small plaque. I bend down to inspect it, "IN MEMORY OF MARVIN WARD." The years read 1929-2006. That would be almost ten years he's been gone.

    I take a long drink from my water bottle before I return the lawn mower to its place in the garage. I start walking back to the house when I notice all the grass is strewn all over the pathway. I thought I saw a broom in the garage. I walk back and find a push broom hanging from a nail on the wall and I get to work sweeping up the grass clippings. When I'm just about finished collecting the last pile, Ms. Ward comes outside.

    "Hi," I greet.

    "Wow, this looks wonderful, dear!" She clasps her hands together and surveys the yard. "You've even collected the grass."

    "Yep, my father always used to comment on how one of our neighbors never swept up their grass, and when I saw the broom, I figured why not?"

    "It's very nice, dear. Thank you so much."

    "Oh, it's not a problem."

    "I just bakes some cookies, if you'd like to come inside."

    I put my hand on my chin and take a deep breath, pretending to think really hard about it.

    Ms. Ward laughs.

    "I suppose I've got time for cookies."

    She winks at me and I trail behind her as we go back in the house. The second we get close to the door, the aroma of cookies hits me.

    We walk into the kitchen, and she says, "Sit, sit."

    "Are you sure I can't help you with anything?"

    "No, you just did all that work with the lawn. You rest now."

    With a sigh, I sit down and let her serve me. She sets a plate piled high with chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk right in front of me.

    "Did the mower start fine?" She asks.

    "Yes, it started fine. It didn't need gas or anything. Was this the first time it was used all year?"

    She nods.

    "Yes, I had a man from Sears come and give it a tune up last week, but he didn't use it or anything."

    "Well it worked fine, it's a nice mower. We had one like it when I was growing up."

    "Good."

    "I saw a weed-whacker while I was in the garage. Would you like me to do something with that?"

    "Oh, that would be lovely, yes, I think it looks so nice, but I wasn't sure you'd know how, so I didn't want to ask."   

    "Yes, I do, I'm quite handy." I roll my eyes and take a bite of cookie to distract myself from the memories threatening to surface. "Would you like me to go back out now and-"

    "No, no, no. You're done for today. That can wait until next week. You just eat your cookies."

    "They're delicious, thank you. I love cookies."

    "Do you like to bake?" She asks me.

    "Mmhmm. I love to bake and cook. I've been cooking since I was five. I live in an apartment with two other girls and I cook and bake for them all the time. Oh, and my--" I cough and stop myself. Ms. Ward looks up at me.

    "And your who, dear?"

    I take a sip of my milk, stalling. I don't know why I'm so hesitant to tell her about him. Maybe because I don't want to be judged by an old lady. Maybe because, besides my friends, she's the first person I'm telling about Ashton. It's kind of a big deal.

    "My neighbor." I say trying to be casual. Her eyes twinkle. Maybe too casually.

    "Oh? And is this neighbor someone special?" She winks and wiggles her eyebrows. I almost choke on the milk. I can't believe she just did that. She's like 90 years old.

    I blush and hide my face.

    "Yes, he's my boyfriend."

    "Ah, okay." She winks again.

    This lady is something else. I really like her.

    "We've been dating almost six months."

    "What does he look like?"

    "Oh, he's very handsome. Tall with the warmest hazel eyes you could ever get lost in, and dark hair. It's curly and there's a couple stubborn pieces that always fall into his face, but I find it the most adorable thing ever."

    "He sounds very nice." She smiles and gets up, putting the empty glass in the sink. When she comes back, she says, "I know you probably have to leave soon, but I'd like to ask one other question, if you don't mind."

    "Of course."

    "How did you meet?"

     I blush.

    "We met at a party."

    She raises her eyebrows.

    "I didn't take you as the partying type, but you know what they say about judging people." she smirks a bit.

    "Well...I wasn't actually at the party."

    We're neighbors in one of the off-campus apartments that the school owns. He and his friends were having a party. It was just past 2 am and the music hadn't stopped. I had an early class the next day—freshman mistake—so I put real clothes on (as in not my pajamas with the puppies on the pants) and went over. I was surprised no one had called the cops yet; it really was loud, but it might have something to do with the fact that he invited the whole building, so they were all there--my roommates included. I asked a bunch of people whose party this was, but they were all too drunk to answer me.

            "This is my party." I heard from behind me. I turned around and was greeted by a really hot guy. We both kind of stared at each other for a second before he said, "Unless you're the cops. Then it's his party." He pointed at his buddy standing next to him with a twinkle in his hazel eyes.

            "Hey!" The drunk guy protested.

            "Yeah, great well, I'm your neighbor and I have an early class tomorrow, so if you don't mind would you turn the music down?" Daaaamn. He was hot. He was so hot and he was staring at me.

            "Oh, of course." He went over to the stereo and killed it. "Everyone out!"

            I stared at him as people yelled in protest.

            "I...I didn't mean..." I spluttered.

            "Everyone out! I got a tip that the police are coming."

            That worked, and in less than two minutes, everybody was gone.

            I started to leave too, but the hot boy grabbed my arm. I spun around and we were face to face.

            "The party was boring, anyway." He explained with a shrug. He really was attractive. His eyes were so pretty, and his hair was black and gelled back. He had really cute ears.

            "Right, well, I've got to go."

            "Can't you stay a little longer?"

            "Can't. Class."

            "Right." He scratched the back of his neck. "See you around then?"

    Ms. Ward laughs as I recount the time we met (leaving out the parts where I swoon over how hot he was though. That was too much to tell an old lady).

    "That's wonderful, dear. He seems like he'd do anything for you. I'm sure you two are happy together."

    "We are," I smile. "For a while we did nothing but argue. Something had happened with one of our friends and we fought constantly over it, pretty much every time we saw each other. Then one thing led to another and we started dating."

    "That's very sweet." Ms. Ward smiles, and her eyes have a distant look. Suddenly, she shakes her head and looks at me. "Well, it's 9:30," I check my watch. We talked for almost an hour. "I'll let you get home to your boy. I'm sure he's waiting for you." She winks and heads over to the counter.

    "Thank you for everything, Ms. Ward. I really appreciate it. The cookies were amazing."

    "Do you want to take them home?"

    "Oh, no, I couldn't."

    "Please,  I insist." She gets a plastic bag from a drawer and drops more than half of the cookies into it, then seals it despite my protests. She presses it into my hands. "Share them with your roommates and your boy when you get home."

    "Okay, I will."

    "I'll see you next week."

    "I'll come back around the same time?" I question as she leads me to the front door.

    "You're in college, sleep as late as you want. I'll wait for you."

    I shrug.

    "I like being up early. If it won't bother you, I'll come at seven again."

    Her smile widens.

    "Sounds perfect."

    I get in the car and look back to the door. Ms. Ward is standing in the doorway and waves at me as I drive away. She's such a nice lady.

    When I get home, Ashton is watching TV on my couch, still in his pajamas. He turns it off, following me into the kitchen. 

    "You were gone for awhile." He says, getting up to kiss me. I set my keys in the bowl on the counter and set the cookies beside it. "Was the yard that big?"

     "No, I got caught talking to Ms. Ward. She's such a sweet old lady." I take a look at his expressionless face and turn away. "Is that all right? I'm sorry I didn't let you know where I was going to be."

    "Don't worry about it, I'm glad you had a good time." I turn back to make sure he isn't angry, but he doesn't seem to be. He seems rather nonchalant, leaning against the counter. I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

    "What do you have there?" He asks, nodding at the cookies.

    "Nothing for you, mister. She made them for me!" I grab the bag before he can make a swipe for it.

    "What?"

    "They're cookies, but Ms. Ward told me not to share them. Especially with you." I open the bag and take a bite.

    "Especially me?" He raises and eyebrow at me. "You talked about me?"

    I blush. Why did he catch that? Nothing ever passes him. I take another bite of cookie.

    "Uhm, maybe." He smirks. "But she must not have liked what I said because she said under no circumstances are you allowed to eat any of her cookies ever." He frowns, confused. My straight face wobbles and I break into a grin, unable to resist.

    "Vi, you tricked me!"

    "Yep." I smile triumphantly and hand my scowling baby the cookies. He leads me into the living room and plops down on the couch.

    "So..." He sits on the couch and pats the area next to him. I join him, sitting criss-cross-applesauce and facing him. "What did you tell her about me?"

    "Just about how we met and stuff."

    "Oh, okay." I avoid his eye, and he adds, "Are you sure that's it?"

    I nod, looking at the TV.

    "No, you definitely told her how attractive I am." When I don't respond, he pokes my side. I squirm, trying not to laugh.

    "It might have come up." My eyes widen as his face lights up. "I mean, I gave her a description of you. She asked me."

    He smirks.

    "I love that I can work you up like this." I scowl and he kisses my cheek.

    "That makes one of us." I grumble. But protest as I do, I love when he teases me.

***

Flora is actually my favorite character in this story lol. She's going to be a much bigger part of this story, so I hope y'all like her. 

I'm almost finished with the next couple chapters, so in the next few days I'll have more updates; I'm super excited about what's happening next. 

I hope you're enjoying the story! Have a great day :D 

~ashtonfortherwin