Chapter Twenty-Three

Recap since it's been a little while:

Jacob (Lucy's veteran older brother) confronts Clayton Hugh about why he hasn't tried to make his relationship with Lucy more. He then goes and admits to Clayton that Lucy has always liked him, and that he shouldn't be scared to put himself out there. Also, Lucy and her family know that the Hugh's are expecting a child, and Clayton's parents are going to share the news at a barbeque, where Clayton is unsuspecting the news. And basically that's what you missed on Glee.. I mean Sleepwalker, oops haha

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"You did not wake up today to be mediocre."

LUCY

My brother was one of those types of people who heard the word "clean" and didn't stick their bottom lip out. In fact, when I told Jacob that next day I was going to help Clayton with his cleaning duties, he cracked a huge smile. He even tagged along with me to speed up the process.

However since Clayton only bribed me with milkshakes and tater-tots, there was none waiting at Clayton's house for Jacob.

Jacob, being the bitter guy he was, decided we didn't need his help any further. He made himself comfortable on the couch.

We didn't need him though. It didn't take too long, and to my surprise, it was a whole lot of fun.

The Hugh family as a whole was super bright and bubbly. I could see where Clayton got his likability from. And to think there was going to be another on the way.

"I still don't understand why we're doing all of this?" Clayton questioned out of the blue to his parents in the livingroom. I was wiping down their kitchen counters, so I peeked out into the room. "This seems like a bit much."

"We just thought it would be fun. We haven't seen some people for a long time." Mrs. Hugh explained pretty eloquently if I say so myself.

"Plus I just want to party." Mr. Hugh chimed in with a sly grin.

Thankfully Clayton shrugged it off and didn't question anymore after that.

Five o'clock was about to be around the corner, and we managed to make everything look great. Jacob, being the lazy boy he was, had fallen asleep on the living room couch stage; even through the vacuuming stage. So, of course, Clayton had to mess with him.

He took a feather from one of his pillows that had a hole in it, and began tickling the tip of Jacob's nose. When that wouldn't startle him awake, and it stopped being funny, I straight up smacked him on the forehead and then ran off into the kitchen.

"What the hell?" Jacob mumbled.  "Clayton?"

I could tell Clayton was receiving a deadly look from Jacob because he looked scared as could be.

My laughter couldn't be contained any longer, and I didn't want Clayton to get bitch slapped by my brother, so I let it out. Sure, Jacob got pissy with me, but it was worth it one-hundred-percent.

"You almost got your boyfriend killed, Luce." Jacob smirked at me, finally seeing the humor in the situation.

However, his humor was different than mine. His comment made me stop laughing and become a bright red.

"Oh, come on. I'm kidding. No need to get all blushy and weird." Jacob chuckled, wiping the grogginess out of his eyes.

That last hour was pretty much us messing with one another. It was a different kind of messing with each other though. It was friendly, and light hearted. When Jacob made comments towards Clayton now, it didn't seem hostile anymore. They were actually getting along really well, and I loved every bit of it.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Soon enough, one by one people began to come into the Hugh household. It wasn't a huge turnout, still holding a very intimate feeling. Despite that, I was still very nervous. I always got that way around people, even if I looked my best. It didn't help that Clayton was away socializing with his guests - some he had not seen in a long, long time.

There was another girl who had just arrived, and he was with her in the kitchen while she hugged Clayton's parents. There squeals of happiness whenever she entered the house. I didn't really know who she was, but she was very pretty. She almost looked like the female version of Clayton, if that could have been possible. But whoever she was, she seemed really important to the Hugh family.

Her bright eyes scanned back out into the livingroom where I sat with my brother and strangers, and they locked on me. Instantly my eyes jumped to the closest object, but that did not help.

I could hear Clayton tell the girl no a bunch of times, sounding fairly flustered. Then he spurred out a bunch of words in his native tongue, leaving me all the more confused.

The girl raced towards me with a beautiful smile. "You must be Lucy!"

She was beaming, even under the subpar lighting of the overhead fan.

"Uh. . . hi." My hands squeezed the bottom of my skirt.

Before she could say another word, Clayton stepped in with a pointed look towards her. "This is my good, good friend Greta. I've known her since we were kids."

I had never heard about Greta before from him. My jaw clenched slightly.

"Oh, cool. It's nice to meet you." I finally said to Greta, her eyes still beaming.

It looked like she was about to talk to me some more, but thankfully Mrs. Hugh whisked her away to the kitchen. She left behind a pretty winded looking Clayton, and me slightly. . . jealous. I had never felt so jealous before that moment. Sure, I would get slightly irritated at the thought of Clayton and his old fling Courtney together, but I never thought too much into it.

That girl was different to him though. I could see their connection from a mile away and that pulled the corner of my lips down. And I wasn't afraid for Clayton to see my frown, too.

He peeked over his shoulder, stealing a look at his good friend in the kitchen, and then sat next to me.

There were a couple people sitting nearby, so he leaned over near my ear.

"I've told her all about you." His warm breath on my neck nearly made me shake. "And I promise you have nothing to worry about."

Despite him being so close, I couldn't help but turn my face towards him.

He was merely inches away from me, yet I couldn't decipher his expression. All I could do was marvel at his twinkling eyes, forgetting that we were at a party. I honestly could have stayed in that position for hours on end.

All good things must come to end though, and that moment was no exception. Our dads stormed back into the house and announced they finished the cooking. They had set up the food on tables in the back, and once again Clayton and I parted our ways.

Jacob kept me company while everyone ate after failing to sweet talk Greta.

"I don't get why girls don't like me. I," he shoved mashed potatoes in his mouth then smiled, "--am a true catch."

He did manage to get a chuckle out of me, but I swatted at his knee. "Quit being gross, dude."

"That's my middle name though?"

I rolled my eyes. "How original."

"Shut up, shut up. She's comin' this way." Jacob was the one to swat my knee that time.

I looked up from my plate and sure enough, Greta was striding up to us. What Clayton had told me earlier definitely made me feel better, but come on. Staring at this model-like girl left me feeling intimidated. I couldn't help but feel slightly bitter.

"Hey Lucy. . . and, uh, Lucy's brother." Greta gave a short smile to Jacob. I would have too; he had a little bit of BBQ sauce across his chin. "I just wanted to thank you for being such a good friend to Clayton. I know he's had a hard time adjusting here. And ever since he's met you, he has looked and sounded happier than ever." She chuckled. "He used to have such bad taste in girls. . but you? I can tell you're a good one."

Leave it up to me and my inability to talk at the worst of times. I sat there gaping up at her, wanting to speak, but I couldn't. It all got caught in my throat.

She didn't miss a beat though. "I hope while I'm here for the next couple days we can hang out? Yeah?"

I nodded. Then nodded. And of course, kept nodding like a loser.

"Great. Well, I'll see you later."

Usually with girls that looked like Greta, if I ever had a bad case of shyness, I would've been looked at like I was crazy. Kind of like how Jacob was reacting to me when Greta walked off. I could feel his judgement. But her? I could tell she was a genuine, happy person. She definitely wasn't a threat.

"Okay everyone, everyone!" Mr. Hugh stood on one of the picnic table benches. "I know everyone is slightly confused as to why we pulled this little get together out of nowhere."

My eyes brightened. They were finally going to announce the great news! It was so hard for me not to spill the beans to Clayton about him finally being an older brother, but now that it was finally about to happen, I needed to find him.

He was across the backyard around some of his dad's cousins, so I quickly scurried over there and sat by him. I was welcomed with a smile.

"This is kind of weird." He whispered to me. "They normally don't make a speech at these sort of things."

All I could do was shrug.

"As some of you may know, our family of three has always been the light of our lives." Mrs. Hugh said. The two parents looked towards each other. "Of course, for many years we did try to make it four, but we ended up not fighting fate after so long. If we were meant to be three, then that's how it was supposed to be."

I glimpsed over at Clayton, and he looked so confused and cute.

"But. . . it seems like fate had other plans for us."

There were gasps. There were squeals. Pretty sure one of the squeals was from Jacob, even though he already knew the big news like the dweeb he was.

I mostly kept my focus on Clayton though. To see the different emotions crossing through his face was a beautiful sight.

"We're expecting!" The two finally yelled out together, hand in hand.

There was an eruption of claps and cheers. People were standing up and going up to the expected parents for hugs and congratulations.

Clayton's reaction was the best to me though. It was so sweet and simple, that it made my toes curl in my shoes.

He looked over at me, mouth slightly open. "Wait. . so I'm going to be a big brother?"

I placed my hand over his, and squeezed it. "And you're going to be the best big brother, ever!"

Clayton's eyes softened at that. Then, like a switch, he went into celebratory mode. He hopped up, ran over to his parents and grabbed them both in an enormous hug.

- - - - - - - - -

The rest of the night was an absolute blast. Although I didn't see Clayton the majority of the night after the reveal, I still had a lot of fun.

I finally had gotten over my shyness with Greta, and we talked a good amount. She told me about her boyfriend of three years, and how she used to want to marry Clayton when she was ten but Clayton never wanted anything to do with her. She told me some juicy stories about pre-cool Clayton, and how much of a cute dork he was.

We probably would have kept on talking, but J.K. had finally showed up. She was late because her parents had grounded her, and she was looking for the perfect opportunity to sneak out. I warned her against it, but ever since she got tangled with that toxic boy Zeke, I've seen the goodie-goodie go a little bad.

"Wait, so y'all aren't going to the dance together?"

Jacklyn Kate's question was kind of deflating to my fun evening. It was tough to wrap my head over, but no, Clayton and I weren't going to the dance together. At least not as dates. However, I am very determined to dance with him at least once, or maybe more.

". . no, but before you preach about how I need to--"

"Hey, ladies!" My mom knocked on the guest room door, where we had tucked ourselves away from everyone else for a reason. "What are y'all doing cooped up in here when a bunch of cute guys arrived a while ago?"

I wanted to gag a little bit. "Ma, those guys are way too young for you to be saying that. Plus aren't that cute, either."

"Hey, that's what you think." J.K. turned to my mom with a wicked smile. "The tall dark and mysterious one is mine currently." She winked.

My mom laughed at that, and even I did for a bit, but I still didn't like that Zeke guy. J.K. could do so much better, and she has in the past. He had douche written all over him. She just wouldn't hear any of my protests anymore. Even after he kind of ghosted her.

"Well, I'll leave you guys here then. I was actually asked by a special someone where my daughter was, so I'll just let him know you don't want to see him. ." My mom hummed a little, slowly making her way back to the door.

It didn't take a rocket scientist for me to figure out who was asking about me. Instantly I shot up and gave J.K. a mock salute. She would have done the same thing if she heard Zeke was asking for her.

My mom rolled her eyes at me, but I did not care.

"He said he was going to his room to get something to show you." She added while I was heading in the wrong direction.

I turned around not so smoothly, earning a few looks from the strangers at the party, and headed towards the direction of his room. His door was shut, which made my steps slower.

Gulping, I reached up and knocked on the door. Maybe he wanted to show me some information he found that could help my sleepwalking? Or maybe he wanted to show me an art piece he finished for school that he was pretty proud of.

There was a feint "come in" from behind the door, but I still cautiously opened the door. When I didn't see him anywhere in his room, I was confused. Then he walked out of his closet and I jumped a little bit.

"Sorry, sorry." He held his hands up. "I was just wondering if you could help a guy out?"

He held up two ties, all the while looking absolutely amazing in a black and white suit. If I hadn't known him already, I would have thought he was a celebrity or bigshot athlete. That's how yummy he was looking.

"Wha-at?" I blinked.

Clayton let out a breathy laugh. "This is embarrassing, but I was hoping you could help me chose a tie and teach me how to tie one for the dance next week."

Once I got back to my senses, I finally shut the door behind me. "You decided to do this right in the middle of the party?" I mused.

He shrugged. "Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming and you just want to get away."

I looked him up and down, without any filter, and once I caught what I was doing I turned away from him. I didn't want him to see the blush on my cheeks.

"The second tie would go great with the suit." I commented, still heated in the cheeks.

Clayton took a couple steps near me, startling me to look up at him. He was getting so darn close. Sometimes I had wished he didn't have such an effect on me. I just wanted to act normal in front of him.

I watched as he placed tie number one on his dresser, then placed each end of tie number two in each hand. He gave me this sort of devilish smile. One that if I wasn't mistaken, was definitely on the more flirtier side. He then proceeded to place the tie around my head, as if he were about to put it on me, except instead of tying it, he softly tugged me a step closer to him. I could smell the slightest bit of alcohol on his breath.

It was a playful gesture made by him, probably meant to be light hearted, but my breath got caught.

He must've felt the change in atmosphere too, because his smile faded. Suddenly I felt like we were back on my porch, with the crickets sounding around us; that feeling that maybe I'd finally have my first kiss resurfacing.

"Do. . do you still need me to do your tie?" I gulped.

There was a quick flick of his tongue across his lips. I couldn't help but look at them.

"Oh." He chuckled, dropped the tie from around my head. He took a step back and handed it to me.

Settling my breathing, my poor hands were not as easy to control. I grabbed the tie, but my hands visibly shook as I began going step by step on Clayton how to tie it.

"It's actually really simple with practice. As long as you're smarter than Jacob, that is. He's the reason why I know how to." I patted his chest once I finished it. He looked so handsome.

Clayton looked away from me finally, and to his mirror. He nodded his head and cracked another grin. "Thanks, Lucy. I know who to call next Friday if I need help getting ready."

I knew he meant that as a sweet comment, but it made me slightly sad. I wanted to be the girl he was getting ready for to go to the dance with.

"Definitely."

Eventually we had to go back out into the party, before people questioned where we were and what we were doing. My dad was already starting to get ideas but my mom had to keep assuring him we weren't doing anything scandalous.

The party was finally coming to an end, and majority of the family and friends had left already. It was my family's time next to leave, so I went up to the happy expecting parents and gave each of them a hug.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself tonight, Lucy. Thanks for all of your help today." Mrs. Hugh hugged me tight. "You know if you ever feel in the cleaning mood, feel free to come over here!" We laughed. "And not to be nosey, but what were you and Clayton doing in his room for so long earlier? Was he alright?"

"Oh, yeah. He was very happy, actually." I could tell his parents were worried that Clayton wouldn't be as accepting to the news, but he loved the idea of being a big brother. "I was just teaching him how to do his tie for the dance next week."

The two looked at each other, and then gave me a confused expression. "Wait, you were teaching him how to?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

Mr. Hugh chuckled, shaking his head. "That boy is trying to work his magic, momma." He turned to his wife and wrapped his arm around her. "It's what the Hugh boy's are known for."

"I don't follow." I was starting to feel super awkward.

Mrs. Hugh gave her husband a pointed look, then a soft smile towards me. "Clayton is quite the master to tying a tie, actually. But anyways, if you don't go out there to the car, I think your parents may leave you."

I wasn't fully able to register that, but I said a quick good-bye and headed out the door. She was right, my dad was already backed out into the road and ready to zip off into the moonlight.

I hopped into the car as fast as I could, but before we drove off, I glimpsed back towards Clayton's bedroom window. His lights were turned off, and he was probably knocked out.

What a sneaky little flirt Clayton Hugh could be. . . Who knew?

Hey, everyone! I know I went M.I.A. on y'all again, but it's due to a lot of various reasons. But anyways, here is the twenty-third chapter! I have two more chapters left of this book, so we are almost there guys!! I'm sorry that it has taken so long for it to come together. (Also sorry for any typos in this chapter, I haven't written in sooo long)

- - - If you are interested in any sneak peeks on this book and the spin-off I plan on doing after this book is done, go follow me on Instagram! My username is @quadameg and I'll gladly follow back you guys. Just leave your username in the comments below! <3 I plan on posting a lot of sneak peeks through my instagram stories and posts - - -

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: If you were in Lucy's shoes, would you feel threatened by Greta? Would you be uncomfortable with the idea of your boyfriend having a hot af opposite gender best friend? Leave your thoughts in the comment below! Tbh.... I'm glad my boyfriend doesn't have any female friends. #nothanks

I'm hoping to update soon guys. Especially with Thanksgiving break and Christmas break coming up! <3 Stay amazing.