I swore under my breathe as I hit yet another dead end. I couldn't have gotten any more in the middle of nowhere. All I wanted was to earn some money in the middle of the last month of summer. Some guy just outside of my town named John Bender needed help with yard work. He said he was trying to sell his house or something. Whatever, I didn't care, the point is, it was work. Well, it would be, once I found it. For now, I was driving in circles...

So twenty minutes later I ended up finding the house. It wasn't that much in the middle of nowhere, I just didn't know the area that well. Anyway, I got out of my old red pickup truck and walked up to knock on the door. John seemed pretty nice. A bit eccentric, but not a bad guy. I could see why he needed the help, he was getting up there in age. He told me on the phone he had kids around my age, seventeen, and older. Why couldn't they help him? I wondered. I shook that pointless thought off and walked out to the hot tub in the backyard he wanted me to fix. It was pretty large, but totally trashed and there were some boards and junk on top of it.

"So it needs to be rewired and the jets need to be cleaned out. You should probably move those boards too. And then it's gonna have to be re-tiled and all, but we can save that for another day."

"Sure thing, sir. It'll be done in no time."

"Cameron, those boards are pretty heavy, are you sure you can move them yourself? " asked John's wife, Jodie, who was watering the lifeless plants in the garden.

"I'll be fine," I said.

"Do you want me to get Sid to help him?" John asked Jodie.

"That's a great idea. Sid could use some money. And we don't want Cameron here getting hurt," she added shooting a warm smile my way.

John went to go find this Sid guy while Jodie left to make coffee. So I waited.

I heard footsteps, so I looked up, only to see a beautiful girl standing with John. My heart pounded and my palms got sweaty when I saw her. She seemed about my age, with shoulder-length, curly, light brown hair and big eyes that were the prettiest shade of emerald. She wore denim skinny jeans and a shirt with a character I recognized from Invader Zim. I meant to say hello, but what came out was,

"Nice shirt. I'll never forget Invader Zim." She seemed confused, as did John, but then her bewilderment disappeared as she realized what she was wearing.

"Oh, wow, thanks! I didn't think anyone remembered that show!" Her voice was angelic.

"Anyway," said a seemingly uncomfortable John, "Cameron, this is my daughter Sydney. She's going to help you out whenever you need it."

"Hi!" she said enthusiastically. I grinned. I could get used to this girl. This must have been obvious, because John left awkwardly to go do something. Poor guy, he's got a cute daughter, he must have boys after her left and right.

As soon as her dad left, Sydney's posture and aura completely changed.

"So, what's my dad underpaying us to do?" I pointed to the boards and we began to lift them together in an awkward yet comfortable silence. She was actually really strong.

"So I'm guessing you're a daddy's girl." I said finally, smirking. She gave me a look.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, your whole attitude changed as soon as John left." She sighed as if thinking about something. It was such a long pause I thought she forgot I was there.

"Yeah, I am. I mean, I guess. He's real protective, so I tend to not tell him about what really happens in my life. He wants me to be this perfect girl, but it's so stressful. He actually threatened to take away my TV priveliges if I got a B in honors algebra one. And that was in the eighth grade!" Now I saw why it took so long for her to answer. She just practically exploded. As an afterthought, she said,"Sorry for venting on you."

"Nah, it's okay. Wow, that's rough. My dad just tells me to do my best and get into college, 'cause if I turn twenty and don't have my own place or go to college, he's kicking me out."

"Yeah, but can you talk to him about other stuff? Like about your friends and stuff?" This was some pretty odd small talk. But she seemed really sincerely interested, so I told her.

"Sure. I can talk to him about anything," I told her. There was a long pause. I wondered if she had a boyfriend. I had to find out. I hesitated, then said tentatively, "Do you talk to him about guys and stuff?" She laughed.

"You're kidding right?"

"That's a no. So that means your boyfriend is a secret." She stared at me for a long time, then smirked.

"What makes you think I have a boyfriend?"

"Your telling me you don't have boys falling all over you at school? 'Cause if not, they're pretty stupid." She blushed, and I felt myself grin. Blushing was a good sign, right?

"Then according to you, all the boys at my school are stupid because I've never had a boyfriend." I had to bite my cheek to keep from smiling.

"No way," I said incredoulously, "What, do you go to an all-girls school or something?"

"Nope. I think I might actually be asked out more if I went to an all-girls school," she said. "But enough about me, I'm sick of venting. How about your life? You look pretty strong, and attractive. Athlete? Nine girlfriends in a week?" It was my turn to blush. Was I that good looking? Or was she just being polite?

"Nope. I've only had one girlfriend, and I'd rather not talk about that experience." She laughed and told me she was going to go change into some shorts, and to escape this conversation. Once she left I went back to work. Gosh, was it hot.

Those days with Sydney went by really fast. After about two weeks, once we finished with the hot tub, Sydney stopped helping me and I began another project. It had probably been a week since I'd last seen Sydney when I heard the door slam and she came out in a tank top and board shorts. All I could think was Wow, she's gorgeous. Then I felt my face get hit with something and realized they were swim trunks.

"Quit staring and get changed," Sydney had a bossy look on her face but I could tell she was kidding from the way her mouth was quirking into a smile.

"What's up?" I asked.

"My dad told me to tell you you're done for the day, so I decided that if you don't have any other plans, you're taking me to the beach." I smiled.

"Alright. Be right back."

I slid into the driver's seat of my truck and she slid into shotgun. I get a devious idea and grinned.

"Uhmmm... The shotgun seatbelt is broken. You're gonna have to sit in the middle here." She rolled her eyes, as if to tell me I'm not her father, so I said, "Sydney Marie Bender, Daddy wouldn't want to find out you didn't wear a seatbelt, would he?" She scowled and slid closer to me, putting on the middle seat belt.

"How did you know my middle name?" she asked.

"I didn't," I laughed, "but now I do."

"I swear, if this is some kind of flirty scheme, I'm gonna deck you." She sounded ticked off, but her face told the opposite.

"What? No, that's not my style. My way of hitting on a girl is 'wanna see my metric conversions chart?'" I say pulling out the conversions chart I keep in my toolbox. She laughed and put her feet up on the dash, and I could tell she was getting more comfortable. She seemed to be pondering something, and when I asked her, she told me,

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking," she hesitated, then continued. "Did you want to bring a friend or anything? I can get kind of annoying."

"Nah, it's cool. We're almost there anyway. Maybe next time." Truth was, I didn't want my friends coming along at this moment. I wanted her all to myself.