EEEEE! Crash!

"What was that?" My little brother, Greg, asked.

"I think it was a car, but it doesn't sound good. Whoever is out there is screwed!" I laugh at the person's mishap, but still get up to see the loser whose car was more than likely broken down across the street, "Whoa."

"What?" Greg asks, clearing wanting to know what was going, considering my dumbfounded exasperation.

"There is an extreme hot chick getting out of the car that just broke down," I reply, gawking at the girl who had come out of the car. Said girl seemed to be slightly pissed off at her misfortune. This became obvious as she then drew back her leg and kicked the car, leaving a pretty good sized dent in the side. She stomps her foot then moves to the hood, which is popped up. The girl leans in close, jerking away when there's a small smoke explosion.

"What's her shirt say?" Greg asks, squinting, "I…Heart…Boys in Bands?" He slowly reads as the girl turns to look if anyone else had seen the small smoke explosion.

"Are you joking?" I gasp, because I'm in the band, "Score!"

"Maybe you should help her," Greg smirked.

"What? Why?" I ask, clearly confused.

"Dude!" He exclaims, as if the answer is obvious, "You so like her! To help her would be princely…or something…"

"I am no prince." I state, "Plus I do not like her. I technically haven't even met her yet!" I sneer, not taking my eyes off the girl.

"Liar."

"What do you know anyways? You're only in the eighth grade," I reply, now taking my eyes off the girl, in order to glare at Greg.

"I know enough-Holy moly! She's coming this way!"

"WHAT!" I gasp and turn just in time to see her reach the door.

Ding-dong!

"Boys! Can one of you get the door?" Mom calls from the kitchen.

"Get it, bro!" Greg orders me.

"No way!"

"Yes way! Hurry! She might go next door instead!"

I give Greg one last glance, then rush to the door, "Hey," I greet smoothly to the girls back.

"Hello," She smiles, turning around, which is when I realize that the girl's hair was pink. An adorable, bright pink. I'm not going to lie, I gawked, "My car broke down and I was wondering-"

"Yes!" I reply too quickly.

"Oh…great! Thanks!" she smiles, as I keep gawking.

"I'm in a band!" I awkwardly blurt out, embarrassing myself further.

"That's…nice?" She questions, taken about. More gawking from me.

"Who's this?" My mother asks, thankfully breaking my gawk before it got too creepy.

"Hi, I'm Dawn," She replies, smiling.

"My, what…pink hair you have," My mother frowns, disapproving.

"Thanks," She, who I now knew was Dawn, laughs, "What beautiful eyes you have," she throws back. There's a slight pause as my mother and I try to process this, "I mean, most girl's eyes are hidden behind glasses, but you've chosen a very stylish frame that makes your eyes pop! I can every see the golden flakes in them!" she continued, an even longer pause.

"Well…" Mom starts slowly, "thank you!" she exclaims, smiling, "Please, please come in, you must be freezing!"

"Thank you!" She smiles, walking into our home, sending me a wink as she walks by me, our bodies brushing each other.

"So…" Mother starts, "What are you doing here so late at night?" she asks.

"Well, you see, my car broke down and I was hoping you kind people could help?" She says, unsure of herself.

"Of course!" Mother replies, clapping her hands, "Just make yourself confortable, I'll go get my husband. Oh, I'm Susan, by the way,"

My mother skips-yes, skips- out of the room, leaving Greg, Dawn, and myself in another slightly awkward silence. Until Manny tugs on her pant leg, "I onwly three!" Manny giggles, which somehow causes Dawn to giggle, too. Her giggle is cute.

"That's my little brother, Manny. I'm Greg. Greg Hefley." Greg tells her.

"Hm. Someone who doesn't blurt random stuff out," She jokes, glancing at me, "You must be the brains of this brotherly operation," She half jokes, "I'm Dawn," She introduces herself, sticking out her right hand for Greg to shake.

"Nice to meet you," He smiles, shaking her hand, "Oh. Ouch. Strong grip," he laughs awkwardly after shaking her hand.

"Thanks!"

"So…Where are you from?" He asks, digging a little into her personal life.

"Not too far from her, maybe a mile, but if I come home without my car, my mom will flip out! I actually go to the high school right around the corner,"

"My brother goes there too!" Greg smiles, pointing at me.

"You don't say," She says more like a statement than a question, turning her gaze to me, "And who might your cute brother be?" She asks, taking a step closer to me, causing me to take a step back, which knocks the back of my legs into the coffee table. Dawn giggles again. So cute.

"She called me cute!" I think to myself, my face growing red, "Oh jeez, I sound like such a sissy," I mentally groan.

"That's my older brother, Rodrick," I vaguely hear Greg tell Dawn.

"Well, then it's nice to me you," She tells me, stick out her hand, "Rodrick,"

Greg was right, she does have a strong grip, but I didn't have time to think about it as she softly said my name. My name.

"Dawn, this is my husband, Frank. Frank, this is Dawn," My mother introduces, walking in with my dad in tow.

"My, what a smart-looking man, you must be the boys' father," Dawn says, taking a step away from me, and one towards my dad.

"I am. So, I hear you have a broken down car…?"

"Yes, It's right across the street," She points, walking to the front door with Dad.

"I'll come too!" I blurt out like a lunatic, rushing to the door.

"Dad," I whisper to my father, Dawn walking a little bit ahead.

"Yea?" He asks.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this…" I confess, "But I kinda like this chick, so I was hoping I could talk to her. Alone. And maybe I could fix her car…?"

"She is quite a charmer," He laughs.

"No kidding!" I also laugh, "You should have seen her with Mom! Mom was all disapproving because of her pink hair, but then Dawn goes off into the whole thing about her eyes. She said that she could see the golden flakes in her eyes."

"She's good," My dad laughs again, and then turns to Dawn who has reached the car, "Get inside and pop the hood, please," he requests and Dawn does as told.

"Fine, let me just see what the problem is and I'll leave," He smiles at me.

"Thanks, Dad, you're not so bad after all," I smile back.

"Ahhhh," He says, spotting the problem, "She's low on oil. I have some extra in the garage. I'll go get some while you stay here with the young lady," he orders, walking across the street.

"Your car is low on oil, is all," I explain to Dawn, coming around to where she was sitting.

"Oh, is that all?" She laughs.

"Y-Yeah," I reply, my face getting warm. Dawn takes notice of this a laughs slightly.

"Okay!" Dad says, walking into the conversation, "Here is the oil," He says, handing me the canister.

"Thanks," I reply, but he doesn't budge, "Uh…Dad?"

"Hmmm?" He asks, "Oh!" he says after a moment, realizing, "I just remembered that…your mother…needs me…to do…stuff…" He stumbles, causing me to mentally face palm myself, "See ya!" He calls over his retreating form.

I walk around to the popped hood and quickly pour the can of oil into the place where the oil goes, "What is that place called anyways?"

"All done!" I announce, going to Dawn with the empty can.

"Great! Then I'll be on my way!"

"Wait!" I blurt out, again, before she can drive away, "Um…I guess I'll see you around…" I say awkwardly, and then stick out my hand even more awkwardly.

Dawn laughs at me. Seriously, she has the cutest laugh ever. Then she reaches forward, grabbing my left hand with her left hand and flips my hand over, the contact giving me tingles, "Here you're going to need this," she laughs, producing a pen from nowhere and quickly scribbling something on my palm. She closes my hand in on what she wrote, so I couldn't see, "See ya, Rodrick," She waves and drives off."

I stand there, watching her car drive off, trying to play it cool until she was gone from sight. Then I glance down at my palm and book it to the house.

"What's going on?" Greg asks the moment I get into the house.

"Need pen and something to write on. Now!" I barely get out before running around the house, ripping open drawers.

"Why?" Greg asks, following me around.

"Because, my hand is sweaty and she wrote her digits down on my palm. I need to write it down before it rubs off…Finally!" I yell, locating a pen and paper, and quickly scribbling Dawns' number onto the small sticky note I found. The area code and the 'D' in Dawn already smeared.

"How did you even get that? You were acting like such a freak!" Greg asks, pointing out my odd behavior around Dawn.

"I have no idea, little bro, no idea at all," I replay honestly.