I'm so sorry for taking over a week to post, but, not to sound like I'm making excuses, we have testing at school all this week, and our teachers have been laying the homework on thick.

So I have some very cool, very strange, and slightly eerie news. I was researching Wil Wheaton, who, in case you didn't know, played Gordie in Stand by Me. I thought maybe by doing research on him, since he was so like his character, I could capture his personality and feelings a little more accurately. While researching, I came across something a bit unsettling.

Wil Wheaton owns a dog…named Riley.

Yes, I suppose that doesn't seem so shocking, but I swear I knew nothing about this. I actually came up with the name Riley just by going down my list of favorite girls' names. Oh, and also, he likes Coldplay. So I officially love him. (I'm a little obsessed with Coldplay…they're sort of my favorite band.)

I know what you're all thinking. Shut up and get on with the story! So here you are, you demanding people. Here's chapter three of Too Young. I do not own Stand by Me or any of its characters or Nat King Cole or any of his songs.

Chapter Three

A Labor Day to Remember

The next day, Labor Day, Riley showed me where she lived. I was excited to find out that she only lived a couple streets away from me, but in a town as little as this one, she couldn't have lived much farther out, could she?

She lived in a very quaint two-story house, painted white, with three steps leading up to the front door, two windows on either side, and three windows on the floor above.

Before I entered her house, I paused. I'd never been to a girl's house before. "Are you sure this is okay with your parents?" I asked.

"Sure! Why wouldn't it be?" she replied, tugging me into the house. She navigated me through the hallways until we reached the kitchen in the back of the house. Her mother was standing at the counter, writing something down. She looked up as we came in.

"Hi there, kids," she greeted us.

"Mom," Riley said, gesturing to me, "this is Gordie LaChance."

Boy, I loved it when she said my name.

I raised my hand slightly and mouthed a silent "hi", and her mother gave me a huge grin.

"Well, hello, Gordie," she said. "LaChance, did you say?" she asked Riley.

Riley nodded fervently.

"Hmm, I think I spoke with your mother when we were moving in here. Charming woman," Riley's mother said.

This surprised me. My mother didn't talk to many people much anymore. She must have put on a smiling face to welcome the new family to the neighborhood.

"Thank you, ma'am," I said, nodding.

"Just call me Mrs. Parker," she instructed.

"Mrs. Parker," I corrected myself.

"You're always welcome here," Mrs. Parker said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Parker. Are you sure? I don't want to be any trouble." I was on my best behavior, being as polite as I possibly could. This was Riley's mother. I wanted to make a good impression on her parents.

"Oh, nonsense," Mrs. Parker said, waving a hand dismissively. "You're of no inconvenience, dear."

"Thank you," I said gratefully. She didn't know how grateful I was to her for letting me spend time with her daughter.

Mrs. Parker gave me a small smile and walked out of the room, her heels clacking on the linoleum.

"So," Riley began, turning to face me, "are you hungry?"

"Uh…yeah, I guess so," I said. Sheesh, I sounded so stupid when I was talking to her.

Riley giggled, and I decided saying stupid things around her wasn't so bad if I could hear her adorable laughter every time I did.

"Okay," she said, still laughing a little, "I'll see what we have."

She searched around her kitchen for a bit, and I watched her the entire time. Why did I find every little thing she did so fascinating?

"Hmm," she finally said, breaking the silence. "Let's see…we have popsicles…popsicles…and…more popsicles. What would you like?"

I pretended to deliberate. "Well, I'm gonna have to go with…popsicles."

She laughed, and I smiled.

While she grabbed us each a popsicle, I walked over to her sink and looked out the window above it. Sunlight poured in from the beautiful day outside, and I realized that I could see my house from the window above her kitchen sink. A very strange thrill went through me at the thought of that.

"Here you go," Riley said, handing me a red popsicle.

I took it, and then she led me through another hallway to the sitting room. I paused momentarily, because everything was white: the carpet, the couches and chairs, the curtains, everything. I didn't want to get anything on the furniture.

Riley took a seat on the loveseat, unwrapped her popsicle, and then looked up at me. When she noticed I was still standing in the doorway, she stood up, grabbed me by the wrist, and led me to the place beside her on the loveseat.

"But…but I…" I protested.

She dismissed my worries with a wave of her hand. "Don't worry about it."

After a while of sitting next to each other in silence, eating our popsicles, I cleared my throat and asked, "So, um…where's your dad?"

Riley looked away from me, playing absently with the curtain hung on the windows next to us, and said, "Um…he's, uh…back in the work shed. It's…behind the house."

I looked at her briefly, made suspicious by the way she had said that, but if she wasn't about to press matters that made me uncomfortable, then neither was I.

Instead, I just said, "Oh."

After finishing our popsicles in silence, we brushed our hands off on our pants and stood up. I turned to look at Riley, and something awe-inspiring occurred.

The long, white curtains of the window were parted to the side, allowing the sunlight to stream freely through. When I turned to face Riley, her face was framed by the sunlight, seeming to shine through her nearly translucent pale skin and illuminating her facial features, making her look more angelic than she already was. It took my breath away.

Suddenly, I had the overwhelming urge to kiss her.

I nearly did, too, but I fought it with all of my strength. I couldn't do that. It would be much too spontaneous, and I didn't want to scare her off.

Instead, I just stood and stared at her, probably looking very odd as I grappled with the emotions wrestling inside of me.

She tilted her head sideways, looking at me in confusion. I had to fight my emotions off with even more determination, because she looked even more adorable when she was bewildered.

"What is it?" she asked.

I blinked and shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "Nothing," I lied, rubbing my eyes. I had been staring in the direction of the window for too long without blinking.

She looked at me as if not sure what to think, then slowly nodded. "Okay," she said, smiling in an almost wry manner. "You wanna go see my room?"

I nodded. "Sure."

Her grin grew wider, then, and she took me by the hand, pulling me into the main hallway and up the stairs. I was running to keep up with her, and she was laughing her beautiful laugh.

"Not too loud on the stairs, now!" I could hear Mrs. Parker order.

"Sorry, Mom!" Riley yelled back.

When we reached the top of the stairs, we turned right and bolted into a bedroom just off the top of the stairwell, and then came to a halt, so out of breath that we were panting.

Her room was painted a light blue with dark blue trim, and she had a fluffy white comforter on her bed and lacy white curtains on her window.

Posters were hung on the walls all around her room. I recognized Fats Domino, The Penguins, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Bobby Day, and Big Bopper. I gestured to the posters. "You have good taste in music," I complimented her.

She smiled shyly. "Thanks."

I nodded and walked slowly around the room. I placed my hand on the comforter of her bed and looked around her room again.

She pointed to the bed. "You can sit down there."

"Thanks." I took a seat.

After a few seconds, Riley slid her shoes off and came to sit by me. I turned my head away from her and smiled to myself.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on her bed, discussing our likes and dislikes, especially in music. After what felt like a few minutes, I looked at the small alarm clock on Riley's bedside table.

"Oh," I said, realizing it was already 6:00. How had five hours passed already? That was impossible. "I'd better be going."

Still, I remained on Riley's bed, staring at her. She was lying on her side with her elbow on her pillow, propping her head up, with her free arm clutching her knees to her chest.

She nodded absently. Apparently she'd been as absorbed in our conversation as I'd been.

Reluctantly, as slowly as I could manage, I stood up and walked toward her doorway. I could hear her quickly sit up behind me.

"Wait!" she called out.

I spun around, looking at her expectantly.

"So…um…I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked, fidgeting with the edge of her comforter and staring at the carpet.

"Sure," I said, breaking into a smile. Then I remembered we had school the next day. "Oh, but we have school," I groaned.

"Oh, yeah," she said in a disappointed tone. "Junior High."

I nodded. "Well, we could meet after school," I said, eager to cheer her up and see her smile.

She raised her eyes to mine and grinned. "Cool."

"So I'll see you then?" I asked.

"Yeah."

I turned and began to walk out again.

"Gordie?" she said from behind me.

I turned back around. "Yeah?"

"Could you…show me your tree house tomorrow?" she inquired, her blue eyes wide.

"Of course," I said.

"Really?"

"Absolutely." Anything to make you happy, Riley.

"Okay," she said.

"Well…bye," I replied, waving.

"Bye," she said, raising her hand.

Then I turned around and walked out her bedroom door, down the stairs, and out the front door of Riley's house to begin the short journey home.

Okay, so…what do you think? Is it realistic or not? Horrible or decent? How do you like the budding romance between the two? Review and let me know!