The Patterson house took Georgie by surprise at first. Luke guessed she was expecting a house similar to her own or the houses surrounding it, but his parents had a pretty nice house. It was less on the traditional side, more contemporary, which Luke had always thought was wildly different from how his parents actually were.

He walked Georgie to the front door, where the guys and Josie were waiting. He was about to let them all in when the door opened and both his mom and dad were standing there with large smiles on their faces. The guys all greeted them, Josie shying away just a little bit. She clung to Alex's leg as he patted her back. "Mom, Dad, why are you opening the door?" asked Luke.

Without a word of warning, his mom stepped out of the house and moved him aside. It was a toss up as to which of the two she was more excited to see; Leo or Georgie. "You must be Georgie!" his mom exclaimed, smiling at Georgie. "I knew you were going to have a sweet face. Mitch, I told you she would have a sweet face, didn't I?"

At the doorway, his dad was nodding his head, cleaning off his glasses as the guys filed in, Alex encouraging Josie to follow him. "Yes, dear," was all his dad said.

"Mom, can we get inside?" Luke asked, giving her a pleading glance to calm it with the dramatics. She wasn't usually this outspoken, unless she was yelling at him.

"Oh, of course!" she stated, slipping the diaper bag off of Georgie's shoulder and ushering her inside with the stroller. "It must have been so hot outside. I'll get you guys something cold to drink."

"Thank you, ma'am," Georgie said and that was probably the only time that Luke had wished she hadn't said a thing. His mom turned and looked at her with an expression that looked as though she'd planned everything from a proposal to a wedding to what their babies would call her. Gam Gam. Luke had joked that he'd make his kids call her that, but right about now, it sounded really enticing.

"Please, call me Emily," she insisted and Luke let out a snort, covering his mouth. He knew it.

"Where I grew up, it's rude to call someone older than you by their name," Georgie told his mom as she finally got in through the door with the baby, who was stirring in the stroller. "If you wouldn't mind, could I call you Miss Emily?"

She didn't need to ask. Luke knew that his mom would agree to whatever she asked. Hell, if she asked if it was okay for her to call her mom, she'd probably agree to that. When his dad chimed in, stating how respectful she was, Luke knew that he was either going to reap the benefits of today or he'd regret the whole thing.

With Leo out of the stroller and changed, Luke's mom insisted that they should go and have fun by the pool. She'd told Georgie that she would keep an eye on the baby and if they wanted to take him outside to the pool for a little while after he'd been fed, they were more than welcome.

Luke hung around the backdoor of the house, watching his friends, who were already down to their swim trunks and in the pool with Josie. He listened as Georgie spoke to his mom, being as sweet as pure maple syrup. "Georgie, that's such a cute name," stated his mom, "where did your mom get the name from?"

"Well, actually, my momma was convinced I was gonna be a baby boy, so she was going to name me after Grandpa," Georgie explained, nodding her head as she put some sunscreen on her legs and arms. He didn't mean to stare as she rubbed her legs, those less than pure thoughts surfacing as he thought about touching her skin. "His name was George. I obviously surprised her, but she still stuck with it."

"I thought your name would have been a nickname," said his mom, putting a little bit of sunscreen on Leo's nose. "People must make that mistake all the time."

Luke had thought that maybe her full name was Georgia or Georgina, but she'd insisted on them not calling her that. Alex was the one who drove it home that her name was just Georgie.

"They do, but it's not their fault," Georgie shrugged. "Usually, it's easy enough to set the record straight. But it's gotten me some nicknames. My best friend calls me Peach and my momma and one of our closest neighbors has always called me Peachie."

Ah, that's it. It was something her mom called her. No wonder it made her want to cry. She probably missed her mom a whole bunch, being on the other side of the country away from her.

His mom spoke to her for a few minutes longer before showing her where the nearest bathroom was so that she could get changed. And he took the chance to speak to his mom.

∞༺ ༻∞

Georgie had two options for bathing suits when she was getting herself ready this morning. She'd packed the one that she'd thought would make her feel less self-conscious. She had begged her momma for the two piece bikini, but she didn't have the confidence to wear it. Well, she didn't have the confidence to wear it around Luke.

So, she'd packed the one piece that she'd also begged for. It was red, like the ones they wore on Baywatch, but of course, Georgie didn't quite fill it out the same way that the actresses on the show did. With it on, she did not feel nearly as confident as she'd assured herself she'd feel in it.

Even though she was fully ready to go for a swim, she didn't step out of the bathroom. She almost fell into the toilet when Luke knocked on the door, checking to make sure everything was okay. She opened the door a crack. "What's up?" he asked. Georgie bit her lip and didn't even bother hiding how she felt.

"I…don't want to come out," she told him, following his gaze as he looked down. He was looking at her feet. "Not because I don't have slides, but… I picked the wrong bathing suit and look like a tomato. Or worse, I'm going to go outside and someone's going to make a comment about the fact that the suit is red and that I don't… I'm not Pamela Anderson."

Luke nodded his head, as though he agreed, tapping a finger on the outside of the door. "Can I…come in?" he asked, making her eyes widen in complete surprise. "Just for a second. No funny business, no mention of Baywatch or one of your five a day," he promised. She pondered over his request for a second, before she stepped back enough for him to step into the small half-bath. She was clinging to the shirt she'd wore over but it wasn't long enough to cover her, or she would have just gone out with that over the top.

"I don't want to ruin the vibe, but the second Bobby says something─"

"I get it," Luke assured her. Aside from earlier, when they'd disagreed over Josie being ahead or walking beside them, he seemed to have been on the same wavelength that she was on. It was beginning to feel like he could read her mind, and honestly, she wasn't too mad about that. "As a boy, I'm going to say that you look great in it. Call it the hormones if you'd like, whatever, it's a fact. But if you don't feel comfortable coming out with just it on, I can grab something for you to wear over it, something longer?" he offered, his hand stroking her forearm in a bid to make her feel less uncomfortable. In that moment, Georgie could have hugged him. Well, she could have done much more than that.

"Would your mom mind?" she asked.

"I'm sure my mom won't care if you wear one of my shirts into the pool," he stated, laughing a little. His eyes looked her over for a second, as though he was taking in what he could see before she covered it with his shirt. It helped bring back a little of that lost confidence, but she'd already made a thing about not being comfortable. She didn't want to seem wishy washy. "You can wait here or come down to the laundry room," he offered, and Georgie felt a little awkward just waiting in the bathroom. She pulled her shirt on, tugging on it a little more to cover herself.

"If it's fine, can I come down?" she inquired and Luke gave her a grin that she wanted to read more into. It wasn't just an answer, it was a statement. It was basically his way of saying that whatever she wanted, he'd agree with, no questions asked. But it was just a grin. He had grinned an awful lot today, an awful lot at the cafe, and an awful lot while they were at the skatepark and walking home. He grinned a lot.

Yet, every grin seemed to mean something different.

"Come on," he offered her his hand, "you can leave your things here for now."

Down in the laundry room, Georgie couldn't help but look around. There were two laundry baskets. In one, she saw items that were clearly his parents, and in the other, items that were definitely his. A lot of jeans. A lot of socks, which was funny because she had yet to see him wearing a pair. And oh, boxers.

"Clean, but…don't need to see those," he said with an awkward chuckle, pulling two shirts out and placing one on top. He handed her a white sleeveless tee, one similar to what he'd worn a few days ago… Not similar, it was the same one. "It's definitely clean this time. It was in the laundry from last night."

"Thank you," she giggled a little as she took it from him. She waited a moment, looking between him and the shirt. "Could you…" she asked, spinning her finger in the air.

"Oh, right, gotcha," he nodded, turning around so that his back was to her. He busied himself with folding the things that he'd messed up while pulling out the shirt. She tried to be quick in taking off her own and pulling on his. Once she had, she tapped his shoulder.

"Does it cover enough?" The look on Luke's face was unreadable. He was looking her over like he was appraising something, but he couldn't figure out if it was worth a lot or it was a piece of junk.

"Too much," he stated with a disappointed release of breath, and she let out a giggle, "which means it's perfect."

Whether or not he did it intentionally, he'd really helped loosen her up, take away that edge of being anxious. Now, Georgie didn't really care about what Bobby would say, because she at least knew the person she was most anxious about seeing her in the suit not only thought she looked good, but wanted her to show a little more off.

Was it too soon to think that he definitely liked her, too? Georgie hadn't exactly been dropping hints or flirting as much as she'd like to. Really, she didn't know how to flirt. Yet she'd giggled, smiled, even batted her eyelashes a little.

She'd come to California thinking there would be nothing here that she would want to stay for, but now, Georgie was sure she wanted to stay for him. Her crush had gone from something minor to major overnight. And here she was, with no nearby girlfriends to gush about it with.

In the backyard, Emily and Mitch had set up a little table of food and drinks for the kids. They'd put out a blanket as well with some baby toys on it and had stuck a big patio umbrella in the middle. This was clearly where the baby would be spending the majority of the afternoon. The adults sat on the back patio with Leo, Emily feeding him one of the puree pouches and Mitch reading a book, when Luke and Georgie emerged from the house.

"What took you so long?" called Reggie as Luke made his way down to the pool and Georgie took a quick second to check on her brother.

"Miss Emily, I just want to tell you, you raised your son right," she told the woman, smiling and getting a proud smile back from her. "I'll be just down there, okay, Leo? If you need me, you holler."

∞༺ ༻∞

"Did you hear her, Mitch?" Emily asked her husband, wiping the baby's mouth as he chewed on the food in his mouth. She'd raised her son right? What did that mean? To judge by the girl's smile, whatever he'd done must have been gentlemanly, right?

"Yes, my love, I heard her," Mitch smiled at his wife, turning the page of the book he was reading.

"Was she wearing his shirt?" asked Emily, glancing at her husband as he lowered the book to look down at the pool. "She was wearing his shirt. What do you think that means?"

Luke wasn't always well behaved, Emily was lucky if she managed to get him to listen to her. She didn't approve of his passion for music, or his dream of becoming a musician. She regretted ever buying him that guitar. But she loved her son, of course she did, and she wanted him to experience normal teenage things. Normal things like going to parties, even if she didn't approve, and dating. However, she hadn't thought she'd ever see the day that he brought a girl over to the house and introduced her to them.

Yet, here he was, with a girl that was pretty and sweet and polite. And he was treating her with care and like a gentleman. Oh, she could have wept at how proud of him she was. She was beginning to hope that the two would date. Georgie seemed very well behaved, the way that she'd politely spoken to her on the phone and even just now, when she was clearly brimming with sheer excitement. She'd managed to hold it in, even though it was obvious she wanted to be really excited outwardly. She seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders and that was what Emily believed Luke needed.

His friends were his friends, yes, and they were all nice boys. But they all supported and encouraged his dream of stardom, because they shared it. Maybe having a girlfriend would be just what Luke needed to give up that dream of becoming a musician? After all, he wouldn't want to leave home on his ventures of fame if he had to leave his girlfriend behind.

"I think we should have Georgie's parents over for dinner," she stated, lifting the baby to look at him. "I'm going to make your big sister my daughter-in-law."