Free Follow You Down by Hot Tree Editing, K. B. Webb

clean shot of Lucas sitting on my bed. I’m really stupid sometimes. “Am I right to assume your name is Lucas, young man?”
    He stutters out an incoherent response and grabs a pillow to cover his chest.
    “Turn me around, Dani. Now.” I do as I’m told, mouthing I’m sorry to Lucas as I do it. The look he gives me shows that he is totally pissed I’m selling him out like this, but he doesn’t know my mom.
    “So, was I right? Is your name Lucas?”
    I swing around so I’m sitting next to him, but not too close to him. “Yes, Momma, this is Lucas. Lucas, this is Gail Hartley.” I wave my hand between Lucas and the computer screen that is now showing my mother’s unapprovingly face.
    “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hartley. I apologize. I’m not properly dressed for such a meeting.” He shoots me a death stare when he finishes his statement.
    “No need to apologize, son. And please, call me Gail. Mrs. Hartley was my mother-in-law and she was a crazy bitch. God rest her soul.”
    “Momma!” Lucas is going to think we’re crazy before he even gets a chance to fully know me.
    “I’m sorry, Dani, but you know I’m right! Moving on. So, Lucas, what are your intentions with my daughter?”
    Lucas chokes on the sip of coffee he was taking and I bury my head in my hands. Thanks, Mom. Thanks a lot.
    “Well, um, we’re, I mean, ugh.” Lucas has no clue what to say and I can’t even begin to try to help him because I am totally mortified.
    My head is still buried in my hands and Lucas is looking anywhere but at the screen when we hear her laugh. We both look up to find her sipping from her wine glass, blotting away tears of laughter from her eyes.
    “Y’all should have seen the look on Lucas’ face. Oh, it was priceless!” I start laughing once I realize this is her version of a cruel joke, and after a few beats, Lucas begins to chuckle, too. He looks relieved, but also still slightly mortified.
    “Lucas honey, Dani is a grown woman. Your intentions with her are y’all’s business, not mine. But I will tell you this, you hurt my baby girl and I will hunt you down. Got it?”
    His laughter instantly stops. “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Okay, Mom, if you’re done with embarrassing the shit out of me, then I’m gonna let you go. I’ll call you later.”
    “Chill out, Dani Gail. If I really wanted to embarrass you, I would have called your father into the room.”
    “You wouldn’t dare.” I narrow my eyes at her. While my mom is a laid back type of parent, my father is not, at all. He would flip shit if he found out there was a guy I had known less than a week shirtless in my bed. He would likely drive straight here just to give me a father daughter sit down and kick Lucas’ ass.
    “Of course I wouldn’t! He would flip shit and drive there to kick poor Lucas’ ass!” I laugh because she just said exactly what I was thinking. Lucas doesn’t laugh. He looks between the two of us, trying to gauge by our reactions if we’re joking. By the look on his face, I can tell he knows we aren’t kidding at all.
    I tell my mom I love her and that I will call her later on that day. She tells Lucas it was nice to meet him and that he should always be shirtless when he talks to her, which is funny yet awkward at the same time.
    After we’re done talking to my mom, I close the laptop and place in on the floor, and then roll over to face Lucas.
    “I am so sorry! I didn’t even think about her being able to see you in the reflection. I feel like total shit for that.”
    He laughs and pulls me close to him. “Red, don’t feel bad. It could have gone a hell of a lot worse than it did. I’m just glad she didn’t tell your dad. I saw his picture in your living room; he’s a big dude.”
    We’re both laying on our sides, facing each other, his arms over my waist and mine around his neck, my fingers threading through his hair.
    “This sure feels a lot like cuddling,” I say nervously. Truth be told, it’s nice. I like