"Don't you know that I get so distracted
When I see your face
Get caught in a daze
Sometimes I don't know what to do
I get so distracted by you" – Distracted – KSM

Chapter One: Distracted

Being the daughter of a very busy woman, I have learned time is not to be wasted. As my mother is often noted of saying, "Faster than a shooting star, is not fast enough."…I have taken to mumbling about not being a super being in return.

However, the story you are about to read, is not about my busy mother and my annoyance to her comments…well maybe a little; but it's about the day my life entangled with Indigo Lanes.

Indigo Lanes, a boy that could be considered beautiful in a dark, mysterious way, moved in next door to me. Back then, he had a head of pitch black, wavy hair and very tan skin. Often seen pushing his hair out of his piercing grey/green eyes with a frustrated hand, he was a boy of few words.

He moved in a day after my seventeenth birthday, on October eighteenth*. That day was a nice cool day, sweater weather with bright skies. I was sitting on my family's wide front porch, reading This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. It was not the first time I had read it, but seeing I had read my copy of her Keeping the Moon for the twelfth time, I figured I should change my reading material a little.

I watched the big yellow and red moving van pull in to the house next door, my curiosity peaked. Mrs. Norris, the lady who had owned the house before, had passed on in her sleep at the local hospital. Oh, I forgot to mention where this all took place, right? A small city called Eeva**, Pennsylvania.

Eeva, though not a major city, was still pretty interesting in its self. May I interrupt with a question or two to you - readers - : Have you ever watched Gilmore Girls? Have you ever noticed how their town looks?

Yea, cause my town is similar. Well, I mean in size, and people-you-know owned shops. The librarian's son was on the swim team with me before I quit.

Anyway, I was digressing. There was a used bookstore (Ursula's Good Reads) on one side of the town, and on the other a not-used bookstore (Andy's Rainy Days). My older cousin (Rick) owned a Diner with my BFF Angie's oldest brother (Luis). They called it Riddles…why I never found out.

The public high school was Eeva High, and there was a big strip mall in the center of town. Though there are a ton of other stores, these are my most visited places. All in all, as much as I loved my Victorian town, I couldn't understand why anyone would willingly move here.

However, Indigo did. He moved in with his older sister, Lacey Lanes, and their mother – Angelique Lanes.

It turns out, Angelique Lanes had grown up here, and her and my mother had been somewhat friends. After her husband died in a plane crash, Angelique decided her kids and her needed a change of pace, and so moved them back to her hometown. Her sister, Claudia Reefs, owns the local dance studio (Dancing Reefs), and Angelique was going to become the new dance instructor.

As a kid, I use to take dance and piano lessons, before quitting when my father, Ted Shane, passed away from ammonia. My mother, Lily Shane, tried to keep me in dance and piano, but I couldn't do it anymore. My father had been my biggest supporter. He was the one who drove me to practices, and he was the one who made a big deal about recitals and other events. Plus, he played the piano himself, and often we entertained mom with the both of us playing side by side.

So, despite being interested in the new family next door, I didn't bother much in the effort of getting to know them. That is, until my mother made me go and greet her old school friend with her.

I remember crossing the small expanse of grass that separated our houses from each other, and up their wooden steps, my sandals slapping to make hollow sounds against the porch.

When Indigo had opened the door, it was my first time actually seeing him. Though I had watched him and his family carry belongings into the house, it had been from a far, and his handsome, almost breathtaking- in-a-non-beautiful way appearance hadn't been so clear before.

He was wearing jeans that hung off his hips, and a slightly too big long sleeved shirt. The three buttons on the shirt were left undone, and I could see his tan skin continued into the depths of his clothing. Suddenly, I had the urge to rip his clothes off…which not only was strange, but also quite mortifying. As a blush crept up my face, I ducked my head, trying to tune back into what was going on.

Indigo left to go get his mom, and then after some embracing on Angelique's and my mother's part, we were ushered inside.

I had only been in Mrs. Norris' house once before, when I had gone to pick up some mail that was accidently delivered to her house, and she invited me in for some ice tea and cookies. However, it was clear, that since then the house had been repainted, and fixed up.

The interior was brighter, and the smell of fresh paint still lingered on the walls. The floors had been redone revealing beautiful cherry wood floors. I quickly noticed that Angelique was a woman who liked color.

Every room had a different color in it, only seeming to connect to each other by the cherry wood crown-molding and cherry wood floors. The kitchen was painted with the colors of sunflowers and tiger lilies. The tiles on the floor looking like Spanish stones.

As Angelique and my mother stayed in the kitchen to catch up, I followed Indigo to the living room, where his sister sat in a black leather armchair. She had headphones on, and barely looked our way when we entered. She seemed to be writing in a note book, and I stood there, feeling awkward.

Indigo sat on the matching black leather couch, picking up a book he had supposedly been reading. I watched him for another minute, before turning away to study the walls that had already been furnished with some paintings. The mantle over the fire place had pictures set up on it.

All in all, my first day in meeting Indigo and his family didn't go over well in my opinion back then, and I hadn't thought much of seeing them again.

Little had I known that, that had just been my first in what would soon become many interactions with one Indigo Lanes.

* = Just to make sure I didn't confuse anyone, her birthday is one the seventeenth of October. Oh, and you find out her name in the next chapter.

** = Eeva is not, to my knowledge, a real place.

So, this is the first chapter to 'Because Then I Met You'! I do hope you liked it.

Though I have written a couple stories that are posted elsewhere, this is a different style of writing for me. I'm not so sure where I'm actually going with this story, or if it will actually go anywhere. My updates may not be consistent, and you might get agitated with me, but I'll try my hardest! So, if you review, I'll not only be happy, but I'll have the self-confidence to write more! Even if your review is just telling it me it sucks, it means you read it! (Oh, and I have horrible grammar, and my spelling is less than desirable…so please deal with me and any mistakes I don't catch!)

~~~~~~~Your Writer,

~~~~~~Cara