Ella refused to calm herself. She sat rigidly in the passenger side religiously checking her phone every few seconds. The beam of light that emitted from her device caused me to squint and pray that I didn't crash my baby into a decorative tree lining the road. The blonde had been on pins and needles the moment we got off the phone with a very unwilling Harper, but after a few tries the two of us were able to convince the brainiac into babysitting.

"Ella, can you chill? Harper will be fine."

"It's not Harper I'm worried about. If those brats put another hole in my wall by the time we get back I'm going to throw a serious temper tantrum."

"Like you haven't already?"

The sly comment earned me a glare and a snippy 'shut up' from Ella.

"They'll be fine." I attempted to sooth her worry, "I can't speak for Harper, but your place will be left standing by the time we get back.

"I sure hope so," Ella muttered under her breath, fiddling with her phone while gazing out the window.

The rest of the drive wasn't all that long. Ella's subdivision was relatively close to the heart of town. As I pulled into the parking lot Ella huffed, "We should have written down the list of what we needed from that video."

"That would have been smart. Just do it now." I answered without much thought, my mind was preoccupied with trying to pull straight into a parking spot. I hated parking. I was never really that great with it. Thankfully the plaza didn't seem so busy this time on a Sunday night.

"Can't, I went over my data already." Ella growled throwing her phone back in her purse.

I released myself from the seatbelt, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Because you know of my addiction of watching British YouTubers." She said matter-of-factly while shoving the passenger car door open with a little more force than necessary. I winced as the door waved back and forth for a moment once it hit it's limit.

Ella's Ugg-clad feet planted themselves on the damp, darkened, asphalt, "Let's get this over and done with as fast as possible. We have a wall to fix." She spoke with determination. Without any hesitancy Ella rushed towards Harold's leaving me to fumble with my keys to lock up before stalking after her. By the time I entered the small hardware store Ella, with a red basket already perched on her arm, was searching for which aisle to start with first.

Leaving the still chiming entrance I followed Ella's blonde head as she disappeared behind a set of industrial-looking shelves.

"We need that weird looking tape." Ella explained, a manicure finger to her chin as she pondered. "To be honest I don't know why we have to waste money on this and can't just use duct tape."

"Considering we've never done this before... it's probably a good idea that we follow the instructions." However, upon scanning the shelving unit packed with tape I wished any would do. "Next time we can try paper mâché." I joked attempting to lighten the mood.

"And the next time after that we can try mud and cotton balls." She teasingly promised while searching on the other end of the aisle. The two of us paused our hunt a minute more or so in. "I never knew there were so many different kinds of tape."

"Neither did I to be honest. Find it?" I asked, giving up with my side.

"Maybe... does it matter what colour it is?"

"I don't know." I groaned getting annoyed that it was taking so long to find one measly roll of tape.

Ella flipped her still knotty blonde mane out of her vision, "What happened to your degree in carpentry?"

"I never claimed to have one." I retorted and stuck out my tongue for emphasis.

Ella mimicked my actions only to return to business. "Okay, green it is." She announced before chucking a roll into the basket. "Now, remember those bracket things?" She paused to spin around aimlessly in circles. "Where are those bracket things?"

"I'm the wrong person to be asking."

"Alright, what about the screwy-thingies?" Ella questioned childishly while peering at the large handmade, wooden signs above each aisle.

My eyes traveled along the engraved wood in hopes of finding a clue towards Ella's so called 'screwy thingies'. "Once again, wrong person to be asking."

"Well I don't see anyone else around to ask, do you?" Ella's jacket clad arms rose as if to emphasize her point. She was right though. Until she pointed it out I really hadn't paid too much attention to the fact that we were the only two people around.

The tiny shop was dead.

"So much for customer service." Ella muttered more so to herself as we made our way down an aisle, her eyes scanning the crammed shelving units. "It's not like there's anyone else in here to tend to."

"A little tip," a voice sounded from the end of the aisle causing both mine and Ella's heads to snap up, "you'd get better customer service if you came when the shop was actually open. Can't always be here at your beck and call, your highness."

The beating of my heart stuttered for a moment due to surprise. At the end of the row of shelves, near the back of the shop, Lincoln Pierce stood. His demeanour as cool and closed off as usual, his thick arms crossed defensively over his chest. With the way his face scrunched at the sight of new customers it was obvious that he wasn't winning any employee of the month awards anytime soon - not with that scowl as a greeting.

"You work here?" Ella piped up after ogling the familiar stranger in front of her. Her neat brows pinched together, obviously trying to process the newly found information in her mind. Lincoln wearing a bright orange apron was kind of an odd thing to digest.

"No, not at all," he drawled with heavy sarcasm. With a brow raised he lifted a slim finger to motion to the tag hanging off his chest, not needing to explain further. "This is just what I like to do with my Sunday nights."

"And where exactly have you been hiding? Avoiding Cali as usual?" Making a face I burned holes in the back of Ella's perfect blonde head. I didn't want to be involved in their topic of conversation.

"In the back room locking up, but if I knew it was you two who had come in I would have stayed where I was."

A scoff sounded from my friend, "Charming."

In response Lincoln's lip twitched, amused, "I know. Now get out. We're closed."

"Closed?" I questioned causing Lincoln's brown eyes to flicker in my direction.

"What time do you close?" Ella piped up causing his chocolate brown orbs to drift back over.

"Seven. And last time I checked it was well past that." The raspiness of his voice sounded condescending. It was obvious he did not want to be here any longer than need be. To further prove my point Lincoln spun on his heel, ready to head back in the direction in which he came.

"It's like seven-o'five" I offered, holding up my phone as evidence.

"We're closed."

"Look," Ella started causing Lincoln to pause, "I have a big enough hole in my wall to throw a small rave in. I'm not leaving here without the supplies to seal that puppy up. The faster you help me the faster we can get out of your hair. I'm already stressed out about how I'm going to fix the damage and hide it from my mother so don't you dare make this any harder on me. Capeesh?" The threat didn't seem to effect him in the slightest. When he seemed to move to walk away I spoke.

"Just help us out Lincoln. It won't take us more than five minutes - seven tops - then we'll leave, okay?" I chimed in hoping to convince the stubborn teenage boy. The only hint that he had heard me was the slight tilt of his head in my direction. But without so much as a word he disappeared along the back wall.

Everything was eerily silent for a moment. That is, until Ella realized Lincoln was continuing his rounds to close up shop. "Hey!" She barked behind him well after he vanished. "Lincoln... Lincoln Pierce!"

Before I knew it Ella hightailed it after him, ramming into the end of the shelf and knocking over a bucket of nuts and bolts in the process. "Ella!" Knowing I couldn't leave the disaster for Lincoln to clean up I bent down to sort out the mess, kicking a few in my haste.

Once the tin can was placed nice and securely back in its spot I quickly tried to figure out where my best friend and acquaintance had gone. Slowing my pace I peaked down every empty aisle, keeping quiet in hopes of hearing them bicker.

"For the last time woman I'm helping you out, chill." Lincoln's strangled voice came from the other end of the shop.

"Could have said that before pulling a Houdini. You're not a mute!"

"For fuck sakes... get off me!"

By the time I made it to where the two had disappeared Ella was just sliding off an annoyed Lincoln's back. Instinctually my hands went to my hips. "Ella, what did I say about attacking people to get what you want?"

"Don't do it unless you want to be sporting a hideous orange jump suit for an extended period of time..." Her glossed bottom lip pouted out at the reminder. Surprised she even remembered my little tid-bit of advice I nodded in encouragement.

Lincoln puffed out air in annoyance. "Just my luck that the one day I keep the door unlocked after closing you two wonder in." Plucking something off the unit closest to the wall he tossed a package of something into the discarded basket on the floor. "There's your screwy-thingies."

Realizing that Lincoln had heard that uneducated portion of our conversation Ella made a face to which I returned. Not seeming to care too much for our silent exchange Lincoln went to go find the next thing needed to repair a wall.

Ella scooped up the black handle of her basket from the floor and hurried past me to catch up to Lincoln's giant stature. Clearing her throat she tried, and failed, to act natural. "So, you seem to know what you're doing, fix walls often?"

In response he shrugged a shoulder, his eyes scanning for something on the metal littered shelf. While his eyes traveled forward mine traveled down. I was standing beside him at this point, close enough to admire the roughness of his fingers. They were clearly worked with callouses, little knicks and scrapes littering his knuckles.

I was so odd. Where most girls admire butts and jaw lines I was drooling over his hands.

Way not to be a weirdo Cali.

"Are you good with your hands?" The idiotic, red-facing question was out before I had a chance to stop myself. Lincoln stopped his search to raise a brow at me. Even Ella paused her admiring to peer around the human skyscraper.

Under both their scrutiny I felt the blood undeniably rush to my cheeks. "What I meant was... do you use them a lot?" By this point Ella could no longer choke back her laughter. She howled like a hyena, placing a hand on a metal bar of the shelving unit to keep her up right. It was my turn to peek around Lincoln to give my friend a deadpanned stare. For the first time during our friendship I desperately hoped a small block of timber would land on her head.

"Depends on what we're talking about here." Lincoln's deep voice brought me out of my wishful thinking. There was a tiny hint of a smile etched on his chiseled face and I internally grumbled at the fact that he was laughing at me too.

"You know... a handy-man - like Bob the Builder."

His smile threatened to inch out a little more before his tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip. Why did this guy fight so hard to bite back his smile all the time?

"I've done my fair share of patch up jobs." The hand closest to me reached out to grab something on a shelf way above my head. Before I could get a proper look at the items in the plastic baggy he shot those too inside Ella's basket. "Now let's hurry up. You guys have five more minutes before I kick you out. If we finish in three I'll give you my employee discount."

Nothing more needed to be said, Ella booked it after Lincoln in hopes of meeting his deadline. With Lincoln's help and Ella's intense love for not spending money on anything but clothes it only took us a couple of minutes to grab the rest of what was needed.

"It was a pleasure Pierce. Maybe not at first but thank you for staying to help a girl out." Ella admitted, a bag in each hand.

Lincoln grunted in response, unraveling the strings to his bright apron and hanging the material as we passed by a dusty wooden rack near the front. "Next time don't break your house."

"Yeah, because I was the one who encouraged my little cousins to ram into it on my brother's skateboard." Ella sassed while rolling her eyes.

Lincoln had amusement written all over his face when he directed his attention back to me, "I thought you were meant to be good with kids?"

Opening and closing my mouth was all I could muster. Sensing my brain freeze Lincoln flashed his typical arrogant smirk.

"Okay, hold up." Ella interrupted our silent stare down. "With that putty stuff again, what if I mess up and accidentally add too much water?"

Lincoln shrugged his broad, t-shirt clad shoulders, "Then you're screwed because I'm closing up." With out a second thought Lincoln opened the door to the both of us, signalling us out into the desolate parking lot. If he weren't kicking us out of his shop I would have thought kindly of the gesture.

"Wait!" Ella reached out in her panic as he ushered us along. "Do the job for me. You've done this before, right?"

Lincoln looked down at my friend as if though she were losing her mind while shrugging out of her hold, "And what in your right mind makes you think I'm going to do that?"

A guilty smile creeped onto Ella's face. "I was hoping a please would be enough."

"Yeah... no."

He was about to shut the glass door when Ella brought him to a halt again, "You know how to do this stuff, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know how, doesn't mean I'm gonna do it for you."

When Lincoln attempted to shut the door again Ella's desperation increased to a level I never thought I'd witness. "I'll pay you!"

The offer of cash had Lincoln's ears perking up. "I'm listening."

"Twenty bucks. Just patch it up. I can paint myself."

I turned my head back to peer at Lincoln who looked to be debating internally. Studying his warring features I watched as he heaved a sigh. "Make it thirty and you have yourself a deal."

A slight squeal came from Ella's giddy, bouncing body, "Thank you! Thank you, thank you!"

Lincoln pried Ella's fingers from his arm, "Meet me with your car out back."

* * * * *

The whole ride back to her place was full of talking.

Ella talking.

I guess the excitement of actually being able to have a conversation with Lincoln Pierce was just too much for her. She babbled on and on for the full ten minutes it took us to reach our destination.

Lincoln, as per usual, wasn't in a talkative mood but allowed for Ella to ramble on. The man had patience, I will give him that.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway Ella hopped out of the vehicle, grabbed what she could from the back and hurried Lincoln along the stone pathway to her porch. Everything was seemingly normal when we reached the front door. Ella constantly babbled on as she fiddled to find her keys and Lincoln stood there pretending to listen. That is until the door we all crowded around swung open, a ghostly-looking Harper standing in the threshold.

I furrowed by brows in confusion, what the hell was going on?

Fortunately, or rather unfortunately for me, it didn't take long to figure out why our child-loathing Einstein was so spooked.

At first it sounded like a stampede of rampant animals had found it's way into the house. The rumbling came from upstairs until three mostly naked figures came barrelling down the steps and turned the corner laughing hysterically.

"Oh... my God," were the only words that left my lips.

"They've been running around naked for half an hour now. Nothing I say will make them stop. They're barbarians I tell you, barbarians." Harper whispered harshly, horrified, her hand reaching out to grab Ella as she shook her a little.

Immediately Ella stormed into the house, unlatching herself from Harper's hold and shouting for the boys to head back upstairs. Her threats fell on deaf ears. Their laughter, which had receded, grew louder as the trio continued their laps around the main floor. I was utterly prepared for them to keep on with their race but to my astonishment they paused. All three pairs of wide eyes steadied on the large figure in the doorway.

Michael even yanked the underwear off his head to cover up.

"It's past your guys' bedtime, don't you think?" Lincoln suggested, hands stuffed into his jean pockets, one lonely bag dangling from his wrist. It wasn't threatening in the slightest, just casual conversation, but that one question was enough to snap the boys out of their wild frenzy.

Without a moment's hesitation all three boys silently escaped up the stairs as quickly as possible. Ella was so relieved she almost started laughing to herself. "Thank you. You don't even know what you just did." To Lincoln it probably appeared that my friend was losing her sanity. "Cal, you'll help Lincoln out with the wall right? I'm gonna help Harper-"

"Oh no," came Harper's wide eyed protest, "negative. I'll just be on my way..." Ella slapped Harper's fingers as they reached for her boots before giving her some supposedly motivational speech to conquer her fears.

To be honest, the woman just didn't want to face the brats alone.

Ignoring the typical bickering of my two best friends I ushered Lincoln into the neighbouring room to have him inspect the damage.

"You sure they didn't drive a Mac truck through here?"

"Don't let Ella hear you say that! She's already having a freak out." I chastised, giving Lincoln a light shove causing him to release a small chuckle. The sound penetrated my skin and did odd things to my stomach.

"It's honestly not that bad." He reassured me, "I've seen worse."

A sent a small smile in his direction, "Amazing what three little boys and a skateboard could do, eh?"

"A little scary if you ask me." Lincoln dipped down to the floor to study the wall a little more closely, running a sturdy hand along the rugged lines.

I didn't do much while Lincoln filled in the massive hole, mostly swept and sat. We held light conversation as he expertly worked away. An instructional video or manual were not in the slightest bit necessary, even though I offered it. He didn't hesitate between the steps, getting the project done in under an hour.

"I love how you can patch up a elephant sized hole faster than I can put three children to bed." Ella huffed as she went to hand Lincoln the money.

Instead of taking his payment, however, Lincoln looked down at the few crinkled bills before making eye contact again. "You know what, don't worry about it."

"Uh, no way. You've gone above and beyond tonight, just take it."

Realizing there was no way he was leaving without the money Lincoln accepted. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to take over for Harper and guard the bedroom door."

Stuffing his payment into his jean pocket Lincoln headed for the front door while leaving me some instructions for my blonde friend.