Brandy breathed a breath of the fresh morning air surrounding her. She sat down on the porch and spread her legs apart. She stretched her thighs and calves thoroughly before standing up and stretching her arms a bit, and then she began her routine morning jog.
Upon returning she discovered one of their guests sitting on the top step of the porch. He was the most eccentric guy she had ever met. Well she might have met someone a bit stranger than him but it hadn’t been someone staying at her house.
He had tattoos running up and down his arms. She could even see that he had some on his back. She couldn’t tell what they were but the tank top he was wearing allowed a slight peek at the edge of one. He was wearing a baseball cap at this moment and he smiled at her as she slowed her pace and started up the walkway towards the porch. He lit a cigarette and took a puff before turning his attention to something else.
He had seen her coming when she turned the corner at the stop sign. He couldn’t help but admire her physique in the tight black pants topped off in the cute black BeBe tank top she was running in. She looked so innocent. The type that never took chances and never got into any trouble. He let out a small laugh as he thought to himself how looks could be so deceiving.
Brandy had come to the understanding that all three of the guests were part of a group called the Backstreet Boys. She knew who they were, how could she not unless she lived under a rock somewhere in Egypt. She really didn’t know that much about them though. If she listened to music it was usually Christian oriented.
He didn’t want to ignore her, in fact he wanted to strike up a conversation with her, but now wasn’t the time to deal with women. You reap what you sew, and that was definitely a lesson learned the hard way for all the five members of the group.
She walked by him and straight to the door in fear of him. She couldn’t help but be estranged by him. She usually didn’t make a habit of being so judgmental, but this guy was like something out of a movie. Like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.
********
Mrs. Ella, as she had instructed everyone to call her as opposed to Mrs. Davidson since it made her feel old, called her guest down for breakfast. Heather had, as usual, helped her prepare breakfast that, this morning, consisted of eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits, fresh cataloupe, and sliced tomatoes.
“Hope you boys have appetites. I fixed enough for an army,” she charmingly smiled, putting everything on the table. Mr. Davidson stood at the counter reading the morning paper, looking lost inside of it. “Jack, come eat while it’s hot, honey,” Ella said, throwing her apron in a nearby drawer.
Kevin took a seat and was momentarily taken back when Katy sat down beside him. “Mornin’” he smiled. “You took my seat,” she grinned, reaching for the eggs. “Oh I’m sorry…” “No, no don’t get up. You’re fine.”
She passed him the oversized bowl of eggs and he smiled at her as his hand brushed hers.
********
Heather sat at the piano playing her fingers lightly, absent mindedly over the keys. Kevin and AJ had left the house earlier, not saying where they were going. Of course she didn’t ask. She didn’t want to be too loud considering one of their guests was still upstairs.
As she heard footsteps padding down the stairs she thought to herself that she had failed at trying not to disturb him. She ceased her playing and turned her attention to Brian who was walking towards her. “I’m very sorry. Did I disturb you,” she asked, shyly. “Oh no. I heard the piano from upstairs and recognized the song. Wasn’t it You Will Never Walk Alone?” She shook her head. “I thought so. I used to sing that song in church when I was younger. Before I was famous and all.” She smiled at his attempt to get her to loosen up to him. “Can I,” he asked, pointing towards the piano. “Oh yea, sure.” She scooted over on the bench and let him sit down.
“I really don’t know how to play anything but Amazing Grace and Mary had a Little Lamb. My cousin Kevin is the pianist,” he told her, tapping off broken pieces of Amazing Grace. She tried to help him out a bit, her slender fingers hitting the keys on the precise notes. She failed considering his skills were a little rusty.
“Oh forget it,” he laughed. “There’s no hope.” “It just needs practice,” Heather assured him. “How old are you,” he asked, raising his brow. “19. Why? How old are you?” “25. You just look so young but I gathered that you’re older than Brandy, right?” “Right.” “And Katy is the oldest?” “Yea, but we have another sister. Her name is Crystal. She’s the second oldest. She’s away at college at FSU.” “Oh really. I know exactly where that is. What is she majoring in?” “Business entrepreneur.”
He continued to ask her questions but he wasn’t paying much attention to the response. He kept getting lost in her soft green eyes. When she smiled, she tucked her chin down and slightly blushed. Her long brown hair would fall around the frame of her face and for a second she would look almost flawless until she ran her fingers through it and brushed it back away from her face.
“Well I need to go. There’s plenty of work to do around here and mom won’t stand for it to go undone so if you’ll excuse me Brian.” He smiled at her as she slid off of the piano bench and trotted out of the room, off to do her share of the chores.
********
Ella opened the door to Brandy’s room. “Baby, I’m in the middle of ironing. Do you think you could run these towels down to our guests? They’re out in the jacuzzi.” “Sure mama,” she replied, setting down her book and grabbing the towels.
As she walked out on the deck she felt a slight warm breeze. She caught sight of AJ and decided to silently set the towels on the chair and leave.
“Hey could you bring me one of those,” Brian asked. Her breath caught in her throat. “Uhh, yea,” she managed to say. She cut her eyes at AJ very quickly and saw that he was looking at her. She handed Brian his towel and snatched a quick glimpse of the entire tattoo that had intrigued her since the very first evening that they had arrived. Blushing, she scampered off into the house.
“AJ… where’d you go man,” Brian asked, snapping his fingers in front of AJ’s face. “What. I’m right here.” “What’s wrong with you?… wait it’s Brandy isn’t it?” “What,” he cut his eyes at Brian. “Don’t give me that what shit. I saw you looking at her. Just then, at diner, every other time she’s in the same room with you.” “Hey I can look can’t I? I just don’t want to get messed up with that right now. This whole Nick bullshit is enough, you know?”
Kevin cut into the conversation. “Look we came here to get away from it, remember? No press, no fans, no worries. Isn’t that what we said?” “Yea, your right Kev,” AJ said, leaning back into the jacuzzi and closing his eyes, savoring the moment.
