"Aha! There you are," She said finally finding the box marked 'Photo Equipment'. She'd unpack this one first and set up the dark room to have her camera handy. She wanted to take some pictures of the beach at sunset. She was interrupted halfway through the box by a knock on the door.
Shayla walked down the long hall towards the huge glass door. She was immediately awe struck by the male figure on the other side. Not knowing anyone here she was a little timid about opening the door to a strange man, but he had one of the sweetest, kindest most angelic smiles she'd ever seen. The man waved as she neared the door.
"Can I help you?" Shayla asked opening the door just a bit.
"Hi, um, I live next door," he paused a moment. This girl was striking. Even though her hair was pulled up and messed and she was wearing cut offs and an old t-shirt, she was absolutely striking. "I guess you just moved in huh, cause this house has been empty for about a year," he said.
"Mm-hmm," Shayla answered timidly unsure as to what this man wanted.
"Oh, um anyway, my dog and I were playing catch and I normally just jump the fence but I noticed the moving van today and I didn't want to alarm anyone by suddenly appearing in your yard," he said sounding a little nervous.
"Uh huh," Shayla answered.
"Um, anyway the ball went over the fence and I just wanted to go get it," he said politely.
"Oh sure that's no problem. I know what that's like. I have two dogs myself. Here let me unlock the gate and you won't have to jump the fence," Shayla told him.
"That'd be great," he said.
"Let me get the key. I'll be right back," she said. She shut the door feeling glad it locked automatically so he wouldn't be offended if he saw her lock it. She didn't know this person of if his story was for real. And just because he looked nice, oh god he looked so nice, didn't mean he wasn't some serial killer. While she was getting the key from the kitchen she glanced out the window. Sure enough there was a small blue ball laying in the yard. She picked up Belle, her dog and walked back to the door. She figured she'd take the dog, even though it was a very small dog, and at least the dog would bark if there was anything fishy going on.
The man's face lit up as she returned holding the small dog in her arms. As she opened the door he was almost laughing. "You have a Chihauha? Me too," he said beaming.
"Yes," Shayla said returning the smile. He noticed her perfectly straight white teeth and his eyes were drawn to her full lips. He also noticed how warm her chocolate brown eyes were when she smiled. "This is Belle. I have another one too. His name is Taco," she said as they walked around the side of the house.
The man looked at her oddly as if that was a strange name for a dog. "You know, like Taco Bell," Shayla said. "I named them after the restaurant cuz of the little dog in the commercials."
"That's funny," he said laughing. "Oh by the way, I'm Brian. Brian Littrell," he said extending his hand. He couldn't believe this young girl didn't recognize him. Either that or she just wasn't mentioning it. Which was a nice change of pace.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Shayla Starks," she said shaking his hand. She had no clue as to who he was. She unlocked the gate and walked with him into the backyard, putting Belle down to let her run. Taco ran out through the doggie door on the back door and began yapping at the stranger.
"He's a hyper one huh?" Brian said reaching down to pet him.
"He's annoying is what he is," lauged Shayla. "He is so wild and barks at everyone, while Belle is so calm and quiet."
"That's funny mine are just the opposite," Brian said. "Litty Leigh is the loud one and Tyke is the quiet one."
"Oh you have two also?" Shayla asked thinking this was a strange coincidence.
"Uh huh. Tyke is mine and Litty Leigh is my fiancee Leighanne's," he said.
"Oh," said Shayla a little disappointed. "It would be nice to meet her. I need to meet some people around my age." Figures she thought. He has a fiancee. She had noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding ring and thought maybe he was single. Not that she was really looking for someone.
"That'd be great, I'm sure she'd like that," he said not mentioning that Leighanne was probably older than her. "Well, I better get this ball back to Tyke," he said tossing it in the air and catching it. "It was nice to meet you. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."
"Uh huh nice meeting you too. Jump the fence anytime," Shayla said chuckling.
"Ok thanks," Brian said flashing another angelic smile as he left.
"Oh don't even think about how cute and sweet he is Shay," she told herself. "He has a fiancee for christ's sake."
Shayla went back inside and groaned when she again saw all those boxes that needed unpacked and furniture to be organized. She figured she might as well get started if she was going to try and take pictures at sunset. She grabbed one of the CD's her younger sister had given her to catch up on the latest music, since she'd been out of the loop for so long.
'Shay, you'll like this one. They're Hot!
Love, McKenzie
The note taped to the front of the CD read. Without removing the note to look at the cover of the CD, Shayla popped it in the stereo and began bouncing around to the peppy tunes as she unpacked. Halfway through the second song she knew what words were coming next and began to sing along.
"Tell me why
Ain't nothing but a heartache
Tell me why
Ain't nothing but a mistake
Tell me why
I never wanna hear you say
I want it that way"