"Cat!" Ivy squealed, waking Brian from his momentary nap. Liz had been on the phone for a while now, and looking around quickly, he saw that she still was. Emma had fallen asleep in a chair a few minutes after asking him to hold Ivy. Braeden and Tyke were still gone, but he wasn't worried. Even Susie was being peaceful, sleeping on the floor beside his feet. He wanted to go to sleep and erase everything that had happened today. "CAT!" Ivy repeated joyously.
"Right. See the cat? She's sleeping," he said gently. Ivy grinned and babbled something unintelligibly. He wondered who Liz was talking to, then sleepily remembered her saying it would be her mom calling, that she worried too much or something like that. Maybe she was talking to her mom last week on the airplane.What time was it, anyway? He looked at a clock and blinked in surprise. It was a few minutes past ten. He had to leave. Why was he here, anyway? Brian stood up slowly, still holding Ivy. Time to go. Leave now, there are a million things to do before you leave tomorrow. Right now, you need to find Liz and apologize for staying so long, find Tyke, take Tyke and Susie out to the car... He walked tentatively into the living room. There was a phone in here, wasn't there? He noticed Liz standing tensely near a wall, staring down, fists clenched.
"Brian! Oh my god, I'm sorry. I just... was talking to my mom and...um... Yeah." She shrugged, then walked over to him quickly and eased Ivy out of his arms. "Hi Ivy. How ya doin'?"
"Cat!!!!"
"In the kitchen?" Liz asked, smiling uneasily. Ivy nodded.
"By the way, Emma's sleeping in the kitchen now. Sorry I've been here so long, I-"
"No, it's fine."
"I should really leave. There's a ton of stuff I have to do and I dunno, just.."
"You look like you haven't slept for a few weeks," Liz added. "C'mon, we can go coax Braeden to give Tyke back." He followed her upstairs. "Did you say you were going to Kentucky?"
"Yeah..." He paused for a few moments then continued. "My grandmother lives there. She...uh, she's been having heart problems for a while and something happened today, I don't really know what, but someone called and told me she's on life support and ... uhh... That's why," he finished, feeling stupid. Why'd you say that? Stop wasting time, just get the dogs and leave.
"Wow. I'm sorry," Liz said quietly. She wanted to say something else but couldn't think of anything.
"So.. Was it your mom on the phone?"
"Yeah," she replied shortly. "Sorry if I seem mad. It's not that I don't want her to call or anything, just... She calls all the time. It's like... non-stop," she emphasized as she approached Braeden's door and knocked on it a few times. "Braeden?"
"What?" Braeden chirped.
"It's time for Tyke to go home, okay? Can I come in?" There was a shuffling sound and a quiet click.
"Not now you can't. I want Tyke to stay here." Liz tried turning the doorknob, but it seemed to be locked.
"Oh, no..." Liz muttered. "Braeden, this isn't a joke. I'm serious. Unlock the door, okay?"
"But I want him to stay here!!" Braeden whimpered, obviously right on the other side of the door. Liz sighed, thinking fast, then had a strange idea.
"Um... Where are Tyke and Susie staying? Or are they going with you?"
"I was thinking about leaving them with a friend. I haven't had time to ask him yet, but it'll be fine," he said nonchalantly.
"Oh.. Uh, you know, you could leave them here if you want. Not just because of this little issue right now, but if it would make anything easier." She tapped on the door again. "Braeden? I'm going to count to ten. Do you hear me?" Braeden didn't reply. "One... Two.... Three.... Four... Braeden?"
"I dunno... I don't think you'd want those two around. You've seen how Tyke can be, and Susie can be a grouch. ... But neither of them have ever bitten anyone," he added thoughtfully.
"I didn't think so. Actually, they seem sweet. Five. Six. Seven," she counted loudly. "Really, if you want to leave them here it's fine. Alyssa wouldn't care, and I won't let the girls torment them."
"I wasn't worrying about that. I just...I dunno. Would it be okay? If not, I understand completely..."
"Don't worry about it. I love dogs," Liz admitted, smiling childishly. She suddenly remembered the situation at hand. "Braeden? Eight. Nine."
"What's his name?" Braeden demanded.
"What?"
"Tyke's owner?"
"His name's Brian," Liz replied, slightly confused.
"Brian?" Braeden asked in a sweet tone.
"Yeah?"
"Can Tyke stay here?"
"Uhh.... If Liz says so," Brian said uncertainly.
"LIZZA!" Braeden cried.
"Sure," Liz answered. Braeden shrieked happily.
"Tyke says thank you!" she yelled. Liz laughed and smiled.
"I can get dog food for them tomorrow," she said absentmindedly. "What time is it, anyway?"
"Umm..." Brian looked around and located a clock on the wall. "10:23."
"Wow.." Was I on the phone for that long?
"I should really go... If you're not completely sure about-"
"It's okay," Liz insisted.
"Um.. I'll give you one of my friend's phone numbers. If you want to get rid of Tyke and Susie you can call."
"Probably not necessary, but that's a good idea. Um... I have paper and stuff right here." She ducked in a door on the right side of the hallway and Brian followed hesitantly. "This is kind of my room, but I've only been here for about five days, so I haven't really moved in yet..." It looked like a hotel room, except for the the area surrouding the bed in one corner, where there were a few photographs tacked onto the wall, a computer on a small desk, a stereo, and some other stuff, which luckily included a pen and notebook paper, which Liz handed to him.
"Thanks..." He wrote Nick's phone number without wondering if Nick would mind having his phone number handed out to people. He can always change it, anyway...
"Did you say Emma was sleeping in the kitchen?" Liz asked. Ivy had fallen asleep again, leaning limply on her shoulder. Liz carefully laid Ivy on her bed as Brian looked on, feeling lost. Even in his somewhat dazed state, he couldn't help noticing Liz's expression in the moment she watched Ivy sleeping before she stood up and walked towards the door. It wasn't quite that of a mother, but almost, and she looked kind of sad.
"I'll go see Emma. Hopefully she's tired by now..." "Okay. I should leave..." I keep saying that. His eyes wandered to a few pictures tacked onto the wall near Liz's bed. From the few feet away he stood, he could see that most of the snapshots were of the same four or five people- two blonde girls about Liz's age who looked vaguely similar, a very pretty, spritely redhead who was smiling widely in all of her pictures, a girl who looked slightly surreal with a dark tan and electric blue hair, a guy with a sincere, laid-back smile and noticeably green-grey eyes, and another guy who was somehow very different from the rest of the crowd who showed up in the photos, but he couldn't say exactly why.
"The picture collection..." Liz saw he was looking at her photos. She had almost decided to leave them with Cassie but at the last second had stuffed them in her backpack. She selected one and snatched it off the wall, then pointed at people as she named them. "This is Lia." She indicated the blue-haired girl. "She played electric guitar. This is Thalia. She could play violin really well, but usually she just sang." Thalia was one of the blondes, holding a pair of drumsticks in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other, wearing battered, low-waisted baggy jeans and a blank tank top. "That's her sister Clio. She hated singing, but she's played keyboards since she was seven, so she's really good. And this is Todd, the bassist, and Chris." Chris was the guy who stood out for some reason. "Oh, yeah. Chris wasn't really in the band. It just wasn't his thing..."
"Cool. Thanks. I wasn't trying to-"
"It's okay." She'd enjoyed telling him that somehow, and happily put the picture back on the wall.
"You'd said Thalia plays violin?" Brian wondered what explained the drumsticks.
"Uh...Yeah." Liz realized the problem, becoming slightly uneasy but not showing it.
"And drums too?"
"No, drums was me." She rubbed her fingertips against her calloused palms tensely. Holding a pair of drumsticks would be nice right now, to obliviously bash away at the drums and lose herself in the rhythm and noise, not listening to or thinking about anything, no matter... "I'm going to check on Emma."
"Okay.." Brian glanced at one of the pictures and saw the smiling redhead bashing away at a drum set in one of them, then quickly looked back at Liz and followed her out of the room. Should have guessed! It is her, isn't it! It must be... It looks a little like her. He suddenly realized that Liz, or Lizza, or whatever her name was, although not quite the lightweight she'd been whenever the picture was taken, was undeniably very pretty, as he walked down the stairs behind her, again viewing the scrape across her shoulder blades. What's that? He leaned a little closer to Liz, peering at the somewhat faint mark on the back of her shoulder, then drew back quickly and shook his head, physically banishing those thoughts. He had too much to think about.
"There you are!" Emma was standing in the living room, adoringly holding Susie.
"We were just putting Ivy to sleep," Liz stated.
"I'm going to miss Susie," she said wistfully, staring pointedly at Brian with a feline smile on her face.
"Well guess what! Susie AND Tyke are staying here while Brian's in Kentucky," Liz informed. Emma shrieked, much as Braeden had, then ran up the stairs holding her new favorite dog. Liz grinned as she watched her leave.
"You've made them very happy," she announced, meeting Brian's gaze and realizing with concern that he'd been looking at her. Even if it was only for a second, she still found it discomforting.
"It works out for all of us, then." Through Liz's smile, he could tell she was slightly nervous and wondered why. "Thanks so much for watching the dogs. You can't believe how much it helps out."
"Great!" She couldn't think of anything else to say. "Anything I can do. I'm really sorry about your grandmother." He shrugged, smiling without looking happy.
"Thanks again. Uh, I gave you the phone number, right?" She nodded. "Okay then. I really am leaving this time."
"Bye, Brian Littrell."
"Bye Lizza Avalon." He waved and walked out the door and immediately felt horrible, but walked to his car and started the engine, carefully maneuvering into the road. Why didn't you say something? Because you were embarrassed? Is that why?He wanted to kick himself. You know you saw those bruises. Nothing would have left marks like that but someone's fingers.The lighting was fairly dim. You could have been wrong. Denying again? He gave all his attention to driving until he got back to his house, then let himself in and sank onto a couch dejectedly in the dark living room. He had predicted that he'd be staring into the dark for hours, immersed in guilt, but fell asleep in less than a minute.