Ugh, ugh, ugh… I should have gotten a taxi. I really shouldn't have walked. It must be at least midnight. I have to get a watch. Here's the key. This is the right house number, right? Yes it is. Good. She opened the door and stepped inside the huge house. It was dark inside, but streetlights provided enough light to find her way around, at least until she could turn some lights on. What is it about empty houses that's so comforting? And at the same time, it's kind of eerie…. Liz was too tired to do much but walk into the living room, turn on a light so she could find the stairs then go up the stairs, turn left, and look for the third door on the right.
"Damn!" The phone rang again, the high-pitched shrill noise scaring her. "Hi."
"Lizzy! Are you okay? I've been calling since this afternoon-"
"Yeah. The batteries in my phone died and I just replaced them," she lied.
"All right. So everything's fine?"
"Stop asking that. Yes, for the last time. Goodnight." Liz hung up before her mom could say more and turned off the phone. She stared around the large, airy room. Unlike most people, she liked the faintly yellow light from the streets that poured in the windows. At home, in a small town in Vermont, she lived far away from any streetlights. From what she could tell in the semidarkness, the walls and ceiling were painted a depressing shade of greyish blue, but it would probably look lighter in the morning. The carpet looked about the same color, as did the curtains and the comforter on the bed. The room was too monochromatic for Liz's tastes. Her gaze was drawn to a large print of a painting Liz recognized as something of Mary Cassatt's (to those who don't know and can't guess: a painter) but couldn't recall the name of. She yawned, deciding to look around more in the morning, dropped her two suitcases on the floor, and collapsed on the bed.
~The next evening~
"Hello?"
"Hey man."
"Brian! You're finally back. You were gone long enough! How's your grandma?"
"Um, uh, I- I dunno, she…" Brian sighed. He had been trying not to think about that. "It's hard to say, I guess." AJ decided to change the subject.
"Your dogs are doin' fine. I think they miss you." He stared down at Tyke *I know Brian spells it without an 'e' but I just can't handle that, it's too much mental strain* and the other dog, *not a chihuahua but* a Boston terrier named *not Litty Leigh but* Susie, who was even smaller than Tyke. (Author once met a boston terrier named Susie and found Susie entertaining, if not cute or lovable. So here's to Susie!)
"That's great. I was just gonna ask if it's an okay time to pick them up."
"Sure, anytime. Uhhh, I have a favor to ask…"
"What is it?"
"Tomorrow Amanda and I are going on a vacation and we could bring the puppy dogs but-"
"Say no more, I'll watch 'em for ya. I can get them when I pick up Tyke and Susie."
"Thanks!"
"Sure. Seeya." *click*
Not long afterwards
"Hey puppies!!! It's me! Daddy's back!" Brian sat on the floor of AJ's kitchen and let Tyke and Susie chew on his shoes.
"What a beautiful reunion! I'm gonna cry!" AJ sniffed and wiped a fake tear from the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, yeah. How nice. Where are your dogs?" AJ whistled and his shih tzus, Panda and Bear, came scampering down the hallway and slid across the kitchen floor. Brian wondered how he was going to get them all into his car. Luckily AJ offered to carry two of them.
"We'll be back ..uh… sometime this week," AJ informed Brian.
"That's cool. Here, shut the door! Quick." AJ shut the car door before any of the dogs could escape.
"Oh, by the way…. Have you asked that Hamilton lady about the single yet? I can't stand that picture of Nick; it makes him look so gay. And Kevin was wearing the skirt again." *sorry, couldn't resist*
"The skirt? I didn't know that. Yeah, I'll stop by her place tonight. Later Bone."
"Seeya later Bri. Thanks again."
"Okay, shut up Susie, hun," Brian mumbled as he maneuvered his car out of AJ's driveway. Susie snorted (an interesting habit of hers- YES, Susie the Real-Life Boston Terrier really does snort!!!) disdainfully.
"Hmm, look. It's almost dark outside!" Liz mused aloud, walking through the kitchen yet again. She picked up one of the magazines she'd bought that day from the countertop. "Here's my CosmoGirl. Now, where did I leave Seventeen? And where did I put Teen? Lizzy, you should stop talking to yourself. You've been talking to yourself all day. It's like you're trying not to think about something." She was quiet for a long time, staring at the kitchen wall then deciding that if she was going to stay in the kitchen for a while she might as well sit down, and sinking to the floor. The phone rang. "Hello?" She was glad for the distraction.
"Liz, honey. How've you been?"
"You mean since you called an hour ago?"
"I'm just worried about you."
"I know, Mom. Don't be, okay?" Not anymore, anyway.
"If everything's fine, I guess I'll talk to you later."
"Bye," Liz muttered flatly and hung up. She wants me to talk to her about everything. Well, I'm not going to. Damn, I don't need all of this to come up now. Forget about it, now! And start talking out loud again; it keeps you from thinking like that. "That's right. Now, where in hell did I put my Teen magazine? It must be in the living room. Oh, look. It's dark now. Guess what, Liz. Alyssa's friend Sarah is bringing the girls over tomorrow afternoon. You won't have to muck around pointlessly all day anymore, like you did today! What have I done today? I got up late and ate breakfast. I unpacked my stuff. That didn't take long. I noticed that my room- I guess it is my room- is really kind of nice light blue, not dreary grey. Then I went to a grocery and bought a Teen magazine, a CosmoGirl, Seventeen, Teen People, and Rolling Stone so I could have something to read today. And now maybe I'll know who some of Alyssa's record label people are if they stop by. Hey! There's CosmoGirl! Yes!" She picked it up triumphantly and plopped onto a living room couch. "Who is that blonde hunk? I know! I've been studying! It's Heath Ledger! Mmmm, he's cute! But he's not a singer, so he won't be stopping by. Damn!" She flipped open the magazine and browsed through it. "I know that face, too. Its name is Christina and its last name starts with an A and I will NOT try to pronounce it. That one's scary. She needs a Big Mac or maybe some ice cream. And this one…" She opened to another page. "Another blonde hunk! I'll be god damned, it's Leonardo DiCaprio. Did I just call him a hunk?! He's in that movie Emma likes. Wait. WAIT." After talking to herself all day long, Liz was getting a little bit lonely and insane. "That's not Leonardo DiCaprio! That's… that's…" She squinted and read the caption. "It's Nick Carter, of BSB. What's BSB? Have I missed a page?! How could I? 'Nick Carter, of BSB, poses here with younger bro Aaron before a concert.' That kid looks just like him. Maybe there's more on Nick Carter, of BSB in another magazine." She reached for Teen People and read over the table of contents. "Britney Spears, I know her face now… Hey! B.S. … No, doesn't work. BSB… umm… there! There's another one, BSB's Kevin Richardson: a follow-up on his marriage. Well, well, well… Hey, he's a hunk too!" Still chattering madly to herself, Liz browsed through her collection of magazines for several minutes. Finally, she found a picture of all five of the mysterious BSB in the pages of Seventeen. "Triumph!! There's Kevin Richardson, there's Leonardo-oops, Nick Carter, there's AJ McLean, there's-" The doorbell rang and she jumped. "Oh, jeez. Who is it, who is it… Maybe Alyssa's back early." She sat nervously on the couch, picking at a hangnail. The doorbell rang again. Should I get it? Should I? Liz shoved the magazines under a couch cushion hastily and tiptoed to the door. Looks like one of her record label people. Quite the cutie, he is. The question is, which one. He rang the doorbell one final time, slightly impatient, and Liz opened the door.
"Eh… hi," she said softly.
"Hey. … Um, I'm looking for Alyssa Hamilton. Is this the right house?" Brian looked apprehensively over his shoulder. The dogs wouldn't be able to get out of the car. He'd only left the windows open a few inches. Talking to 'that Hamilton lady' was usually Kevin's job but Kevin was in Italy with his wife Kristin. Kevin had told him that it was usually okay to stop by any time before midnight and it was only a little past nine now.
"Yeah, this is her house, but she's in New York now."
"Oh.. When is she coming back?" Brian wondered if she wouldn't be returning until Kevin was home.
"Eight to eleven days," Liz said precisely. "Or something."
"Um, thanks. I-"
Susie snorted furiously. She hadn't seen Brian for exactly three weeks, two days, fourteen hours, and sixteen minutes and then he just left her in the car while he walked up to some strange house without a dog to protect him! She snorted again. Tyke, Panda, and Bear were panting stupidly and staring at each other. Susie considered herself to be of a higher level of intelligence than them. She was smaller, after all. That gave her an idea. Susie looked at the open window. Could she fit through it? Could she? Yes!!! She could, she'd have to! Susie threw herself at the window. She fit her head and shoulders through, but try as she might to squirm the rest of the way out, she couldn't. She was hopelessly stuck. Tyke, Panda, and Bear stared stupidly on, panting and drooling. Susie snorted and whimpered a little. Brian wasn't coming back. He was still standing at the door! She watched as the door opened. Brian talked for a few seconds then the pressure became too much for Susie. She started barking as loud as she could to get his attention, still hanging halfway out of the window. When Brian heard the racket he stopped talking and looked back at his car.
"Uhh, what's that noise?" Liz asked timidly.
"Damnit!! Susie!" he muttered, running to save the snorting dog.