"Yeah sure. Where have you been?" Destiny asked as she walked over to the car.
"I went to the store. Like I said."
"OK. But why did you came from up there just now?" she asked pointing in the direction of the big weather beaten house. "We don't know anyone up there."
"Well, actually……" We walked into the house. Hope was sitting on the couch, reading. "We're going up there in ten minutes."
"WHAT? Why we don't know the people that are staying there."
"Where are we going in ten minutes and we don't know that people that are staying up where?" Hope was confused, as often blondes are.
"The big house at the end of the driveway." Was my only answer. Hope still looked confused. "Follow me. Help me put this stuff away." The three of them went into the kitchen and started putting things away.
"OK you guys remember me telling you about Brian, the guy that I met in Kentucky at church, the one that performed with some other guys and this really cute little boy?" the other two girls nodded and continued to put the things that I had purchased for the store away. "Well, I saw one of the guys that he performed with at the airport today while you two were getting the luggage. He was with the little boy. Any way while we were driving here I thought that I saw him again.
"When I went to the store I pulled up next to a car and I thought it looked familiar. I went inside and wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ran straight into someone. When I looked up it was the guy from the airport. I said that I was sorry. Then someone from behind him asked if he was running into people again.
"I recognized the voice from somewhere. I looked around the person standing in front of me and low and behold, there was Brian. I was really surprised when he recognized me.
"So we started talking and then all of their friends and Nick’s, the guy I who ran into, sisters found us and we all decided that the middle of a grocery store was not the best place to have conversation.
"They followed me home and I brought Brian and Nick, the guy I ran into, with me. When I was about ready to pull up to the house Brian started laughing and told me to keep on driving. I went up to the big house, Everyone got out and Brian announced that that was were they are staying."
"SO in short, there are a bunch of guys up in that house, you know them and there are also some girls that are one of the guy’s sisters?" Destiny summed up. She looked exasperated.
"Well, yeah I guess."
"Then what the heck are we doing down here? Lets go!" Hope and I laughed at her eagerness. We all walked outside and got into the car. It wasn’t getting dark, it was just getting cooler out. Summer wasn’t in it’s full blow phase, during which it can get up to 105°. I hadn’t realized how late it was. It was almost 6:00.
As soon as we pulled up into the driveway Destiny and Hope’s jaws dropped. They couldn’t believe how beautiful the house was.
"Come on girls. Lets go!" I got out of the car and started walking up to the front door. I knocked once and then heard the sound of small feet running on the hard wood floor. The door flew open and there stood a smaller version of Nick.
"Hello! Aren’t you that lady from the airport?"
"Yes, that would be me. I'm also a friend of Brian's. We met in Kentucky when you guys were there a few months ago. I'm Faith Morrison and you are…..Aaron?"
"Yup! That's me!" he smiled at me. "So you're the girl that Nick and Brian are talking about! Who are your friends?" Hope and Destiny had come up behind me as I was talking to Aaron.
"This is Hope Matthews and Destiny Roberts. We are going to be your neighbors for as long as you are here. Is that OK?"
"Yeah! Come on in! Its cold outside, even if it is summer." He opened the door wide enough so that all three of us could get in and then shut it behind us. "Follow me, everyone is in here." We followed Aaron into a huge room with a big screen TV and a HUGE wrap around couch. There were also some arm chairs and ottomans. "Well, at least everyone one WAS in here," he said quietly, almost to himself. Then he pointed to the TV. "Nicks back there." He whispered to the three of us. He had a mischievous look in his eye and a grin to match.
"THEY’RE HERE!" Aaron announced, upon which a loud thud came from behind the TV.
"Nick, you can set up your N64 later. We have guests." Brian said, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, I was just informed of that a minute ago and I have the concussion to prove it." Then from out behind the TV stepped Nick. He was holding his head and had a look of pain on his face.
"Oooh Nick. It looks like you have a pretty nasty bump and cut there. Let me look at it." He bent down so that I could look at the cut. "Destiny, can you get that towel next to you wet and then give it to me?" Destiny did as told. "Thanks. Hold on, this is going to sting." I gently babbled the towel onto the wound and cleaned it up, as quickly as possible.
"Band-Aid?" Brain reached into one of the drawers, grabbed one, and handed it to me. I put the Band Aid on Nick’s forehead, stood on my tip toes and patted him on the head.
"That's a good boy. Now, would you like a lollipop too?" I joked.
Nick just smiled at me, "No thanks. But thank you."
"No problem!" I smiled back at him.
"Yeah, she is going to need the practice." Destiny just had to open her big mouth.
"What do you mean? Practice for what?" he looked confused.
"Nothing. Don't listen to her," Hope came to my rescue. Just then AJ, Kevin, Howie, Angel, Leslie and BJ came into the room.
"Oh, I should probably introduce everyone, seeing as I'm the only one who knows who everyone is," I said.
"Yeah, I think that might be a good idea," Brian said with a smile.
"Oh, be quiet! Nobody asked you." Brain laughed. I threw him a look and he was quiet. I continued, "This is Hope Matthews and Destiny Roberts. They are my too best friends." I introduced the girls to the group standing before us. "Hope, Tiny, this is everyone." They looked confused.
"Names would be nice." Hope said.
I laughed at them. "More specifically, that is AJ, Howie, Kevin, Nick and the loud mouth is Brian."
"Hey! I resent that! I'm not a loud mouth!"
"Oh, I'm sorry Brian. Your right. Your not a loud mouth...."
"Thank you very much!" He looked very proud of himself
"...You're a VERY loud mouth!"
"HEY!" Everyone laughed.
"ANYWAY! On with the introductions. The rest are Nicks younger siblings. That's BJ, Leslie, Angel and Aaron. Angel and Aaron are twins."
"But I'm older!" Angel announced.
Everyone laughed and started talking. "So Faith, why didn't you stick around for our little show?" Brian had pulled me aside. "I saw you get up and leave."
"Oh, sorry. I wasn't feeling well."
"OK. I'm glad that you are feeling better."
"Yeah. I am."
Just then our conversation was interrupted by AJ, "What do we want to do now?"
"I want some food!" Aaron piped up after everyone was quiet for a minute.
"OK. Sounds good to me. What kind of food do you want, Aaron?"
"PIZZA!!!!"
"For some reason I knew you were going to say that. Is pizza OK with everyone else?" AJ directed the question towards us girls.
"Yeah, its fine with us. We love pizza!" Destiny said, speaking for the three of us.