Four days later, Brian stood in the Orlando Airport awaiting my arrival. Beside him, stood AJ with a video camera. "Face it, Bri, she's not coming," he told him.
"She'll be here."
"You said this was the flight, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, there are the pilots. She's not on the plane. Come on, let's go home." AJ put his arm around Brian's shoulders and turned him towards the exit.
I was walking out of the corridor, the last one off the plane, even behind the pilots, when I saw Brian head towards the door. "Brian!" I called. He didn't turn around. I started running towards him, flinging my backpack on my back. "Brian!" I called again. AJ turned around first and saw me running towards them. He tapped Brian on the shoulder, put the video camera to his eye and hit the record button. Brian turned around and once he saw me, started running. I was dodging people like crazy, trying so hard to reach the one I had fallen in love with. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. Our fingertips touched and then we were in each other's arms.
"Oh Becca," he said in my ear. "I've missed you." He ran his fingers through my hair.
"Me too," I said, planting tender kisses on his neck. Tears were streaming down both our cheeks and AJ was getting the whole thing on video. Brian picked me up and spun me around. It felt so good to be in his arms.
"So I guess this means yes?" he asked me.
"Yes," I said, starting to cry out of sheer happiness. I put my backpack on the ground and reached into one of the pockets. I pulled out a small velvet box. I placed it in his hand.
"What's this?"
"Open it." He did as I told him. Inside was his class ring on a silver chain.
"I thought you said yes."
"I did. I want you to put it on me." He carefully took the chain out of the box and slipped it around my neck. We then walked over and picked up my luggage from the carousel and walked out of the airport to his Jeep arm in arm.
When we reached his Jeep, I realized what time it was. "It's only ten-thirty."
"Yep," Brian told me climbing into the driver's seat. AJ took the back and let me sit beside Bri.
"Do you think we could call Carson today and let him know the good news?" I asked, putting my seatbelt on.
"Why?" Brian maneuvered the vehicle out of the airport parking lot and down the street.
"Well, I'm sure he's curious as well as the rest of the world."
"We could do that. What else do you wanna do?"
"I don't really know. I've never been to Florida before."
"Well, how long were you planning on staying?" AJ asked from the backseat.
"At least till August. I haven't decided if I'm going to transfer to a university here."
"Well, we'd love to have you stay. Brian did tell you that you're staying with us, right?"
I turned to look at Brian. "No, he didn't tell me."
"Oops. Did I forget to mention that?"
"Yeah. It's kinda important. So where am I sleeping?"
"With me," Brian said with a grin on his face.
"NO!"
"Why not? It's a king size bed."
"Brian, I'm not ready for that."
"Did I say anything about sex?"
"No, but I'm not ready for it. Give me some time, okay?"
"Sure thing, sweetie. Just let me know when you're ready." He put his hand on my knee and continued to drive home.
"Hope you like rats," AJ commented from the backseat. I got a scared look on my face.
"He's not a rat, AJ," Brian replied looking in the review mirror at him. "He's talking about my Chihuahua," he told me. "His name's Tyk. I hope you don't mind."
"I've grown up with dogs all my life," I said, heaving a sigh of relief.
Soon we were parked outside this little two-bedroom house. "Well, here we are," AJ said, hopping out of the car. It looked cute enough. When they opened the front door, a little tan dog with big pointed ears came running towards us. Brian scooped up the dog in his arms and cradled him close to his chest.
I was surprised to see how clean the house was. It was all hardwood floors and there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere. When I asked Brian about this, he told me that they had cleaned especially for me, but not to expect it to last very long. I got the tour of the place, one bathroom, two bedrooms and a huge living room. This was one of those houses that were meant for entertaining guests because it was an open kitchen. For some reason, the house reminded me of a studio apartment; it was very open. I was told to put my stuff in Brian's room and when I opened the door, I immediately saw how Brian and AJ could live together; both were massive slobs. Not that that was a bad thing, but he reminded me of a typical bachelor. As I was setting my stuff in his walk-in closet, I noticed his Bible on his nightstand. I walked over and ran my fingers over the cover. It was blue with silver writing. Down in the bottom right hand corner was imprinted "Brian Thomas Littrell." I opened it and there inside the cover was written in cursive, "To my Baby Duck, may the Lord's word bring you comfort and guidance when you need it. Love Mom. February 20, 2000." He had just gotten it for his twenty-fifth birthday.
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