There
is something special
About
this time of year
The
Christmas feelings everywhere
The
Blue Grass Airport was congested with holiday traffic, as Rylee wove her way
delicately towards the baggage claim. She
breathed a deep sigh of relief. Despite
the harried attitudes and stress of fellow travelers, Rylee was relaxed, happy
to be in what she still regarded as her “home.”
Her whole family had come to spend Christmas with the Littrells in
Lexington, before flying back to California to spend New Years with the entire
Kwan clan. Suddenly, someone
grabbed Rylee’s arm pulling her around a corner.
Before she had a chance to react in surprised, she got a good look at the
“someone”. It was Brian,
wearing a winter coat and hat, as well as a pair of snowboarding sunglasses to
protect his identity.
“Geez,
Bri! What is with you and scaring me in airports?” Rylee asked, remembering
what happened when she arrived in Orlando that summer.
“Sorry,
sorry!” Brian apologized, taking her carrying-on bag.
“I guess I was a little too excited. Which baggage claim are you at?”
Rylee
pointed at the signs overhead. “Wait
a second, why are you here? I thought you were arriving today too.”
“I
did,” Brian said simply, taking Rylee’s hand as he led the way to the
baggage claim.
“What-…”
Rylee started to say, until she was rudely bumped by a rushing traveler. “Geez!”
she exclaimed. Rylee tried again.
“What time did you get here?”
“Um,
about 11:20,” Brian replied without turning around.
Rylee
tried to glance at her watch on her left wrist, which was still being pulled by
Brian. “Brian!” she exclaimed suddenly, pulling on his hand until he
stopped.
“What,
Ry?” Brian asked quizzically, coming to a halt.
She
pointed her watch at him. “It’s
12:36!”
“So?”
Brian asked, still not understanding what Rylee was talking about.
“Are you hungry or something?”
“DUDE!”
Rylee exclaimed. “Are you
crazy?”
“’Dude’
yourself, valley girl. What are you talking about?”
“You’ve
been in the airport for an HOUR, by YOURSELF? Are you INSANE? Do you KNOW how
many people are in here? It’s the
HOLIDAYS for cryin’ out loud!!! There’s like a ZILLION people here!”
Brian
laughed. “Angel, I’ve been
doing this for a long time. I know
how to be inconspicuous. No one saw
me but a whole lot of businessmen. And
even if they have daughters who are Backstreet fans, I doubt they are well
versed enough to recognize me right now.”
He picked up Rylee’s hand again and continued towards the baggage
claim.
Rylee
sighed, shaking her head at his confidence.
“ A whole lot of businessmen, huh?
What did you do, spend an hour in the men’s bathroom?” she said
sarcastically.
Brian
turned around and grinned at her cheekily for a second, before walking through
the sliding glass doors that led to the baggage claim.
Rylee
knew there was a mischievous glint in his eyes, even behind the sunglasses.
“You DID, didn’t you?” She couldn’t help laughing.
“It
was only an hour,” Brian said, as they waited for the carousel to start
moving. “I called home when I
arrived, and my mom told me your flight was right after mine.
So I told her I’d just stay and pick you up too before heading home.”
Rylee
just grinned at him, shaking her head.
“Besides,”
Brian continued. “I missed
you.” He placed an arm around her
shoulder, pulling her into a hug.
“Are
you trying to sweet talk me?” Rylee asked, skeptically.
“Yes,”
Brian said with a grin. “Is it
working?”
“Buy
me a latte on the way home,” Rylee replied, hugging him back.
“And I’ll think about it.”
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
“We’re
home!” Brian and Rylee called, opening the door to the Littrell home. The sound of approaching feet greeted them.
Rylee’s parents and sister had arrived in Kentucky the day before, and
had been anxiously awaiting her arrival. The
whole group started talking at once as Brian and Rylee were passed from one
person to another for hugs and kisses.
Rylee
tried to listen to the questions that were being asked of her, but to no avail. She was grateful when “Aunt Jackie” clapped her hands to silence the
talkative bunch.
“Okay,
okay,” Brian’s mom said once she had everyone’s attention.
“Now ya’ll let these two kids in out of the snow! Somebody’s going
to get sick!”
Rylee
smiled to hear the strong Kentucky twang of her Aunt Jackie.
That was one thing she missed hearing when she moved to California.
The years living on the West Coast had caused her own family to lose
their accents, and Brian’s constant traveling had softened his own.
It had been a while since she had heard an honest-to-goodness REAL
Kentucky accent.
Aunt
Jackie gave Rylee another hug, ad the group made their way further into the
house and away from the winter chill. “Rylee.
Sweetheart, I can’t tell you how proud we are of you, with your new singing
career.”
Rylee
smiled brightly. “Thanks, Aunt
Jackie.”
“And
now Brian tells us he wants you to tour with the boys for their next album,”
she continued. “That will be so
wonderful for both of you. And it
will be a relief for me too, knowing that you’ll be there to take care of
him.”
From
behind them, Brian rolled his eyes. “Yeah,
I’m not turning twenty-five anytime soon, so SURELY there is NO WAY I can take
care of myself. Of course not!”
“Yeah,
we know, Bri,” Rylee quipped without turning around.
Brian
shook his head, and his dad patted him on the back.
“She gets you every time, son.”
“Yeah,
yeah, yeah,” Brian grumbled good-naturedly.
“I’m just glad to be home.”
“We’re
glad you’re home too.”
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
I
just got home to join you
I've
been away too long
But
now I'm back to share my love
Friends
are reunited
One
big family
Filled
with love to last
Throughout
the year
Rylee
stretched with her eyes still closed, and snuggled deeper under the covers.
She sighed deeply enjoying the warmth of her bed despite the snow that
lay just outside her window.
“Something’s
not right,” she
thought suddenly. She paused for a
moment, before turning around. What
she saw almost gave her a heart attack.
“Brian
Thomas Littrell!” she exclaimed in shock.
“Are you TRYING to scare the crap out of me?”
“Ooo,
she’s using my full name,” he said to himself. “Guess I’m in a lot of
trouble now….”
Rylee
responded by throwing her pillow at him.
“A
bit touchy this morning, are we?” Brian quipped, as he caught the pillow
easily from him place next to Rylee’s bed.
“Touchy?
No,” Rylee answered. “What I am
is unnerved to wake up to find some PSYCHO staring at me while I sleep!”
“Did
you just call me a psycho, Angel?” Brian asked, pretending to be shocked and
hurt.
“Yes!”
Rylee grabbed her pillow back out of Brian’s hands and rolled over, placing
the pillow over her head. “Now go away! I’m sleeping!”
“Wow,
I didn’t you could talk AND throw in your sleep, Angel! You are truly a girl
of many talents,” Brian told her as he removed the pillow from her head.
“Yes,
I am. And you know what one of my ‘many talents” is?” Rylee muttered,
covering her head with her blanket. “Kicking your butt, if you don’t leave
me the heck alone and let me SLEEP!”
“Ry-lee!
You have wake up! It’s almost 11:30!”
“And
I thought Nick was the whiny one,” Rylee grumbled.
“It may be 11:30 to YOU, but I am still on California time,
thanktyouverymuch! And it is
only…” Rylee paused for a moment to glance at her watch.
“8:22! So when this,” she pointed her watch in his face. “…says
11:30, THEN you can come and wake me up, alright?” She grabbed her pillow back
from him once again, and settled down to sleep.
Brian
was still for a moment, debating whether or not the consequences of splashing
Rylee with cold water was worth waking her up several hours early. Abandoning this idea for a much better one, Brian got up from
his spot on the edge of her bed.
Rylee,
feeling his movements, sighed in satisfaction, believing that he was leaving.
But
Brian had other ideas. He jumped up
and landed on top of her sleeping form.
“Noooo!”
Rylee groaned. “What are you
doing?” Her voice still had a sleepy edge to it.
Brian
gave her a bright cheesy grin, as she turned slightly to look at him.
“Breaking
out the big guns!” Brian said with satisfaction.
“Breaking
my back is more like it!” Rylee said, trying to turn, but not succeeding with
Brian on top of her. “Do you know
how heavy you are? I hate to break it to you, but you’re not nine anymore!”
She groaned again. “I think I’m
paralyzed now!”
“And
you thought I was whiny!” Brian scoffed. “At least you’re awake now!”
“Oh
no, I’m not,” Rylee told him. “You
can do whatever you want, I’m going back to sleep!”
“Oh,
I don’t think so.”
“And
just how do you plan to stop me?” Rylee asked, her eyes already closed.
Brian
cleared his throat in answer.
Rylee
peeked one eye open, when she heard that noise.
“Oh no, you’re not!”
Brian’s
broad grin informed her that he was indeed.
“Nooooo!
Please, anything but that!”
Brian
paid not attention to her pleas but cleared his throat again. Then he started
singing. “Good morning, good
morning! We’ve talked the whole night through, good morning, good morning to
you! Good morning, good morning, it’s great to stay up late, good morning,
good morning to you!”
Rylee
tried to cover her ears, but Brian held her arms down as he sang.
“When
the band began to play, the stars were shining bright, now the milkman’s on
his way, and it’s to late to say goodnight! So good morning, good morning,
sunbeams will soon smile through, good morning, good morning to you!”
When
he finished, he gave her another grin, before getting up and walking towards the
door. He smiled to see her get up
out of the bed and walk, grumbling under her breath, towards the bathroom.
“I’ll see you downstairs.”
Rylee
slammed the bathroom door in response
As
he closed the door to the room Rylee and Blake were sharing, Brian sighed in
satisfaction of a job well done. “She can never resist The Song,” he told
Rylee’s mom in the hallway.
Serena
Kwan shook her head at Brian. “You
know all I asked you was to CHECK to see if my daughter was awake yet, not to
use terrorist tactics to wake her up.”
“We all have our purposes in life, Auntie Serena,” Brian told her, putting his arm around her shoulder. “And mine is to bring constant joy into Rylee’s life. I think I did a pretty good job this morning.” He gave her a broad grin as well, before walking down the stairs, whistling the tune of “Good Morning”.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~