To
be happy
You
are all I need to make me happy
Cuz every time you’re near
All
the tears inside the raindrops
All
the sadness in my life
Just
goes away
Rylee
walked into the kitchen, braiding her long hair.
She greeted her mother and Aunt Jackie good morning accepting the offered
cup of fresh brewed coffee. Brian
was also seated at the marble topped island, nursing his own steaming cup.
He flashed her a big smile, but Rylee breezed right by him without so
much as glancing in his direction.
Jackie
smiled at Rylee’s behavior. “So
Rylee, honey, I hear you had an interesting wake up call this morning.”
Brian
smiled a big cheesy grin, his eyes squinched almost shut, like a little boy who
had just been paid a compliment.
Rylee
raised one eyebrow as she prepared her coffee, adding just the right amount of
sugar and cream. “’Interesting’
isn’t quite the word I had in mind, Aunt Jackie.”
Taking a sip of her coffee, she smiled at the two women, still ignoring
Brian. “So! When does the next train pull into the Littrell station?”
Rylee’s
mom laughed at her daughter’s analogy. “If
you mean when do the next guests arrive, your father and Uncle Harold just left
to go pick up your brother from the airport.”
“And
Kevin’s family arrives tomorrow, Christmas Eve.” Jackie finished.
Rylee
nodded, helping herself to a croissant from the tray. “So where did Blake
disappear to so early this morning?” she asked, taking a big bite.
“Oh,
she went to spend the day with some of her old friends from high school,”
Serena Kwan answered.
Rylee
nodded, her mouth full.
“So,
Rylee, your mom tells me that you’ve been real busy with working on new songs
and recording, not to mention juggling all your work from school. Must be pretty
stressful at times. How are you doing?”
Rylee
nodded, swallowing the last of her croissant.
She reached for her coffee cup to take a drink before answering.
But she never got the chance.
Just
as she set her cup down and opened her mouth, Brian suddenly got up from his
stool and interrupted, “Can ya’ll please chat later? We got plans!”
Without waiting for answer, he grabbed Rylee’s hand and pulled her out
of the room.
“What
are you doing?” Rylee asked in shock.
“I
told you we have plans!” He pulled her to the hall closet. “Now get
dressed!”
“I
AM dressed!” Rylee said, looking down at her jeans and blue sweater.
“WHAT are you talking about?”
Brian
shook his head and looked at her as if it was obvious.
“WHERE do we live?”
Rylee
looked back at him as if he was insane. “Well,”
she said slowly. “I live in LA, and you live in Orlando.”
Brian
nodded. “And where are we now?”
“In
Lexington,” Rylee said slowly again, still not understanding what Brian was
getting at.
“And
ya put both of those facts together and what do you get?” Brian asked, waving
his hands in the air.
“Proof
that you really ARE insane?”
“No,
no, no, no, no!” Brian said. “There’s
SNOW here!” He gestured outdoors. “WE
don’t have snow where we live! So let’s USE IT! So go get your coat and
scarf and stuff and let’s go!”
Rylee
shook her head as Brian pushed her up the stairs.
“And ya COULDN’T just say, ‘Hey Ry, let’s go play in the
snow’?”
Five
minutes later, a bundled up Brian and Rylee headed out into the snow.
Rylee giggle upon seeing Brian dressed for the snow. “Are you
performing tonight, Bri?”
Puzzled,
Brian gave her a funny look. “What are you talking about?”
She
gestured with a look at what he was wearing.
Brian
looked down at what he was wearing. Everything looked normal to him.
This was how you were supposed to be dressed for snow.
Suddenly, it dawned on him. “Heeeeeey! I wasn’t wearing this much on
the tour!” he exclaimed.
Brian’s
face was indignant, and Rylee couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, you did! I have
proof! “The Backstreet Coming Home” concert… And you were in ORLANDO of
all places! I’m mean I’ve heard of people being cold-blooded, but you take
it to the extreme, Bri.”
Brian
simply shook his head. “Whatever,
Angel… Now come on! Our winter wonderland awaits!” With that he nearly
pushed her out the door.
Before
long, Brian, ever the child at heart, challenged some of the neighborhood kids
to a snowball fight, he and Rylee versus about nine kids. Rylee laughed as she
followed Brian’s detailed instructions on how to build a “fort” to protect
them from the impending fight, and what was the best way to make a snowball. She
had finished her job in the creation of the “fort” and was working on her
third snowball, when she recognized the Littrell car pulling back onto the
street. The two Kwan men trooped out followed closely by Harold Littrell, Sr.
The
three men smiled and waved as Brian and Rylee waved wildly like two little kids.
“Don’t
get too cold!” Rylee’s older brother, Steve called to them. “It’s flu
season!”
Rylee
saluted him and called back in her best soldier voice. “Yes, sir, Dr. Kwan!”
She
flashed him an even brighter smile. As they disappeared into the house, she
turned back to Brian, who was examining their pile of snowballs. “Sheesh, ever
since he graduated from med school, he’s been dispensing medical advice left
and right.”
“You
know, Angel,” he said with a thoughtful look. “I think we have too many
snowballs.”
Rylee
shrugged nonchalantly, and started making another one. “It won’t matter.
Maybe then we will have a chance of NOT getting our butts kicked by a bunch of
ten year olds.” She was paying close attention to the snowball she was
creating and neglected to see the evil grin on Brian’s face as he figured out
what he should do with the “extra” snowballs.
Rylee
was still busy making more snowballs that she didn’t see Brian scoop up five
snowballs and quietly sneak up behind her.
She
didn’t look up to see his shadow until the very last second. And then it was too late.
She
gasped as the first snowball hit her, but recovered quickly enough to fire back
the one that was in her hand.
Brian
tried to duck and failed, but was still able to throw three snowballs at Rylee
in quick succession.
“Hey!”
one of the kids called from their fort across the street. “We haven’t
started yet!”
“Too
late!” Brian yelled back, as he reached for the big pile of snowballs, but was
hit square in the face by another one of Rylee’s snowballs.
Seeing
that they were missing out on the snowball fight, the kids started launching
snowballs at Brian and Rylee, who where quite easy targets since they were now
standing, unprotected by the fort, and concentrating on taking enough snowballs
from their shared pile to pelt the other with.
The
snowball fight ended almost as quickly as it started, resulting in Brian and
Rylee being both covered in snow, from each other and the neighborhood kids who
had obviously won. Laughing, they
dusted as much snow as they could off their jackets and scarves and let the kids
start another game.
Rylee
was about to head back into the house, when Brian caught her arm.
“And just where do you think you’re going?”
“It’s
freezing out here, Bri! My body’s
not used to this weather. And
there’s a cup of hot coffee calling my name!”
“Not
yet, kay?” Brian said. “I have
something to show you.”
“Brian…
it’s COLD!”
“Please?”
he pleaded, widening his eyes and giving her a sad look.
Rylee
sighed. “Man, I have no restraint! It’s not fair! The eyes, and the
pouting… Alright,” she agreed. “But
you’re not allowed to used that again for like, a year!”
“Alright!”
Brian reached into his pocket and withdrew a bandana. “Now turn around.”
“Are
you serious?”
“Yes!
It’s a surprise! Don’t you trust me?”
“Well…”
“What?”
Brian said seeing her fake hesitation. “Don’t
make me break out the sad eyes again!”
“Okay,
okay, fine! Blindfold me!
Let’s go!” Rylee said hurriedly, before Brian could say anything
else. “Just don’t throw me in the pool.”
“Angel!
I’m not gonna throw you in the pool!” Brian exclaimed, looking shocked.
Rylee
threw her hands up in defense, looking comical with the bandana still over her
eyes. “I was just making sure!”
Brian
grinned evilly, even though he knew Rylee couldn’t see him, and reached for
her hand. “Well, I was going to,
but I can’t cuz it’s all icy.”
Rylee
reached out and swatted him with her free hand, being able to pick out where he
was with her vision blocked.
“I’m
kidding, I’m kidding!” Brian said, dropping her hand and backing out of
reach. “Okay, let’s just go,
okay? No more hitting.”
Brian
picked up Rylee’s hand again and started leading her to their destination.
He glanced back once or twice to make sure she wasn’t peeking.
After
about five minutes, Rylee began to wonder where on earth they were going.
Mentally, she pictured the neighborhood, calculating the turns they made.
Left. Left.
Left. Left.
Right. Right.
Right. Left. Right. “Wait a
minute!” Rylee said.
“Brian, are you leading me in circles?”
“No!”
Brian said, in a voice that clearly showed that he was indeed leading her in
circles.
“Brian!”
“Okay,
okay…we’re here!” Brian announced.
Rylee
waited patiently as Brian took his time untying the bandana from around her
eyes. When the bandana finally
dropped from her eyes, she gasped at the sight she saw.
Brian
had indeed been leading her around in circles, and now they were in Brian’s
own backyard, standing at the foot of their childhood tree house. But Brian had obviously taken the time to plan something,
because the tree house was covered in white Christmas lights which twinkled
brightly against the dark sky.
“What
do you think Angel?’ Brian asked throwing an arm around her should and making
a wide sweeping gesture with his other arm.
“Is this a good surprise?”
“It’s
beautiful, Bri,” Rylee exclaimed. She
walked up and placed her hand against the trunk of the old tree and looked up at
all the lights shining above and around her.
“Wow, the tree house still looks like its in good shape,” Rylee
noticed.
Brian
joined her next to the trunk as he answered.
“My dad reinforced it last year. He
said he wanted to make sure it was still usable so it could stand as a reminder
of our childhood or something like that.”
Brian grinned at her. “After
you.” He waved up to the tree
house.
When
Rylee climbed up into the tree house, she realized just how much thought Brian
had put into this surprise. There
were a pile of pillows in the corner to sit on, as well as a large thermos and
two mugs. He had even brought a
heater to take the chill off the Kentucky morning.
Brian
joined her and sat her down on the pile of pillows, then wrapped her up in a
fleecy blue and white blanket. He
busied himself with preparing a hot drink for her.
Rylee could only watch with a bright smile on her face as he carefully
poured hot chocolate into the two cups and even added a handful of mini
marshmallows. He handed Rylee her
cup before sitting down next to her.
Rylee
opened the rather large blanket to allow him to share the warmth.
When they were both settled, Rylee gave him a hug with her
non-cup-holding hand. “This is
wonderful, Brian, thank you. Is this my Christmas present?” She grinned at
him.
Brian
groaned. “Oh man! See now that
would have been a good idea if I thought of that instead of getting you
something else too!”
Rylee
laughed at his distressed look. “Well,
that’s good then! Cuz now I get TWO Christmas presents!”
Brian
just shook his head.
Rylee
smiled again, and then seeing that her marshmallows were melting she quickly
took a sip from her cup. “Bri!” she exclaimed.
“You even added coffee!”
“Of
course”, Brian stated matter-of-factly. “That’s
the way you like to drink it.”
Rylee
sighed in contentment after taking another sip of her drink. “This is just…”
“Perfect?”
Brian finished for her, obviously pleased with the job he had done. “Oh wait!
I’ve got something even better to add.” With that, he got up and began
searching for a loose board on the wall of the tree house.
Wrapping
both of her hands around her cup, Rylee answered absently, her mind spinning off
to a different time and place. “Yeah, perfect…”
It
was about a month earlier, and Rylee’s light-heartedness was short-lived after
the dramatic exit of Michelle. While
she was intensely thrilled to be rid of Michelle, it wasn’t long before Rylee
slipped back into a semi-depressed state. Finally
Jessica could take it no longer, and told her to snap out of it.
“I
don’t believe this!” Jessica exclaimed. “This is starting to get
ridiculous, Ry!”
Rylee
just looked at her ranting cousin blankly.
“What are you talking about, Jess?”
“This!”
Jessica responded, clearly agitated. “You
need to do something. Take action!
You can’t just sit around and expect everything to turn out right!”
Rylee
was shocked at Jessica’s outburst. “WHAT
are you talking about? ‘Take action’ for what?”
“BRIAN!”
Jessica practically yelled. “You
can’t just sit here and expect him to fall as madly in love with you as you
are with him!”
Rylee
opened her mouth to protest, but Jessica cut her off.
“You’ve
been moping around for days, weeks, months, YEARS even!” she continued, each
word getting successively louder. “It’s
time you did something about it. Either
tell him that you’re in love with him, or GET OVER HIM! Cuz I can’t handle
this anymore, and I don’t think YOU can either!”
Jessica took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, seeing as how
she just startled her cousin. “Look,”
she said, her voice much calmer. “You
know what I’m talking about. I
think you see it too. When was the
last time you even thought about another guy besides Brian? You are completely
and entirely in love with him, and you know it.
Why don’t you just do something about it?”
Rylee
sighed deeply. “Because I don’t
want to lose him,” she said out loud.
“What
was that Rylee?” Brian asked, his back still towards her.
The
sound of his voice quickly jogged Rylee out of her memories and back to the
present. “Oh, uh, nothing, Bri,” she said quickly.
Brian
didn’t seem to notice, as he struggled with opening a secret panel in the wall
of the tree house. “Man!” he
exclaimed. “I must be getting old
or something. I used to be able to
open this in 5 seconds. It’s been
five minutes, and I STILL can’t get it open.”
Smiling
at his frustration, Rylee wondered why Brian was trying to open their childhood
secret compartment, cleverly hidden behind one of the tree house’s boards.
“What are you doing anyways, Bri?”
“You’ll
see,” Brian said secretively. “If
I can ever get this stupid thing opened! There! Whoohoo! I got it!” He made
his way back to Rylee’s side, his treasure tucked in his hand. “Here you go, Miss Kwan!” He said, sitting down next to
Rylee and handing her a frozen Snickers bar.
Rylee
laughed as she took the treat from him. “Wow,
you really did think of everything didn’t you?”
“Of
course!” Brian said with a bright grin, as he tore open the wrapper to his
Snickers bar. “Only the best for
you, Angel!”
Rylee
laughed and followed suit in opening her candy bar.
The two friends sat in silence, drinking their hot chocolate and
struggling to sink their teeth into the frozen solid candy bars.
In the stillness of the afternoon, Rylee’s thoughts returned to
Jessica’s diatribe about taking action.
Rylee
did end up taking action. She
resolved in her mind that she would get over Brian.
And slowly, painfully, she tried her best.
First thing was to do something about the many pictures of Brian
scattered through her room. She
started sleeping on the living room couch.
There were just too many pictures and reminders of Brian in her room, so
rather than trying to remove them from her, she removed herself from them.
She found her pre-sleep thoughts much less Brian oriented without his
smiling face to greet her every time she turned around.
Pretty soon, she moved her laptop and other desk things out onto the
coffee table, feeling like she could concentrate much better. The only times she
needed to enter her room was to get to her closet or to use her bathroom.
She found that the arrangement worked nicely, even though she saw Jessica
shake her head silently several times as she passed by Rylee’s little camp in
the living room.
Now
sitting next to Brian in their childhood tree house, where so many fond memories
assailed her, Rylee was thankful that she had decided to “take action” when
she did. Otherwise, she would have
been dying. She flashed him a
bright smile, and took another bite of her now softening Snickers. She was fine. She
could look at him without fighting the desire to kiss him, or run her hand along
the side of his face. She could
look at him and just see him as Brian, her dear childhood friend.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
*chapter seventeen*