Discovering...Love?: June 2008

Chapter 3: Running into a Brick Wall

"BEEP,BEEP, BEEP!"

"No, sleep now" I groan unable to form a full sentence as I reach over to shut off my alarm. The clock reads 7 o'clock.

Do i really want to go for a run? I think to myself. Ugh, yeah you have to take the dog out anyway.

I go and change into my running clothes, then with Bran by my side I go out the back door. I inhale the salty ocean sent deeply as I stretch and tie my hair up. Stepping off the deck and into the sand next to the water, I begin my jog. About an hour later I am almost back to the house when I realize Bran isn't right next to me anymore.

"Bran, Let's Go!" I shout, looking over my shoulder into the tall grass behind me.

"Oof!" I let out being knocked to the ground feeling as though I have hit a brick wall, "what the...?!"

"Oh I am so sorry, I didn't see you there, are you okay?" I hear a deep voice ask.

"Yeah I'm fine," I say looking up. In front of my stands a tall guy with very broad shoulders and legs as thick as trees. Good Lord, I did run into a brick wall, I think to myself.

But on closer inspection I find myself gazing upon a very handsome face, almost boyish in appearance with curly dark brown hair, and my eyes connect with hazel ones. Being the obsessed Penguins fan I am, I immediately recognize him and inhale sharply.

"I'm really sorry I didn't see you there, I was kinda busy looking off into the ocean, are you sure you're okay?" he says with a worried gaze holding out a hand to help me up.

I quickly hide the look of recognition on my face. "Yeah, I'm fine. And I'm partly at fault, I wasn't looking where I was going either," I say grabbing his hand. He easily hoists me up as if I weigh nothing.

"Well I'm Sidney," he says as I brush the sand off of me, sticking out his hand for me to shake.

"Caitlin," I say with a smile taking his hand once again in a strong hand shake. (I hate the wimpy hand shakes, it just screams lack of self confidence to me.) I look him straight in the eye and find myself getting lost in them almost instantly. Suddenly I feel something cold and wet against my leg, bringing me back to reality. "And this is Bran," I say glancing at the puppy at my feet.

"Nice to meet you," Sidney grins, "You're one of the people that just came in yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, my friends and I are vacationing there for awhile."

"Well my friends and I are in the house next door. Maybe we can all hang out sometime?"he says cautiously as if dreading my response.

"Sure, that sounds like fun. We're here for the next 10 days so anytime you see us out or anything you can just come on over," I smile.

"Great, same goes," he says with a huge grin.

"Well alright, I'll let you go, you probably want to get jogging before it gets hotter than it already is."

"Yeah," his voice a little deeper than before, as his eyes travel the length of my already sweaty body before looking once more into my eyes making me melt. He takes a step closer to me, bringing him as close as when I ran into him. His hand comes up and tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear. He looks to my lips and begins to close the distance. Suddenly Bran barks, and steps between the two of us pressing his body against Sidney's legs forcing him to step back or fall.

"Well I'll let you and your bodyguard go," He says with a chuckle, "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah definitely, come on Bran," I say my voice a little shaky. I force myself to walk to the house.

After closing the door behind me, I let out a heavy sigh. Great I'm starting to fall for a hockey star, and not just any star, Sidney Crosby. If Bran wouldn't have interfered things could have really heated up. Who the hell am I kidding? It was getting pretty hot.

You need to watch yourself girl, you could end up falling pretty hard.

Suddenly my stomach rumbles in protest, I haven't eaten yet today. I hurry to take a shower and get ready for the day, cause after all there are five other girls in the house. As I come out of the shower I find most of the girls have just gotten up.

"Mornin," I say in greeting with a smile on my face as I grab a box of cereal. The greetings in return are mostly a bunch of groans.

"Who are you? Your never perky in the morning, and don't give me that 'I went for a jog shit' because your usually still half asleep,"Jamie says.

"Well it's just this beautiful beach and the salty air."

"Bull shit, you met a guy didn't you?" Amber protests.

"What are you talking about? I went on a jog, not to a club," I say innocently

"Uh huh, so whats his name?"Brooke says not buying my story.

"Fine, his name is Sidney, he and his friends are in the house next to us," I say giving in.

However, I fail to include that it was Sidney Crosby and with my guess some of his team mates are in the house next to us. I also spare the detail that we almost kissed, but I was usually pretty reserved about that. "I told him he and his friends could come over whenever."

"Oh my God, they wouldn't come over now would they? Its only 9 o'clock and none of us are dressed!"Allie says with sudden alarm.

"I think he mentioned something about quarter after." I say pretending to ponder the fact.

"Oh my God, I need to get in the shower!" Brooke and Allie both say panicking.

Laughter rings out among the others who can better pick up on my sarcastic ways.

"I'm just kidding calm down. I don't know when they're coming, or if they're coming." I say trying to get over my laughter.

It's 11 o'clock and only Emma and I are ready for the day, the others are still in there Pj's watching TV. Suddenly there is a knock on the door.

Posted by Aeryn

June 29, 2008 at Sunday, June 29, 2008 , 5 Comments

Chapter 2: Long Legs

Description of Narrator in Chapter 2

Name: Sidney Crosby
Age: 20
DOB: August 7, 1987
Height/Weight: 5'11'', 210lbs.
Eye/Hair Color: Hazel eyes, curly dark brown hair
Other Features: built muscular body, thick legs and broad shoulders
Personality: Hockey star & Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Loved by the media and the object of many crushes. Tries to keep personal life out of the limelight but doesn’t avoid it completely.
Life in General: Lived in Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia. Became Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins at age 20. Going to Florida after being convinced by friends/ teammates Marc Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Max Talbot, and Colby Armstrong (traded).

Chapter 2

“Florida? Why Florida?” I ask looking at the other guys.

“Oh come on Sid, don’t you want to get away from this cold PA air for a little while?” Marc asks in his French Canadian accent. Marc was right. For the beginning of June, it was unusually cold in PA.

“Yeah, come on, you can get a good tan before you go back home,” Jordan adds, his blue eyes pleading with me.

“I don’t know,” I hesitate.

“Ah come on Sid,” Max says, “Flowers going, Staalzy’s going, Geno and Army are going, plus I’m going.”

“Yeah, come on you need to get your head out of hockey for a while, the season’s over,” Malkin adds.

“Oh all right I guess I’ll go,” I sigh bring cheers through out the room.

“Great we’re staying in a fairly secluded house right on the water. There are only two houses next to us, and from my understanding only one will have people in. This way you can avoid people for a while.”

After arriving in Florida via private jet, the boys go to their house and find that their neighbors haven’t moved in yet.

“I call for pizza, beer, and a good movie,” Jordan says.

“Yeah, you're right, it's already 7:30. We might as well stay in for the night,” Flower says. After

starting the movie they hear a car pull in the driveway.

“Sounds like the neighbors are here,” Colby says.

The guys look at each other then rush to the window to see what they look like.

“God I hope they’re not an old couple,” Max says.

“Well let's hope they’re some hot, easy girls,” Geno adds as the a mini van’s doors open.

“Sweet, looks like four girls gentlemen, I call the skinny brunette!” Max says.
“Well since we’re calling, I get the one with shorter...” Colby says.

“Guys come on,” Flower says disgusted.

“Hey look another car is pulling up,” Geno points out.

Sure enough a light green jeep pulls up next to the mini van, and out steps two more girls. They talk to the other girls, and the one with glasses grabs a bag and heads to the door. The girls start to unpack their cars. A brunette is the last one and catches my eye. She pulls out a bag, then lets out a sharp whistle. The whistle prompts a black dog to jump out of the car.

“Well, we’re going to have to get acquainted with them tomorrow,” Jordan grins. We all laugh in agreement, before returning to the movie.

Later, I see something moving out of the corner of my eye. I get up to go and investigate. I look up and down the beach, just catching the sun as it disappears over the horizon.

Suddenly I hear, “girls dinners here,” come from the other house. I look over to see a dog slip into the house followed by one of the girls, which I assume is the brunette that caught my eye before, she seems a bit short. For a split second, I swear she looks back at me before going into the house. As she goes in the house I catch a glimpse of surprisingly long legs on the short frames. They are well toned as I see the muscles play beneath the smooth skin as she moves inside.

“So much for avoiding people for a while, those legs are gonna stick in my mind,” I think to myself letting out a sigh and looking at the ocean before returning inside.

Posted by Aeryn

June 27, 2008 at Friday, June 27, 2008 , 2 Comments

Chapter 1: Road Trip!

Intro

Caitlin Marie Shaw
age 19
Born June 25, 1988
standing 5'3 and weighing 130 lbs.
Features: Big dark brown eyes, with shoulder length, dark chestnut-brown hair. Curvy/ athletic body (She's in shape, but she's got hips)
Personality: She is a people person, but is a little on the shy side. Pretty mellow, but she has a breaking point. having Irish blood she has a temper.

She is a big hockey fan, but she has never had on a pair of ice skates. She loves cold, snowy weather. Despises hot and humid, it can only be tolerated for so long. Likes hanging out with friends, but enjoys being home and having alone time.
Life: She grew up in a little town near Pittsburgh, before her parents moved to Maryland after she graduated high school. Now she's in her junior year at the University of Maryland, studying Animal Behaviorism (dog psychology).

Chapter One

The gravel crunches and rumbles under my Jeep Wrangler's tires as I pulled into the driveway. Turning the key and shutting off the engine I look at the black puppy sitting in the passenger's seat next to me.

"Ready?" I ask to the black 9-month-old puppy next to me.

Bran listens intently, cocking his head to the right as he tries to figure out what I'm saying. I laugh and ruffle his black fur before getting out of the car. I walk around to the other side, and let him out, before we walk up to the brick house and ring the door bell. Soon a taller woman comes to answer the door. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, shorts and a t-shirt covering her athletic swimmers body. Her blue-green eyes covered by glasses. She smiles and opens the door upon seeing us.

"Hey you two, come on in!"

"Hey, Brooke! Is everyone here yet?" I ask following her into the very clean house.

"Nope, we're still waiting on Allie and Jamie."

"Ah, what's new, they're always the latest,"I reply.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you. It's a rarity that you're on time," she says laughing.

"True, but I'm not last today," I add, following her into a room with two other girls and a bunch of luggage. "Good Lord, how much stuff did you guys pack?"

"Most of it's Brooke's, you know how she always packs everything but the bath tub," replies a brunette wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and flip flops. She was about an inch shorter than me and a little curvier.

"You're no light packer either, Amber," replies a blond haired blue eyed girl, shorts and a t-shirt covering her lean athletic body, "Hey you brought Bran!"

"Yeah, he goes everywhere with me. Since he's only 9 months old he needs to be with me so he can learn to be totally loyal and handle any situation. Especially since someday he will be helping me train other dogs," I say glancing down at the puppy sitting contently at my feet.

"Come here, Bran, you're such a good boy!" the blond says. Bran looks at me waiting for my approval.

"Go ahead, go see Emma."

Bran trots over to get his ears scratched by the other girl.

"He looks like a black wolf puppy, except for those blue eyes,"she says.

"Yeah I know. The shelter said he'll probably be just as big as a wolf too," I reply as the door bell rings.

"That must be Jamie and Allie," Brooke says leaving the room.

Within moments two more girls enter. Both only an inch or two over 5 foot with brown hair and light brown eyes. Jamie has short hair and a dusting of freckles across her nose. Allie has a darker complexion and is more petite than Jamie.

"Hey guys!" they say in greeting as they enter the room and exchange hellos with everyone.

"Alright, now that everyone's finally here, we can get going."

As previously agreed upon we take two cars, my four door jeep wrangler, and Brooke's mini van. After driving 9 hours to Charlotte, NC to spend the night. We drive 10 more hours to Brooke's parent's vacation house in Florida, arriving at 8:30 that night.

"Ugh, we're finally here!"Allie sighs.

"Yeah, I'm, glad we're spending 10 days here, because I need to rest from that long trip," Amber groans.

"Well, can we go out to eat somewhere? I'm starving!" Brooke whines.

"Uhm, no. I don't want to get in the car again today, how about we order take out," I suggest.

"Yes! Now to find the Phone book," Jamie says searching through drawers.

"Try the one by the sink," Brooke suggests.

After finding the phone book we decide to order Chinese, and proceed in ordering basically the whole restaurant. While we wait for the order to come, I decide to take Bran outside to have a look around. The house is in a line with two other houses, but other than that it is pretty remote. We are staying in the house on the end, and someone is supposedly staying in the house next to us, the last house is vacant. The houses are right on the edge of the water, the back deck leading straight out to the sandy beach. Bran and I decide to check out the beach. I go out the back door with him by my side, not taking a flashlight but standing on the deck a minute before venturing out, allowing my eyes to get used to the darkness. I step off the deck and immediately feel the coarse white sand on my bare feet and hear the waves lapping against the shore.

“Come on Bran,” I say with encouragement to the puppy that has never been in the sand, “its okay.”

He cautiously steps out onto the sand. I venture further out until by feet feel the warm salt water gently hitting them. We travel up the beach hearing music coming from the house next to us. From the window I could see into the lite room where it looked like some guys were partying.

“Ooo, looks like we got some hot neighbors,” I think to myself. I look out to the ocean just in time to see the last bit of sun slip below the horizon.

“Come on,” I call to the Bran, who is checking out the tall grass, “I think we’ll take a jog out here tomorrow.”

As I walk up the steps and about to go inside, I hear the door from the neighboring house open. Out walks a fairly tall man (taller than me anyways, but who isn’t). From the distance I could make out his seemingly well toned body and broad shoulders, yet because of the darkness I can’t make out anything more. A shiver of excitement goes up my spine, as I hear “girls dinners here!” calling from the house. I open the door letting Bran in, and look back to see the pair of broad shoulders look my way before I slip into the house.

Posted by Aeryn

at Friday, June 27, 2008 , 2 Comments