"Do you know what you want yet?" Brian asked with a smile.
Tessa looked up from her menu and returned his smile. The red around her eyes and nose had vanished, and she was rather grateful for that. "Yeah, I’m getting my usual; chicken strips, mashed potatoes, and green beans. You?"
Brian looked down at his menu. "Hmm, the beef strips sound good. I think I’ll try that."
Tessa sat her menu down and waited for their waitress to return. The waitress had kept looking at Brian and asking if she had known him from somewhere. Brian had just grinned politely and said that she probably didn’t. She hadn’t believed him, but she had stopped asking.
As Faith Hill’s "This Kiss" began to play over the restaurant radio, Tessa took a few minutes and studied this handsome man sitting across the table from her. He had the bluest eyes she had ever seen, and she loved the way the back of his curly hair was long enough to touch the collar of his t-shirt.
"Ma’am, can I take your order?" the teenaged waitress’s voice brought Tessa back to the present.
"Oh, yeah," she said and placed her order. Next, Brian placed his, and the waitress left. When she was gone, Tessa and Brian sat there in silence for a little while.
Finally, Brian broke the silence. "If you don’t mind my asking, how are you going to pay for this when you don’t have any money?"
"My ATM card. The gas station doesn’t take those kinds of cards," she answered. "Now, if you don’t mind my asking, what brings you to this one-horse town, other than your truck breaking down?"
Brian settled back into his seat. "Well, I was just passing through, looking at the scenery."
"Where were you headed?"
"Oh, I was just driving around."
"Okay, where are you from?"
"Originally, Lexington, Kentucky, but now I
live in Orlando, Florida."
Tessa leaned forward. "You don’t talk about yourself much, do you?" she asked.
Brian grinned. "No, not really. What about you?"
"Well," Tessa began and leaned back as the waitress set down their plates and drinks. "I’m from a small town just two hours away from here called Pilot Mountain. I go to Grayson University, which is a good thirty minutes away from here, and I’m majoring in English Education. I’m going to be an English teacher. Your turn."
The waitress seemed to meet Brian’s eyes and smiled. She seemed to know something about this mysterious man, but she apparently wasn’t telling. She eventually left them alone to enjoy their meal.
Brian took a bite of his beef strips, then answered, "So, you’re going to be a teacher, huh? I originally wanted to be a PE teacher, but then I started singing."
Tessa looked at him with interest as she took a bite of her chicken. "Singing? What do you sing? Anything I know?"
"Oh, just different things. A little bit of this, a little bit of that."
She glared at him. It was obvious she wasn’t going to get very much out of him, and, judging from the look on his face, he was enjoying the game. "Okay, well, if you won’t tell me what you do, then can you at least tell me basic stuff? You know, middle name, age, birthday," she asked.
"Yes, I can," Brian smiled. "Okay, full name: Brian Thomas Littrell; age: 24; birthday: February 20, 1975; birthplace: Lexington, Kentucky. Anything else you need, officer?"
Tessa playfully threw a small piece of chicken at him and stuck her tongue out. "I just wanted to make sure you weren’t an axe murderer, or on the run from the law, or in the witness protection program," she defended herself.
"And what about you? You haven’t told me your basic stuff. How do I know you’re not an axe murderer?"
"Alright, full name," she grinned as she rattled off her information in the same tone he had, "Tessa Marie Connors; age: 21 and a half; birthday: July 29, 1977, which is coming up in about a week; birthplace: Winston-Salem, NC."
"Well, now we know each other," Brian stated and punctuated it with a big, cheesy grin.
"Yes, now we do," Tessa responded with a cheesy grin of her own.
Eventually, they became silent as they ate and exchanged glances and smiles across the table. Finally, Tessa broke the silence.
"Do you need a ride to go get your truck tomorrow?" she asked.
"No," Brian replied. "I’ll probably stay in this hotel tonight, and it’s not very far."
Tessa returned to her chicken tenders. She knew that after dinner, she’d probably never see him again, but she really liked Brian. She had to find some way to see him again before he left. She finally decided to ask him something completely off the wall.
"I’m going to ask you something, and you’ll probably think it’s absolutely crazy. But, I’m going to ask anyway," she began.
"Alright, shoot," Brian said.
"Knowing that Exxon station, it’ll probably
take a while for them to fix your truck. So, I was
wondering if you’d like to spend the day with me
tomorrow. I work at a summer day camp, and I’ll be the
only counselor there with 20 kids from 10 am to 3 pm.
You game?" Tessa was rather surprised at herself. It
was the second time she had been forward that day, and
she was rarely ever forward. There was just something
about this guy that made her not want to let him go.
Brian looked thoughtful for a minute, then answered, "Sure. I haven’t been around little kids since I last saw my niece back in Kentucky. It sounds like fun. How old are they?"
"Five to eight, and they’re wild. I guarantee you’ll have several little girls who will have a crush on you by the end of the day." Tessa bit her lip and her face grew bright red when she realized what she had just said. She quickly returned to her chicken, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
Brian chuckled. "That’s alright. I love little kids."
"So, will you be ready by 6:30? I have to be there by 7," she questioned, grateful that maybe he hadn’t noticed her last comment.
"Sure. Hey, why don’t I get your phone number, and I can call you? That way I could let you know what room I’m in," he suggested.
"Okay." Tessa stood up and walked to the counter. She asked one of the waitresses for a pen and a sheet of paper, then walked back to the table. She scribbled down her phone number, then passed it to him. Brian took it and slipped it into his pocket. Then they returned to their dinner and continued to exchange glances and smiles across the table.
"Now, girls, settle down. Yes, it was amazing! We were able to get them right here on our show! Please welcome the Backstreet Boys!" Mary Dean, one of the co-hosts of North Carolina’s own Good Morning Show, announced. The audience of teenaged girls, twenty-somethings, and thirty-somethings went wild as Kevin, AJ, Nick, and Howie sauntered onto the stage. They each smiled and waved as they took their seats.
Once the crowd settled down, Mary and her co-host Tom Johnson began their interview. "Now, Boys, I noticed that there’s only four of you here. Where’s Brian Littrell?" Mary asked.
"Well, Brian’s not feeling real well, so we told him to stay in bed and eat some chicken noodle soup," Kevin answered, continuing to wave to the crowd.
"I certainly hope he’ll feel well enough for the show on Saturday," Tom stated.
"Oh, if I know B-Rok, he’ll make it. He wouldn’t miss a show unless it was an emergency," Nick said. He then looked right into the camera and flashed his pearly whites. "Hey, Frick, if you’re watching, you’d better get better and be ready for the show on Saturday."
"Yes, Brian, you heard the man. Get well soon!" Tom echoed.
The interview continued as Billie watched from the wings. On the outside, she appeared very professional and as cold as usual; on the inside, she was fuming. Brian had never shown up the night before, and it didn’t seem to bother the other four that he had left them hanging. This just reinforced her suspicion that they knew something.
"Ms. Ross?" a voice whispered behind her. She turned around to see a rather tall man with dark hair and dark eyes standing behind her. He was wearing a dark gray suit. She smiled.
"Why, yes, You must be Mr. Austin, the private detective I hired," she said.
"Yes, miss."
"Wonderful!" She dug through her pocketbook,
found a picture of Brian, and handed it to him. "I
want you to found out where this man is and let me know.
It’s very important that he comes back. He disappeared
yesterday," she said.
Mr. Austin took the picture and studied it. "He’s one of those guys, isn’t he?" he asked, nodding towards Kevin, Howie, Nick, and AJ. "A Backstreet Boy?"
"That’s right. We need to find him for the concert on Saturday," Billie explained as she ran her hand through her blonde locks.
"I’ll be happy to take the case, Miss Ross," Mr. Austin smiled.
"Thank you so much. I’m sure he couldn’t have gotten far."
Mr. Austin nodded, said his goodbye, and left. Billie turned back to watch the interview and smiled to herself. If the Boys wouldn’t tell her where Brian was, she’d find out on her own.