Chapter 17

"Hey Karen! Are you ready?" Brian asked at the bathroom door.

"Umm...yeah..I think so." she answered slowly.

"Come on, let's see your new dress."

"Umm..do you have anything else I could wear?"

"Unless you want to wear guy clothes..nope!" Brian joked. "Come on, let's see!" he said eagerly.

"Alright?" she said uncomfortably. The door slowly opened and there she stood.

Brian looked at her in disbelief. There she stood, the once dirty, tear-stained girl in torn up clothes, all cleaned up now in a brand new red sun-dress and shoes. Her long, straight black hair shining in light. Her brown eyes sparkling with happiness and awkwardness.

"Well?" she asked.

"WOW!" Brian said amazed.

"Is that all you can say? You look 'WOW' too!" she joked.

"A sense of humour I have never seen." he laughed.

"Ha, ha!" she said sarcastically.

"And sarcasm....hmm..I like that." he said.

"Shut up. So what do you think? I hardly ever wear dresses and let me tell you it's rather uncomfortable."

"You look...you look..stunning. You look beautiful. You should wear dresses more often." Brian complimented.

"Why, thank you, Mr. Littrell. Dresses aren't my thing, I'll live. But don't you think I'm a little over dressed?" Karen said worried.

"No, it's a nice hot day, a perfect day to wear a sun-dress. Plus, what else are you going to wear?" he asked.

"Well, that would be a problem wouldn't it?" she asked. "I can't wear this dress all the time."

"True. I have an idea, let's go shopping tomorrow, my treat."

"I can't possibly do that. You already took me into your home. Your friends bought me this dress. These shoes. And..and these earrings."

"Come on. You can pay me back when you make money. Deal?"

"I...I...no..I can't!!"

"Well, too bad we're going shopping tomorrow."

"No...?"

"I'm not listening." Brian said plugging his ears.

"Fine, but you have to promise me that you'll let me pay you back."

"I promise." Brian grinned slyly. "Let's go, Nick is waiting for us, or he's going to freak if we're later than we already are."

"Brian, thank you for everything you've done, I am so greatful for your hospitality."

"It's not a problem, now let's get going before we recieve another phone call." he said smiling.

"Okay --"

As they opened the door, there was Leigh Anne Wallace standing there. She looked up and saw Brian laughing with this girl.

"Brian!?!" she asked. "What's going on?"

"Leigh Anne, I can explain!" Brian said surprised.

"Who is this...this..whore?"

"Leigh Anne..don't! Karen.." Brian tried to say, but it was too late, Karen ran up the stairs and slammed the door.

'Who is that? She doesn't have the right to call me a whore. What? I don't get it.' Karen thought sitting angrily on her bed. Slowly the anger turned into tears. Tears started streaming down her face non-stop.

"Leigh Anne, what do you think you're doing?" Brian asked.

"Why do you think you have the right to ask me that? You're the one with another girl." Leigh Anne said.

"What are you talking about? She...I'm just helping her out."

"Yeah right! You really think I'm going to believe that crap."

"You know what? You don't even know what's going on. God, Let's not talk about that right now. Let's talk about US!" Brian said.

"What do you mean?"

"Leigh Anne, honestly, when was the last time you called or you visited? When was the last time we were together? I should be the one asking YOU what's going on." Brian asked.

"I've been...I've just been really..really busy. Honey, you know that my family has been flying in from out of town and I rarely get to see them when I'm doing a movie. This is my time to spend some quality time with them." she tried to explain.

"Yeah, Leigh Anne, what about us? Is there no time to pick up the phone and call me to let me know what's going on? Is there no time to come and visit me for awhile? Not even 5 minutes?"

"Yeah, but --"

"But what?" Brian interrupted. "But what? I should get an explanation for this."

"What? An explanation? You aren't so perfect yourself. I don't see you calling me. I don't see you paying me a visit."

"You know what, Leigh Anne? I HAVE been calling you. I HAVE paid your house a few visits, but you're NEVER home. I HAVE stopped by and I HAVE been trying everything I can to track you down, but you're TOO busy. You can ask your mother. Why don't you try to explain that."

"Brian, I..I can't do this right now...I came over to tell you...never mind!" And without a word she got up and left.

"What just happened here?" Brian asked. (* AN: I know I've mentioned that a few million times, I just don't know what else to say there.) "Karen?!" he remembered.

He ran up the stairs to Karen's room and knocked. No answer. "Karen?!" Still no answer. 'Oh no, what if she left? What if...' "Karen?! Please! Are you there?" his voice said cracking. He decided to try one more time, "Kar --" he was interrupted by the creaking of the door.

"Oh my God! I thought you left," as he went in to give her a hug as his first reaction.

"What was that for?" Karen asked surprised. 'It feels good to be in his arms right now.' she thought to herself.

"I'm..I'm sorry..I'm sorry about Leigh Anne. She..I totally forgot about her."

"Brian? Who is that? What was she doing here?" Karen asked curiously.

"Karen, I guess I should have told you, but I was so wrapped up in helping making you feel at home that I didn't bring it up." Brian explained. "Leigh Anne is..." he paused. 'God, spit it out Littrell!' he said to himself. He started again. "Leigh Anne is...I'm sorry..Leigh Anne is my girlfriend."

"Oh," Karen said a little disappointed. 'I should have known, a sweet, good looking guy like that should have a girlfriend. Oh well, I guess it's all good, he deserves to be happy with anyone that makes him smile.'

"I'm sorry, I should have told you before. I was surprised seeing her here. I didn't know that she was going to stop by." Brian apologized.

"No, don't worry about it, I understand why she would have been so mad, seeing you with me.." Karen said. "But there's no need to be jealous...what would you be doing with a rag doll like me anyway?"

"Karen, don't say that, you're beautiful and once someone gets to know you, your perfect all around."

"Yeah right, don't say that to make me feel better. I'm not going to hear it."

Ring! Ring!

"Hello?" Brian answered.

"Yo, cuz, where are you? Are you coming or what?" Kevin asked.

"Oh...umm..I'm sorry..something came up and I had to take care of it." Brian explained.

"What? Is Karen alright? Are you alright?" Kevin asked worried.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. We're on our way." Brian said.

"Are you sure? What happened?" Kevin asked.

"I'll explain later, we're on our way!" Brian said hanging up the phone and looked up. "Let's clean off these tears and go take our mind off some things."

"Okay."

"Umm..Karen?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for not being mad at me and thanks for understanding."

"No, it's okay, I'm just sorry for coming in between you and your girlfriend."

"Don't worry about it! It will blow over." he smiled. 'At least I hope so.'

"I hope so! Well, let's go, Finally!" Karen laughed.

They got into Brian's jeep and headed off to Nick's house.

'God she looks beautiful! What's a girl like her doing on the streets?' Brian thought as he took glances at Karen. 'Man, what am I doing? I have a girlfriend, I shouldn't be having the hots for other girls.'