Chapter 2:

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At about ten o’clock the next morning I got dressed into a pair of Miu Miu jean shorts and a Marc Jacobs pink camisole. I slid on a pair of pink Jimmy Choo sandals. I pulled my long brown hair into a ponytail. I didn’t need my mirror, which was packed away anyway, to know that I looked cute—scratch that—hot. I grabbed my Sidekick and waltzed out the door and down the stairs.

When I got outside, I decided to not call Travis what’s-his-face and help unpack the truck without his help. But it was too late. He was already there.

"Thank you Travis that can go into the living room," my mom directed Travis who was holding onto two boxes. I didn’t even know which room was the living room, and I’m living here! "Oh, good morning sweetheart. Sleep well?"

I rolled my eyes. Obviously she did not understand that I just met Travis yesterday and had no desire what so ever to talk to him again.

"Good mornin’, I tried calling your cell but you didn’t answer so I just came over and sure enough your parents were out and I offered my help," Travis said in his heavy country accent.

"That’s ‘cause I like to sleep on the weekends," I snapped back before he walked into the house. I pulled my Sidekick out of my pocket and noticed not one, but three missed calls. They were all from Travis. God, was he desperate or what?

"We just have a few more boxes then we will be done! Isn’t that exciting sweetheart?" my mom said a little more excited than she should have been.

"Oh yeah, it’s wonderful. How long has he been here?"

"Oh, few hours. At about seven or so."

"That long? Well, you could have woke me up or something," I said a little embarrassed that I was asleep while he unpacked my stuff.

"Honey, he didn’t go into your room, everything that went to your room was set outside your door. Didn’t you see it?"

"Must have walked right past it. Whatever."

"Well, you can take those two boxes into the living room please," my mom said pointing to the boxes.

"Uh, okay," I said walking over to them and picking them up. I slowly walked into the house and turned into what I assumed was the living room. I set the boxes down and noticed Travis watching me.

"Can I help you?" I said in the rudest attitude I could muster up.

"No. But, where are those boxes supposed to be?" he said ignoring my snotty attitude.

"Living room," I said glancing around the room and back to him.

"That’s over here. Your mom didn’t tell you where the rooms were yet?"

"No, I had things to do last night."

"Oh, well I could show you—"

"I’ll get the tour later from my parents, thanks," I said cutting him off.

"Okay. Um, I’ll take one of them to the living room if you want," he said sounding only a little discouraged.

"Um, yeah. I’ll follow you with the other one," I said trying to lose the sharpness in my voice.

He bent down to grab one of the boxes, and I’m not gonna lie, he looked good from the back end if you catch my drift. We walked into another room that looked more like a living room than the one I picked out before. That was a bit of a blonde moment on my part even though there is no trace of blonde in my hair at all.

"So, uh, here is your living room I guess," he said looking away from me, a piece of his brown hair falling in his face. My gaze went from his adorable face to the fireplace and back to him. He was looking at me now.

"Listen, I’m sorry if I surprised you or something when I showed up here, I can leave if you want," he said, his voice full of sincerity. I suddenly felt a wave of guilt.

"No, you don’t have to go. In fact, I’d like a little company that’s not my crazy mother or my dad—where ever he is," I said, trying to sound as kind as I could.

He smiled that gorgeous smile and said, "He went to a hardware store to get some nails and bolts and stuff."

"Oh. That would explain it. Well, we should go finish with the boxes, my mom is excited because we only have a few more," I rolled my eyes and started to walk out of the Victorian house to the humid Kentucky atmosphere.

"Well, we’re done! Isn’t that great?" my mom said practically jumping up and down.

"Uh huh," I said. Now it was official: Kentucky was my new home and New York was history.

"We should celebrate! I’ll make a delicious dinner for us tonight! Travis you can join us if you’d like. You helped us out so much anyway."

He glanced at me then said, "I’d love to if it’s okay with everyone, Vicky."

"Of course it is! We just love company. Well I have to go unpack the kitchen things then. Your father should be back soon, he’ll put the rest of the dining table together." She briskly walked into the house and left Travis and me in utter silence.

"So, what are we going to do now?" he said.

"Well, I should probably help unpack," I said wanting to be alone in my room to let all this moving crap soak in.

"I can help. Since I’m already here, you know."

"Um, okay, I was going to unpack my things for my room, if that’s what you wanna help with," I said trying to convince him that he had better things to do.

"No problem," Travis said before walking into the house expecting me to follow him. Who was I kidding? I was stuck with this guy.

We walked into the house and heard the banging of pots and pans. My mom was busily working in the kitchen trying to get everything unpacked. When we got to my room, we saw boxes scattered everywhere.

"Ugh, this is gonna take forever," I said falling onto my bed.

"With that attitude it will, but there is a lot of stuff here," he said looking around the room.

"I am so not in the mood for this right now," I said looking out the window at the field.

"I have an idea," he said looking at me.

"If it involves anything with leaving this house right now, then I’m all in."

"Actually, it does. Why don’t we hop into my truck and I’ll show you around our wonderful Hawesville, Kentucky? You won’t find no one better than me to give you the tour," he said with eager eyes.

At that point, I’d agree to anything to get out of the stupid Victorian house.

"Fine. Let’s go," I said standing up and tugging down my shorts since they were riding up, but I could tell Travis wouldn’t mind.

"Mom, Travis and I are going to drive around. He’s gonna show me around town," I yelled to her from the foyer.

She came around the corner, looking exhausted, "Sounds great, have fun. Be back soon though, we have things to do before dinner."

"Yeah, okay," I said then led Travis outside.

I saw his red, old, and dusty pickup truck sitting on the side of the road right outside of our house. He opened the passenger door for me and I scooted in. When he sat down beside me in the driver’s seat I asked, "You don’t lock your car?"

"No, it doesn’t lock anymore. Besides, Hawesville is one of the least dangerous places in this country. We haven’t had any big crimes here since before I was born," he said so sure of himself. It surprised me, I thought all cities were full of crime, but I guess New York was different.

"Hawesville and New York City are polar opposites, Jessica. It’ll take some gettin’ used to, but you’ll like it," he said practically reading my mind. The moment he turned on the car a country western song blasted from the speakers.

"Oh god, don’t you listen to any other music?" I said.

"No, why? You don’t like it?" he asked with a smile on his face.

"No, as a matter a fact, I can’t stand country," I complained.

"Fine, then I’ll turn off the radio all together ‘cause that’s basically all the radio stations here," he said shutting it off, leaving us to ride in silence.

"So, where are we going first?" I asked suddenly realizing that I didn’t ask him before what he was going to show me.

"Well, I thought I’d take you to the downtown area."

"It’s not with the McDonald’s and stuff?" I said.

"No, it’s got all these old buildings. The area with the McDonald’s is just for people passing through on their vacations"

"Oh."

As he was driving through dusty roads we sat in silence with me looking out the window at the trees and fields passing by. Finally we arrived at a small town square with a park in the middle surrounded by old brick buildings.

"I work in that grocery store from time to time," he said pointing to a building that had a sign saying "Hawesville Grocery".

"What do you mean from time to time?"

"Well, I don’t technically work there, I just go in and volunteer, you could say."

I looked at him and tried to figure him out. He was good looking, no doubt about that, so he seemed like he would be in the "popular" clique, like me. But no one in that clique would dare volunteer their time if they weren’t getting paid.

"Are you in high school?" I asked.

"Yeah. Going into my senior year after this summer, you?"

"Yeah, same here. What are your friends like?" I asked curious about his answer.

"That’s kind of a long story. I’ll tell you some other time, I guess. Wanna get out and walk around?" he asked, steering away from the friend subject.

"Uh, sure, okay."

We hopped out of the car and began walking on the wooden sidewalk, which was kind of strange compared to New York’s big cement sidewalks.

"I’m gonna introduce you to Mrs. Mae," he said leading me into a small building next to the convenience store. There was no sign on the small building. Inside it was a quaint little coffee shop. Above the counter where a cash register was sitting, was a sign saying "Mrs. Mae’s Coffee House". It was adorable in a small town sort of way.

"Mornin’ Mrs. Mae," Travis said to a lady who was older than my mom and sitting behind the counter.

"Travis! How are ya, son? Haven’t seen you round here for ages!" the lady stood up and came around the counter and gave him a hug. She had a red checkered apron around her waist and talked with a thick accent. "And who is this fine young lady you’ve brought with ya?" she added, glancing at me while fixing her graying hair into a bun, twisting it up with a pencil.

"This is Jessica Baliegh. She just moved here from New York City," Travis said.

I was about to offer my hand to shake when she wrapped me up in a hug. After letting go she said, "Welcome to Hawesville honey. Can I get you two somethin’ to drink?"

"Oh, I would die for a Non-fat Soy Chai Tea Latte right now, thank you," I said. Chai Tea Lattes had always been my favorite in New York. Sarah and I would leave school for lunch and always get one at our favorite coffee shop that was across from our favorite salon.

Both of them looked at me and Travis even laughed a little. "You can give us both a taste of your wonderful iced tea Mrs. Mae," Travis said.

"Um, she doesn’t have Chai Tea Lattes?" I whispered after Mrs. Mae walked away shaking her head.

"No. Jessica, this ain’t one of your fancy shops in New York. She has coffee, decaf or caffinated, iced tea, and lemonade. And occasionally she’ll have hot tea, hot chocolate, or apple cider, but only really in winter. Then she has her delicious home-made pastries," he said in a matter-of-fact, smart-ass tone of voice.

"Oh, okay. Is there another café around here then?"

"No, not in Hawesville. So you’ll have to get used to this. Sorry," he said not even a bit sympathetically.

She returned with two glasses of iced tea with ice and a lemon wedge.

"How much will it be Mrs. Mae?" Travis asked pulling out a faded brown leather wallet.

"Nothin’, son, it’s on the house."

"Are you sure? I’d be happy to—"

"No, boy. You just git on drinkin’ that and git outta here. You’ve got better thin’s to do than sit round in my coffeehouse, ya hear? Take her round town boy, show her the best of Hawesville, will ya?" she said cutting him off then turning to me, "Believe me sweetie, you will just fall in love wit’ this place. It’s wonderful here."

I took a sip of the iced tea and said, "Well, this iced tea tastes really good. Now I’m excited to see the rest of what Hawesville, Kentucky has to offer."

We finished our iced tea quickly and said good-bye. Once we were out the door, Travis said, "Well your quite the charmer."

I looked at him and smirked. "I try to be. I like knowing that I’m liked by people." He smiled at my comment then fell in step with me as we walked to his truck.

"Is that Travis? Travis Humphrey?" I heard a female voice yell from behind us. We both turned around and saw five teenagers about our age.

"Oh boy. C’mon," he said starting to walk over to them. I had to basically jog to keep up with Travis’s brisk walk. As we approached the teenagers I saw there were two girls and three guys standing in a circle in the park. The girls both had blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail but one was shorter than the other. Then I saw a rather gorgeous guy with blonde hair and built muscles. The other two guys were fairly cute with brown hair and not as toned arms as the blonde hair guy’s.

"Well, well, well. If it ain’t Travis Humphrey. Where you been man?" said the blonde guy, completely ignoring me.

"Keeping myself busy. Guys, this is Jessica Baliegh," Travis said to the group. "Jessica, this is Kara, Megan, Jeff, Greg, and Malcolm," Travis said to me as he pointed to each one in order he said their names: tall blonde girl, short blonde girl, shorter brown hair boy, taller brown hair boy, and hot blonde guy. All of them were good-looking, hinting to me that they were part of the "in" crowd.

"Wow, Travis, I didn’t think you had it in you to snag a hot chick like that," said Malcolm. I wanted to go over there and slap him so hard he wouldn’t know what hit him. I mean, hello! I was standing right there.

Travis’s face turned red and the twinkle in his eye was gone. "Hey, listen, you have no respect what-so-ever for girls. And I’m not surprised that Katherine dumped you, so don’t take it out on Jessica."

I suddenly had total respect for Travis. I never knew a guy who defended me like that, not even my last boyfriend.

"Anyway, where ya from Jessica?" asked Megan in a happy southern accent, trying to lighten the soured mood.

"Uh, New York City," I said. Jeff and Greg seemed to be in another world, not catching anything being spoken in the conversation. I had an uneasy feeling they were staring at my boobs, which might I say look rather voluptuous in the shirt I was wearing.

"Well, Jessica, it’s great to have you here. We needed some more hotties for our group anyway," Malcolm said. I was completely disgusted with him and about to go off on him when Travis grabbed my elbow and turned me away to head back to the car. We didn’t even say good-bye, which was a first for Travis since I had known him. As we walked away I heard Kara whisper loudly to Malcolm, "Now, why’d ya have to go scare her off like that? She coulda been my new best friend. And you hadta go an’ hit on her. You disgust me." Boy, was she wrong about the whole best friend thing.

When we got back in the car, Travis didn’t say a word at first, neither did I. As we drove away out of nowhere he said, "God, Malcolm is such a dick." It surprised me at first.

"So, were they your friends?"

"At one point. We kinda drifted apart this year. I didn’t wanna associate myself with them anymore."

"So you were one of the ‘popular’ guys," I said gesturing my hands to form the air quotes when I said popular.

"And you weren’t? Please, I could tell that ya were when I first met you. You’re beautiful and you didn’t want anythin’ to do wit’ me," he said glancing at me through the corner of his eye.

"You think I’m pretty?" I said kind of surprised.

"’Course I do. Everyone does. Did you not see Jeff and Greg starin’ at you?"

I laughed and said, "Actually, yeah I did. I was getting a little uncomfortable around them. So you just up and left their little clique?"

"Yup. I couldn’t stand ‘em anymore. Malcolm always rudely hit on girls, and those other two guys just did the same thin’. And the girls were really annoyin’."

"Wow. I wouldn’t have the guts to do that. But thanks for standing up for me back there. I appreciate it. Although, I can stand up for myself, just to let you know," I said smiling.

"Oh, can ya now? I hadn’t a clue," he said sarcastically. We rode in silence for the rest of the trip back to my house.

Submitted: July 10, 2010

Young Adult moving teen rich new town

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reneexy

update me! :)

Sat, July 10th, 2010 7:36am

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will do!

Thu, August 19th, 2010 8:18am

Wingsword

I did read the first chapter, just to let you know, but I felt like leaving a comment on the most recent chapter. :3 This does seem promising, and I like the up-down thing with Travis and Jessica. Her changing lifestyle's bound to be hard for her, and you're doing a wonderful job portraying that. Travis seems cute, too. :)
So far, so good.

Tue, July 13th, 2010 8:25pm

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Haha, thanks! :)

Wed, July 14th, 2010 12:04am