Warning Immense Fluff and Cheesiness Ahead. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Main Street USA

Chapter 6

Briar wished the summer, no, the year, was over already. She was so bored at home with her newfound family.

She almost wished the blind date would happen already just so something could happen!

But what was the worse of all was that she missed her dear, sweet Aunts terribly.

What was she doing without them hovering over her shoulder, clucking and pinching and prodding? Leah didn't do any of that.

Well, she did hover, but she hovered as though she was afraid to touch Briar, as if the second Briar was touched that she would disappear. It was kind of endearing at first, but now it was becoming another thing that frustrated her.

At least she had the forest that was down the street. Not too many people were there, so Briar could be left alone with her thoughts.

There were also animals in the forest. Briar adored animals; it was her dream to be a veterinarian to help heal any animal that needed her. She knew it was a rather hard to achieve dream, but she knew she could do it.

Especially since animals seemed to automatically like her. Even wild ones showed up by her side and she wasn't afraid to be near them. She enjoyed the comfortable silence that man and animal shared together. Quite often, her favorites came to visit her when she entered the forest. She even named a few of them, such as Thumper the silly white rabbit that came by, and Bambi, a sweet little deer who always looked so curious and thoughtful.

The forest was her sanctuary away from the awful quiet of her house, where her mother and father walked on eggshells around her, unsure how to handle their own daughter.

She wondered if they should be taking advice from the King's who also recently received a teenage daughter whom they hadn't seen in years. They seemed to be handling it better than her parents. The King's actually laughed in the company of their child.

Briar tore a blade of grass. She knew she wasn't being fair to her parents. They were sweet and kind and shy just like she was. Maybe they liked their house quiet instead of boisterous.

It was just strange to come back to a silent home, filled with only a slight humming of a radio singer when two weeks ago she was coming home to three women who liked to cheer and jeer at the television during the X-Factor.

"I wonder," she said, "I wonder what they're doing right now. I wonder what I should be doing, if anything."

Briar noticed a few more animals joined her sanctuary. She smiled at them, before brushing her long hair over her shoulder. She pushed herself off the grass and began to walk.

To her amusement, quite a few birds and deer followed her.

"I wonder," she continued, a hint of a smile flashing on her face. Briar changed direction abruptly and the animals followed her still to her immense delight.

"I wonder if this is a superpower . . ." she said out loud as she gazed upon her flock.

"What's a superpower?"

Briar swung her head around and saw a boy, no, a man, a few years older than her. Brown bangs swept over his forehead, and he smiled at her with some interest.

He was cute. She couldn't deny that. He was probably the first man she had ever really seen where she was automatically attracted to him. He was tall and broad shouldered and everything a man should look like according to the romance novels Aunt Merryweather stored in the back closet.

He was so handsome.

Briar blushed and murmured, "Um, well." She inched away one step at a time, willing herself back to her sanctuary instead of to this unknown part of the forest.

"Oh I'm sorry!" the boy apologized, "I didn't mean to frighten you!"

She looked into his face. There was sincerity written all over it.

But still, "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she said, feeling quite stupid as she said it. Was she four?

But it was true. She wasn't supposed to.

"How do you make friends if you don't talk to strangers?" the man enquired, his eyebrows lifting and his mouth quirked.

Briar bit her lip and smiled a little.

Was she flirting? She didn't even know how to flirt. But this felt like flirting.

"I suppose if we introduce ourselves, we wouldn't be strangers anymore," she said.

His grin was infectious.

"I'll go first," she beamed while reaching for his hand. He grabbed it and was ready to shake it when she stopped.

"I'm sorry. Do you want my birth name or the one I go by?" she looked up at him. My, height did make a difference. His eyelashes were so dark. And his hands were so strong.

"I'd like to hear what you go by," he smiled down at her. Briar's insides melted.

"My name is Briar."

"Like a briar patch?" he asked, still holding her hand.

She laughed and nodded.

"Well, Briar," he intoned, "The name I go by is also my birth name. It's Phillip."

He shook her hand but she felt limp.

This was Phillip, the boy Leah wanted to set her up with?

Was this set up?

He didn't seem to recognize her name, maybe he only knew of her as Aurora? That was the only thing that made sense.

"So, superpowers?" he repeated.

"Oh, um," she turned and found her flock of animals missing, "well, there were quite a few animals following me around the forest. I wondered if I had a superpower or something."

"That would be a pretty great option, they could protect you, warn you about earthquakes, keep you company. Animals are wonderful."

"Yes, they certainly are," she smiled at him. Her mother was right, he was handsome, "But what were you doing here?"

"I was riding my horse Samson. But he threw a shoe around here, so I tied him to a branch a little down the ways and I was trying to find it in the dirt when I saw you."

"Well, I'm sorry to distract you then!" Briar apologized.

"It's all right, I was just surprised to see another person on my father's property."

"His- his property?"

Phillip's smile stretched to his ears as he saw her dismay, "Please don't worry, we're very lax about it. Unless you were a poacher of course, but, since the animals were following you and not running from you, I don't think we have a problem."

Briar smiled, "I'm quite relieved about that."

The two stood together in amicable silence and Briar, although distracted and worried about the fact that the only boy she had instantly been attracted to is the one her mother was setting her up with, felt like she had known Phillip forever.

It was the strangest feeling she had ever encountered.

"So," Phillip began, his smile still going strong, "are you lost?"

Briar bristled, "Of course I'm not-" but then stopped speaking. She spun around for a few moments, trying to remember which exact section of trees she walked through to get here.

"So you are lost," Phillip laughed without menace. It was a very kind laugh and Briar couldn't help but want to hear it again.

"I suppose I am," Briar confessed, "I live on Castle Boulevard and I entered the forest through the edge of the street."

"Yeah, our property edges that part of the forest nicely, we don't even have fences in that area. It would be very easy to cross over." He stopped smiling and replaced his smile for a thoughtful gaze. Briar fidgeted under it, but he didn't say anything about that.

Instead he said this, "Would you like me to take you home? You can ride on Samson if you want and I'll guide him to your street, or we can walk together or ride together, your choice. That is if you want to go," he added hurriedly.

Briar beamed, "I'd love for you to take me home. And we can walk together, I'm not in any hurry and I've never ridden a horse before. I like my two feet on the ground."

"Well, I'll have to convince you otherwise someday," he said as he offered his hand with a grin, "My lady."

As cheesy as it was, Briar couldn't help it. She laughed and grasped his hand tightly.

Things were starting to look up.


Sorry that I have a bunch of short chapters all in a row, but don't worry things get longer and more complicated the farther in the story we go.

If any of my readers are American like myself, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! And if you're not, I hope you guys just have an amazing week!

I plan to update the Sunday after Thanksgiving, just to get some more chapters written because I'm starting to catch up on myself and I don't want to do that ;)

As always, comments, questions, reviews, and general excitement is always welcome in the review box.