Two months later....

AJ stepped out onto the dock outside his vacation house. He took a deep breath and sighed. Looking around, he took in every beautiful sight. AJ was about to turn around and go back inside when he noticed his neighbor. Seeing that it was a girl made him even more interested. He also saw that she was struggling with a bunch of shopping bags she was getting out of the trunk of her car. How lucky for me that she needs help, AJ thought as he jogged over to her car.

"Need any help?" he asked her.

The girl looked up and saw him standing there. "Sure. Thanks a lot."

"No problem," AJ said, graciously. "It's my pleasure. My name's AJ McLean."

"I'm Lynn Ortiz," she said, reaching over and shaking his hand. Then she looked at him closely. "You know, you look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?"

"I don't know," AJ lied. "I just got here yesterday. Taking a vacation from work."

"Really? And you chose Seattle?"

"I've been here before and I really liked it. Reminds me of home."

"Oh."

The two of them were silent for a while as Lynn handed AJ a few bags and grabbed as many as she could. AJ took the opportunity to study Lynn. He like the way her long, dark auburn hair was layered and styled. His eyes lowered to her face. He couldn't see what color her eyes were since she was wearing dark sunglasses, but he like her full lips. AJ noticed that all she seemed to be wearing on them was lipgloss and found it very sexy. He continued to travel down her body and his mouth almost dropped to the ground. She was slender and well-porportioned, for someone who looked barely taller than his mother.

Lynn started walking towards the house when she looked back to find AJ staring at her. "Are you coming or what?"

"Sorry. Went into a daze. I'm coming." AJ followed her inside.

After a few trips, they got all the bags inside and fell on the couch in exhaustion. Lynn took off her sunglasses and studied the guy beside her. AJ was leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed. His hair was short, curly, and black. On any other guy it would've looked ridiculous, but somehow he seemed to pull it off. Moving on, she saw his intricately designed goatee. That's pretty cool, Lynn thought. Continuing her study, she saw he had a nice body. A little on the skinny side, but he wore big, baggy clothes that made it look tempting. All of a sudden AJ opened his eyes and caught her staring at him. Lynn looked away quickly.

"See something you like?" AJ teased.

"No," Lynn said heatedly, embarrassed that she got caught.

AJ looked in her eyes. They were a beautiful bluish-gray and right now they had a fiery look in them. "You have really beautiful eyes."

Lynn looked away. I like your eyes. You have cool eyes, said another voice in her head. She shook her head as if to get the voice out. AJ saw and wondered if he'd been too forward with his comment.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked, looking at her curiously.

"No," Lynn said quickly. "It's just that I'm not used to hearing compliments like that." Not anymore.

"I find hard to believe that you don't compliments like that daily," AJ smiled. "You have to have a boyfriend around somewhere, right?"

"Actually, I don't. Not that it's any of your business."

"Excuse me. I was just assuming the natural."

"I'm sorry. I'm not being a very friendly neighbor. What about you? You're a extremely good-looking guy. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No, not that it's any of your business," AJ mimicked.

Lynn smiled at the teasing remark. "I said I was sorry. Anyway, you said you were on vacation. What do you do?"

"I'm in the entertainment business," AJ said carefully. "How about you?"

"I go to Cornell," Lynn said, giving AJ a strange look. He turned it to her so quickly, it made her wonder if he was being truthful. "It's my first year. I moved here from Phoenix with my best friend. We took the fall semester off to check out all the colleges we got accepted to. You know, explore our options. What about you? Where are you from?"

"Florida. I live in the middle of nowhere. It's a little ways out of Orlando, very nice and quiet."

"That's cool." Lynn was about to say something else when her phone rang. "Excuse me while I get that."

"Sure," AJ said. He watched her walk into the kitchen, loving the way her hips swayed from side to side. Then his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Bone, where the hell are you?" Brian Littrell yelled into the phone. "We're all standing outside the house in the rain."

"Oh man, I'm sorry. I'm just next door. I was helping our neighbor with some shopping bags. Let me tell her I'm leaving, then I'll be right over."

" 'Her'? Now I know why you didn't come right back," Brian said, knowingly. "Just hurry up. We're getting drenched out here."

"Alright. Be right there." AJ hung up and headed toward Lynn's kitchen. "Lynn, I gotta go. My housemates just showed up and...."

AJ saw Lynn looking out the window with tears in her eyes. He knew right away she didn't hear a word he just said. He walked over to her and touched her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Lynn turned around, saw AJ, and quickly looked away. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," said Lynn. She looked at him again. This time he didn't see any tears. It was like they had never been there. "Did you say something about your housemates?"

"Yeah," said AJ, slowly. "They just showed up and the house is locked, so they're standing in the rain waiting for me. Would you like to come over and meet them?"

"Maybe some other time."

"Sure. I'll see you later." AJ turned around to leave. She stopped him.

"It was nice meeting you, AJ."

He turned around and saw her smiling. He smiled back. "Nice meeting you, too, Lynn."

They looked at each other for a few more moments, then AJ left. That is the most beautiful and strangest girl I've ever met, he thought as he walked back to his house. He shook his head and took the housekey out of his pocket as he neared the front door. He let his friends in the house, went straight to his room and locked himself in there while the other got settled in. He looked out the window and saw Lynn walking along the dock in the rain. AJ watched until she went back in.

Meanwhile, the other guys were wondering what was wrong with him. When Brian mentioned that their neighbor was a girl, they all just figured he got shot down and was sulking in his room, so they just left him alone.