I stared out the window of the Greyhound bus and watched the scenery pass me by. I had left early this morning from the station in Mobile, Alabama and was on route to my mom’s friend, Crystal, who would be waiting for me at the Chapel Hill, North Carolina depot. There were only about thirty other passengers on the bus, which left enough room that I didn’t have to share a seat with anyone. I’d listened to my iPod for the most part of the trip. It was an older version, one most people would gladly sell for about ten dollars nowadays, but it served its purpose with me and had all my songs. The announcement came overhead we would be arriving at our destination in approximately ten minutes. I felt my stomach do a flip-flop as nervousness kicked into gear. 

The bus pulled in and the driver announced we had reached our last stop. I followed behind the other passengers as they walked down the aisle, stepped off the bus steps and onto the sidewalk. It was a hot day here in the Carolinas and I felt the sweat beads already start to form on my forehead. I grabbed my dark hair up into a ponytail and secured it with the tie I had wrapped around my wrist. The one piece of luggage I owned was already set out waiting for me to come claim it. As soon as I picked up the bag, I heard my name being called from somewhere within the parking area. It was a woman’s voice, so I assumed it must be Crystal. I saw a small, brown haired woman waving her arms high up in the air to get my attention. After weaving in and out of the other passengers and the people that had come to meet them, I was finally able to make it to the parking lot.

“My… oh… my.” Crystal grabbed me into a tight squeeze. “Lookie at you, all grown up. You’re the spitting image of your momma at that age.” 

Everyone always told me there was definitely a mother-daughter twin look-a-like thing going on with her and I with my long dark hair and brown eyes that matched her’s almost exactly. Most were telling me my momma was a wild one at my age, but I refuse to be like that. I don’t know, maybe I just want to be more respected by a man before I give my heart, soul, and everything else in between to him. 

“Well, let’s get your bag into the car and get back to the house so you can settle in.” She grabbed the bag out of my hand and tossed it into the backseat of the car. “Ready?” Crystal motioned towards the passenger door. 

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had no clue where I was going and who I was even with, but here I was starting all over again. I gave her a small smile, nodded my head, and got in as I was instructed to do.

The ride back to Crystal’s house took about thirty minutes. I answered the questions that were asked, but kept most of the private, personal stuff to myself regarding my mother’s behavior. The home she took me to looked well-kept and was big improvement from the trailer conditions that I’d grown up in. There were two other vehicles in the driveway when we pulled in and I couldn’t remember if Crystal was married or had any children that may be of driving age.  My focus stayed on the other vehicles. 

Crystal must have noticed because she gave a tsk sound of irritation and waved her finger at the truck and car. “They never seem to listen to me and just go about doing whatever they want.” She motioned towards the vehicles. “My sons both seem to ignore everything I tell them. I say don’t park so close to the flowers and shrubs.” She waved her hand towards the edge of the parking where the cars were lined up with the green shrubs and bright colored flowers. “But they think just because they’re over eighteen, they don’t have to listen to their momma.” She slammed her car door extra hard, probably so the occupants inside the house would know that she wasn’t a very happy person.

“You have sons?” I was shocked by this news. My mom never said anything about Crystal having any children, let alone guys my age. Not that my mom talked about Crystal much, but she could’ve forewarned me I was going to live with two boys for the next year or so. 

“Yep.” Crystal opened up the front door of the house and led me through to the kitchen. “And there’s one of them as I suspected.” 

I lifted my gaze up slowly to meet a pair of sparkling blue eyes. He looked warm, friendly, and was one of the most gorgeous guys I’d ever laid eyes on. 
Being the recluse I was, I quickly looked back down to the floor. I wasn’t used to any guy looking at me like that, especially where I came from and the reputation my momma held around the town. All through high school, the guys my age always thought they were better than me because of where I lived, or they made comments about how they did my mom the previous night. 

“Alabama Carter, this is Joshua Allen. He’s a year older than you and my youngest.” `Crystal patted Joshua’s back. “Maybe you can help Alabama to her room while I start dinner.”

Joshua nodded his head and his eyes shifted back to me. I felt intimated by his stare and kept my focus on the ground. 

“Here, I’ll take your bag for you.” He walked over to where I was standing and reached for the handle of the of suitcase I’d placed on the floor. He seemed to be waiting for me to acknowledge he was even there or that he’d spoken to me.

My tongue just seemed to be twist-tied. Before I had a chance to grab it on my own, he picked it up. He looked like he was waiting for a response from me before he showed me to my new room. 

“Um, thank you.” I probably sounded like a little girl to him.

Joshua just smiled a perfect little grin and moved towards that hallway. “Mom, set you up in the extra bedroom we have.” He walked down the hallway that housed all the bedrooms. “There are two bathrooms. One in here…” He flicked the switch of the one located along the hallway. “And one in Mom’s room.” He pointed to the closed room just past the bathroom. “Then there are two bedrooms at the end of the hall. Those are mine and Hunter’s. This is yours.” He opened up the door that we were standing in front of.

I walked in behind him and looked around. It was bigger than my closet sized room back at the trailer and was nicely done up in mostly pink and purple colors. 
Joshua set the suitcase down and walked back over to the door. 

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say. I really wasn’t experienced in keeping the conversation going with members of the opposite sex, unless it was to tell them off. Joshua smiled then shut the door softly behind him as he walked back out into the hallway. 

I opened up my bag to put the few things away I’d brought from home. The whole process of settling in was easy since I didn’t have much to settle in with. 
I sat down on the chair that was seated by the desk. From there, I had a window view of the front part of the house’s outside by the driveway. There were two male figures out there, one was Joshua, and the other was one that made my heart do instant little flip-flops and I felt like there wasn’t any air left in the room. I watched as the two seemed to be having a heated argument. My window was open a bit, so I could hear the long line of cuss words and talk about me being delivered back and forth between the two. 

“I just don’t want you being rude and making her feel like she isn’t at home.” Joshua shook his finger at the other guy like he was a little kid.

“This isn’t her home. I’m not on the welcoming committee. And I could give a fuck less if she thinks I’m rude.” This other guy grabbed some sort of notebook from the back seat of the truck and strolled past Joshua, making sure to bump him as he went by. 

There were two loud bangs as both of them let the front door slam on their way in. I heard Crystal begin to yell at both of them about their behavior, not really caring if the entire neighborhood could listen in on this family argument. I slowly opened the door and peeked out. There was no one there, so I guessed they were probably in the kitchen. I heard Crystal’s voice and it sounded quite pissed off as she said something to the fact ‘that she would not have either one of them traumatizing that poor girl any more than she had been.’ 

Gee, wonder who they’re talking about? Couldn’t be me, right. Am I traumatized? Shit, I don’t even know if that’s possible. I usually feel totally numb and just go along with the flow of whatever happens. 

I stood outside of the kitchen doorway and heard both boys whisper ‘yes, ma’am’ to Crystal’s demand. 

“I just don’t get why you have to take in every stray that comes your way?” That wasn’t Joshua’s voice. It was much lower and edgier than his. “I mean really…couldn’t she have gone someplace else?” 

Crystal then used his full name of Hunter Michael Allen. I grimaced because I knew with that act alone, she meant business. My momma would yell at me and say, ‘Alabama Carter, don’t let them kids bully you around. You need to stand up for yourself, girl.’ She used to do that a lot when I was a little girl, like in elementary school. Usually, it was because of her reputation and doings that I was tormented every day. 

“I would never turn away the daughter of my best friend from high school. She’s in a bad situation and has nowhere else to go.” Crystal’s voice spoke again and then a light slap sound of someone getting a love tap for good measure. “I will not have you make her time here miserable.” 

“I’ll stay out of her way. No problem there.” The last comment was Hunter’s in response to his momma’s request of not making my life any more miserable. 
Before I had the chance to scurry away, a hard, warm, body ran into me. 

“I’m sorry.” I backed up so that whomever I had run into wasn’t pressed so close up against me. Not that it didn’t feel good to have that muscular, sweet musky scent close, but I had heard most of the conversation as I eavesdropped outside the doorway and knew I was the hot topic of the day. My eyes lifted up from examining the texture of the carpet that had captured my attention and I met the darkest of creamy brown eyes that I’d ever seen. 

“No problem.” Hunter sidestepped me and went around. He didn’t even look twice in my direction as he sped off down the hall. 

Wow, looks like I made a great first impression with him. Two of the people here think I’m a disturbed, charity case and the other thinks of me as a burden to their happy family.  I heard a door bang shut and assumed that was Hunter. Well, it was more than an assumption since he went into the room that Joshua had said was his brother’s. Another guess that I was probably right on was that he really didn’t want me staying here. It wasn’t like I’d called up and said I needed a place to stay. But more like, Crystal called and told me to have all my stuff packed and be on the bus, because she was coming to get me. It was either I said okay or go live out on the streets. After one last glance back down to the door that had just been slammed shut, I made my way into the kitchen.

“Hey, you’re almost in time for dinner.” Crystal patted the chair for me to sit in. “We’re having sloppy Joes and tater tots.” The timer on the stove went off indicating that the little potato puff balls were done.

“Thank you.” I sat down on the chair across from Joshua. 

“Mom, said you were thinking about college.” 

My eyes traveled up from looking at the tablecloth and returned his gaze. “I was, but I don’t know about now.” 

“Why’s that?” Joshua picked up a handful of tater tots and put them on his plate.

“I’m not sure if anyone close by is still accepting applications.” I took a sip of the sweet tea that Crystal had placed in front of me. 

“I’m going over to the campus tomorrow. I have to meet up with the Lacrosse team, you can come along and we’ll check in with the office.” 

“Um…” 

“That’s sounds like a great idea.” Crystal sat down at the table with us and handed out the buns for the sandwiches. “Joshua knows a lot of the kids going over there, since they all went to high school together. I think it would be good for you to go and check it out.”

We all turned towards the sound of Hunter walking back into the room. 

“I see you decided to join us,” Crystal commented 

Hunter took his chair and inched it away from mine. He sat down like he was afraid to get too close, as if he were a little boy and I was the girl with cooties. “No one told me.” Hunter picked up the bun on his plate and filled it with the saucy meat mixture. 

“Hunter, this is Alabama. She’ll be staying with us for a while.” Crystal made the formal introductions. 

“Alabama?” Hunter questioned me. “Isn’t that the state that you came from?” 

I mentally rolled my eyes and then looked from my dinner plate to the guy trying to poke fun of me. It wasn’t a new joke that I hadn’t already heard before. There was always one circulating around that usually insinuated that either my momma was so dumb that she named me after the state that we lived in. Or another favorite was that my momma was such a whore that I’d gotten my name because my daddy told her he was from that state and that was the only way she knew how to get in touch with him. When I glanced up to the brown eyes waiting for a response, I choked up and couldn’t get a word out in rebuttal.

“Just shut up!” Joshua threw his napkin at Hunter. “You always have to be so rude to everyone.” 

The way that Hunter was looking at me, I felt like a scared puppy and wanted to cower away from his stare. 

Hunter tossed the napkin back at Joshua and shrugged his shoulders. “Just sayin.” 

“Well, no one wants to hear—” Joshua was stopped short with his comeback remark.

Crystal had her hands in front of both their faces indicating that they needed to keep their mouths shut. “Do you two ever stop with the fighting and arguing?” Her face was all scrunched up and she looked really annoyed with both her sons. Finally, after a few seconds of scolding them with her eyes she turned her attention back to me. “Alabama honey, don’t you mind these two.” She shot another dirty glare to each of her sons. “These two act like toddlers all the time.” 

I glanced up from my full plate of food.  Joshua and his mom were staring at me with sympathy, while Hunter seemed more interested in his food than anything that just occurred. “Um—I’m not really hungry right now. May I be excused?” 

“Of course, dear. Why don’t you go get some rest? I’m sure you’re exhausted.” 

“Thank you.” 

I felt like I was under constant scrutiny. I know they meant well, but I just wanted to try and forget the past just for a while. The door to my new room couldn’t come any faster as I made my way back from the kitchen. There was Joshua who seemed to be the most pleasant guy I’d ever met, then Crystal was the mom I had always wished mine would be like—and then there was Hunter. The guy who was making me feel things that I promised myself never to feel—desire for someone who I knew would break my heart.