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Chapter One
Classic rock played in the background, accompanying the clinking of glasses and silverware of the busy restaurant on that Friday night. The girl opened the door and walked through, smiling as she anticipated the reaction from her cousin.
She pushed her way through the crowd and up to the front desk and waited for the hostess to look up. The Chinese girl behind the desk didn’t notice her for a couple of minutes until she heard the clearing of a throat, the polite of saying, hello, I’m here, then she looked up and smiled.
“Good evening, welcome to the Cheesecake Factory. Would you like a table? There is a hour wait,” asked the hostess to the tall girl standing there.
The girl smiled. “Well, I would like a table but I was wondering if Ashleigh Morgan was here?”
The hostess frowned. “Um, Miss Morgan is here, but she is extremely busy right now. It is eight p.m. on a weekend, our busiest time.”
The girl nodded. “I know but could you please just find her and tell her that she has a visitor from Illinois?” The hostess looked uncertain. “Please,” said the girl with a smile.
“Okay, I will be a minute.”
Colleen Davis smiled and watched as the hostess walked away to the office area in the back. She sighed. It had been a long drive and she couldn’t wait to see her cousin Ashleigh and the rest of her cousins. They hadn’t seen each other in six months, what with Ashleigh and the rest of the Morgan clan living in Maryland and Colleen in Illinois. She rocked back and forth on her heels, her eyes scanning the extremely busy restaurant, noticing the changes from the last time she was here. The walls had since been painted with awesome murals of famous celebrities and persons from history. She was looking at an interesting brightly colored depiction of Albert Einstein when she heard a loud voice cut through the noise of the restaurant.
“COLLEEN!” Colleen turned around just in time to see a pair of arms grab her in a huge bear hug.
“What are you doing here?” asked Ashleigh as she continued to crush Colleen almost to death.
“I’m mmgh, mmghm, fmgffa,” said Colleen.
“What?” Ashleigh stopped hugging her cousin and stepped back.
“I said I couldn’t breathe,” said Colleen while gasping in air. “I have to say for being a 5’6 shrimp, you have pretty good grip.”
Ashleigh looked up at her 5’10 cousin and laughed. “Whatever. So what are you doing here? You didn’t drive thirteen hours to eat dinner at Cheesecake,” asked Ashleigh curiously as she pushed Colleen over to sit at the bar.
“Well, I’m celebrating.” Colleen paused as she ordered a Shirley temple. The bartender quickly made her drink. Ashleigh shook her head.
“You’re twenty two years old and you ask for a Shirley temple?”
Colleen grinned. “I like them, plus I love the cherry.” With that she took the cherry out of her drink and ate it. Then Ashleigh laughed as she saw the weird look on Colleen’s face as she obviously tried to tie the cherry stem in a knot.
“There, I did it!” Colleen took out a knotted cherry stem.
“You know, some guy in the future will appreciate your talented tongue,” Ashleigh said cheekily. Colleen laughed.
“So you were telling me why you were in Maryland?” Ashleigh signaled the bartender to bring her usual and soon she was sipping a white Russian.
“Well, I am here to celebrate. Ryan and I are going to party for ten days here and then she is driving back to Illinois with me, to stay at my pad for a month,” said Colleen with a smile. She bounced up and down on the stool. It was clear that she was really excited.
“Okay, I’m confused. What are you guys celebrating?”
Ashleigh frowned as she tried to remember what could have been so important that her sister Ryan would leave her restaurant, the Old Hickory Grille, for a month to party with Colleen. Well, other than the reason that Ryan and Colleen were best friends and practically joined at the hip. Though they hadn’t seen each other in six months, they called each other daily and talked for hours.
Colleen took a sip of her drink. “Well, you wouldn’t know because it only happened yesterday. Ryan and I had the trip planned for a long time.”
“What happened?” Ashleigh was more confused than ever.
“The job. You are now looking at Dr. Colleen Davis, cardiologist at the University of Chicago hospital,” stated Colleen with a huge grin.
“HOLY COW!” Ashleigh jumped off the barstool to crush Colleen with another hug. “That is so great. Congratulations.”
Colleen nodded. “I am so excited. It’s my dream job.”
Ashleigh just shook her head. “Imagine, my cousin is only twenty two and already a big doctor. You are just to smart for your own good. So when do you start?”
Colleen crossed her legs. “I start on January 1st.”
“That isn’t for five months.”
“I know, I get this huge vacation. It is so cool. I am taking my first vacation in over five years.” Colleen sighed and stretched her arms out. “It feels so good to just veg out.”
Ashleigh laughed. “Well, you’re the retard who decided to go through college, med school, and residency in only five years.”
“Yeah I was, but I loved every minute of it.” Colleen started to say something when they both heard a loud grumble. Ashleigh looked around for the source of the noise. “What was that?”
“That was my stomach,” said Colleen grinning. “It was a thirteen hour drive up here and I am starving. That’s why I came here first. Ryan and I are planning to go clubbing after she finished up at the Grille, so I decided to come see you and grab a bite to eat at your restaurant. So, do you think you could hook me up with a table, seeing you’re the owner and all?” Colleen looked at the huge line of people waiting for their tables. “I really can’t wait an hour to eat.” Right on cue, a loud growl was heard.
“No, it doesn’t sound like you could wait,” said Ashleigh.
“Of course you can have a table. What's the use of having your cousin own a restaurant if you can’t get special privileges?”
Colleen laughed. Ashleigh jumped off her stool and walked to the hostess stand to see what was free.
“You are in luck. A six seat booth just opened up. You can have that as soon as it is cleaned up,” said Ashleigh as she turned to tell Miranda, the hostess, that the booth was to go to Colleen.
Colleen sighed. “Great, food is just what I need. But first I am going to the bathroom. I did change at a gas station but I wasn’t about to actually use their bathroom.”
Ashleigh looked at Colleen’s outfit. She was wearing knee high black leather boots with a stacked heel, shiny iridescent stockings, a short black skirt, and a black shirt that had a glittery, see through overshirt. “I did think that you looked a little dressed up. You said you and Ryan were going to go clubbing?”
Colleen nodded.
“Well, be careful, with the way you look, guys will be attacking from all sides,” stated Ashleigh with a grin.
“Shut up. Anyway, with my belt, all any guys will be doing, is hurting,” said Colleen as she walked away to the bathroom.
Ashleigh smiled. Colleen was such a character. But of course what she said was true, Colleen had been taking Tae Kwon Do for six years and had a 5th degree black belt. She could literally kick anyone’s ass.
Ashleigh turned back to the desk and nodded as Miranda said that she was taking her break. She was flipping through various reservation sheets as she waited for Colleen to return when she saw the double doors to the restaurant open and five guys walk in. They approached her and she turned with a smile to help them.
All of them were wearing hats, and one of them was wearing a pair of those cool yellow sunglasses. Ashleigh turned to the tallest guy who was wearing a tan fishing cap and was dressed in khakis and a black body T-shirt. She smiled.
“Hello, I’m Ashleigh. Welcome to the Cheesecake Factory.”
She started to ask how many when she realized that she was talking to Kevin Richardson and standing before were the Backstreet Boys.
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