Chapter 2

The Saturday that they arrived back in New Jersey, the weather could not have been more perfect.  The sun was high, the sky was blue and the breeze gentle enough to cool moist, sweaty skin.  

As Bradleigh scoped out the situation and tried to make sense of what was going on with her life, she couldn't help but notice the house across the street that hosted four odd looking guys.  

"Excuse me, miss."  says one mover as they start to lay boards on the ground to protect the grass, "We need to lay these planks down."   Bradleigh is startled by the strange voice.  The voice that brings her out of her daydream, dropping her right into her anxiety.

"Oh, sorry."  she hops out of the way, bracing herself against a tree, looking up at the house she now has to call home.  The cedar shakes the encase her new tomb are a drab blue, some even missing.  She tells herself that she has to make the most of it, it was a situation that was way beyond her control, one she didn't like and one she knew had an end date - she just wasn't sure when, or even how it might end.  

Little by little the house is filled with their things, making it feel even less than a home.  Cardboard box upon cardboard box - with handwriting to identify each one, stacked floor to ceiling in each room.  Bradleigh can't believe that there they are, in New Jersey, just when she thought she had hit smooth sailing.  This is supposed to be her summer, the summer before she heads off to college, the best summer of her life.   

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"Where are you from?"  the figure walking up the driveway asks her.  She recognizes him from the day before.  He is one of the guys that were standing in the group at the street corner, when she arrived to her new neighborhood.  

"Rhode Island."  Bradleigh answers him, a little scared.  She has no idea who this is or what he wants.  "Why?"

"I seen you move in yesterday.  I just wondered."  he stops in front of her, clawing his fingers through his hair, exhibiting small signs of nervouseness.

"We came from Rhode Island."  she reiterates, not sure what to say. 

"How does one go from Rhode Island to New Jersey?"  His eyes attracted to the ground, uneasy trying to make eye contact.

Bradleigh herself is feeling a little uneasy.  It's not often she encounters strangers that want to make conversation with her. "My dad transffered so we had to move."

"Transferred to where?" He asks, having little interest in her answer. 

"Rutgers."

He lets out a chuckle.  "No shit?  He works at Rutgers and you live here in Sayreville?" Jon is a bit puzzled by that.  To work at Rutgers means there's a hefty salary involved, then to live in the small blue collar community like Sayreville raises many questions.  Very few people knew that Bradleigh and her brothers are recipients of a life insurance payout from the death of their mother, to be granted on their 21st birthdays.  Brad didn't have to work, but he refused to use proceeds from the death of his wife to get through life.  He's felt that it's tainted money and in no way wants pleasure from the death of his Kiela.  So, in his mind, his struggle is real.  

"This was my aunts house." She informs him, hot wanting to expose so much of herself, of her life. "My dad bought it from her."

"Well, welcome to the neighborhood, I'm Jon."  He extends his hand and she shakes it.  He then points to his moms house, "That's my parents house."

"Nice." She says, not sure how she's supposed to work.  "Have you lived here long?"

"Too long.  I can't wait to get out of this town and start my life." He looks around the neighborhood, feeling a sense of hopelessness and doom.

"Do you have siblings?" She asks, leaning on the front fender of her dads car.  She's only been out of bed for 20 minutes and is quite embarrassed by her appearance.  

"Two younger brothers.  Tony and Matt."  He turns and leans on the car, next to her.  "You?"

"Same.  Two brothers.  Danny and Scott, but they're older than me."

"Where are they?"  Jon asks, fingers pinched in the hole of the cassette tape in his hand, spinning it.

"Sleeping, I guess."  She looks up at him.  Taking in every detail of his face, every long wind blown strand of hair as it danced in front of his face.  "We were up late unpacking."  They make eye contact and for the first three seconds she's pretty cool and collected, but she's never talked to a guy this cute before.  All of the guys she met in Rhode Island, she's never met one quite like Jon.  

"Would you guys like to go to the beach with us later?" He asks her, not sure why he did.  She was a complete stranger, as were her brothers.  "Me and the guys go every weekend.  Kick back, relax and enjoy loud music."

"Guys?  The ones you were with yesterday? " with her head she motions to the corner, "hanging out on the corner?"

He gives her a nervous type smile, "Those are my band mates, we had just rescued a squirrel from the sewer drain."

"How heroic." She jests, "A squirrel?"

"It was just a baby." He informs her.  "We got it out and it ran away, right up that tree."  Jon points to the huge oak tree in Bradleigh's neighbors front yard.  "I hope it found it's momma."

"It all works out in the end." Bradleigh volunteers, "You're in a band?"  She asks, having the word bandmates replaying in her head, "Is that why you're dressed like that, because you're in a band?"

Jon woke up with the intention of going to the beach.  He grabbed the first thing he seen on his floor, when he rolled out of bed and poured himself onto the floor.  Cut off Levi jeans, with the pockets hanging out in front and his favorite Guardian Angels tshirt was all he needed.  As Jon left the house to go pick up his brother from his buddies he grabbed his shades and Bruce Springsteen cassette.  

Bradleigh being out front was the only invitation Jon needed to go say hi.