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“Si, you have to feed me! I am out of food at my place, and Mom said that if I ask her to cook for me again, she would make sure I moved back into the house! Help!”

Sienna looked into the anxious face of her twenty year old cousin, Faith, who was currently standing at the door to her cottage.

“Faithie, I’m not going to keep feeding you, you know. I was 20 once. I managed to eat,” Sienna sighed, then let her cousin in.

“Thank you so much, Sienna! You know you’re my favorite cousin, right? Besides, you were twenty, five years ago. Things have changed since then. It’s much more difficult trying to live in an apartment and go to school at the same time,” Faith explained.

Sienna laughed as she picked up her sauce spoon and stirred the spaghetti sauce she had left simmering. "Faith, give me a break! It’s not that hard. Besides, I don’t understand why you don’t just live on campus. That way, you’ll have meal plans and won’t “starve”. Ok, whatever,” she added quickly when she saw the look on Faith’s face. “You’re welcome for dinner. It’s just spaghetti.”

Faith smiled and, plopping down on the couch, flicked the television to Access Hollywood. Sienna groaned inwardly and wondered when Faith would get over her teeny bopper phase. Probably never, Sienna thought. Then, she gasped at the image on the television and tried to focus on what the anchor was saying.

“Actress Leighanne Wallace, the former fiancée of Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell, tied the knot yesterday with her longtime love, Daniel Trace, in their hometown of Marietta, Georgia. Trace and Wallace were high school sweethearts until Trace enlisted in the army. Wallace met Littrell at a 1997 Backstreet Boys’ video shoot, and the couple was engaged, when, in February 2000, Wallace broke the engagement to go back to Trace. Trace was honorably discharged from the US army after being permanently crippled by mortar fire in Sudan. The couple is also expecting their first child sometime in the beginning of 2003. Our Access reporters caught up with Wallace’s ex, Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell, in a Lexington, Kentucky airport to discover his reaction to the news of the nuptials.”

The screen flickered and a video of Brian—the same Brian, Sienna realized, that had walked into her shop that day—began to play.

“Actually, I think it’s great that she’s happy. That’s all I’d really ever want for anyone I loved. If she and Daniel plan to be together and happy for the rest of their lives, then I am happy for them. The fact that they’re expecting a child is a double blessing, I think. Children are a gift from God and a miracle. I couldn’t be happier,” Brian finished with a smile.

The anchor switched to another celebrity story, and Sienna snapped to when she realized that Faith was waving her hand in front of her face.

“Hello? Earth to Sienna! Where are you?”

“I met him,” Sienna managed and sank into a kitchen chair.

Faith came and sat next to her.

“What do you mean ‘met him’? Who did you meet?” Faith asked.

Sienna gestured towards the television screen. “Brian, that Backstreet guy. He walked into the shop today and asked for help for a flower arrangement for his mom. It was her birthday today, and he has the most beautiful eyes.” Sienna stopped then, realizing that she was babbling.

Faith sat down next to her and tried not to shriek. “I can’t believe you met Brian from the Backstreet Boys! I’ve lived here all my life, and I hoped that I would meet him or Kevin, but it never happened. And then, one day, he just walks into your shop! How amazing is that?!”

“He said he’d be back,” Sienna said quietly.

“What?”

“He said that my flower arrangements were incredible and that, next time he wanted flowers, he would come to Sienna’s first,” Sienna clarified for Faith, and for herself.

“Wow. Can I take more hours at the shop? Please? Maybe he’ll come in again. You know, he’s only 27. That’s not too much older than me, right?”

Sienna listened to Faith babble on about whether or not she could date Brian because age was a big factor, etc. When she remembered the spaghetti, she moved to the stove and poured the sauce into the pasta and stirred. Faith realized that Sienna was getting things ready for dinner and stopped talking. She pulled out plates and silverware and set the table. Then she looked over at Sienna, who was dishing up the spaghetti.

“What are you thinking, Si?”

“Hmm?” Sienna glanced over at Faith. “Oh, well, I was just thinking that he looked sad.”

“Who?”

“Brian. He looked sad on the interview when they asked him about his ex-fiancée. I mean, he said he was happy for them, but the look in his eyes said something different,” Sienna explained.

“Wow. How could you tell? He was smiling and seemed happy enough,” Faith wondered.

Sienna shrugged. “I met him and saw his genuine smile. It lit up his whole face. It was like watching a little kid on Christmas.” She smiled. “Faith, when I walked over to ask him if he needed help, he looked at me. But not really. It was like he looked into me. Like he could see right to my soul. It was weird. But kind of comforting.”

Faith sat, placed her hand over her heart, and let out an exaggerated sigh. “That’s so poetic. Really,” she added when she saw the look on Sienna’s face. “Okay, so tell me. When he left the shop, did you think, ‘Mmm, I hope that one comes back because I’d like to take a nice, big bite out of him’?”

Sienna laughed. “Of course not. Although, I don’t think I would have said no to a date, either. But that’s never going to happen anyway. So, why bother thinking about it?”

“Oh, Sienna. That’s exactly why it’s not working out for you and Scott. You look at everything so practically. Let yourself fall once. Even if it is just a celebrity that may or may not come back to your shop again.”

Sienna shook her head and bit into spaghetti. “Faith, give it up. I like Scott, we’re working out well, and you should focus on school more than your love life. All will be well.” And then she stopped. “Damn it! I knew I was forgetting something!”

She pushed away from the table and grabbed her keys off the counter.

“Sienna! Where are you going?! Where’s the fire?” Faith called after her as Sienna rushed towards the door.

Sienna turned back. “Mrs. Johnson is throwing her daughter a bridal shower. I was supposed to make up five arrangements that she’s picking up at 8 tomorrow morning. Jesus, I’m a moron for forgetting something like this!” She grabbed her keys and called over her shoulder, “Wash my dishes, would you? And, lock the door behind you when you leave!”