EYE CANDY

Chapter I

When Allison travelled to Massachusetts during spring break, Lydia had just wrapped up a scrapbooking project for her blog, aka leftover cardstock and construction paper.

"I'm short," she defended. That was true. Even in heels Lydia still only came up to about 5 foot five. "How else were you going to spot me?"

"As your friend since high school, I can assure you I've developed a talent for finding small people in big crowds."

Beacon Hills, where Allison lived, was a small, a little out of place town that was a good distance from the airport. Meaning lots of time to catch up and share stories. Allison told Lydia about Beacon Hills: about the town, some of the places to eat, a strange wild animal attack incident, and her new job as a conservationist for the local preserve. Lydia shared about her classes, teaching undergrads, and was complaining about a report submission gone wrong.

"...so I had to go back to the library and redownload the report that I had already uploaded in advance, and waste money printing it a second time on the lousy library printer! That horrible object is a disgrace to the MIT name," she concluded.

Allison nodded. "Every school has one faulty printer. I'm glad I left that in college."

Lydia stifled a yawn. The initial excitement of reuniting with her friend was wearing off and she was starting to feel sleepy again. But she forced herself to listen to Allison's tale of how she had to rescue someone caught in a trap for coyotes.

"...and he was crying in pain and there was blood all over his leg and I was so shocked that instead of the hospital I drove him to the animal clinic," she heard her friend say. Lydia's ears perked up at the words 'animal clinic'.

Slumped against the window, she turned her head. "Speaking of the animal clinic," she asked, "when am I going to meet the elusive Doctor McCall?"

"Soon," the other girl replied. Lydia watched as a grin spread over her friend's face at the thought of the certain vet working at Beacon Hills Animal Clinic and Shelter. Lydia had never met Allison's boyfriend Scott, even though they recently celebrated their first anniversary. The pair had met when Allison's family just moved to (and finally settled down in) Beacon Hills and were quickly smitten by each other. Allison had promised to introduce him on Skype a few times, but Lydia never got to see more than pictures of the guy.

"Could soon mean today?" she probed. "Or does he have another escapade for work again, perhaps in Alaska this time?"

"Hey, that trip to Mexico was real, okay?" Allison said defensively. "His ex-boss needed some help for a while. And for the record, he wants to meet you too."

"Why? What things about me have you told him?" Lydia joked.

Allison smirked. "That you could give his plaid flannel fanatic friend some fashion tips."

They finally reached Beacon Hills just after sunrise and although Lydia usually had no problems waking up early, she had always been more of a night owl, and the effect of watching all those in-flight movies were catching up to her. As soon as they pulled up in front of the Argent household, Lydia dragged her luggage up to the spare room, mumbled a greeting to Allison's father, and collapsed on the bed.

The sun was still somewhat high in the sky when she woke up, but this was summer. Lydia guessed it was around four o'clock. Maybe five. She rolled over and picked up the watch she left on the bedside drawer. Yep, 4.32 pm.

She swung her legs off the bed, sliding onto the floor next to her luggage. She pulled out a set of clothes, set them on the bed, then pushed herself onto her feet and crossed the room to the closet. Once she mentally mapped out the arrangement for her clothes, she unpacked most of her belongings into the closet. Except for the shoes. Those were lined up next to the door. Make-up and related items on the vanity. And her stationery and books on the desk. Then she grabbed the clothes on the bed and headed for the shower.