Everyone has that ‘thing’, that place where your life suddenly changes and you have no control over it. It’s a fixed point in time that you later look back on and say to yourself, “Yeah! Right there. That’s when it all started.”

For some, it’s a joyous occasion; the birth of a child, graduating from college or buying a house. For others, it’s tragic. Their point could be the death of a loved one or maybe a divorce. But the one thing all of these events have in common is that they mark a significant event in your life where you will no longer ever be the same. Everything about you will be redefined from that instant on.

These are incidents are called Pivotal Moments. Mine was the arrival of a dog and his owner.

*** *** ***

After pulling up to the curb across from my house, I sat in silence and stared at the unfamiliar red SUV currently residing in my parking spot in the driveway. I didn’t know who it belonged to and I’ll admit to a brief moment of curiosity, but based solely on this inconvenience, I certainly didn’t like them. Slamming my car into ‘park’, I shut off the engine with an angry twist of my wrist and shoved open my door. Grabbing my backpack and purse from my passenger seat, I got out and slammed the door shut behind me. If it happened to slam shut with more force than necessary, oh well. Today had most definitely not been the best of days and now I had to admit to my mother that I was no longer the reigning ‘Golden Girl’. Therefore, it seemed perfectly reasonable that as I approached the dark red gas guzzling monstrosity in the driveway, my inner child would surrender to my lowest levels of immaturity and give the front passenger tire a mighty kick.

The excruciating pain that raced through my foot and up toward my ankle and radiating into my shin made me quickly remember why ‘Aislinn Fits’ were so frowned upon. Aislinn tended to injure herself when she threw a temper tantrum. I made a mental note to avoid referring to myself in the third person, even mentally since it was kind of douchey.

Limping and cursing under my breath, I made my way into the house. Tossing my things onto the bench stationed just inside the front foyer, I called out for my mom. Hearing her answer from the kitchen, I stomped back to her to vent about my day. Well… OK. Well, in reality it was actually more like I limped with a purpose than storming around. However, that would then lead me to admitting once again that I didn’t always make the best of decisions. I wanted to delude myself into thinking that I was a mature, ready for the world 17 year old. I tended to hold onto denial like a starving man holds onto a vanilla wafer .

When I entered the kitchen, I was quickly reminded one of the primary reasons we all adore my mother. The smells of garlic and tomato sauce in the air indicated that she was making her signature lasagna. There was also the sweet scent of cooling cake lingering too. My mom could cook. And not just in that pansy, open a can of gravy and toss it onto noodles type of cooking. No. We’re talking homemade, from scratch, everything tastes like manna from Heaven cooking. This skill, however, must be a genetic oddity. I didn’t inherit a single bit of it. My older brother, on the other hand, could cook until his pecs fell off and it’d be divine. I still state that this was a freak accident and only further proves my theory that Connor is a female in disguise, his attempts to dunk my head in the toilet notwithstanding.

Mentally lamenting the fact I am culinary challenged, I smiled at Mom and gave a quick squeal of glee when I saw ‘It’. ‘It’ would be the enormous bowl of homemade cream cheese frosting set aside for the presently cooling cake on the counter. Cream cheese frosting is my only sugary weakness and Mom’s from scratch concoction was amazing. I have no chance at developing willpower with that stuff around. Glancing quickly toward Mom’s position as she washed the vegetables for the salad, I snuck over and readied a finger to dip into the bowl and swipe a glob of the sweet goodness held within.

I couldn’t contain the yelp of surprise when the woman smacked my hand out of the bowl.

“Aislinn Munroe! Just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

Rubbing the injured spot on my hand, I snapped out, “Dang, Mom! That hurt!” Eyeing the rapidly reddening welt, my pout was genuine. “You didn’t have to smack it that hard, you know!”

I caught her rolling her eyes as she turned away and proceeded to stick my tongue out at her, scrunching a look behind her back. I figure if I’m going to ride the immaturity bus today, I might as well go all the way. Reaching over, I snagged a carrot and hopped up onto the counter next to where she was working. Sighing and munching on the carrot, I began softly thumping my heels on the cabinet door below me, lost in thought.

“I already know.” My mom’s voice broke through. I tensed.

“Know what?” I asked, thinking it was better to play dumb, than to spill everything I thought she knew and us be on two totally different pages.

Mom sighed and with the back of the hand holding the paring knife, rubbed her forehead. “I know about the fight, Ash.” Her thumb nail scratched the inner area of her eye, near her nose, before she went back to peeling the cucumbers. “You’re wondering why I’m not flipping out on you right now, aren’t you?”

I nodded. Yeah, I kinda was.

“Aislinn… you’re a good girl. You stay out of trouble. You get good grades. You don’t sneak out of the house, you don’t sneak boys in. I have never had to worry about you like I did with your brother.” She paused and chuckled softly to herself before looking out the window over the sink for a moment and then glanced over at me. “As much as I hate that it happened, if you’ve been in a fight, then I have no doubts it was probably for a good reason. So, let’s hear it.” Her attention turned back to the vegetables.

“OK. But first…. Mom? " Whose truck is in my spot out in the driveway? Do we know who it is? I’ve never seen it before.” Some would think I was attempting a stall tactic. They would be right. Apparently Mom knew it, too, if the look on her face was any indication.

I sighed and I opened my mouth to tell her what happened, when something caught my eye in the doorway from the kitchen into the formal living room.

“What the hell is that?” I yelled out as I started scrambling around the counter top. “Mom!” I could feel panic setting in.

Mom looked up at me in confusion. “What?”

Flinging a hand towards the door, I finally got my feet swung up and over the island and dropped down to the other side. Yes, I left my mother behind. I wasn’t proud of myself, but I have a strong sense of self-preservation. “That! What is it?” My panic had me bouncing on my toes.

Puzzled, she looked over and then smiled, chuckling. “That would be a dog, Ash.”

A what? No. That was not a dog. “No, Mother. That is not a dog.” I narrowed my eyes as the beast shuffled over to my parental unit. I was conflicted between worrying about my mother being eaten and me getting out of the house alive. “There is no way that’s a dog! That’s a… a… I don’t know what that is! A bear?” I edged a little closer to the back patio door, glancing back and forth between the escape to the outdoors and the monster that was now-

-Oh my god! It was heading toward my mother! It was going to eat my mother! I could only watch in panicked horror as it stopped in front of her, made a loud growling noise and started moving its mouth to her arm.

Now, I’d really like to say that I was brave. I’d like to say that I gathered every ounce of courage I possessed, grabbed some sort of weapon, raced around the island and beat the beast down. Pummeled it into the dirt, never to rise again. Alas, no, that’s not what happened. I should probably hang my head in abject shame as I admit that I screamed in terror. Not just a regular scream of terror, but a truly epic, exceedingly girly scream of terror. That, to my dismay, garnered the attention of the large animal causing said scream and it raced toward me.

It was brought to my attention much later that the animal did not, in fact, race to me, but did more of a shuffling stroll. I still maintain that said creature raced at me with super animal speed, leapt up, planted its paws on me and brought me down for the kill, its mouth open, teeth bared, ready to tear into me. Closing my eyes, I turned my head and screamed, tears streaming down my face as I waited to meet my end.

“Zver!” A voice suddenly boomed. “LYEZHAT!”

Suddenly, the weight was off of my body and I could breathe again. I didn’t trust it, however, and I kept my eyes shut tight. I knew it was only a matter of time until it was back.

“Ash? You OK, sis?” I heard a familiar voice ask. Oh thank you, God!

Relief swept through me and I sucked in a breath, trying to stop the tears. I only succeeded in sucking in a giant ball of snot and started choking.

“Oh my God! Ash!” I suddenly felt warm arms around me. I clutched the shirt covering a muscled chest that I was squashed against and listened as my brother murmured soothing words to me. I knew that now he was here, that awful creature wouldn’t get me. “You can calm down now, drama queen! Teeg kept the big scary beast from eating you.”

I was sensing some sarcasm. I was going to have to do something about that sometime soon. This was a traumatic moment for me and he just blew it off! I probably would have continued my mental tirade against my insensitive brother, had something he said now suddenly clicked for me.

“Wait. What?” I leaned back and frowned at him. “Teeg? What are you talking about, Con?”

Pushing me off of his lap, my brother stood up and smirked down at me. Looking up, I frowned in confusion. My brother was a good looking guy; he was tall, standing at 6’2”, with thick auburn hair he kept cut short and hazel eyes that all my friends stated emphatically were epically ‘swoon-worthy’. Whatever. I didn’t see it; he’s my brother. But the point is, right now, he looked like an asshole, complete with that older brother ‘tease glint’ in his eyes. I watched as his smirk stretched to the point of being painful.

“Yeah. Teeg. My roommate from college.” He gestured behind me. “He came with me for Spring Break. That’s his dog.” It was at that moment that I knew that my brother had set me on a course that was going to change everything and I froze like a deer in headlights. “Hey, Teeg! This is my baby sister, Aislinn.”

Swallowing deeply, I turned slowly and took in the man behind me. My eyes trailed up from black boots, well-worn jeans that hugged strong thighs and hung low on the man’s hips. There was some kind of belt but my brain seemed to be on auto-pilot. I couldn’t seem to stop my gaze from continuing up over his slim waist where a fitted white shirt showed off a nicely muscled stomach.

From there, my eyes swept over the well-defined chest and broad shoulders, biceps that made my knees weak, up to a strong neck. As if that hadn’t been enough, he had a strong jaw, beautifully kissable lips and a nose that looked like it had been broken and reset, which actually complimented his face and kept it from being too pretty. Dark hair kissed by the sun and fell messily on his forehead but was clipped short in the back almost eclipsed the imperfect nose but I was distracted by the flush working up my neck at the wild urge to run my fingers through that hair.

The hotness package was complete with eyes the color of storm clouds, gray and with a darker gray outer ring of the iris surrounded by eyelashes that most of the girls in my school would give their left arms for.

It was then that I noticed I had to tilt my head back to fully look at him, which made me realize just how tall he was; much taller than Connor certainly. And it registered suddenly that those gorgeous gray eyes seemed to hold both a glint of interest in them and amusement as well. He reached out a hand and I took it in a daze. “Hi. I’m Teagan Aldridge. Everyone calls me Teeg, though.”

I nodded dumbly. Even his name was gorgeous. He was going to be here all two weeks of Spring Break? Could I handle this?

About that time, I felt Connor reach over and tap my chin. “You can close your mouth, sis. Don’t want a bug to get in there.” He teased. I blushed and Teeg grinned.

My teeth clicked together. Oh my God! Connor wasn’t joking. This was so embarrassing. The whole time I had been standing there checking out his friend, I’d had my mouth open gaping like a fish out of water. Therefore, I did what any red blooded seventeen year old girl would do.

I hauled ass to my bedroom. I wasn’t leaving it until their Spring Break was over.

*** *** ***

I have often pondered why it is that when we panic we nearly always end up making the absolute worst possible decisions. These decisions are usually ones that you can’t call a do-over on and can’t just walk away from. They are the ones that will make you cringe with embarrassment years later and wonder whatever possessed you to do that. I was currently experiencing one of those moments. I had no sooner locked the door to my room when it occurred to me I was now trapped. Trapped like a rat in a cage from Hell.

I leaned my back against the door and sighed. I wasn’t very surprised when a bare five minutes passed before I felt the wood vibrate as someone knocked. Apparently someone had followed me. Probably Connor. If Mom would have sent anyone after me, she would have sent him.

“Ash, c’mon! I’m sorry, OK? Just… come on out.” He made a passable attempt at a coaxing tone but I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. My brother, Mr. Insensitive himself, was apologizing? The guy knocking on my door had to be a pod-person because the word sorry was not in his vocabulary. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good guy. But it would totally kill him to admit he was in the wrong. Given my 17 years of personal experience with him, I had no doubt there was an ulterior motive at work here. I decided to test my theory.

I waited a couple of minutes, listening to Connor’s deep sighs as I strategized. “Just go away!” I called out. “I’m not coming out.” I waited. It didn’t take long.

He groaned and banged his fist on the door again. “Ash, I swear to God! If you don’t come out…” he paused and cleared his throat. I frowned when I heard a whispered exchange between him and someone else. Even though I strained as hard as I could, I couldn’t make out who it was or what was being said before the faint sound of footsteps headed down the hall. Since Mom wouldn’t have bothered to whisper it didn’t take long to figure out. I had utterly humiliated myself in front of my brother’s roommate and he was the one coaching my brother. Connor’s voice brought me out of my second wave of self-inflicted embarrassment. “I’m sorry sis. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” I heard him shuffle his feet. “I’ll make it up to you, OK? Please come out.” Yep. Mom and the roommate were guilting him into this. He’s never this nice on his own. “Please? Really. I mean it.”

I could feel myself beginning to cave. I turned and searched for the doorknob, half expecting the other shoe to drop. My brother didn’t disappoint.

Thumping his head on the door, I swear I could hear his teeth grinding. “C’mon already! Get out here! Mom won’t serve dinner until you’re at the table.”

And there it was. I unlocked the door and quickly swung it open, catching Connor off-balance and smiled as he stumbled into my room. Quickly regaining his footing, he whirled around with a glare and opened his mouth to say something. I held up a hand to head it off.

“Save it, ass-hat. You already ratted yourself out.”

A look of confusion crossed his face. “What?”

I rolled my eyes. Seriously? “Your apology meant nothing!” I put my hands on my hips. “You’re not sorry at all!”

“I am, too!”

I huffed. “Are not.”

“Are too!” he retorted, running his hand through his hair.

I held my hand up to him, palm out. “Whatever. You’re only thinking about your stomach. As usual.” Yeah, I was angry. I was entitled; he was such an ass! “Ugh!” I stomped over to him and poked him in the chest, making sure my nail dug in more than necessary. “Would it kill you to be a human being for once? You embarrassed me!” There was a heavy emphasis on embarrassed.

He winced and rubbed his chest where I had poked him before looking at me and smirked. “Well, don’t give me an opportunity to embarrass you then.”

“You’re a jerk!”

“I never said I wasn’t.” He stated.

We both looked at the door when we heard Mom calling our names. “This is so not over Connor Munroe!” I pointed my finger at him. “Karma is a bitch and she has your name at the top of her list.”

He shrugged.

“You’re hopeless!” I threw my hands in the air. “And conceited.”

“But I am your big brother and you adore me. So let’s go. I’m hungry.”

I groaned. “You’re always hungry.”

“I’m a growing boy.” He flexed his biceps. “Gotta keep these guns locked and loaded.”

I made a gagging noise, and left the room. “Get a room, bro!” I called over my shoulder as I headed down the stairs. I laughed at the spluttering I heard behind me.

*** *** ***

AUTHOR NOTES:

Lyezhat (Leejh-ZHAT) = Down in Russian.