Kirsten:

I took my dog, a real sweet chocolate brown Labrador named AJ, to the beach for a nice walk. It was a chilly but sunny day in November and there was no wind. It felt good, walking on the beach in sun. It was  quiet and there wasn’t hardly anyone walking there. AJ was completely thrilled to see the water. He kept running in and out of the water. He started wagging his tail from the moment he could see the beach. This dog sure loved the water. I smiled, while looking at him. I really enjoyed seeing him having so much fun. It made me feel so relaxed. But that’s how I am. If my dog is happy, than I am happy.

 I had AJ for 1,5 years now. I got him because I didn’t want to come home to an empty house after I got back home from work. I’m originally from The Netherlands and all my family live there. I do have friends here of course but it sometimes gets lonely.  I had the chance, about five years ago, to come to the USA, to South Carolina to study. And I did, having a great time here and I graduated about a year ago and now I’m working as a Secretary at an accountants agency. To be honest, not the kind of work I want to do the rest of my life, but I can pay my bills and my rent so it’s okay for now. You never know if or when something else will come along.

While walking with AJ and enjoying the peaceful beach, a man walked by with two little dogs. One was a black Pug and the other was an adorable brown Dachshund. The owner looked at me and nodded his head to greet me. He wore a hat and was busy on his cell phone. I don’t know, for some reason he seemed familiar to me. But I didn’t knew who he could be. He wore his scarf over his chin and mouth so he was pretty covered. But his eyes… I knew them. I gave up. I didn’t knew who he was and he could be anybody, so he also could be just a stranger looking like somebody.

So I continued my walk and AJ followed me. He was so happy and still wagging his tail, glad that he could run freely all over the beach. It was my first day off on a Monday. I’ve changed my weekly day off from Wednesday to Monday.
After an hour I decided to get back to car. AJ was getting tired and thirsty. I walked past a beach club called “The Seagull”. I was daydreaming about my upcoming week off in the first week of December . A full week of doing absolutely nothing, relaxation and rest from my stressful work. Suddenly I heard growl and screaming behind me. I startled and looked behind me. AJ was fighting with the 2 little doggies from mister Hat. I didn’t knew who started the fight but that didn’t matter. Okay, I took a breath and walked towards the three fighting dogs. The owner started yelling at his dogs to stop. I’ve put my hand in the air. “Shhht, don’t yell” I said. “Please, I’ll take care of it. I know how to deal these kind of things, don’t worry”. The guy looked surprised. He, of course, didn’t knew that I had watched a lot of Dog whisperer episodes and had read a couple of mr. Millans books. I learned (the hard way) that yelling and screaming didn’t solve anything. You only make it worse that way because yelling and screaming creates excitement. And that’s not what you want when your dog gets aggressive. I stepped in between the three dogs and first calmed AJ down. I used a “touch” right behind his frond paw to calm him down and to snap him out of this excited state of mind. It worked. I’d expected our mystery guy to calm down his dogs too but that was not the case. The other two dogs where still over excited. “Sorry, miss… could you also do that calming thing with my dogs?” he asked. “Yeah sure, I’ll show you” I said. They got calm in an instant. He looked shocked. “Wow, that was awsome”. I heard AJ whining softly. There where marks of dogteeth in his front paw. “ahhh” I said. I tried to lift AJ but I couldn’t. He was too heavy. Mystery guy said “No, please allow me. I’ll take him to your car okay?”. “Oh ehh, sure” I said. I was a bit overwhelmed by that. “Thank you”. He took his scarf of and his gloves. He didn’t shave that morning. It looked good on him. It gave him this raw look. It looked sexy.  “Do you mind taking these with you to the care?” he asked. “Yeah sure. Shall I take your dogs? That way we can all walk to the parking lot” I suggested. “Yeah, thanks” he said.   Hey carried AJ. While we were walking he asked “What’s his name?”. “This sweetheart is AJ” I responded. “Really” he grinned. “That’s not a common name for a dog, now isn’t it” he laughed. “That’s true” I grinned. “One of my closest friends  is called AJ, so that’s why I laughed”.  “Oh okay” I said. “And what is your name ?” he asked. “I’m Kirsten”. “Hi Kirsten, nice to meet you” he smiled. “Okay, and what’s your name” I asked. “I’m Nick, nice to meet you. I would love to shake hands but, as you can see, AJ has become a handful” he laughed. I giggled. “Haha, it doesn’t matter” I said. We got back to our cars and after Nick had put AJ in the back of my car he turned around towards me. He put of his hat and his reached out his hand to me. “Nick Carter, it’s a pleasure meeting you Kirsten”. My heartbeat was rising. Could this be the one and only Nick Carter, the Backstreetboy Nick Carter? I decided not to ask and not to show him that I had recognized him. It was obvious that it was him but still I didn’t want to ask or let him know. I imagined that it probably would be quite annoying for him to get recognized everywhere he went. “Well, Nick, it’s a pleasure meeting you too but, if you don’t mind, I have to go now. I’m taking AJ straight to the vet’s office for his paw” I said. “I guess that’s a good idea. My dogs are lucky that they didn’t get bitten. You know what, I’m going with you to the vet. If you don’t mind of course. I’ll drive behind you. And whatever the costs are, I’ll pay for it” he offered. “Oh no, please, It’s very nice of you but really, you don’t have to do that. It’s too much” I said. ” No allow me. I’ll pay for the damage that my dogs have done to AJ.  It’s the right thing to do” he smiled. “Well, if you insist I guess you can come to the vet too” I said.

I got in my car and started my engine. I was playing my favorite song, Mr. A. from the latest album of AJ McLean in my car. Suddenly there was a knock on the car window. “Excuse me Kirsten, but can you give me the vet’s address. That way I’ll know how to get there”.  “Yeah sure” so I gave him the address. “By the way, I like this song you’re playing. Good artist” he smiled and he gave me a blink. Oh my God. Would he know that I knew?  My knees got weak and I blushed a little. “Come on, let’s go. I’ll meet you there ok” he said. “Okay, you’ll wait for me at the parking lot?” I asked. “Yes” he said and gave me this gorgeous smile. I completely melted inside, but I didn’t want him to see that.  Then  got in his car and we drove off.

Wow, he is the hottest, most sexiest man I have ever seen. That was, basically, the only thought that crossed my mind during the drive to the vet’s office. Sometimes you meet guys and you literally fall for them and drown in their eyes. Well Nick was one of those guys. I had to take a deep breath to force myself to control myself while driving.

When we arrived at the vet’s office,  AJ went in for his treatment. After that the assistant checked my address and phone number. It appeared that they had the wrong phone number so I gave them the right  phone number. Meanwhile Nick was busy on his cell phone until we were ready to leave. Finally we were ready and we left the office. When we got outside  I started “Thank you, for everything. You didn’t have to..”. “No, shhht” Nick said. “Really it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I loved spending time with you and AJ”. “Oh, well thank you, I enjoyed it too” I said. My cheeks got red again. I hated myself for that. I felt like a teenager all over again. It was embarrassing.  He gave me a hug. “I have to go now” Nick said. “I hope to meet you on the beach again, next Monday” he said. “Ehh, yeah I will” I said. “Monday is my day off from work” I smiled. “That’s good…. That’s really good” he smiled back. “See you next week Kirsten” and he gave me a blink, again. “Bye Nick” I said and became even more red than I already was.   

Ow my God, I thought, when I got back into my car. Butterflies where flying all around my stomach. What a gorgeous man, I thought. “Wow” I sighed. “Okay, relax and get a hold on yourself girl” I said out loud. My cheeks were glowing from this whole experience. I couldn’t help but smile. And I drove home. Singing along with AJ McLean’s album on my way home.