James was getting ready. It was a jean club meeting, after all, and he didn’t want to keep his best friend Brianna waiting. He was wearing a green t-shirt, Wrangler black jeans, and sneakers. He ran to the clubhouse that Brianna and he had built out back behind Brianna’s house. It was a fair distance from her house, as Brianna lived out on an old ranch of several acres. Brianna’s father used to be a cowboy, and he taught his daughter a great deal about ranching, and she loved to pretend she was a cowgirl, even if the ranch was near the suburbs. She and James had started the Jeans Club a couple of months ago, and they enjoyed it. They would bring snacks and music to listen to while they did activities such as coloring, playing with stuffed animals, and board games.
Yesterday, Brianna’s dad bought her a long, supple purple jump rope, and she couldn’t wait to show James. She waved to James as he walked up to her front door.
“Hey James,†she called out sweetly.
“Hi Brianna.â€
She was wearing a scarlet colored, long sleeved cotton button-up horseback-riding shirt her father gave her. She loved the shirt, as it was soft from all the washings she had given it. It reminded her of the days when she lived on a real ranch, when she was just a little girl. She wore the shirt with the top two buttons undone, so as to reveal her sculpted neck and the silver necklace she wore around it. The necklace was a locket, which contained a picture of her with her favorite stuffed horse, Carmel. The shirt had been freshly ironed that morning, and was smoothly tucked into her favorite pair of Levi’s blue jeans. Despite her early rural upbringing, Brianna was serious about fashion, and she considered jeans to be among the most important piece of clothing that defined her sense of style. She usually spent her allowance on many articles of clothing when she went shopping in town, but jeans were always her first priority. The pair she was currently wearing was her favorite because they were just the right color of indigo blue—they weren’t at all faded like the other jeans she wore around the house when she was doing chores—and they molded to her body naturally, as she had worn them infrequently to maintain their pristine quality, but often enough to break them in and allow them to conform to the curves of her legs and buttocks. She remembered finding the pair at the clothing store, and it had been love at first sight. The classic pattern on the back pockets, along with the little red tag that was sewn into the side of the right back pocket was something she found very appealing. Levi’s were the only true brand of cowboy jeans anyway, she believed, and she was dressed like a cowgirl today. The jeans were fastened around her waist with a wide, thick brown leather belt that had a big silver buckle with the image of a star imprinted into it. The belt was cinched snugly, but not too tight, as Brianna preferred her jeans to rest directly on her hips. The hems of her jeans had a somewhat wide flare at the bottom, as they were a boot cut style, and therefore fit smoothly and perfectly around the cowboy boots which encased her feet. The boots were her newest accessories, as she had asked her mother to buy them for her last week. They were the traditional tan leather of cowboy boots, with a stylish brown curl around them, and they came to a neat point just beyond her toes. Brianna liked sleeker boots that allowed her room to flex her toes, and the boots came up about midway to her chiseled calves, fitting her legs comfortably. They had some luster, but were not shiny, as Brianna considered that annoying, and they were not dusty, like an older pair of boots she had long since worn out. Shape and color aside, Brianna picked the boots because they creaked ever so delightfully—like a pommel and saddle fitted to a horse, gently and quietly—when she walked in them. She wore her jeans over her boots instead of tucking her pants into them because, not only were the boots somewhat narrowly shaped to fit the extra denim from the wide hems, but also because Brianna felt that her beloved jeans should roll over the legs and caress the feet, not remain cramped inside a boot. Thus, the hems of her jeans stopped just above the heel of the boot and right beneath the ankle. She had most of her long blond hair tied back with a beaded leather band, but after she had brushed it earlier this morning, she decided to leave some of it fall playfully around her shoulders like a velvet curtain. Her eyes shimmered happily; they were the color of a warm summer sky, and their shade of blue exactly matched the color of her jeans. She had probably worn them for that reason, even if she had done so unconsciously. She wore a couple of rings on her cream colored fingers: on her left hand, a copper colored mood ring, which James had given her as a gift when they had started Jeans Club and which Brianna believed was always accurate, and a silver ring on her right hand, which was engraved with the words Open Range. The ring was another present from her father, and she never failed to wear it.
As she stood there, on her front porch, her feet slightly apart, the heels of her boots creaking against the floor boards, her head tilted partially toward the sky, her shirt collar fluttering slightly in the breeze, her hands on her well-formed hips, her buckle, (and the star on it) glinting in the noonday sun, her jeans folded into a gentle crease near her ankles, she smiled, revealing a sparkling array of teeth, the color of country white paint. She was incredibly beautiful and fashionable, giving her the appearance of someone who knew how to dress practically, stylishly, and comfortably while remaining hip when she wanted to be. At fourteen years of age, she was at the cusp of blooming into a gorgeous young woman, and while she already appeared to be entering puberty, as evidenced by her slowly growing bosom, she had a gentle, kindly, obedient temperament that revealed her naïveté. She was very fond of James, and while she didn’t always agree with everything he did, she trusted that he would lead the Jeans Club honestly and strongly as he always had.
Brianna was just about to speak when her father called out from the doorway behind her. “Bri, are you going to play with your friend James today?â€
Brianna turned her head slightly, her rose colored lips partially open as she listened to her father. “Yes, dad, we are planning on playing out back.†Her voice was melodic and flowed like crystal over her tongue. She did not have the voice of an angel, but rather maintained a subtle down-to-earth midwestern accent.
Her father came out of the house. He waved to James and greeted him heartily, then turned to his daughter. “Now don’t try any hanky panky with this boy here, got it darlin’?â€
“Oh daddy,†Brianna blushed; turning her cheeks a pleasant peach color.
“Are you going to be out there for awhile?†her father asked her.
“Oh, well, it depends,†Brianna said uncertainly. She turned to James for help.
“We might swing over to my place later on, maybe get some sleeping bags, and have a sleep-over out back there.
Brianna clapped her hands excitedly. “That sounds like fun! Oh daddy, can James stay over for the night, please, can he?â€
Her father laughed. “Of course he can.â€
“Oh thank you dad, thank you!†and she flung herself into his arms, her left leg bent back until her heel reached her thigh.
“Just be sure that you don’t get bug bitten while sleeping out there in the field.â€
“Bug bitten? What do you mean-?†James, who signaled to her to keep quiet, stopped her from completing her question. Brianna’s parents didn’t know she had built the clubhouse out back, and she didn’t want them to know, as they wanted to keep their land free of buildings. Brianna gave James an appreciative wink, and he responded with thumbs up.
Brianna’s father gently separated himself from his daughter, and then looked down at her seriously. “Girl, you better know that chitterbugs are out there this time of year. Don’t get bitten.â€
Brianna nodded vigorously, gazing up at him obediently. “I will remember, daddy.â€
Her father turned to James. “James, you’re in charge now. Give Brianna the word and she’ll do what you want. I don’t mind if you have a sleep-over, but let me know if you need to come back to get anything ok?â€
James nodded. “I will, sir.â€
Her father gazed at her, “I got a present for you, darlin’.†He reached inside of his coat pocket and pulled out a brand new deck of Uno cards, placing them in Brianna’s outstretched hands.
She almost screamed with delight. “Oh dad, you shouldn’t have! You know Uno’s my favorite game, and my old deck is falling apart and-oh daddy I love you!†She stood on her tiptoes and kissed her father on the check.
He beamed at her. “Take good care of em now, you hear.â€
Brianna nodded, and then carefully slid the new deck into the right back pocket of her jeans. Although out of sight, the deck formed a neat bulge in her pocket, and James took note of this for future reference.
“And here is your pocket notebook. I found it under the living room couch.†He handed this item to Brianna as well.
“I’m glad you found it, thank you! I’ve been looking all over for it!†She carried the notebook often, and both James and her parents knew she used it to write messages to people, input diary entries, and general feelings she had and wanted to keep secret.
“I didn’t read it, I promise!†her father said quickly, as Brianna eyed him questioningly.
“Good, I’m glad you didn’t,†she responded with a sigh of relief. She slipped the small notebook into her left back pocket, where it became a smooth, although slightly irregular, lump.
“James, don’t think I was leaving you out of this,†her father boomed, and walked into the house quickly. James and Brianna had time to exchange glances, with Brianna giving James a small shrug of her shoulders, before her father emerged again. He was carrying a brand new roll of extra thick, double threaded, wide construction silver duct tape.
“What is this for?†James asked wonderingly as he weighed the roll in his hands.
“For your tree house, you said you needed to wrap up the beams that hold the walls up didn’t you?â€
“Oh yeah, that’s right. I haven’t been working on it lately, to tell you the truth, since I didn’t have anything I could use to secure the support beams, but now I can get started on it pronto.â€
Brianna’s father eyed her expectantly. “You’re gonna help him with it as well aren’t you, Bri?â€
Brianna flashed her dazzling white smile again, completely happy. “Absolutely. James and I make a good team, don’t we James? Why, we built our club-â€
James glared at her, and she closed her lips immediately. That’s strike two, Brianna thought. Wonder if I am going to get interrupted a third time today before I finish speaking? She would be, although it wouldn’t be in the manner she would expect.
“What was that, Bri?†her father asked curiously.
“Oh, nothing daddy, nothing. But we will get the tree house done quickly,†she responded nervously.
“Guess we better get going,†James said, motioning Brianna to follow him.
“Before you go,†her father said. “I got to give my darlin’ a kiss.†He held Brianna’s chin with one hand, stroked her golden hair with the other. He kissed her affectionately on the forehead, and Brianna responded with a kiss on his cheek.
Her father slid his hands down until they rested upon his daughter’s shoulders. He looked her squarely in the eye. “Take care, Bri. And don’t forget where the house is,†he added as an afterthought.
Brianna giggled. “Yes, sometimes I get completely tied up in James’ schemes, and I can’t leave until we finish whatever it is we are doing.â€
“You might get wrapped up more than usual today,†her father responded, gazing up at the sky, “looks to be a beautiful day. Not to mention James’ sleep-over plans.â€
Brianna beamed. “I know. I can’t wait!â€
“See you later, sir, and thank you for the duct tape!†James called. He was already walking away.
“Careful with that tape, son! It will stick to most anything, and once you get it on something, it’s mighty hard to remove it.†Her father shouted back at James.
“James, wait for me!†Brianna called, and then turned back to her father. “That’s James for you. He’s either always one step ahead of me or has me in a bind.â€
“That boy is a sharp one,†her father said. He gave Brianna a little squeeze, then walked back into the house. Brianna hurried to catch up with James.
“What are we gonna do today?†Brianna asked as they walked to the clubhouse.
“I’m not sure. Maybe play jacks or something. Did you have anything in mind?â€
Brianna hesitated. “Well, kind of.â€