I walked slowly through the thin woods, my paws snapping twigs along the way. I heard the faint echo of laughter and my ears perked up. Curious, I dropped my jeans out of my mouth and shifted to my two-legged form, knowing I could get closer this way. After getting dressed, I headed in the direction the laughter had come from.

"I just don't understand how you could manage to remember to lock the door but forget the keys inside!"

I finally came into view of a small white house that say close to the road. On one side of the house I saw the source of all the commotion. I could see a dark haired man struggling to get through a small basement window.

"I didn't mean to! And be careful. You might step on my guitar," replied a girl standing beside the house with her arms crossed over her chest. She laughed as she saw that the man was stuck halfway through the window.

"Would you just get down here and help me get in." The man seemed angry but accepted the girl's help as she delivered a little push to his shoulders. All at once, the man disappeared through the window with a loud crash. The girl had to put a hand on the side of the house to keep her from falling over with laughter.

I headed across the road toward the small house and into the yard. There was a muffled thud from the basement as I reached the girl. She was trying to stifle a laugh as another thud sounded through the window. When she looked up and saw me she eyed me curiously.

"Hi, I heard a crash and thought that maybe someone needed some help," I said as I peered slightly in the small window.

"Well, you see, I was in my basement earlier and accidently locked the door and left the keys inside. So, my brother has to climb in the window since it's the only way in besides the door."

Then a voice came from inside the basement, "Okay, it's dark, I can't see, and I can't find the-" there was a loud bang, "keys. Oh, wait. I found the switch." I saw a light turn on inside the basement.

"I left them on the brown table."

"Got 'em!"

She turned to me. "I'm Tina, and you are…?" she asked, skeptically eyeing my shirtless torso.

"Jacob," I replied as I politely chook her hand, the simple touch sending a tingling sensation from my fingertips to my spine.

I heard a door open and shut as Tina's brother, jingling keys in his hand. "Next time, remember to get the keys before you lock the door. I'm going inside," he said as he handed Tina the keys, turned, and then left.

"You'll have to excuse my brother Jack. He's not very social, but you get used to it. So," she started as she walked to the front of the house and sat down on the steps, "are you new in town?"

"Um, yeah. I got here a couple of days ago. I moved in with a couple of friends in a house down the road."

"Well, Naked Guy, you might want to wear clothes around here. In a small town like this, if you keep walking around like that every girl within a 5-mile radius will come running."

"Oh? And why is that?" I asked with a crooked grin.

Tina let out a short laugh. "Where are you from, anyway?" she asked, ignoring my question.

"I moved here from Washington State."

"How in the world did you end up here?"

I smiled, "As I said, I have a couple of friends who live down the road. I needed a place I could go and get a new start and they wanted to help me out."

"You have some good friends," she replied knowingly. She leaned over to pet a black cat that was making its way up the steps. "Hey, Panther," she murmured to the cat. Once Panther got a good sniff of me she gave a low hiss and ran. "You must be a dog person," she commented as she tucked a brunette curl behind her ear.

"You have no idea."