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Chapter Nine

The next few days were miserable. Sydney knew that Adrian hadn't deserved anything she said to him. He was the only thing good in her life and she had thrown that away. She knew what she needed to do…and that started with a phone call to her father.

"That's out of the question," Mr. Sage said into the phone.

Sydney took a deep breath and counted to three. She was not going to take no for answer. "It wasn't a question," she replied. "I just wanted to let you know that you can stop hounding me about the internship. I'm going to Rome next summer."

"Do you think I'm 'hounding' you because it's fun for me?" Mr. Sage demanded. "I'm trying to keep you on track."

"Dad! You're not even listening to me. This track isn't the one I want to be on. I want to study art and history. I want to travel. I don't want to be stuck in an office for the rest of my life," she said, her voice catching a little bit. "I want my own life."

"Then go…live your life…alone," he said. "But don't except me to help you when this all blows up in your face. You think you have it all figured out, Sydney…but when the real world comes knocking you're in for a rude awakening," his hissed and slammed the phone down.

Sydney swallowed a few times and calmly set her cell on the nightstand. She wasn't going to be alone. Adrian believed in her.

xxx

When Sydney was sure she wasn't going to cry anymore she went downstairs in search of Jill and Adrian. Mr. Melrose informed her they were at a party down on the beach. She headed back upstairs to change and then ducked out of the house.

It wasn't hard to find the party. The bonfire lit up the night sky and the music could be heard a block away. Sydney had never felt like this before. She was in charge of her life now. She couldn't wait to tell Adrian (after apologizing…profusely).

She spotted Jill first. "Hey, welcome back to the land of the living," her friend greeted her.

"Sorry about…yeah…" Sydney said with a shake of her head.

"I'm used to your weirdness by now," Jill assured her. "If you're looking for tall, dark, and green eyed I'd check over by the bar."

"Am I that obvious?" Sydney asked with a chuckle. She tucked her hair behind her ears and scanned the crowd for Adrian.

"Quit stalling…" Jill said and pushed on the small of Sydney's back. "Go find your man."

Sydney rolled her eyes, but headed down the worn path towards the bar. Hopefully they could find a quiet place to talk. She had so many things she needed to say. She chuckled as she thought about how he'd tell her he had been right along and then kiss her until her toes curled.

But as it turned out Adrian wasn't going to be telling her much of anything as his mouth was currently busy. She stared in disbelief as she watched Adrian kissing some cute sorority type like they were in the middle of a porno.

"Oh, shit," Jill said as she came up behind Sydney.

Sydney turned quickly, nearly knocking Jill over. "Go, go…I need to go," she said as she ran past her, knocking over the table that housed the ipod blaring tonight's soundtrack.

"Sydney?" Adrian asked in confusion as Sydney scrambled to her feet. "Wait! Sydney!" He tried to catch up to her but she was moving too quickly. He finally grabbed ahold of her arm.

"That wasn't what it looked like!" Adrian said.

"It looked like you forgot about me pretty quickly!" Sydney snapped.

"You were the one who told me I was a mistake!" Adrian shouted.

"And obviously I was right! It didn't take you more than forty eight hours to find someone else to warm your bed!" Sydney exclaimed. She tried to shake her arm out of his grasp.

"Would you just listen to me?!" he yelled. "I care about you…I want you…I love you!"

Sydney stumbled backwards after her finally eased his grip. "You…love…me…" she stammered. She wobbled before finally standing up straight.

"Yes, I love you…I love everything about you. I've been texting you all night…" he said.

Sydney looked down at her phone and saw there were indeed a plethora of messages from Adrian. She looked back up at him and shook her head. "I don't know what to say…"

"Let's go somewhere…let's talk…" Adrian pleaded.

Sydney shook her head and took off again, running all the way back to the house and locking herself inside the bathroom. "Stupid, stupid…" she mumbled to herself.

xxx

"If there's anything I can do for you…" Jill trailed off as she drove Sydney to the airport the next morning. There was no point in sticking around for the rest of the trip. She had done enough damage for at least three lifetimes.

"Just promise me you won't let Adrian try to get in touch with me," Sydney said. "I need some time." She looked over helplessly at her friend.

Jill nodded and leaned over to give her a hug as they idled in the departure area. "We'll talk soon, okay?" she said.

"Soon," Sydney echoed.

xxx

True to her word Jill managed to keep Adrian from contacting Sydney for the rest of break, time Sydney spent with her grandmother. Her mother insisted her father would cool off, but Sydney wasn't going to hold her breath. She had done enough of that her whole life.

Sydney marched down to the art department a few weeks into the spring semester and signed up to be considered for the trip to Rome. It was a little step, but it felt better than she could have ever imagined.

"Mind if I use your pen?" a voice behind her asked.

"Oh, sure…" Sydney said. She turned around and found herself face to face with Adrian.

He snatched the pen out of her hand and scrawled his name right under hers. "Now don't get used to me taking you on all these fancy trips," he said. "Once I graduate I'm going to be a starving artist and I won't be able to afford them." He smiled and handed her the pen back.

Sydney couldn't think of what to say. What could she say to someone who helped her really see herself?

As usual, though, Adrian took the lead. "There's so many things I need to apologize for," he said softly.

"Me too," she whispered. But instead of saying anything Sydney fell forward into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"Missed you," Adrian murmured softly against her ear.

"Need you," she mumbled into his neck.

"Got you," he promised as he held on.

"Love you," Sydney said so softly she wasn't sure if he heard her.

He did. "Love you too," he replied.

The End