love or lust | jg & cd

Ch. 10

Nash POV

I poke my head into the living room to make sure the boys have left. I know she wouldn't want to come out of the kitchen being a blubbering mess. Then I take both of the girls's hands again and lead them across the living room.

I feel my heart slowly shatter as I replay Sydney's tale of her haunting past in my head over and over on our way up the stairs. Now I completely understand why Matt is so insistent on being her protector. I mean sometimes it gets a little over the top, like when he refused to let her go to Starbucks by herself because of something about getting jumped. But she didn't deserve for that to happen to her. She's so strong yet so fragile at the same time. She's so.. Sydney.

The three of us, being Addy, Syd, and I, make our way into her bedroom. She lightly sits on the stool that's placed in front of her mirror in the bathroom looking herself over. Even though her hair is a tangled mess and her makeup is gone, she's still beautiful.

Wait what? Beautiful?! Come on Nash this is your best friend you're talking about! Best friend; I really need to drill that into my head.

She sighs as she opens a drawer and pulls out a black bag which I assume has makeup in it. I wish I could help with something, I can tell she's exhausted from all the crying she did. But I know absolutely nothing about makeup other than the black stuff on a stick goes on your eyelashes, and that's just what Skylynn taught me.

Addy sits on the edge of the bathtub by my side and we both watch her intently. Her forehead creases as she concentrates on her face, adding little touch ups here and there. Her movements are so fluent and gentle.

She puts everything back in the bag and spins around towards us.

"So? What do you think?"

In unison Addy and I both say "you look amazing" even though the four year old's pronunciation of "amazing" was more like "ahmasink."

She laughs at that and says, "Thanks guys."

She fixes her hair with a tool that looks like a magic wand or something, but I don't complain because her blonde hair falls perfectly into waves.

Once she's satisfied we walk addy downstairs to meet with Matt and Aaron. Matt and Sydney don't say a word to each other, they don't ever glance in one another's direction. They're acting as if the other isn't even there. They'll have to get over it soon; we're staying here for the whole summer together! We say our goodbyes to Aaron and Addy and head out to the Lamborghini waiting for us in the garage.

***

Sydney POV

I sit in the drivers seat and Nash soon plops into the passenger seat beside me. I put the key the ignition and turn, starting the car.

"Nash, do you know where the party is?" I ask, turning to face him.

"Can told us that it's at Sammy's house so yeah. Do you want me to drive?"

"No it's fine, I thought that maybe you could just give me directions."

"Okay sure, first take a right onto Adams."

***

The drive to the party ends up being pretty short but let me say one thing: Nash is the worst at giving directions. Seriously he gets distracted so easily. I had to make three u-turns.

I open the door to my car and jump out, running around to Nash's door and opening it for him.

I grab his hand and kiss his knuckles softly and say, "Sir?" In my best British accent. He raises his eyebrows and steps out of the car, chuckling at my gesture.