To Whom It May Concern

38 | Connor

The night was cold. In the years following this moment, I would remember the biting cold of that night. Winter in Virginia was no joke, and the piles of snow along the edges of the parking lot showed that. The stars were clear through a cloudless sky, and I could feel the wind slowing as I grabbed Sydney in my arms. As I finally took charge and made an attempt at winning back the woman I loved.

Kissing Sydney for the first time in four months felt as if my entire world was coming together.

I had forgotten. Forgotten how wonderful she smelled, how gorgeous she looked at any given moment, how wonderful her lips felt against mine. I had forgotten how much I truly loved her, as terrible as it sounds. Sometimes distance creates a blurry picture.

I pulled away from the kiss first, knowing that I had an incredible amount of explaining to do. I looked into Sydney's eyes and hoped that she would hear me out and let me apologize for everything; there was nothing else I wanted to do.

Yet her eyes darted to something directly behind me within seconds of my breaking away.

I turned around to see Jacob standing just a few feet behind me, his eyes sad and his hand dropping at his sides. My mind was so elated after kissing Sydney that I wasn't sure how to react to the man standing in front of me.

"Jacob..." Sydney trailed off, clearly not knowing how to deal with this either.

"It's fine." He shook his head, turning around. "You don't have to explain anything."

Sydney looked at me apologetically.

"I have to explain to him. But we need to...discuss us." She didn't seem to be able to keep the smile off of her face. "I'll meet you in your apartment and we can talk about everything."

"Sounds perfect." I nodded, giving her hand a slight squeeze. "I'll see you soon."

She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before running off to stop Jacob, forcing him to turn and talk to her.

Sydney was pretty good at getting her way.

I turned away from the two and started making the walk back to my apartment, my mind whirling with everything that had happened tonight. My thoughts wandered back to a few months prior, just before Sydney had left for New York City. The last time I got to see her before she left.

"I need you to promise me something."

Sydney looked at me in surprise; I wasn't usually very demanding of her.

"Please don't tell me that you want me to stay here. I love you so much, but that would definitely not be pursuing my best interests."

"Of course not." I shook my head, "I wouldn't ask that of you. I'm so proud of you for going out into the world and making it on your own. It's something I wish I could do."

Sydney blushed slightly.

"You'll be doing it in just a few years. You'll be a marketing genius and we'll have the best family in the world."

I couldn't keep the grin off of my face; I loved when Syd mentioned our future family.

"But I need you to promise me something, still."

"Of course."

I took a deep breath and took her hands in mine.

"Promise me that we'll find our way back."

Syd looked at me as if I were a lunatic.

"Our way back? Back from what?"

"Back from this time apart. I know we did it before, but I just have a feeling that this time will be different. It's going to do something to our relationship. It's going to change it in some way, I just know it. So please...promise me that we'll find our way back to where we are. Right now."

Sydney looked up at me with the most beautiful brown eyes I had ever seen in my life; they simply became more and more gorgeous every time I looked down at her.

"I promise." She replied softly, kissing me. "I promise that we'll find our way back here."

I nodded slightly, pulling her closer to me as we looked up at the stars shining in an August sky.

"Thank you."

"Of course. I love you to the moon and back."

"And I love you to the sun and beyond."

I couldn't help but smile at this memory. Because despite everything--despite the lies and the lack of trust and the distance that had pulled us apart in more ways than one--we had kept that promise. We were finding our way back to the way we were. All we needed was to talk it out and figure out what we could do to be better in the future.

I let myself into my apartment and closed the door behind me, unsure of what to do while I waited for Sydney to come over. I wanted everything to be perfect; I wanted to be able to talk about everything and not feel awkward about it for a second.

We had to work through our differences if we were going to make this work again. I wasn't naive, I knew we couldn't jump right back into how things used to be.

But we were finding our way back to that point. It was going to be a long journey, but a journey that was worth it. I sincerely hoped that she felt the same way.

A knock sounded at the door and I practically flew off the couch to answer it. I stopped right before the doorknob, straightening out my dress shirt and running my fingers through my hair before opening the door.

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

If there was a queen of terrible timing, Shelby Toth would have the crown.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed it! I love writing cute Connor/Sydney flashbacks.

What does Shelby want? Any guesses?

-Katherine