"That movie was absolutely awful," Paul groaned, "I can't believe you convinced me to go see it with you again.
I laughed. When I saw that our local movie theater was showing Legally Blonde on the big screen, I knew I had to drag Paul with me. I would pretend, for his sake, that I didn't see him mouthing along to the iconic, 'What, like it's hard?'
"Hey! Don't laugh at me!" He huffed dramatically, "You are absolutely so impossible, Sydney."
I hopped into his truck and he drove us to the fro-yo place. After getting our regulars, we sat down in our favorite booths in the back. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it just as quickly.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"I just- I'm sorry about the other night. I don't know what happened." He looked down at the table between us as if he were ashamed.
"Don't sweat it, Paulie. I promise I don't mind," I said lightly, trying to cheer him up, "are you sure you're okay? You know I'm always here to listen."
"I'm okay, Syd." He answered, a grateful smile on his face, "my heart hurts a little, but I'm okay."
"It'll get better," I said softly. I knew all about heartbreak, and I hated that girl for making Paul feel this way.
We sat in silence for a moment before he drew in a deep breath, "So... Jason," he stated.
Two days had gone by. Two days without Jason at school, and the texts had changed from including 'see u tmr' to simply just letting me know he wouldn't be there. It was weird and confusing.
Yesterday, I ran laps and did some drills on my own, but today I dragged Paul to the movie theater with me after school.
"What about him?" I asked.
"Well, where is he?"
"Honestly, I have no clue," I sighed, "and I really don't care."
Paul rolled his eyes, "Sure."
"I don't!"
"Mhm." Paul simply nodded, taking a bite of his fro-yo and giving me a smirk.
"You know, you are actually impossible." I told him exasperated. I sighed. Paul knew me better than anyone just like I knew him better than anyone, and I could tell what he was getting at. "So I'm meeting Lucas's fiance, Jessica, at dinner tonight."
"Sydney with the ever so subtle subject change," He asked, his smirk growing just the slightest bit bigger, but he humored me. "Are you excited?"
"I mean, I guess so? I hope she's nice, Lucas says she is. She's moving into our house in a couple weeks too."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Paul laughed a bit.
"You know..." I said, a devious smirk growing on my face.
"Oh no, I know that look," Paul groaned, his hands covering his face, "Whatever you're about to say, no, absolutely not, I will not be your accomplice to almost accidentally intentionally breaking a law again!"
I burst out into laughter, "Hey! That was one time!"
"One time too many," Paul muttered under his breath.
"I was just about to ask you if you wanted to come to dinner!" I said, still laughing and throwing my hands up in defense.
Paul immediately straightened up in his seat, "Oh," he said, "That is not what I was expecting at all."
"Yeah, clearly." I joked and he rolled his eyes.
"That sounds good actually, I miss your mom's cooking." Paul agreed.
We stayed at the fro-yo shop a little while longer before Paul drove us back to my house. My mom pretended to be mad and gave me a little scolding for not telling her I was bringing a guest home, but she loved Paul, so I knew she wasn't mad at all.
I walked into the living room and sitting next to Lucas on the couch was a beautiful woman who must have been Jessica. She stood up immediately and pulled me into a tight warm hug, "You must be Sydney! Lucas has said such nice things about you!" Her voice had a slight British accent, and it was very warm an inviting.
She introduced herself to Paul and we made small talk while my mom finished preparing the dinner. I glanced at the tv, seeing it was playing some random Hallmark movie.
"No football today, huh?" I joked, eliciting a chuckle from Lucas and Jon.
"Oh my goodness, they're total zombies when football is on, aren't they?" Jessica asked, grabbing my arm and laughing. I nodded my head and smiled.
+++
We had almost finished dinner when I felt my phone buzzing in my back pocket. I ignored it since we were eating, but it didn't stop buzzing. I finally pulled it out of my pocket and saw the caller ID read 'Jason'.
The fork in my other hand clattered onto my plate, drawing everyone at the table's attention to me. "I uh, sorry. I need to take this," I muttered and walked out onto the back deck, closing the door behind me.
I slid to answer the call and held it up to my ear.
Before I could even say anything I heard my name, "Sydney, you answered."
It was Jason's voice on the other line.
"Umm yeah, you called me.." I trailed off.
"Oh, right, yes." Jason muttered and then something unintelligible that sounded very similar to 'shit' came out of his mouth.
"Is everything okay?" I asked hesitantly. There was a big boom in the background, something that must've been thunder, and when I listened closely, I could hear a faint noise that sounded very similar to rain.
"Umm ye- well, not exactly."
"Okay..."
This time the 'shit' was a lot clearer. "Look, umm, nobody else is picking up, and I'm kind of stranded in the middle of nowhere, and I just-"
"Where are you?" I asked, my concern growing as I heard another boom of thunder in the background.
"I think East Springs?" He replied.
I wondered what exactly could have happened leading to him being stranded in a town 45 minutes away in the middle of a huge storm. "Send me your location, I'll come get you," I said, and rushed back inside and upstairs to get my keys.
The other line was silent for a moment before Jason uttered a quiet, "Thanks Sydney, see you soon." And hung up.
Keys in hand, I walked back downstairs to the room where my family was still eating and they looked up at me quizzically. "My 2 v 2 partner is stranded in some random town in the middle of a rainstorm and he asked me to come pick him up."
My mom stood up quickly, "Oh no, Jason. Is he okay?" She asked, while everyone else at the table nodded in understanding.
"I think so?" I replied, "I don't know he didn't really say much."
"Oh honey, you better hurry. I'll put the rest of your dinner in the fridge." My mom said, pulling me in for a quick hug and kiss on the forehead.
"I actually better get going too, homework," Paul said and stood up to walk out with me.
"Hey Sydney," He said before I got into my car.
"Yeah?"
"Drive safe, and just... be careful," He said.
I nodded, "You too."
I put on my favorite playlist and plugged Jason's location into the map and started the drive.
+++
After almost an hour, the rain causing a bit of a slowdown, I made it to a small divided highway where I saw a shadowy figure of a boy on the side of the road, put my hazards on, and pulled over. It was Jason.
He ran up to my car as soon as I stopped, threw the door open and hopped inside.
I didn't even care that he was dripping wet all over my car seat. "Oh my god, Jason, are you okay? Were you just standing out there in the rain the whole time?"
Jason wrapped his arms around himself, probably cold, so I shut off the A/C, and took off the soccer sweatshirt I was wearing, "Here, put this on."
I looked away while he stripped off his shirt and put on my sweatshirt and didn't even comment when he shook his hair, splashing me with little rain drops.
"Jason, what happened?" I asked softly, looking at the soaking wet boy in front of me who was just staring at the dashboard in front of him.
"I don't wanna talk about it," He said quietly.
"Jason, I just drove an hour to find you shivering on the side of the road in the pouring rain, I think I at least deserve in explanation."
"Look I appreciate it and all, but I don't want to talk about it, okay?"
"Oh come on, Jason. How did you get here? Who left you out here?"
"I don't want to talk about it." He said, enunciating each word slowly.
"Jason, please, I just wanna help-"
"Sydney, can you please just drive?" Jason pleaded, finally turning to look at me, his eyes rimmed red and his voice cracking on the last word.
I nodded quietly, turning up the music, flicking off my hazards, and pulling back on the highway beginning the drive home.
Jason didn't say a word, his head resting on the window, watching the trees as I drove, and I didn't say anything either.
It wasn't until I pulled into his driveway that he finally spoke again, "Thank you, Sydney."
"Don't mention it," I said quietly as he got out and shut the door.
The rain had followed us on the drive and now it fell on the driveway, but Jason stood there, watching me pull out and lifting a small hand to wave as I drove away. When I got home, the house was quiet and the lights were off, everyone else already in bed.
I changed into a huge shirt to sleep in and crawled into bed, seeing a message light up my screen as I plugged it in before I slept. It was from Jason.
'I'm sorry.'