"Who was that?" Sydney asked as we slowly pushed her car towards her neighbor's yard. "Please tell me Kevin didn't get your phone number."
"What? No. Nothing like that. It was Aria. Don't worry, she isn't going to rat us out." I was trying my hardest to appear to be a macho guy after Kevin had knocked me out with one punch, but Sydney was probably doing most of the pushing on this car. "Did you delete your tweet?"
"Yes." Sydney rolled her eyes. "I just wanted to be clever!"
"You being clever could have gotten us caught! And you didn't even use the right expression. It's 'revenge is a dish best served cold.'"
"I know that! But the revenge we're serving isn't cold, so I changed it to messy. Toilet paper is messy, Connor."
I laughed.
"Alright, Syd. As long as it's gone now."
"It is." She grunted. "Alright, do you think this is far enough?"
I judged our location and looked back at Sydney's house quickly. The goal in moving the car to the neighbor's house was that no one in the Porter home would realize that it was Sydney's car starting; if they heard anything, they would automatically assume it was coming from next door. Getting caught was really not an option in this revenge plot, since they were already on thin ice with everyone around them as it was.
"Yeah, this should work. Ready?"
Sydney grinned slyly.
"Ready."
We jumped into the car and Sydney turned it on before putting it out of neutral and into drive. "Let's go!"
We raced off into the night, around the same bends and turns that we had taken on her first time touring me around Sacramento. We played music and sang and danced along, excited about the prospect of our revenge trip and feeling the exhilaration that came with possibly breaking the law in a very small way.
"We have arrived at our first stop, the Longs!" Sydney stage-whispered as we pulled up in front of a house I didn't recognize. "Just kidding. It's actually the Long's next door neighbor, the Hamile's!"
"Wait, your best friend lives next door to your ex-boyfriend?"
Sydney nodded.
"Now that I know he was cheating, I should have asked her to keep tabs on him for me."
"Won't Jen recognize your car if she looks out her window or something?"
Sydney shook her head. "It's Spring Break, she's probably out at the beach or something. Her car isn't in the driveway, so I'm not worried. Let's go!"
We each grabbed a roll of toilet paper from the backseat and tore out of the car, racing towards Kevin's house. I arrived first and immediately chucked my roll of toilet paper at the front door, hearing it hit and bounce off with a loud thud.
Sydney caught up quickly and looked at me with a mixture of amusement and horror.
"Connor, have you ever TP'ed someone's house before?"
"Nope, but I've seen it in the movies!"
"You can't just throw it with all of your might at the freaking door!" she started busting up laughing. "You have to be stealthy! And, by the looks of it," she added as a light flicked on inside the Long home, "I don't think you achieved stealth!"
"Oh, crap." I whispered as I heard footsteps coming from inside the house. "What do we do?"
"Hide!" Sydney exclaimed, running for the bushes on the side of the house. "Hurry!"
I followed her as quickly as I could, grabbing the roll of toilet paper from the front step as I went. The bushes on the side of the house were huge, and there was just a tiny hole for me to squeeze through in order to not be seen by the front door.
"I'm coming!" I gasped as thorns pricked my side and leaves brushed against my eyes, blinding me even more than I already was by the darkness outside. "Syd? Syd?"
"I'm here." She whispered from just in front of me. I could see a faint light and crawled further until I found her sitting in a little spot inside the wall of bushes, her phone being used as a flashlight.
"Hey." I grinned as I sat down next to her. "I see you found this pretty easily."
"Kevin's dad used to be a real stickler about his curfew, so if he ever wanted to sneak out to see me, I would pick him up by parking at Jen's house and hiding in the bushes until Kevin came down. I once waited in here for two hours. It cost me twenty bucks to have Hayden and Nate keep their mouths shut to my parents about it; they woke up when I got back in the house at 3 AM."
I raised my eyebrows.
"Sounds like Kevin was a great influence on you."
"Yeah, not so much." Sydney laughed. "Wait, listen."
A deep male voice, which I assumed to be Kevin's father, was yelling across the lawn.
"That's the last time that you ding-dong ditchers are going to get away with this! I'm going inside to call the cops, and when they come, they'll find you! You can't run! This is the last time for you little punks!"
The door slammed and Sydney's eyes widened.
"He's not kidding. We'd better get out of here!" she started to crawl over me to lead the way out before turning back and giving me a quick peck. "Sorry that we don't get to have our messy revenge."
I shrugged slightly and grabbed her hand in mine.
"If I'm doing something with you, I'm happy. Don't think for a second that I'm upset if I'm with you."
Sydney grinned and kissed me again before crawling out of the bushes and racing to the car, with me hot on her heels.
I had never before thought that when it came to a girl who was racing away from a failed TP attempt, with leaves in her hair and mud on her shirt, I would be so utterly and completely taken.
***
"Knock, knock."
I groaned as I felt someone sit on the edge of my bed. The sun was shining through the windows of the Porter's guest bedroom, and as I turned over in bed I saw that the clock read just past 12:00 noon.
"Go away." I groaned, covering my head with the pillow and ignoring Aria poking me repeatedly in the side.
"Long night last night?" my sister grinned slyly as I turned in the bed to face her. "I saw on Twitter that a certain Kevin Long's house was ding-dong ditched last night...that wouldn't have happened to be you and Sydney, would it?"
"No, it wasn't." I rolled my eyes. "We accidently hit the door when we were attempting to TP their house."
"We?"
"Me." I corrected myself. "I am clearly an amateur at TP'ing someone's home."
Aria nodded and sat in silence for a moment before changing the subject completely.
"How much do you like Sydney?"
The question caught me off-guard and I looked at my sister as if she had grown a third arm.
"What?"
Aria rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed before repeating her question.
"How much do you like Sydney?" she echoed.
"A lot. Like, more than I ever liked Ashley, for sure."
Aria nodded and looked at me for a while before speaking again.
"We're only here for one more day, Connor. If I were you, I would pick up the pace."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Aria replied. "Pick up the pace, stop poking around. If you guys are going to become anything, it's not going to be by Sydney's actions. We were talking yesterday, and she was telling me how she was all about the conventional things when it comes to dating; she wasn't going to ask the guy out first, she wasn't going to initiate the first kiss, she wasn't going to do anything first. She likes it the old-fashioned way; the guy asks her out and the guy initiates...well, the first of everything. I understand that to a point...I mean, I like the guy to hold the door open for me and everything, but I wouldn't mind smooching—"
"Smooching? You're fourteen!"
"Ah, right. Moving on." Aria's eyes darted away from me and she continued. "All I'm saying is, we have one day left, and your girl is waiting to be your girl. Do with that what you will."
I watched as she left the room and gave me a pointed look on her way out. I tossed over in bed before climbing out and following her out the door.
"Hey, can I come in?" I asked through the crack in Sydney's door. I heard a muttered "yes" come through and I tip toed inside.
"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" I asked to Sydney's back, which was what was facing the door. She flipped around and looked at me before sitting up and tilting her head to the side, makeup from the day before smeared under her eyes and her hair falling out of the ponytail on her head.
"Wow, you're beautiful." I whispered as I walked over to sit on her bed with her. I saw a small blush creep up her cheeks as I spoke and she remained silent as I sat down, her eyes flickering downward.
"I'm far from that." She spoke finally. "But I suppose I'm glad you think so. What's on your mind?"
"Well, I suppose this is long overdue, but then again I'm a bit clueless sometimes." I took her hand in mine and looked at her, in all her messy hair, tired eyes, wrinkled pajama glory.
"Sydney Porter, would you do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner tomorrow night?"
Her eyes lit up immediately and she placed a small kiss on my cheek before responding.
"I would love to."
A/N: Happy Sunday update! I hope you guys enjoyed!! Comment below one thing that you desperately want to happen on their date! Ahh!
Also, tell me your thoughts: the next chapter is the last one with Connor in California visiting Sydney (I was only going to do 4, but ended up doing 6 because I had a lot of ideas). So, I was highly considering going back to the letters-and-social-media storytelling style that Part One of the book has, instead of keeping the dialogue, regular book style that the last couple chapters have had. Let me know what you think would be best to do, and I will take your ideas into account!
Lastly, be sure to check out Recalling Lincoln Carter and Spiral, my other two books!
Also, Ashley's breakup... *hears people partying in the distance*
I love you guys and thanks for all your support! Dear Sydney hit #42 in Teen Fiction this past week, which was its highest ranking by far (last one was #77) and bumped it into the top 50! Thank you guys!
-Katherine