Chapter 33 - Death By Ammonia Isn't Favorable

“So,” Drew starts, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Can I sit by you? Is that okay?”

“Yes, Drew, you can sit by me.” I tell him, chuckling even though I'm supposed to be mad at him. 

Drew crosses the living room and plops down on the couch softly next to me. Not like, literally right beside me. He’s a few inches away from me, sitting on the other end of the couch. Out of my peripheral vision, I see him rubbing the palms of his hands thematically on his jeans. We sit in complete silence for a minute, the only sound is the faint cooing of Arianna and Jared’s voice upstairs, most likely playing with their new baby girl.

“So,” I say, patting my hands on my knees absentmindedly. “Go ahead, say what you wanted to say.”

“I’m sorry,” Drew sighs. “For a lot of things. I mean, like, I really hate fighting with you, you know?”

“It’s not the most pleasant thing in the world,” I agree.

“Then let’s stop.” He suggests.

“Stop fighting?”

“Yes, stop fighting. It sucks. I have to eat lunch with Reese and he asks me about you and it’s weird.”

"Reese asks about me?” I incredulously repeat, crossing my arms.

"All this week he’s been asking about you,” Drew nods. “It’s annoying.”

“What does he even want? Last I checked, he’s the one who told me not to come crying to him.” I recall.

"He just asks these weird personal questions about you. I never answer though,” He boasts.

“Gee thanks,” I reply, reaching down and pulling off Arianna’s Jimmy Choo heels.

“You don’t like him anymore, do you?”

“Who?”

“Logan, Sydney.”

“Oh, no. No, no, no. I don’t like Reese anymore. I can’t believe I ever did. Bradley’s a much better kisser.”

“Ah-“ Drew starts as he shifts uncomfortably.

“Oh, God,” I say, slamming my hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry, Drew, I didn’t mean to say that!” I cry.

“It’s, erm, it’s fine, Sydney, don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure? I feel bad about saying that,” I mutter, my face a light shade of red.

“I’m sure,” He chuckles, running his fingers through his thick shortish blonde hair.

“This isn’t about Reese though, it’s about me apologizing for being so terrible to you on Sunday.”

“Well,” I sigh. “Maybe I was a little mean to you too.” I supply. “Okay, I was really mean to you.” I admit.

"Yeah, you were.” Drew agrees with a nod.

“Hey!” I exclaim, raising an eyebrow.

“What? You were. You told me you hate me and never wanna see me again.”        

“Well, you called me a bitch,” I remind him.

“You called me a dick.”

“Because you were acting like one,” I retort, rolling my eyes.

“Only because you were being mean,” He reasons.

"With good reason, don’t you think?” I shoot back.

“No! All I did was tell you it was time to go.”

“Yeah, but--“

“Okay, this is getting us nowhere. I didn’t come to fight even more with you, Sydney.”

“And I don’t wanna keep fighting with you,” I admit quietly.

“Good, so this is me apologizing for being an inconsiderate, mean, careless, stupid jerk face.” Drew states.

“And?” I probe just to tease him.

“And,” He pauses, thinking about it. “And for making things hard for you. I know that I should have told you that I liked you before you and Bradley became exclusive or whatever and the only reason I didn’t is because, I dunno, I guess I took me seeing that I couldn’t have you to realize that I did, well still do, want you. If that makes any sense? Anyway, I really want things to go back to the way they used to be. Us being best friends and talking and being weird together and all that good stuff. I really love you a lot, not just, you know, romantically but as a friend. I’m pretty sure as hard as I try, I’m not gonna just fall out of love with you but I’ll tone it down, I promise, Syd. I won’t act like a little bitch if you wanna talk about Bradley and how much of a better kisser than Reese he is. Though I’d prefer not to talk about his kissing skills, but if that’s what you wanna do, then that’s cool too; I’ll listen. I won’t intrude on any more of your and Bradley’s date nights or whatever and I’ll try not to get too jealous of him. Because, he’s my friend too. And I appreciate you not telling him about any of this, because I think we both know he wouldn’t be too happy with either of us if he knew. I’m talking too much now, mostly rambling which isn’t cool, but whatever. So, yeah, like I was saying, I’d rather have you as a best friend than not have you at all. We’re close and I don’t want anything to ever come between our friendship again, okay? Not even my stupid feelings for you. From here on out I’ll mask them as well as I possibly can. ” He says, looking down at his lap the entire time.

I nod, not exactly knowing what I should say. He said a lot, after all. “Thanks Drew,” I retort. That suffices, right?

“Oh, and I bought you something.” Drew tells me, suddenly looking up.

“Me? You bought me something?” I ask incredulously.

“You say it like I’ve never bought you anything.”

“I mean, no, that’s not it, it’s just that we weren’t talking.” I remind him.

“Right, well, no, I did buy you something. You were the one who was madder at me, anyway.”

“I guess that’s true,” I shrug. “You didn’t have to buy me anything though.”

“Of course I did. Everyone gives the girl something when they make up.”

“I guess so,” I agree, turning towards him on the couch and folding my legs. “What’d you get me?”

“It’s in my car,” He says, standing up. “I’ll be right back.” Drew tells me, walking out of my house.

My phone bings and I reach into my clutch purse, pulling it out. I see that I have a new text message and the screen fades back to black. Unlocking my iPhone, I see that the message is from Bradley and open it, looking down at the screen.

That was fast- is he leaving already?

My fingers fly over the screen and I reply with, Stop being a creep, you weirdo. (; He’s not leaving yet, no.

As the boyfriend, I think I’m entitled to at least a little bit of creeping, no?

Nope. :P

I hit send and then put my phone down in my lap, hitting the button to lock it as I hear the front door open and Drew returns with a bag in his hand. It’s like a plain blue bag with no store name branded on it, therefore I can’t be sure what it is or even where it came from. He plops down on the couch next to me, still holding the bag.

“That’s the present?” I wonder.

“It is,” He nods. “And before I give it to you, please know that I’m a terrible gift giver.”

“You did contribute to getting me Ben,” I remind him.

“Well, yeah, but aside from that.” He adds. “I’m just so bad at it, but I think you’ll like it.”

“Gimme,” I say, reaching over to him and taking the bag. “I’m sure it’s a good present.”

“Not really,” He mutters, scratching the back of his neck nervously. 

Reaching down into the bag, I fish out a  box wrapped in some kind of decorative foil paper. The box itself though is just a regular block box, so there’s really no guessing what could be in there. Plus, this is Drew we’re talking about. It could be anything from a pair of earrings to a ticket for an all-out African Safari. You just never know with the boy.

I set the blue bag on the floor and sit back on the couch, eagerly peeling the foil from the box. While I don’t think he should have spent any money on anything, I do like presents. When I have the half the paper ripped off, I notice a familiar looking logo. A yellow square with a few white diagonal stripes going up it. That’s Nikon’s logo. But what could have Drew have bought me from Nikon? Besides the obvious choice, that is. I open the box once I’ve got all the paper off and my eyes widen at least a few millimeters as I see a ridiculously expensive looking ruby red digital Nikon camera sitting there.

“A Nikon camera?” I say, my voice camera. “Aren’t these things really expensive?”

“They are,” He admits, with a sheepish nod. “But I thought you’d like it though. Do you?”

“I love it, Drew.” I tell him truthfully. “I’m terrified I’ll drop it though.”

“You probably will,” He agrees. “you’re pretty clumsy, after all.”

“I’m not clumsy,” I defend, carefully taking the camera out of its box.

“Yeah,” He chuckles. “you kinda are.”

“Oh, whatever,” I recede, turning the camera on. “It really is perfect, thanks Drewy.” I say.

“You’re welcome, it’s just that we’re all going to college in a few months and we’ll be away from each other so I thought that if you had a camera you could take pictures and stuff now so that you won’t forget about the rest of us when you’re at whatever school you go to and making new friends and all stuff.” He explains.

“Drew,” I scoff. “I’m never, ever, never gonna forget you guys. No many how many friends I make.”  

“You promise?” He asks, his dark brown eyes widening.

“Drew, we’ve been friends for five years; do you really think a little time away will make me forget you?”

“I dunno,” He shrugs. “Maybe.”

“No, not maybe. You can be in, I dunno, Alabama and I can be in freaking Milan ten years from now and we’ll still be best friends.” I assure him.

“I mean, it’s really easy to say that but how can you be friends with someone you never see?”

“Skype, text, pictures, all that stuff. Not to mention we’d visit each other. Where’re you going anyway?”

“Huh?” Drew questions, looking at me like I’m crazy or something.

“What college are you going to?” I clarify.

“Oooh, well, I got accepted in Ohio State and U of A -- Fayetteville, so, yeah…”

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Because I found out Sunday when we got back home when you weren’t talk to me.” He explicates.

“Oh, right,” I awkwardly agree. “So, where’d you wanna go?”   

“Well, Ohio State is closer, but I’ve never been to Arkansas.”

“You know that they’re mascot is a Razorback? Like what even is that?” I ask.

“It’s just a really big hog, Sydney, and the fur on its back kinda looks like razors.” Drew chuckles.

“Well, that’s weird.” I assert. “No matter though, it’s gonna take more than a couple of hundred miles to break up our friendship.”

“So, we’re friends again? You forgive me?”

“Only if you forgive me for being such a rude, selfish bastard.”

“Syd,” He chuckles, “I forgave you before we were even out of the state of Colorado.”

"You’re such a softy,” I tease, raising new camera and snapping a picture of Drew.

“Okay, you have one picture of me and you need no more.” He declares.

"I can’t remember you by just one picture, silly.” I tease, rolling my eyes and snapping another picture.

Drew hits me with one of the many couch pillows and then puts it over his face, covering himself from the camera. “I think I’m gonna regret buying you that camera.”   

“Probably,” I shrug, taking another photo as soon as he lowers the pillow.

“You l--“

“Okay, okay, I’m done, I’m done.” I assure him with a giggle, turning the camera off and putting it down.

“Good, I don’t like taking pictures.”

“That’s just too dang bad, Drewy because I only have from now to September before we go to college.”

“That’s true, isn’t it? High school went by so fast. It’s like just yesterday we were freshmen.”

“It did go by really fast,” I agree. “I’m glad it’s almost over though. I hated every second of it.”

“That’s not true,” Drew says, shaking his head.

“Well, I hated most of it.” I correct.

“Speaking of school, you and Bradley going to Prom together then, huh?”

“Oh,” I say, realizing that Prom is way closer than I thought it was. “yeah, I guess we are.”

“I remember when Arianna went to Prom with Jared like two years ago and you said that’d never be you.” Drew reminisces with a nostalgic smile.

“Oh, yeah,” I laugh. “that’s because Prom is stupid. I don’t even wanna go, but Bradley’s gonna be all like, ‘It’s an important high school experience,’ or ‘you’ll never have this chance again,’. So, yeah, we’ll probably go.”

“I think I’ll just skip out on that night,” Drew sighs. “It’s too late for me to get a date, probably.”

“You don’t have to have a date, just go alone.” I retort.

“I’ll look like the loser of the group. You and Bradley are going together and Mikey’s probably gonna go with that Jaime girl.”

“Which means Tanner and Walker don’t have dates either. It’s not for like a month; y’all can find girls.”

"It’s not a month, Sydney, you do know that it’s on the twelfth, right?”

“The twelfth?” I echo. “Are you sure? The twelfth of April?”

“Yup, pretty sure. The signs are all around school; haven’t you noticed?”

“I guess not,” I say, shaking my head.

Okay, so it really is closer than I thought. After all, today’s March 28th. April 12th is barely two weeks from now! Why’s the Prom so early this year anyway? It’s usually not until the very end of April or the middle of May. What’s the theme? Where is it gonna be at? Is there an after party? Is Bradley gonna ask me or will we just go because we’re together? All the questions suddenly fly through my mind, causing a minor headache to begin to develop.

“You okay?” Drew queries, watching me with a curious look on his.

“I’m good, I just didn’t know it was nearly two weeks from now. That’s not a lot of time."

“Right? Especially to find a date.” He says with a sigh.

“Well, I’d hook you up, you know, if I had girlfriends, but I don’t, so you know.”

“I dunno, you have a few, don’t you?”

“Like three,” I say. “And I never even talk to them. What about Darcy?”

“What about her?”

"Well, you brought her to Homecoming and my birthday party, why don’t you ask her to be your date?”

“Ooooh, I never even thought about Darcy Banks!” He exclaims. “I don’t know if she’d wanna go though.”

“Every girl wants to go to Prom. Besides me. I’m sure she’s waiting on you to ask her, though. Man up.”

"Okay,” He nods. “You’re right. She probably is waiting on me to ask. I mean, she’s nice and all, but…”

“But?”

“She’s not you,” He awkwardly admits.

“Dreeeewy,” I whine, hitting his leg with the palm of my hand.

“Sorry, sorry,” Drew replies, raising his hands in surrender. “I’ll ask her. I guess she’s an okay substitute.”

“That’s the spirit, buddy,” I tell him, bumping my shoulder against his.

“Well, it’s getting pretty late and we have school tomorrow. I think I better get going.” Drew announces.

“Yeah,” I say, looking down at my phone and seeing that the time is 12:30 a.m. “I should go to sleep soon.”

Drew stands to his feet, reaching his hand out towards me. I take it and pull myself up, following him to the front door. I pull the heavy mahogany door open and involuntarily shiver as the cool April early morning air hits me.

"So, I’ll see you at school tomorrow?” Drew asks, as if my going to school is a question.

“You’ll see me at school tomorrow,” I confirm with a nod.

Drew turns so that his back isn’t to me anymore, but we’re facing each other. He stares down at me for a minute, like he’s about to kiss me, which he obviously can’t do for a plethora of reasons. The main one being we just stopped fighting and the fact that if Bradley looked out of his living room window, he could totally see us. And I love him way too much to let him see something like that happen. So, my knee jerk reaction is to raise my hands, about to push him away, but suddenly a smile tugs at the corner of Drew’s lips and he leans down, wrapping his arms around me tightly, setting his chin on top of my head. Yes, he has that much of a height advantage over me.

“I love you, Sydney Madison Barker.” He murmurs, kissing the top of my head softly.

“I love you, Drew Tyler Rogers.” I reply truthfully, nuzzling my head into his warm chest.

“Your hair smells good,” He notes.

"It smells the same as it always smells.” I tell him. “I miss your hugs,” I admit.

"Well, then I guess we can’t fight again because that means no more hugs from Drew.”

“And we don’t want that,” I say, pulling away from him. “Good night Drewy.”

“Good night Syd.” He rejoinders, stepping over the threshold and walking towards his car.

I stand in the door way until he’s in and starts his car up, speeding down the street with a honk at me. I wave back even though he probably can’t see me and step back into my house, closing the door and locking it. I go back over to the couch and put my camera down in the black camera bag, which was also in the blue bag, and collect the rest of the stuff before heading up to my room. I close my bedroom door and quickly change into a pair of pajamas, deciding I’m just shower in the morning because right now I’m just too tired.

I lie down in my bed and Poncho, who was already asleep, wakes up and pads down my bed, lying near my chest. Oh how I love this dog. Tonight was pretty good, all in all. Bradley and I had our first date, which was amazing. I saw a shooting star which is something so many people can’t say. And I made up with Drew, which is really good because fighting with him was almost as bad as fighting with Bradley. My phone vibrates and I check it, seeing that it’s a goodnight text from my adorable boyfriend who is surprisingly still awake. I send back and pull my covers up over me, soon falling asleep.

-------

“We have to find a better make-out spot,” I giggle against Bradley’s lips as I nearly step into a bucket.

“Definitely,” Bradley agrees. “Death by ammonia isn’t favorable.” He says, his tongue inserting my mouth.

It’s Friday afternoon and Bradley and I are in this old virtually abandoned storage closet on the interior of our school. For some reason, PDA is really, really frowned upon at our school, and I’m talking seriously frowned upon. Suspension is usually the punishment. Stupid if you ask me. I mean, sure if the couple is practically sucking the other’s face off in the middle of the hallway, but not for just a chaste type peck on the lips. Not that what Bradley and I are doing can be considering chaste, but still.

“We’re gonna be late to Drama,” I warn, my arms still tight around his neck.

“We still have like four minutes before class starts,” Bradley informs me, his fingers going under my shirt.

“Exactly and Drama’s on the other side of the school.” I mutter, not making any move to distance myself.

“Then let’s just skip.” Bradley suggests as he pushes me gently against a wall, pressing his body to mine.

“Bradley,” I whine. Well, it was meant to be a whine, but I think it comes out more like a moan.

All throughout the school day, particularly lunch, Bradley’s been teasing me. We don’t have any classes together today before lunch, so he was extra teasy at lunch. I don’t think that’s a word, but whatever. Anyway, today at lunch, which is still going on right now, Bradley sat next to me as usual and kept his hand on my upper thigh the whole time, occasionally letting it travel to my inner thigh. He kept that up for about fifteen minutes before I kinda lost it and left, telling the guys that I needed to see and teacher about an assignment.

Bradley picked up on my hint though and his excuse was that he needed to go see his football coach about something. Needless to say, none of the guys believed us, and they were quick to inform us. Jaime was there with Mikey so he didn’t make any jokes about it, being that he was too wrapped up in her. Tanner offered Bradley some condoms, because he apparently had some in his pocket like a weirdo, so that was a bit awkward. Walker threatened Bradley with castration if he got me pregnant, like I said, father figure. Drew even made some kinda joke about it, which is good for him.

“Let’s just skip the rest of the day, it’s only a few hours left.”

“Is there anyone at your house?” I wonder, my breath bated.

“There’s no one at my house,” He assures me, pulling back slightly and looking down at me.

“O--“ I’m cut off by the loud ringing of the bell, signaling the start of class.

“We’re already late,” Bradley adds in a sing-song voice.

“I think you planned it that way.” I accuse, narrowing my eyes.

“Of course I did,” He shamelessly admits with a  triumph grin on his face. “So, my house?”

“Only if you let me drive,” I declare. We rode in his car this morning, not mine.

“Drive my Jeep? Nope. You’re not driving my car.” He firmly tells me.

“Why not?” I pout.

“Because you drive ridiculously fast.” Bradley reasons.

“Well, the faster I drive, the faster we get there, silly.” I tell him in a throaty whisper.

“Okay, you can drive,” Bradley agrees, understanding my point.

He reaches down into his pocket and fish his car keys out, handing them to me before grabbing my hand. He pushes the supply closet door open and pulls me out with him, the two of us practically running down the nearly empty corridor, heading towards the Senior Parking Lot. 

Author's Note: Whenever I start writing these chapters, I don't intend for them to be so long, it just happens that way. Oops. Also, do you guys think that Bradley will find out about Drew's little crush on Sydney? If he does, what'll happen, do you think? So, I've been thinking a lot about the sequel and while it's not a definite thing yet, I'm considering it. I'd say I'm like at a 60/40 split right now on if I wanna do it. So, yeah. I'm sick so I stayed at home and wrote this today and for some reason I started looking at cameras, so yeah, that one over there to the right is the one Drew got Sydney. And that song is just a song I like that's from Demi Lovato's new album. I'm not even that big a fan of hers, but I like that song. Thoughts on this chapter? Thoughts for the next chapter? I hope you liked it. ♥