Chapter 6 - You're Kinda Passive Aggressive 

“Bradley!” I shout, keeping my distance so I don’t get hit. Call me selfish, but hey.

“Sydney, go find Tanner and Mikey. We’re leaving.” Drew shouts over his shoulder at me.

I nod my head, thankful for an excuse to leave the room. Fighting has never been something I’ve really enjoyed watching. And by the looks of it; it’s gonna take quite a bit of effort for Drew to pull Bradley off of Reese and convince him to stop trying to pummel Reese. I leave the room, going down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

“Were you just upstairs?” Jake wonders, grabbing my arm as I walk by him.

“Yeah, but-“ I indistinctively hear something upstairs crashing to the floor and shake my head, “Sorry Jake, but I really gotta find Mikey and Tanner.”

He nods, “Yeah, okay.”

I smile gratefully, stumbling away from him. I run towards the kitchen - not very quickly, due to the fact that I’m wearing heels - and pull the sliding glass door open. I go outside, pulling it closed behind me and involuntarily shivering. It’s actually pretty nippy out here, but that’s beside the point. I really need to find the boys, before Bradley murders Reese. Or vice versa.

Mikey’s blonde hair catches my eye; he’s lingering near the pool. I hurry over to him - knowing that he’s drunk, and he’ll probably attempt to jump in the pool or something stupid like that. Mikey’s talking to Tanner, who’s still drinking, even though he’s visibly drunk.

“Guys, come on! We have to go.” I say, as I approach them.

“Hey, it’s Sydney!” Tanner slurs.

“Yes, it’s me, now come on. Get up guys.”

“Noooo, I wanna go swimming.” Mikey moans, beginning to pull his shirt away from his body.

“No, no, no. Tell you what, tomorrow we can go swimming in Bradley’s pool. Okay?” I offer.

“Why can’t I swim in your pool?”

“Because my pool guy hasn’t cleaned my pool in a week.” I reason, grabbing his hand and trying to pull him up. Thanks to my lack of strength though, that doesn’t happen. “Tanner? A little help?”

“Help. That’s a funny word,” He slurs. “Say it slowly. Heee-llll-up. Help.” Then Tanner starts laughing as if that’s incredibly funny.

"Tanner, can I trust you to go to the front and sit in the car? Can you do that without walking into the lake or something?” I say that only because Mikey is way more drunk that Tanner. He always is.

“What am I, seven? Course I can do it.” He assures me grumpily, reaching for the keys.

I pull back my hand, “You’re not getting these keys; because then you’ll be tempted to drive.”

“How do I get in if I don’t have the keys, Syd?”

“Just sit on the back of it or something, go.” I tell Tanner.

“Okay, okay.” He stammers, walking towards the front yard of the house.

I look down at Mikey who’s lying on the cobblestone ground still, but now his eyes are firmly shut. I kneel down beside him, poking his arm, “Mikey, are you dead?”

“If I was dead, would I be talking?” He says, chuckling.

“Get up, we have to go. Bradley is fighting.”

“Bradley.” He echoes.

“Yes, Bradley. Our friend Bradley. You remember him?” He nods, grabbing on to my hand as I attempt to pull him up. “You really need to stop getting so drunk.”

“What?” He slurs, practically leaning on me. “I’m not drunk.”

“Do you even know your name right now?”

Mikey rolls his eyes - which are red and gazed. “Of course I know my name, pretty kitty.” He says, patting my head with his hand heavily.

I slap his hand away, rolling my eyes, “Come on, I’m gonna take you to the car. You sit in the back and I’m gonna go and go get Bradley.” I practically drag Mikey through the house, and I barely make it through the living room which is littered with drunken teenagers grinding on each other like there’s no fucking tomorrow. When we make it through them and through the front door, I pull him outside and to Bradley’s Jeep. Tanner is lying on the ground right beside it, laughing hysterically.

"Tanner, get up!” I say, irritated at him and Mikey for getting so drunk.

Though honestly, I’m not surprised. Tanner reaches up, latching on to the door handle and pulling himself to his feet. I hit the unlock button on the little black remote of the keys and pull the door open. I reach my hand out, gesturing for them to get in.

“Get in, and stay in. I’ll be right back, okay?” I say to them as they both climb into the back of the car.”

They nod simultaneously and I slam the door, before going back towards the house. I pull the door open, quickly going up the stairs. When I go back into the room that Reese and I were in earlier, I’m shocked to see that Bradley and Reese’s fight is still in full swing. It seems like it should have ended, as I’ve been gone for like twenty minutes. Well not twenty minutes, more like eight or so, but it felt like it. Drew, it seems has stopped trying to split the fight up because he’s now leaning against the dresser in the room, texting.

“Drew!” I snap.

He looks up at me, “Oh you’re back.”

“What are you doing?”     

“Texting?”

“Bradley’s like five feet away from you in a bloodbath and you’re texting.”

“Well I wasn’t gonna get myself hit. I tried to stop him.”

“Bradley Edwards, you stop it right now!” I demand, narrowing my eyes at his back.

I see his shoulder rise and fall heavily as if he’s breathing heavily, which he probably is. He lets go of Reese who is now sporting a swollen lip, and from what I can tell, there are a few cuts and bruises scattered on his beautiful face. Poor Reese. Bradley’s back is to me, so I don’t know his damage. Bradley whips around, and grabs my arm beckoning for Drew to follow.     

“Let’s go.” He murmurs, pulling me out of the room, his large hand wrapping around my small arm. Drew, Bradley and I leave the house and Bradley let’s go off me, stalking off to his car and climbing in the passenger seat. 

"Is he mad at me?” I ask Drew as Bradley closes the door.

Drew shakes his head, “Nah, he’s not mad at you. He’s just mad at Logan.”

“Why are you boys so complicated? You know the whole reason you guys are my friends is because drama isn’t really my kinda thing.”

“I know that Syd, he’s just…you know. He always gets mad over stuff like this. He’ll be fine in a little while.” He says, opening the back door and getting in. I walk around to the driver’s side, getting in and slamming the door behind me. I pull my seatbelt on and start the car. Looking down at the dashboard; I see that it’s 1:31 a.m.

“Um, is Walker not coming with us?” I wonder.

“Walker’s spending the night here with Alison.” Bradley tells me, his voice raspy.

I nod, pulling out of the yard and onto the main road. I turn the radio on, leaving it at just above background volume. I adjust the seat, bringing it closer to the steering wheel as I drive down the nearly empty highway.

-------

“Do you need help, or do you got it?” I ask Mikey, looking up at him in the rearview mirror as I pull up as his house.

“I got it, I got it.” He slurs, pulling the door open. Sitting in the back of the car, I think he went to sleep and slept off a little bit of his drunkenness.

“Okay,” I say, nodding. “See you later, Mikey.”

“Bye guys.” He says, jumping out of the car.

I wait until Mikey unlocks the door to his house and goes in before driving away. “Tanner, are you going to your mom’s place?” Tanner’s mother is really, really strict. Not necessarily mean, but if Tanner showed up in his quasi-intoxicated state, she’d be pissed.

“Can I just stay at your place tonight, Drew?” He  wonders.

"Yeah, my parents would be cool with that.” He says, yawning. So I drop Drew and Tanner off at Drew’s house which is about ten minutes from Mikey’s house. Then I head towards my and Bradley’s neighborhood.

“Bradley?”

“Hmm?” He says, still looking out of the window.

“Are you angry?”           

“I’m not angry.”

“Promise?”

He shrugs, “Sure.”

“Don’t be a dick.” I mutter, turning down Applegate - the name of our street - and easing up off the gas. “Are you okay?” I ask him, peaking at him out of the corner of my eye.

“Should I not be?”

“I mean, you got into a fight; are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“Lemme see your face,” I say, pulling into Bradley’s yard and turning the car off.

“What for?”

“Just let me see it!” I snap, unclicking my seatbelt and reaching over into the passenger seat.

I grab Bradley’s chin in my hand, forcing his face towards me. I suppress a gasp, my eyes widening as my eyes fall on his face. I mean, it doesn’t look as bad as Reese’s did, but his lip is bleeding, there’s a little bit of dried blood on his nose and there’s a slight bruise under his eye.

A light coming from Bradley’s living room comes on and the curtain moves a little bit. We both instinctively dunk down, hiding behind the dashboard. Most likely it’s his mother or father - probably his father because he’s likely the one up since he had to perform a major surgery a few hours ago.

“I’m staying at your house tonight.” He tells me.

“What if I don’t want you to stay at my house? I’m mad at you, you know.” I murmur.

“Me? Why are you mad at me?”

“You ruined my perfectly good going night.”

Bradley scoffs, “Stop being dramatic, Sydney.”

“I am not being dramatic.” I reasons.

“No? Good, then let’s go.” He says, sitting up, looking and finding that the person (his dad?) looking out of the window.

He opens the door and gets out, waiting for me to get out. I open the door with a sigh, removing the keys from the ignition and tossing them to Bradley. We walk across his grass - that really gets under his mom’s skin, which is why I think he does it; because he can’t stand his mom - towards my house.

“You know, maybe sometimes I want to be alone at my house.”

“I think that you’re PMS-ing.” Bradley says bluntly.

I hit his arm laughing lightly, “Shut up. I am not.”

“Mhmm, sure.” Bradley replies, also wearing a smile.

Once we make it to my house, I unlock the door, going in. I close the door lightly behind me even though I know that my mom is asleep as well as my little brother, and Arianna’s car wasn’t in the driveway, meaning she and jerky Jared are gone. Thank God. I don’t know where they are so early in the morning (late at night? If you’re one of those people).

“Go to the basement, I’ll be there in a minute.” I tell Bradley.

Bradley nods, before stalking away towards the basement. I go up to my room, pull a pair of pink pajama pants with white stripes down them and a t-shirt that’s way too big for me (I think it’s Mikey’s). I get out of the dress and change into the clothes quickly before tossing it in the hamper; even though it’s not washing machine friendly. I’ll have to remember to take it to the cleaners or something. I pick up my phone, and drop Bradley’s car keys on my dresser before leaving my room, turning the light off.

I make my way downstairs and into the kitchen, realizing how hungry I am. I pull open the pantry, looking for some junk food to munch on. Sure, I should probably be watching my weight what with track going on and all, but I’m famished and I don’t want to make food. I pull out a package of chocolate chip cookies and close the pantry. From the refrigerator, I grab two bottles of water, just in case Bradley wants one. Then I sigh, deciding that Bradley’s face probably, you know, hurts. I elect to be a good friend and grab him an ice bag from the freezer. My family is kinda weird; we just leave ice bags in the freezer that we’ve never even used. I think it’s because I’m so clumsy and prone to injury.

Gathering the ice pack, the water bottles, and the cookies, I leave the kitchen, and walk down to the basement, closing the mahogany door behind me. I walk down the few stairs, until I reach the floor, and walk around, plopping down on the fluffy couch. Bradley’s slouching back into the couch, and he’s got his feet propped up on the coffee table. Why is it called a coffee table anyway? I don’t drink coffee. I don’t think anyone in my house drinks coffee. Well except for my mom, and sometimes Arianna. Why not like a tea table or something?

"Do you feel okay?” I ask Bradley, looking over at him.

“You asked that already.”

“And now I’m asking again.” I say pointedly.

“I feel fine, Syd.” Bradley tells me, shifting his position and laying his head down in my lap. I pick up the ice bag, putting it on his face, and he winces. “Noooo!”

“Yes, your face is gonna swell up.”

“No it’s not.” He murmurs.

“You’re so stubborn.” I tell him, holding the ice pack against his face. “So why’d you feel the need to hit Reese?”

“Because.”

“Because what?” I prod.

“I just did.”

"You’re kinda passive aggressive, you know that?”

“I’m not passive aggressive,” Bradley argues.

“Yeah, you kinda are. You can’t just go around hitting people. Especially not people like Reese Logan.”

“You just freaked me out, like we didn’t know where you were and then we found you upstairs with him.”

“It’s not like I was gonna do anything with him.”

“You sure about that?” He challenges.

I nod, “Of course I’m sure about that. I’m not a whore, you know.”

“I know you aren’t.” Bradley says. “It’s just that he was touching you and all that kinda stuff.”

“Girls touch you all the time, and I don’t care. And he wasn’t touching me, we were just kissing.”

“If you say so.” He retorts, chuckling. “So guess what?"

“What?”

"I gotta go to Texas.”

I raise my eyebrows, looking down at him, “Texas? Why?”

“Stupid family reunion.”

I roll my eyes, “Only your family would schedule a family reunion during the school year. How long are you gonna be gone?”

He shrugs, “I dunno. Five to seven days, most likely.”

I gasp, realizing something, “Does this mean what I think it means?”

“That depends. What do you think it means?”

“Does this mean that I get to dog-sit Poncho?”

“Well, we were just gonna drop him off at the Kennel, but I guess you can watch him if you wanna.”

"Yay! I don’t see why you act like you don’t love your puppy; he’s amazing.”

“He’s really not.” Bradley assures me.

“So when are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? That means you’re gonna miss a whole week at school!” I whine.

“Try not to miss me too much.” Bradley replies, chuckling.

I roll my eyes, “Get over yourself.”

"You love me, you know you do.”

"Of course I do, now let’s watch a movie.”

“Let’s.” He agrees.

Author's Note: Guys, I'm so sick right now. Like I don't even know. So that's why this is getting posted kinda late. Um, I  hope you like it! Bradley's going away for a few chapters. ): But yeah, you'll get to see Sydney at school and what not. So yeah, lemme know what you thought! Also, I don't know who to choose as Bradley; I'm kinda stuck between Sean O'Donnell and Robbie Amell. And not Sean O'Donnell the hockey player- the model, obvi.