Xander scratched at his thin beard and nonchalantly pulled a grocery bag from behind a workbench. When she raised a brow he shrugged, “I promised lunch, didn’t I?”
Syd laughed. “What? You’re not a master chef too?”
“No, I can’t be too perfect.
Sydney snorted. “Sure.”
Xander began pulling prepackaged sandwiches from the bag. “Be right back.” He hurried through a doorway off the back of the shop. Sydney pulled up a stool and grabbed a sandwich and a bag of chips, not bothering to inspect either. She wasn’t picky. She’d eat anything. Instead, she continued to stare at the painting. She wanted to run her hands over the paint and feel it too. She even wanted to lean in to get a better whiff of the paint that still lingered in the garage air.
When he returned, Xander sat a six pack of beer on the table and pulled up his own stool. He uncapped a beer for her and then one for himself. They were both silent as they ate. Sydney couldn’t help but notice how close his knee was to hers and a little voice in the back of her head kept telling her that if she twitched just right she could “accidentally” bump her knee into his. Just stop, she grumbled to herself. Again, her brain and hormones were waging a war inside her.
Despite the fact that they didn’t talk the whole time they ate, Sydney never felt uncomfortable. The silence between them was natural and instead of feeling like she needed to force a conversation she just enjoyed the silence. When they were both done Xander gathered their mess and tossed it into a large barrel trash can. “So, what now?” she asked him.
Xander shrugged. “I didn’t really plan further than this,” he chuckled.
“What are those?” she asked nodded towards the other canvas covered items in the back of the shop. “More paintings?” She started towards them, eager to see more of his work.
“Nope!” Xander slid in front of her to block her path.
Drawing up short as to stop from running into him, Sydney scowled. “Huh?”
“Those...aren’t ready to be seen,” his voice was even and left no room for argument.
“I-Okaaay.” Syd swallowed hard and backed away.
“Sorry, I just don’t normally share my stuff with anyone and I’m not ready to share those.”
“I understand.” She still was off guard by the seriousness of his reaction and she knew that he could tell she had become uncomfortable.
“Hey,” he changed the subject after glancing at the time on his phone. “Follow me.” Gripping her arm, Xander started for the back of his shop. The grip he had on her arm was gentle and nonthreatening, but she wanted to pull her arm free anyway. She wanted to run, but she swallowed hard and tried to not visibly react to his touch. Being this close to him she could smell his cologne and it caused her stomach to flutter rebelliously. Knock it off, she told herself.
Sydney was beginning to regret coming here even more. It was a bad idea, she knew it even before Xander got all serious and weird about his art work. But, now, she was imagining all of the bad things that could happen with just the two of them here alone. Bad, but oh so delicious things, she cringed at herself. The room off the main garage was a small office that held a desk, a stuffed chair that was upholstered in cracked faux leather, a counter, a coffee pot that reeked of burnt coffee, a microwave and a small, ancient refrigerator. “Where are we going?” she asked, trying not to sound worried.
“To see the funniest thing you will see all day.”
“Oh?”
Xander opened a door behind the desk. The sun was still high in the sky and Sydney was reminded that she still had the remnants of a headache when the light sliced into her eyes. He shut the door behind them and she blinked to adjust to the late afternoon sun. When she could see again, she realized that the garage backed up to a suburb and overlooked two backyards that were less than a quarter mile from the shop.
“Here,” Xander nodded towards two lawn chairs.
Curiosity began to outweigh her anxiety. “What am I supposed to see?” She eased into the rickety chair.
Settling next to her, Xander nodded towards the yard on the left. “You won’t be able to miss it. He’s out here the same time every day.”
“Who?”
“Just watch,” he nodded toward the yard again.
They settled into silence again and Sydney closed her eyes and turned her face to the sun. Slowly she began to relax despite the cool air. Even though she didn’t want to, she felt comfortable and peaceful here in the sun with Xander. She didn’t know if it was being out of the main bustle of the city, or Xander’s silence, or something else entirely, but the stillness felt right. A rasping sound next to her made her smile and moments later a spicy scent filled the air. She heard Xander exhale a loud whoosh and she held up her hand. He passed the joint to her and she took it by feel. The pot burned her lungs and she fought the urge to cough. After her third hit a muffled bang caused her to open her eyes.
“Here we go,” Xander chuckled.
A young kid was leaping through the air off his back porch and the movement was punctuated by a “He-Ya!” as he flew gracelessly through the air.
Sydney snorted, smoke bursting from her nose like a dragon. “Oh shit!” she gasped as the acrid smoke burned her sinuses. “What the hell was that?” she motioned toward the “Karate Kid.”
“Just the beginning.” Xander took the joint from her and motioned for her to pay attention.
Karate Kid must have hit the ground rolling because when Sydney turned back to him he was leaping to his feet. Dressed in what looked like pajama bottoms and a concert tee-shirt, he was skinny with shaggy hair and glasses. On his feet again, he spin-kicked halfway across the yard. And calling them spin kicks was being generous as he barely got his leg waist high. The worst part was the loud sound effects that he punctuated each movement with.
Sydney watch for a good ten minutes before turning to Xander with her mouth hanging open. “Who is this kid?”
“I have no idea,” he snickered around a mouthful of smoke. “He comes out here the same time every day. I guess he’s just gotten home from school?”
“And he does...fantasy...karate all by himself?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, man. That is sad. Or pathetic. Or hilarious. Or all of the above.”
Xander nodded and passed her the joint. “I happened to see him a few days in a row and realized it was like clockwork.”
“Jeez.” Sydney watched the kid some more, her head swimming as the weed kicked in. The whole situation began to take on an otherworldly quality and she began giggling. “Is this kid for real?” she asked, not really expecting an answer.
“I. Don’t. Know.” Xander answer slowly shaking his head.
Sydney laughed as the kid had now moved onto shadow boxing. Whatever fantasy was playing in his head had to be epic. She almost envied him. It was clear that he felt totally free at that moment. Uninhibited. She wanted to feel that free. He was a nerdy kid being a nerdy kid—everyone had a chance to go through that period, right? Syd sighed. She had no idea if she had ever had that phase or not. The reality of her situation settled over her, exacerbated by the high that caused her to feel everything more extremely.
“What?” Xander asked her.
She turned to him surprised by the intensity with which he stared at her. “Huh?”
“You’re mood just changed.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t know. I could just tell.”
Sydney narrowed her eyes. “I’m fine.” To redirect him she smirked. “Did you ever go through a ninja phase?”
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I’m pretty sure every boy did.”
Laughter barked out of her at the mental image of Xander chopping and kicking around his yard.
“Well, it’s better than Shay’s lion tamer stage.”
“What?” Shay hiccupped with laughter at Xander’s offense.
“Yeah. She went through this stage where she thought she was going to be a lion tam
er and kept trying to teach our cats tricks.”
Syd clutched her stomach as her muscles cramped from laughing so hard. “Oh man, I can totally imagine that.” Xander tried not to laugh as he stubbed out their roach. “But I can’t really imagine the two of you as kids together.”
Xander grew quieter and looked at her from under his lashes. His long, soft looking lashes—stop it! “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well...you guys look nothing alike for one.”
“That’s because we aren’t biological brother and sister.”
Sydney was stunned silent for a moment. “What?”
“Shay’s parents adopted me when I was five.”
“Damn! I had no idea.”
Xander shrugged. “Meh. No big deal. It’s the normal assumption.”
Sydney wanted to ask more even though she knew that she shouldn’t. Against her better judgment she pressed for more. “How did you end up with her family?” Being adopted at five seemed rare. Xander took long enough to answer that she started to believe he wasn’t going to answer. Finally, he spoke, softly.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was found wandering the streets. I don’t remember how I got there.”
Sydney felt like her insides were spinning. “You don’t remember anything?”
“Nope.”
“They couldn’t find your parents?”
“Nope,” he said, not looking at her.
Sydney and Xander both stared into the setting sun for a few minutes shivering lightly. She felt like Xander’s story meant something, but her brain, swimming in marijuana, couldn’t process what it meant. She felt like the world was spinning away from her and she struggled to hold onto it. She rubbed at her face and twitched as she felt her muscles itch and cramp. “I should go.”
“What?”
Sydney glanced at her phone. “Shay’s going to start wondering where I am. I should go.”
Xander looked away from her. “OK.”
Guilt and agitation stiffened her muscles made her want to go. The growing attachment she was feeling towards Xander nagged at her. She didn’t really want to leave. She wanted to be near him. She wanted to laugh with him more. For some reason, sitting next to him made everything else go away. It felt dangerous and careless and suddenly she wanted to be anywhere other than with Xander.
Chapter Nine
Xander and Sydney were quiet on the drive home, but this time it didn’t feel comfortable. Instead, she felt exposed and edgy. Telling herself it was just the drugs, she tried to act as normal as she could. But everything felt exaggerated and extreme. When she crossed her legs she was convinced that Xander was thinking that she was closing herself off, putting distance between them. But that’s what I’m doing. Why wouldn’t I want him to think that? But if he thinks that, he might not ask me to hang out with him anymore. But I really shouldn’t want to hang out with him anymore. Just stop thinking about this. Then it will go away.
Sydney turned to Xander and jumped when she realized he was staring at her. “What?”
“We’re here.”
“Where?”
“Around the corner from the store.”
Sydney looked around. “Oh!” And they were. They were parked a few spots away from where he had picked her up earlier. The sun was setting and stunned by how quick the drive had been. “Damn.”
Xander laughed so hard that no sound came out. He leaned back in the seat and rested his head against the back window. Holding onto his stomach, he gasped for breath. “You are really high,” he finally panted.
“I know. What the hell kind of weed was that?” Syd tried not to laugh with him. Shit, what if that was laced with something?
Finally, he shrugged. “It’s called Twister.”
“As in a tornado?” She could believe it. She felt like her brain was spinning through a funnel cloud.
“No.” Xander leaned towards her, his eyes locked onto hers and her breath caught in her throat. Shit, what’s he doing? Do I want him to do this? But, instead of kissing her, his head turned at the last moment and his mouth was next to her ear when he spoke. The timbre of his voice tickled her ears and raised goosebumps on her arms. His voice was a soft murmur and the scent of his skin caused heat to flare through her body. “Twister as in I could make you come just by tweaking your nipples right now.”
Embarrassingly, Sydney felt a whimper slip out of her throat and her mouth went dry as every muscle in her lap throbbed. At his words she could feel her nipples tingle as if he actually had them between his fingers. When light flared through the truck, Sydney realized that Xander had reached around her to open her door. She swallowed hard as he leaned back and grinned wickedly at her. “You-you are an asshole,” she croaked.
Xander laughed again, this time it was more of a giggle than a silent wheeze. “You have a good night now.”
Sydney broke away from his intense gaze and tried to slide gracefully from the truck. Unfortunately, he had parked too close to the curb and she stumbled over it gracelessly. She could hear him laugh even harder and she refused to look at him, fearing she would start laughing too. Instead, she flipped him off and stormed away.
At the foot of the stairs leading to her apartment, Sydney took a moment to compose herself. Shay would have closed the store at six and was most likely upstairs already. What the hell was that? She wondered, leaning against the wall. Why the hell does he have such an effect on me? It’s just because I need to get laid. Shit, when is the last time I got laid? Have I ever been laid? It had just occurred to her that she had no idea if she was a virgin or not. Surely not! People don’t make it to my age these days without having sex, right?
“My life is insane,” she grumbled as she made her way up the stairs carefully holding onto the railing as she went.
She found Shay in the living room hand sewing sequins on a tiny clown costume. “Hi!” she called as Sydney shut the door.
Is she asking me if I’m high? Deciding that heading straight to her room would be too suspicious she sat in the chair across from Shay and picked up a magazine. After a couple of minutes she realized that none of the words made any sense so she put it back down.
“What did you end up getting into today?”
“Meh. I had some sandwiches and beers. Sat around outside for a while.”
“OK.”
Sydney was sure that Shay was thinking she had done something more interesting but knew Sydney was keeping it a secret. The more Syd watched her the more she was sure that Shay was dying to ask her about it. As she wracked her brain trying to come up with a plausible story that wasn't a total lie, Shay continued to sew.
“Hey,” Shay said suddenly looking up from the costume.
Here we go. “Yeah.”
“Want to order pizza tonight?”
After a confused pause, Syd shrugged. “Sure.” Dammit. I’m never smoking weed with Xander again.
***
The next morning Sydney jerked awake feeling something crawl across her face. She slapped at her cheek and was surprised when her hand came away wet. Sitting up, she froze seeing bright red blood coating her fingers. When more dripped from her nose and down her shirt she saw that her pillow had a gruesomely large puddle of blood next to where her face had just been.
“Fuck,” Sydney scrambled out of the bed with her hand cupped over her face.
Not thinking, she burst through the bathroom door and screamed when Shay screamed. Syd nearly fell over her roommate who was sitting on the toilet and in the process dribbled blood across the floor, her shirt and her Shay’s feet.
“Holy shit!” Shay stood up and tried to help Syd to the sink. “What happened?”
“Give me some tissues.” She held her head over the sink and let the blood drip into the basin.
“Here!” Shay shoved a wad of tissue in her hands, “Keep your head forward.” After a few moments she gave her another ha
ndful. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah, I just woke up with a nose bleed.”
“You scared the shit out of me.”
“Gross,” Syd couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I didn’t mean literally. I was just peeing.”
“So glad for that.”
“Me too,” Shay giggled. “Really, are you OK?”
“I think so.” Even though her head was throbbing again she didn’t tell Shay. She didn’t want her friend to worry about her.
“It’s kind of dry in the apartment, maybe that’s what caused it?”
“Maybe.”
“My brother used to get them when we were kids. Our parents had to get a humidifier. Maybe we should get one. Have you gotten nosebleeds your whole life?”
No clue. “Yeah, I’ve gotten them before.” It could be true, she figured. It was best to go with an answer that wouldn’t worry Shay more.
Finally, the bleeding slowed and Shay began wiping up the blood. “I can do that,” Syd insisted.
“I don’t mind. This is what friends are for?”
“What? Interrupting your morning poop with a hemorrhaging nose?”
“I wasn’t pooping!”
“Sure…” Syd giggled, glad that Shay wasn’t making too big of a deal out of the nosebleed.
“Well, if you’re done bleeding all over the place I’m going to get in the shower.”
“Yeah, I think I’m good.”
Sydney left Shay to get ready and put coffee on. Sitting at the kitchen table she rubbed her temples. Her headache was slowly dissipating but she was still perturbed. Two nosebleeds in two mornings. Fuck, with my luck, I have a brain tumor. The amnesia would make sense then. But why hasn’t there been anything else since I woke up next to the lake? Sydney figured if she had a brain tumor she would have had symptoms other than memory loss for the past four months. She decided to google brain tumor symptoms later.
After Shay left to open the store, Sydney got out her laptop. She managed to make herself answer messages and process orders for The Bark and Meow before getting distracted by Google. Fifteen minutes later she was sure she didn’t have a brain tumor, but she was pretty sure she had Crohn’s disease and internal parasites. She rolled her eyes at herself. Stupid internet—it was never a good idea to self-diagnose off websites.
Don't Let Them Find You Page 6
