Chapter 31
The day after their dinner together, Sydney’s father expressed his overwhelming approval for Michael as her boyfriend. For starters, he had known the Vaughn family nearly as long as Sydney and heartily approved of them. Second, Michael’s future career path as a lawyer and desire to seek further education after achieving his undergraduate degree was something her father encouraged and thus was glad to see in today’s youth who, in his opinion, were worthless slobs as a whole. Thirdly, there was Michael’s genuine personality and his kind treatment of Sydney. All these things combined made Michael the ideal boyfriend for Sydney, or so her father said anyway.
Sydney had to admit she was slightly shocked at her father’s approval. It was not as though she expected her father to hate Michael and demand they break up immediately; she simply was not expecting such an overzealous positive response from him. Taking this into account, she boldly asked if it would be alright for her to spend New Year’s Eve at the Vaughn’s so that she and Michael could kiss at midnight. Her father was slightly hesitant to agree to this, but he finally did so long as she promised to spend the night in Jess’s room, like she always did when she stayed there. Sydney agreed to this but, of course, had no intentions of abiding by such a promise.
On New Year’s Eve, when Sydney slipped into Michael’s bed (of course, by that time it was New Year’s Day being that it was after one a.m.), instead of feeling him relax against her like he usually did, Sydney felt Michael’s hands slip up underneath her PJ top to which she hissed to him, “Michael!”
“What?” he said softly, amusement evident in his voice.
“Stop,” she said firmly. “We’re not… we can’t.”
“Why? Everyone else is asleep.”
“Oh my god Michael, you’re insane. Your parents are right down the hall and so is your sister!! We cannot do it with them in the house!” she exclaimed, utterly horrified at the mere thought of that.
“Wait, serious?” he asked, sounding equally as shocked and horrified as Sydney, but for an entirely different reason.
“Um, yes.”
“Aww man,” he groaned. “You’re no fun.” She rolled her eyes and rolled to the other side, forcing his hands out from under her shirt. Realizing she was slightly annoyed with him, Michael tried to make the situation better by rolling over towards her and looping his arm around her waist. He then said softly in her ear, “Okay, how about tomorrow we take my car out to a deserted parking lot and – AH!” he groaned when she elbowed him in the stomach. “Come on, that was a joke!”
“I know; I elbowed you for being an idiot,” she laughed softly.
~*~
The next two weeks passed by in a blur and soon Sydney, Michael and Jess were on their way back to Penn State to begin their Spring and, in Michael’s case, final semester. He was in total disbelief that he was actually going to be graduating, whereas Jess was completely irritated that he was going to be graduating when she had another whole stupid year left (as she put it). She muttered to herself and cursed him practically their whole ride there, which made it seem ages longer than it actually was.
Jess and Sydney were the first to arrive back at their dorm suite shortly followed by Cara, who came in about half an hour after them. The three girls chatted about their month apart, but only briefly since they had much unpacking to do. Almost an hour after Cara arrived Sam came bounding through the door squealing. “Jamie proposed over Christmas!”
“You’re kidding!” the three girls gasped in unison. Sam squealed, nodding her head and holding up the ring on her left hand. Upon seeing the sparkling ring, the other three girls squealed as well and jumped into a group hug. Jamie had been Sam’s boyfriend ever since the previous summer. He went to school in New York City, which mean he and Sam rarely saw each other. It was obvious though, that they had clicked immediately, so no one was all that surprised they were engaged so soon.
“Man… you got engaged, Cara got a boyfriend, Syd lost her virginity… my Christmas sucked compared to all you guys,” Jess shook her head once the squealing had calmed down.
“Oh my god, you and Michael finally did it?!” Cara asked excitedly.
“Yeah… thanks Jess,” Sydney grumbled at her. She didn’t exactly intend to broadcast that information to her friends but, not surprisingly, Jess had taken care of it for her. Jess simply shrugged as if to say, ‘No problem.’
“How was it? You didn’t injure him, did you?” Sam asked with concern with a sideways glance towards Jess, who turned slightly pink.
“No, I didn’t injure him,” Sydney rolled her eyes. “It was good… nice.”
“I guess this means I’m gonna be spending some nights on their floor, huh?” Cara asked, gesturing towards the adjoining room that belonged to Sam and Jess.
“Why don’t we cross that bridge when we come to it, hmm?” Sydney laughed. “So anyway, tell us about how Jamie proposed?!” she asked, desperate to change the subject.
“Oh, it was so sweet!” Sam sighed as she flopped down on Sydney’s bed. “It was Christmas morning and he did it in front of my parents and brother… of course, Matt nearly killed him,” Sam sighed, referring to her brother. “Apparently Jamie had asked my parents before hand, but forgot to mention anything to Matt, who was the person he really should have asked for permission,” she said with a laugh. The other three girls laughed too.
“Oh, this is just so exciting!! I’m getting married – I get to plan a wedding!” Sam giggled happily.
“Soon?!” Sydney asked.
“Oh no, we’re not getting married until we graduate,” Sam told her. “But I can still start looking at stuff,” she grinned.
“That’s nice… but I don’t think I wanna get married,” Jess sighed as she sat down across from them at Sydney’s desk.
“What? Why?” Cara asked her.
Jess shrugged. “Dunno… I mean, it’s not like I never wanna get married; I just don’t wanna be married until way into my thirties.”
“Wanna focus on your career?” Sydney asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Of course not,” Jess said. “I want to date.” Everyone laughed and rolled their eyes.
“What about you, Syd?” Sam asked.
“Oh, I wanna get married,” she assured them.
“Duh! We know that – we meant when is Michael gonna ask you,” Sam clarified.
“Oh,” Sydney laughed softly, looking down towards her feet. “I dunno… I mean, we never talked about it or anything…. I don’t even know if he’s gonna ask…”
“Um hello,” Jess practically barked with laughter. “He’s only loved you since, like, forever. He only talks about you constantly. Besides, you guys have like the freakin’ perfect relationship. You get along and I’ve never heard you fight ever. He’s absolutely going to ask you.”
“You really think?” Sydney asked.
“Of course – why? Don’t you want to marry my brother?!” Jess asked, her tone turning defensive.
“No, no it’s not that. I mean… I guess I just never thought about it, you know? I’m kinda young to get married, but… if, say like in two years once I’m graduated I guess… yeah, I guess I’d marry him,” she said.
“Gee, Syd, sound a little bit more uncertain, would ya?” Sam laughed.
“I just never thought about it!”
“I know, I know. I’m just teasing you,” Sam assured her. “What about you, Cara?”
“Oh, I’m getting married…yep, as soon as Brad dumps that whore Angelina, I’m absolutely getting married,” Cara told her with a smile; everyone laughed.
wow... love it
