Hemlock Grove

oooooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooohhhhhhhh uh oh........syd's gonna totally screw this one up isn't she? NOOOOOOO oh man michael is SOOOOO cute and sweet and *little girl scream* I just love him and I can't wait for more
 
Dammit i hope to the great lord above that sydney DOES NOT REGRET THIS IN THE MORNING...she is not allowed to... you hear me you make her think..."you know what my perfect man that i want to spend the rest of my life with is right here next to me... where if i am honest with myself is where he should have been for the last 8 years just as i should have been by his side and it shouldn't have mattered where we were."
 
Chapter 9
Hours later, Sydney awoke in a sleepy daze, unsure of what time it was. Glancing up at the illuminated clock beside her she saw that it was barely nine o’clock. That was far too early an hour to go to bed, which was ironic considering she had just woken up from an hour long nap. Then again, that nap was proceeded by some rather strenuous activity that warranted a rest.

She groaned slightly as she rolled over onto her back, debating whether she should get up or ask Michael for the remote to the TV across the bedroom from her comfy position. In doing this, she realized that the other half of the bed was empty. She sat up straight and began looking around the room. It was dark now that the sun had set, but she could see a faint light filtering down the hallway.

As she slid out of bed to go investigate the whereabouts of her husband, Sydney took the sheet with her, tucking it tightly around her body. She shuffled her way out into the hall, blinking rapidly at the contrast in lighting from the dark bedroom to the well lit sitting area. There, she saw Michael seated on the couch in his boxers and white t-shirt, his head resting on his chin, his elbow on his knee, staring blankly out into space.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Sydney asked softly.

“Nothing,” he sighed, glancing up at her only briefly. “Nothing I’m just…sitting.”

“Well why don’t you come to bed?” she suggested. “You can sit there.”

“No, I don’t think so…,” he sighed. “We…we shouldn’t have…we shouldn’t have,” he repeated, shaking his head.

“Why not?” she questioned. In her mind, dozens of different reasons why their previous actions were ill advised were swimming around in her head, but she wanted to know specifically what he was thinking about.

He looked over to her with an expression that said, “There are about a dozen things wrong with this situation, all of them screamingly obvious.”

“Well, it happened,” she said simply. “It happened and we can’t take it back now.”

“No, we can’t but…,” he sighed not completing his thought. Then, he stood off the couch, running his hands through his hair as he did so, and turned his back on her.

“You…you want me to go…,” she said, her words coming out as more of a factual statement than a question. “You don’t want me to stay… why don’t you want me to stay,” she said softly. Of course, her query was meant to stay inside her mind, but it slipped out by accident. While she knew what they had done was not the best decision, she was perfectly happy with having that night as just a wonderful night and worrying about the consequences in the morning. Apparently, Michael did not feel the same way.

When after a few minutes of silence Michael had not responded or turned back around to face him, Sydney rotated one hundred and eighty degrees and shuffled her way back to the bedroom. She shut the door behind her and began to sort through the pile of clothes on the floor to find the ones she had shed, all the while coaching herself not to cry. She just had to make it out the door and into the car; then, she could let the tears flow freely. When she emerged from the bedroom a minute later, Michael was blocking her path looking very serious.

“You think I don’t want you? You think I haven’t wanted you here these past eight years? You think I wasn’t just waiting for the day when you would come back and say you were sorry? I was,” he told her. “I was and… and just because you broke my heart I didn’t stop loving you. Sometimes, I hated myself because I still loved you, but I did love you… I love you enough to know that it was better you stayed away. You belong in New York, you don’t belong here with the stupid greasy mechanic,” he said in a rather defeated tone, lowering his eyes to the ground.

“Michael no,” Sydney choked out, her tears practically blinding her as she stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on his arm. He recoiled away from her. “No, Michael, no I never meant that. What I said…I’ve regretted it for eight and a half years. I was just mad and young and stupid but I did not mean that. You’re not stupid…or greasy,” she added.

“But I’m not good enough for you, Syd. I’m not good enough. You went to college. You have your fancy degree and I… I just work at a car dealership. Two people like that…they don’t get along – they wouldn’t get along. Sooner or later their differences would divide them.

“Our parents were right all along. We got married too young; we weren’t thinking about the long term. Sure, we had our stupid plan, but look how it turned out? We grew apart, which was inevitable I suppose,” he sighed sadly. As he paused his speech, he walked over to the coffee table where the brown envelope containing the divorce papers sat. He picked it up, pulled the tab open and slid the papers out.

“You belong with some fancy person in New York. Someone who can afford a nice penthouse and a luxury car to drive. You don’t need to be with the small town hick you dated during high school,” he said sadly as he picked up a pen and held it to the paper at the signature line.

“No! No!” Sydney shouted, rushing over to him and yanking the papers away. “How do you know what I need?! You don’t Michael, you don’t. Your job means nothing – it has nothing to do with what kid of person you are. Ten years ago I didn’t realize that, but now I do. I get it now. I get it! Wearing a high powered suit just means your paycheck has a few more zeros than everyone else’s. It doesn’t mean you’re a sweet person. It doesn’t mean you’re a kind person. It doesn’t mean you make me laugh or you build me a house with yellow siding and blue shutters just like I wanted,” she sniffed, tears now rolling down her cheeks at even intervals.

“I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry – God, you have no idea how sorry I am that I said those things and I stayed away so long…but you know why I did? You know why it took me eight years to come back here with those divorce papers? Because I didn’t want it to be over. I didn’t want it to end because I was scared of losing the one love I ever had; scared that I would never have one like it again. And you know what? I won’t. I know I won’t and… and now that I’m back here I don’t want it to end. I…don’t,” she said, tearing up the papers in her hands and letting the pieces fall to the floor.

“Sydney,” Michael said in a warning tone.

“I know, Michael, I know – its insane and I don’t really know what exactly I’m thinking right now except that I want to try us again. We worked once, didn’t we? We worked once so we might work again, right? I just want to try before we end it once and for all. I mean, don’t you? Don’t you want to try? If you don’t I’ll leave but if you do…,” she let her voice drift off on a hopeful note.

Michael sighed as he walked over to her and took her hands in his. “I…I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I’m not sure…I need some time to think about it.”

“Right, right of course,” Sydney nodded. “Take all the time you need. I’ll just, uh, leave you and-” she stopped when she tried to pull her hands out of his but he would not let her.

“No, you can stay,” he smiled softly. “Let’s just go to bed; we’ll talk about it more tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she agreed with a soft smile. Then, he led the way back to their bedroom.
 
I'm glad that this has helped Syd to realize that she does want to be with him. Hopefully they can come up with a plan that works out for them.
Great update
 
I am so glad that they are being adult and talking instead of just arguing and running away without resolving anything
Can't wait for more.
 
Janet you never cease to amaze me.....that was NOTHING like I thought it would......wow.......I'm so happy though......I'm glad that syd has realized that it doesn' matter how much money a person makes, it's how sweet they are like having the carving from the bridge in the swing.......*girly sigh* I sooooo want that! Can't wait for more
 
Chapter 10
The next morning when Sydney awoke with Michael’s arm tucked around her waist, she had to remind herself that she was not eighteen years old; she was twenty-eight. It had been so long since she and Michael awoke that way, she needed to remind herself it wasn’t a dream. It was real and, hopefully, it was a new beginning for them.

Still waking up, Sydney breathed in deeply as she stretched out her limbs and rolled towards the center of the bed. There, she found Michael was watching her with a soft smile on his face. “Hey,” she whispered.

“I forgot how beautiful you are when you sleep,” he said softly. She smiled at him, blushing ever so slightly. He leaned over and kissed her forehead sweetly. “I’ve gotta get ready for work. You wanna meet for lunch at twelve thirty?”

Sydney nodded in agreement and then shut her eyes to try and fall back asleep as Michael slid out of bed and made his way to the shower. Of course, she was entirely unsuccessful in catching some more Zs, but that was alright; the view of Michael’s toned-just-the-right-amount body while he dressed was more than a worthy trade off. “Don’t forget to lock the front door when you leave,” Michael reminded her as he finished dressing.

“Since when do we lock our doors in this town?” she asked dully.

“Since a few years ago when some guy driving through the town stole a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff outta people’s houses,” he pointed out. “See you later.”

“Bye,” she yawned before rolling over onto her stomach and trying to fall back to sleep.

~*~

Later that morning, after Sydney finally forced herself from bed, dressed, and left Michael’s house, she arrived at her father’s only to find that he was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on some coffee. Apparently, he had the morning off. “Just getting in?” he questioned in a fatherly tone.

“Dad, I’m twenty-eight; you can’t use that tone with me,” Sydney sighed to him before making her way over to the half-full coffee pot.

“Can’t a father just ask where his daughter has been all night long?” he asked innocently.

“You can except you know exactly where I was,” she told him.

“You mean you were with Michael all this time?!” he gasped. Sydney gave him a look. “What?! How was I supposed to know where you were? You could have gone someplace else after eating dinner with Michael. Or, he could have tied you up and left you in a closet.”

“And why would he do that?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well I have no idea,” Jack said, chuckling softly. Sydney laughed as well. “So…all night at Michael’s…”

“Dad, you’re reaching,” she groaned slightly. He continued his innocent stance. “Seriously, I have nothing to tell you. We’re… in limbo; all bets are off.”

“I see. Well you have a nice day; I’m off to work,” he said, getting up from his seat. He then kissed her forehead gently on his way out the door.

Sighing slightly, Sydney took a long drink from the cup in her hand. If her father was already pressing her for information she didn’t have to give, she did not even want to begin to imagine the reaction of the rest of the town.


By the time she cleaned up the kitchen, showered and dressed, it was nearly time to meet Michael for lunch. Sydney set off on a stroll through town to the used car dealership. As she walked, she had the peculiar feeling that eyes were watching her as she went It may have been just her paranoia, but if they were doing this she knew exactly the reason why; undoubtedly someone would have seen her car leaving Michael’s early that morning, a clear indication that she had spent the night. After their public fight, it was no secret in the two their feelings towards one another, at least during that time. Now that things had changed…well, everyone would be abuzz with gossip.


“Hey, you ready to go?” Sydney asked as she poked her head into Michael’s office, where he was seated at his desk scribbling down on a paper in his infamous barely-legible handwriting.

“Just a second,” he said, not looking up. He finished jotting down whatever he was writing before looking up to her with a smile. “Ready. Where do you want to eat?”

“How about that new place down the road?” she suggested. “Joe something or others…why are you making that face?” she questioned his grimace.

“Food’s nasty, like really nasty. It’s shocking they’re still in business,” he said.

“Oh…well then you pick; I don’t care,” she shrugged slightly. Michael nodded and led the way out of the office, ignoring the whispers coming from the people they passed on the way. He opened the passenger side door of his truck for Sydney and let her climb inside before shutting it and walking around to the driver’s side.

“So question – if you’ve got all these presumably nice used cars, why do you still drive this pickup truck?” Sydney asked.

“First, I happen to like my pickup truck. It allows me to haul things around – like you, for instance,” he smiled at her. She rolled her eyes. “Second, if my pickup is taken away that is the first step to letting go of my hometown hick edge and, if I recall correctly, you said yourself that you liked that edge.”

“Eh, yeah, but I could live without the pickup – how about a minivan instead?” she teased. Michael winced as though he had been physically injured by her comments and Sydney couldn’t help but laugh. “I was joking.”

“I hope so,” he said very seriously.

A minute later they pulled up at their destination: a sandwich shop directly across the street from the dinner. To Sydney, this was definitely a preferable option over the diner. Eating there would have resulted in the being hounded by so many questions they could not even eat their lunch. The sandwich shop was more of a carry-out place with very little seating, therefore at any given time they could only be cornered by one or two customers max.

After getting their sandwiches, they returned to Michael’s truck where they could eat in peace, even if everyone walking past them on the street did stare for an uncomfortably long amount of time. “So, uh, you maybe wanna go out to dinner tonight? Something nice,” Michael suggested.

Sydney gave him a rather impressed look. “Two dates in one day?”

“This isn’t a date; this is lunch,” he said simply.

“What about tonight?”

“That would be a date,” he laughed.

“Alright, I’ll be there,” she smiled at him.
 
ooooohhhhhh I'm soooooooo happy for them! YAY! awwwwwwww this is so cute! I can't wait until people start asking....nosy nosy people! can't wait for more!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top