Chapter 11
At six-thirty that evening, Michael picked up Sydney at her father’s house. When she got into his car, he presented her with a single red rose, very reminiscent of their days of courtship during high school. Sydney couldn’t help but giggle as she took the rose, leaned over and kissed his cheek as a thank you.
“So, we’ve got about a half hour drive ‘til we get to the restaurant, so just incase you were starving I brought along a little pre-dinner snack,” Michael said, holding up a bag from the seat beside him.
“Sunflower seeds!” she squealed excitedly, pulling the bag from his hands. “You remembered!”
“How could I forget?” he laughed. “It’s only your all time favorite snack food ever. You only eat them
constantly and spit the shells out everywhere – and you call me a hick,” he scoffed under his breath.
“I do not spit the shells everywhere,” she defended before pulling a shell from her mouth in as ladylike a manner as she could and placing it inside a tissue on her lap. Michael laughed and shook his head at her.
For the remainder of their drive to the restaurant, Sydney munched on some sunflower seeds, being careful not to eat too many and thus ruin her appetite. She offered some to Michael but of course he refused; he hated them and insisted he was not a bird and had no idea why anyone would eat them. Sydney knew the reasoning for going to a restaurant so far away; she didn’t need to question it. If they went to a restaurant in town everyone would see them eating together in dressy clothes and deduce they were on a date. If the town knew they were dating they would never get a moments peace.
“It’s so nice to see you in a suit,” Sydney patted his arm as they walked from the truck to the restaurant. “That’s like a…twice a year occasion.”
“Excuse me – I totally wear a suit more often than that,” he told her. She gave him a skeptical look. “I do too! Especially now; I have to wear one at least every other week to meet with a client and I wear a tie almost every day!”
“No more coveralls?” Sydney asked. He shook his head. “Damn, they were kinda sexy.”
“Oh I’m sure,” he rolled his eyes.
“They were!” she insisted. “Remember that time when we were-”
“Lets not talk about that now,” he cut her off in a rather high-pitched way. He knew exactly what event she was referring to, but considering they were in close vicinity of the matri’d, he opted not to relive it. Sydney giggled softly as they made their way to their table.
~*~
“So, that place was pretty nice, huh? I never went there before, but someone at work recommended it,” Michael told her.
“Yeah it was great; the dessert especially,” Sydney smiled, linking her arm through his. “You know, I could eat chocolate cake every day for the rest of my life and I’d never get tired of it…”
“But you would get fat,” he laughed.
“Nah, I’d just have to go to the gym more often…”
Michael half-snorted, half-choked. “YOU?! At a gym?! Working out and getting sweaty?!”
“I had to join a gym!” she insisted. “Here I’d go out on walks and at college I walked but I wasn’t walking in the city!”
“Oh, right, I forgot – there aren’t any sidewalks there!” he said with obvious sarcasm.
“No I was taking the subway to and from the office, so I was really only walking from my apartment to the elevator and then half a block to the subway station. I was getting fat!” she insisted.
“You must have been a cow,” he rolled his eyes.
“I was,” she laughed.
“Mmhm,” Michael sighed.
For the rest of their drive home, they teased each other about various things, though the subject kept returning to Sydney’s exercise routine. By the time they pulled up in front of Sydney’s father’s house, they were both laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
“So, um, I guess I can’t invite you inside with my dad in there and all…,” Sydney said cautiously.
“Invite me in? What makes you think I’d be going inside Bristow? What kinda man do you think I am, sleeping with a girl on the first date,” he shook his head in mock disgust.
“The first date? In what way is this our first date?!” Sydney asked with utter confusion.
“It could be…,” he said uncertainly; quite frankly, he wasn’t sure either.
“So…,” Sydney began slowly, “does that mean that you’ve thought about us?”
“I have. I’ve been thinking about us ever since you came back here five days ago looking so beautiful you made me forget I was ever mad at you,” he said.
“You hid that well,” Sydney interjected, her nerves unable to handle even a millisecond of silence.
He let out a breathy laugh. “Thanks…The truth is I don’t know what’s going on between us either. I mean, are we married? Are we dating? Are we in some sort of not married, not dating relationship limbo? I have no clue, but…but I do want to try again. I mean, after what you said the other night… that is seriously pretty impossible to say no to,” he told her.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded. She grinned before leaning over and giving him a long kiss. “Oh I wish you could come inside,” she sighed, her forehead resting against his.
“I don’t!” he laughed. She looked at him in utter shock. “Well if we’re going to do this we have to do it right – that means going slow and not rushing things.”
“No sex?” she practically whimpered.
“No sex,” he said firmly. Sydney flopped back against her seat, pouting and muttering something about him being a chick. Michael ignored this. “Plus the fact that I was always kinda freaked out about having sex in your bedroom. It’s so…pink and girly…”
“What?” she asked, surprised. “That never stopped you before…did it?”
“Syd, I was nineteen – very little stopped me,” he told her honestly. Sydney couldn’t help but laugh loudly at this. “Anyway, I guess this is goodnight. Lunch again tomorrow?”
“Yeah I guess,” she sighed. He gave her a questioning look. “Well it’s just…you take away the sex, you take away all motivation for me to look pretty all the time; I know I’m not working towards anything.”
He tilted his head to the side and gave her a curious look. “I don’t remember you being this horny.”
“It came with age,” she told him matter-of-factly.
“Sorry I missed that,” he laughed. Then he leaned over and gave her a long, sweet kiss. “Night beautiful.”
“night yourself handsome,” she giggled before sliding out of the truck. She walked up the front walk to the porch, where she turned around and waved goodbye before going inside. There, her father was waiting.
“Have a nice date?”
“It was fine Daddy; goodnight,” she said, kissing his cheek quickly before walking back to her bedroom to get ready for bed.
nearly over