Hemlock Grove

Eating sandwiches in a car is actually a pretty romantic thing to do. They just proved that by being all cute.
 
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 :(
 
HAHA Michael came up with the no sex. :rolleyes: Some how I don't think that will last very long. Syd will dress really sexy for their next date and well you know. :LOL:
 
omgosh syd is hilarious....i want to know what happened in the coveralls........hell I went to a school FILLED with boys wearing them and some of them were pretty fine looking if I do say so myself............ohhhhhhh they're so cute together! So about her going back to work.......????? it can't be long before her vacation time is up and she has to decided
 
hey! :mellow:

“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
:LOL: :lol:
“night yourself handsome,”
you can say that again! :P :lol:
nearly over :(
NOOOOOOOOO!!!
u writing a sequeal to this right? :thinking:
Pheonix :P
 
first -- Boyscout_Mountaier you'd better change your sig because its way too big



Chapter 12
On Friday, Sydney and Michael once again went to the sandwich shop for lunch. They also made plans to eat dinner that evening with the Vaughn’s per Bill and Amelia’s request. Sydney and Michael decided that over this dinner they would inform his parents about their rekindled relationship. Of course, in a small town like Hemlock Grove, there was only so much they did not already know. Bill had obviously seen the two of them going out to lunch and had undoubtedly told his wife that they were not at each other’s throats while doing it, either. Plus, they already knew of some gossip spreading around about how Sydney spent Wednesday night at Michael’s house; it was very likely this reached Amelia’s ears, especially since she worked at the diner – a.k.a. gossip central.


“So…how do you think they’ll react?” Sydney asked while tugging uncomfortably at her seatbelt as they road to the Vaughn’s that evening.

“Obviously they’ll demand we divorce immediately,” Michael said in as dull a tone he could muster without laughing. He had no idea why Sydney sounded so nervous; his parents had always loved her and there was certainly no reason to stop now.

“I’m serious,” she groaned.

“C’mon Syd – you know them. They’ll just say they want us to be happy,” he told her.

“We are happy….right?” she added with mild uncertainty.

“Well I don’t have any complains,” he smiled at her, reaching over to squeeze her hand; she smiled back.


A moment later, they pulled up at the Vaughn’s house and hopped out of the truck. They hardly made it up the front porch steps before Amelia flew out of the house and pulled them both into a hug. Stunned, Sydney and Michael exchanged looks while gasping for air.

“Oh I’m just so happy to see you both!” Amelia squealed in their ears.

“Mom you see us all the time,” Michael grunted, trying to wiggle from her grasp.

“But not together,” she emphasized happily. Then she dragged them both into the house behind her, ridiculous grin never leaving her face. “So how are you?! How are you!?” she demanded.

Michael and Sydney exchanged looks, trying not to laugh at how unsubtle she was being. “Well I guess there’s no use dragging this out,” Michael began. “Mom, Dad, Sydney and I are-”

“Oh I knew it!” Amelia squealed, not letting her son finish as she pulled them both into another hug. “You’re getting married again! This is so wonderful!”

“Mom, chill!” Michael groaned. “We’re not getting married again. Not yet, anyway. We’re starting over.”

“Starting over?!” Amelia asked with confusion. “But you’re already married!”

“We’re trying again,” Sydney clarified. “Nothing’s definite yet; we’re taking it a day at a time.”

“Exactly,” Michael smiled, putting an arm around her shoulders. Sydney leaned into his embrace and smiled as well.

“Well, I guess that’s better than nothing,” Amelia said, sounding slightly miffed. “Let’s just eat dinner and you can explain to us what ‘starting over’ means.”

~*~

“Well that was…interesting,” Sydney sighed as they left the Vaughn’s later that evening, both of them exhausted and rather drained. After Sydney and Michael calmly explained to Amelia how they were just trying their relationship again to see if they would work; it was in no means a guarantee that they would not eventually divorce. Of course, they both wanted their relationship to work out, but they were hesitant to be too, too hopeful, especially considering all the issues they still needed to work though.

Upon hearing this, Amelia proceeded to regale them with every happy story she could about their short-lived marriage a decade earlier. Then, after dinner, she forced them to look through the three photo albums she had containing pictures from the wedding reception they threw a few weeks after they eloped. The albums were arranged chronologically throughout the three hour long reception. That arrangement was not necessary though; it was easier to tell which pictures were taken later in the evening, for Sydney and Michael looked progressively more annoyed with the camera stalking them. Interestingly, the faces they made in the pictures were not unlike the ones they made while looking at the pictures.

“God I just wanted to shoot myself. That reception was bad enough to live through,” Michael groaned. It appeared that so soon after their hasty marriage, the town’s feeling on the subject was still well divided. While some people found it adorable and wished them well, others felt it was a mistake and had no problem sharing that with them at the reception.

“Pretty much…but at least its over,” Sydney sighed. “Can we go back to your place for a while?” Michael nodded and the two of them headed to his car.


Twenty minutes later, they were sitting on Michael’s couch half-paying attention to the TV when Sydney was beginning to grow very restless. Instead of watching the Everybody Loves Raymond rerun they were watching, she turned her focus to placing kisses along Michael’s neck, trying to entice him to focus on her instead of the TV.

“You’re pure evil you know that?” Michael groaned a minute later as he tried to lean away from her.

“Who? Me?” she asked innocently, still kissing his jaw.

“Yes you. Stop it wouldya?! You can do that all night long but we’re still not having sex,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Whyyy?” she whined, sitting back on her heels.

“Because we need to take things slow – that’s the only way this is going to work. Look, Syd if we start having sex again then it throws all those emotions in there and that’s not what I want. This is hard enough, you know? Because the last time…” he let his voice drift off.

“The last time I was the bitch who broke your heart,” she said quietly, looking down to her lap.

“Hey, no,” Michael said softly, reaching over to tilt her head up so that her eyes met his. “This isn’t your fault, you know – not entirely, anyway. It was just a million different things that added up to one big nuclear explosion. We were both so young, we both said things we didn’t mean, we didn’t really get what it meant to be married…you said things, we fought, you left, but I didn’t come after you; I never did. So this…this is both our faults equally.”

Sydney smiled softly. “I guess that’s why we have to fix it together.”

“Exactly,” he said before leaning over and giving her a sweet kiss.

“So we need to talk about this weekend…”

“What’s this weekend?” he asked, having no idea.

“I have to go back…to New York…,” she said slowly. Michael’s face fell. “I know it sucks, but it’s my job. It won’t be so bad, though…. I mean, we can call each other and email during the day and we can probably get together on the weekends; it’s only a few hour drive or train ride. Maybe you can even come visit me in New York for a few days,” she suggested hopefully.

“Sure,” he said. Though he was smiling, his tone indicated the certain level of trepidation he was feeling towards starting their relationship over as a long distance one. It added certain complications that he was not entirely sure they would be able to handle; he hoped they would, though.

“So can I stay over? I’ll wear my chastity belt I promise,” she told him seriously.

He laughed. “No belt necessary, but you can stay.”

“Oh good, ‘cause I think that would have been really hard to sleep in,” she sighed; again, Michael laughed.
 
Boy Michael really wants this to work, I mean he turned her down for sex again. That takes some mighty big restraint there.

Now the big test, long distance. Why do I feel a fight is coming? Michael doesn't seem very enthusiastic about NYC.
 
I think that it is a great idea that they have the no sex, but I really don't think that is going to last very long. I hope that they can work things out.

texasalias
 
awwww I just LOVE Amelia! hahah I could just imagine having to sit through 3 photo albums....wow......i can't wait to see what happens when syd goes back...lets hope this time they don't break up again because they're so cute together! can't wait for more!
 
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