People Change

Brian inhaled deeply as he parked his SUV in Jimmy’s practically empty driveway. Today would be the first time he would see Sydney face-to-face ever since their little blow up. He wondered if maybe she’d cut her hair since then, or how noticeable the scar on her forehead would be. He felt equal anxiety and anticipation about seeing Sydney again. No doubt she’d still be pissed as hell about everything, really.

Knowing he couldn’t set if off any longer, Brian pivoted his body and slid out of his SUV, finding solace in the fact that he’d arrived before Sydney and could therefore prepare himself for meeting her.

“Hey,” Brian and Jimmy greeted each other once Leana led Brian through the house, spit him out into the backyard, before hustling back into the kitchen to finish the food preparations. Johnny and Lacey were the only other ones to have arrived, and Brian greeted the two of them as well as Jimmy fished a beer for him out of the cooler beside his patio chair.

“I have a favor of you to ask, actually,” Jimmy told Brian as he snagged a chair. Brian nodded and sat down next to Jimmy, popping open his beer and taking a drink as Jimmy continued. “Sydney will be bringing along her new...uh...boyfriend.”

“That quick, huh?” Brian blurted out. Jimmy glared at him, rubbing his thumb against a patch of dirt on the white plastic of the chair.

“This coming from a guy who got over Sydney in practically less than a week,” Jimmy said disapprovingly.

“Sorry,” Brian muttered apologetically. “It was a douche thing to say.”

Jimmy looked at Brian for several moments before letting his expression soften slightly. “I just request that you don’t start any shit. For once in a long while, Sydney seems actually happy, no thanks to you, and I’d much rather keep it that way.” Anger flared up in Jimmy’s eyes, and he glared accusingly at Brian.

“I won’t start any shit,” Brian promised. The warning in Jimmy’s eyes died down a little. “So, you’re not going to tell me who the guy is, huh?”

“No,” Jimmy answered, staring across the deck at the grill. Smoke curled in wispy tendrils from its gleaming silver lid. “But you’ll find out soon enough. Remember: don’t start anything. Sydney gets upset at all, your ass is grass.”

“Got it,” Brian said sincerely as Jimmy rose to his feet as Leana stepped out with the hot dogs and hamburgers. Jimmy shot one last glance at Brian over his shoulder before accepting the plate of food and spatula from Leana and walking over to man the grill.

Ten minutes later, almost everyone else had arrived—except for Lanie, Sydney, Matt B., and Jason. Brian stood talking with Matt S. about a riff Brian wanted to work into one of their songs when he heard Sydney’s voice coming out of the screen door from inside the house.

“Thank you, Lee. I actually bought this get-up at the mall just last week. I fell in love with it at first sight, and knew it would be perfect for today,” Sydney said cheerfully. She sounded as though she was beaming from ear to ear.

“I must say: you two make such a great couple. I just want to squeal like a five-year-old and hug both of you,” Leana answered with a light laugh. The screen door squeaked as she pushed it open, but Brian still didn’t turn to see Sydney with her new boyfriend. He wondered if he would ever be able to without starting something.

“Well,” Matt said, looking past Brian’s shoulder at Sydney and her male friend, “I suppose I wasn’t expecting that.”

Knowing he couldn’t avoid it any longer, Brian turned casually around. Matt and Lanie stood greeting Zacky and Gena at one end of the wooden deck. Sydney strode over towards Jimmy, pulling Jason along behind her by the hand. Her ivory shoulders shone in the summer sun, and the sun-soaked rays bounced off her thick wavy hair, which still looked the same as Brian remembered it. She smiled and laughed as she hugged Jimmy, even though Brian couldn’t hear their conversation.

So, Jason was Sydney’s latest male accompaniment. No wonder Jimmy asked Brian to not start shit. If he hadn’t, no doubt Brian wouldn’t think twice about going over and punching him right in the face, even though all this was Brian’s fault in the first place. Maybe they wouldn’t last. Maybe Sydney was just using Jason as a fall-back guy.

“Hey,” Sydney called as she walked right past Brian. She gave Matt a quick hug in greeting. A slight breeze blew her bangs back from her forehead, revealing the thin pink scar. It blended in quite well with her skin, however, and Brian knew he would’ve never noticed it if he hadn’t known it was there in the first place.

“Glad to see the scar is healing up so well,” Matt said with a smile, his eyes flickering between Sydney and Brian, who stood looking a little forlorn a few feet behind her.

“I am too,” Sydney agreed, running her fingertips across the scar. “I just pat a little bit of foundation on it. That usually makes it blend in just a little better.”

“Well, we’re all happy to see you doing so well,” Lacey said with a smile and her and Johnny walked up. Brian sighed and walked back to his patio chair, plopping down on it and tapping the bottom of his beer against the arm of the chair. He glanced over towards Sydney, his fingers clenching involuntarily around his beer can when he saw that Jason wrapped his arm around her waist. Sydney stood leaning against him, putting most of her weight on her good leg.

Jason glanced back over Sydney’s shoulder at Brian. He looked a little sheepish when he noticed Brian looking at the two of them. Brian just gave him a nod of greeting; Jason did the same before turning back to the conversation.

Brian decided him and Sydney wouldn’t be building any bridges that day.