Shattered By Broken Dreams

It was Sydney’s birthday and Matt planned a huge pool party and yeah…there was cake.
All those years ago when she had first arrived at the original house, she had done all she could to drive all five men crazy. Especially Matt and Brian, but it was Matt who when he was least expecting to, fell in love with the feisty girl who once didn’t speak a word. Yet, she never expect to fall in love with the man whom she once referred to as “Bodzilla” an inside joke between her and Jimmy.

It was Brian who was over protective of his friends and kept her at arms length. It was his stone cold demeanor and his hard exterior that was the hardest for her to break through, but she did. He warned her many a time that she better not break Matt’s heart, yet it was he who betrayed his friend by sleeping with her. With all that in the past, Brian now had a family of his own. A wife he couldn’t live without, but came damn close to having to and if it wasn’t for Sydney and her key, he could very well be sitting at that table over there alone. His daughter was another matter though, but he was learning to let her grow up.

It was Zacky who one fateful night pointed his gun at her and told Jimmy to get her in the car. It was he who came up with the plan in the first place and he who became her best friend afterwards. He was the one who killed her father and saved her life and she was the one who gave him a key and demanded he take control of a situation in his life that had overwhelmed his family. His family that to this day would be torn apart if it wasn’t for her insistence.

It was Johnny who on that same night all those years ago never bothered to look and see if there was anyone in the bathroom before they held up the liquor store. It was she who would become his confidant and the person he would talk to about Kelli when they first started dating and it was her who would comfort him after her death, but it was also her who finally after over 20 years would be the one person to convince him to finally lay her to rest at the risk of missing out on a real love story.

It was Jimmy who had been the one who shoved her into the car and it was him who also took her under his wing when she was just a scared kid with no one on her side. Even though he was the one who in a moment of selfish stupidity turned her in to the cops, but she forgave him and he would make her pancakes everyday as a thank you. He was the one who had a rock solid marriage all on his own without any help from her. She still held his key and had yet to return it and at this point it looked as if he wasn’t getting it back.

Like every family, they all had their fair share of problems, but through everything that happened, they all went through it together. If one of them hurt, they all hurt. If one of them needed help, they all lent a hand and when you mess with one of them, you mess with all of them.

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“Only my wife could be born on Valentine’s day” Matt smiled and kissed her cheek as he stood behind her with his arms around her waist.

“And only my husband could be my Valentine” she smiled.

“It’s your birthday so why do I get the feeling that instead of being happy, you are upset about something?” Matt knew his wife well.

She turned around to look at her husband with sadness in her eyes.

“Syd?”

“Something is wrong with Lyric and I can’t fix it because he wont talk to me about it.”
Matt smiled and kissed her nose. “Lyric is a grown man and you can’t fix all his problems, Sydney”

“I know, but cant you talk to him? Please?” she begged and he hated it when she begged because she was irresistible.

“Ok” he nodded and kissed her again before walking over to his son who was sitting alone on a lounge chair watching Jonnie sit at the pool in her bikini with her legs hanging over the side in the water.

Matt sat down in the chair next to his son and stretched out his legs. “So, what’s eating you?” he asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it” Lyric said never taking his eyes off of Jonnie.

“Well you better because if I go back to your mother and tell her that I didn’t magically make your problem’s disappear then I am not going to be her hero anymore and I don’t like it when I’m not her hero so spill it.”

Lyric let out a huff and shook his head. “I don’t know where to start” he said.

“Try the beginning” his father folded his arms across his chest and waited.

“I slept with Jonnie, dad.”

Matt nodded and bit his bottom lip. “I kinda figured that was going to happen, but why does it have you so upset?”

“Because when she came back to town I made a bet with Blade as to which one of us would sleep with her first. I hate to lose so I pursued her relentlessly and started as soon as you sent me to New York with Seven to go see her.”

He sat up and turned sideways so now his feet were planted on the ground and he was facing his father. “With every day that I spent with her, dad, I fell for her more and more and I didn’t want to believe it. I’m not the guy that falls in love and stays with one girl, but I want her and I would be that guy for her, but when I saw her hanging out with Blade, I got jealous and asked her to leave the house.”

“You are my son in every sense of the word.” Matt smiled. “Have you tried to apologize?” he asked.

“I can’t because it gets worse”

“ok” Matt said waiting for his son to continue.

“Blade and I had a fight in front of her and he blurted out that there was a bet and now she wants nothing to do with me.”

“Well, in that case, I hate to say this, but you don’t deserve her and if her. By the way did either of you even consider the fact that if her father finds out he is going to take it out on me and Zacky?”

“No”

“Of course not. Well I would suggest you fix this little situation before it gets worse”

Matt got up and left his son to think about what he had said and went back over to his wife who was eating a piece of birthday cake. “It’s bigger than we though” he said in a serious tone of voice.

“What is it?” Sydney waited nervously to find out what was wrong with her son.

“He’s in love” Matt smiled and nodded in the direction of their son who was walking towards Jonnie.

“With Jonnie?” Sydney asked surprised.

“Oh yeah, our boy has it bad for her” Matt laughed.

“That’s so sweet” she said and fed her husband a forkful of cake.