Love By Our Side

Sophie's stay did not last as long as everyone, especially Stephen and Delaney, would have liked, but the group made the most of their time with her. On Saturday night, Justin Godsey hosted a bonfire that was nothing like the “party” the night before; there was good booze and better people, as well as the usual random, made up on the spot games and conversations that came with these get-togethers. On Sunday, Stephen wouldn't let anyone talk to Sophie (Delaney wanted to say something about this but John restrained her), until the two couples went to dinner that night.

“I understand he wants to spend time with her, but-” Delaney started.

“Yes, I understand you are angry at my brother because of this and God only know how many other things, but do you think Sophie would have let him act this way if she was upset by it? They want a day alone, that isn't that much to ask for,” John stated, calmly. Delaney didn't respond, instead she kept her eyes on the passenger side window. She knew that her cousin wanted, and deserved alone time, but she couldn't help but think Stephen was being a bit too, obsessive wasn't the right word, but something along those lines. She knew that she'd have to talk to Sophie about this, but didn't know quite how to bring it up. It was a strange topic. “I know you love your cousin and you wanna see her, but they don't get to spend a lot of time together like we do.” John slipped his hand into Delaney's as he said this, bringing it up for a quick peck before placing both their hands on her armrest.

“You can be really cute sometimes, ya know that?” Delaney giggled. At this moment in time, she wanted nothing more than to continue driving with her boyfriend, to California, to wherever, and spend some amount of time there. She knew that wasn't possible, of course, but was still disappointed when the car pulled into the restaurant's parking lot.

“Let's make this a fun, carefree, argument free dinner okay?” John said as he stepped out of the car.

“Yeah, sure. Just make sure your idiot brother doesn't make any idiotic comments,” Delaney said, rolling her eyes.

“Kill him with kindness,” John smirked, knowing he'd get shit for saying something so corny. Delaney just stared at him. He laughed and pulled her under his arm, giving her another peck, this time on the cheek.
“Sometimes, I really love you. Other times, not so much,” Delaney giggled.

“Is this a love-me or hate-me time?” John asked, with mock curiosity.

“Um, probably hate. Sorry.”

“Wow. You're really bad at lying, can I just tell you that? I guess that's a good thing though,” John laughed.

“If you guys are going to keep this behavior up tonight I think I'll barf,” Stephen said, walking up behind the couple. Delaney contemplated giving him a full-out beating there in the lobby of the restaurant, but instead gave a silent flip of the bird, making sure no one else could see. “Real mature, sis,” he whispered to Delaney.

“I'll kill you one of these days,” she quietly snapped back. “And I'll be your sis a lot sooner than you think.” She walked away, leaving Stephen with a confused look on his face. He quickly shook his head and followed the other three, but retained a slightly off-kilter look. Delaney gave him a strange look right back. When he noticed this, he snapped out of his funk and gave his “sister” a bright smile. “You're a weirdo.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” Sophie grinned, leaning in closer to her boyfriend.

“If you say John and I can't act like that at dinner, tell your girlfriend to stop, too,” Delaney shot, giving a big smile at the end of her statement.

“Yeah, okay. Uh, Soph, I fake yelled at Delaney and John earlier about being all couple-y and stuff and uh, maybe we should tone it down right now, too,” Stephen mumbled, almost ashamed.

“I was kidding Steve, jeez. What's up with you?” Delaney asked, unsure if she should be concerned or not.

“Oh, nothing. Just, nothing,” Stephen muttered, pretending to look through his menu. John, Delaney, and Sophie all shrugged, and went back to their conversations. The meal continued this way, with Stephen's attitude making a complete 180 for the remainder of the night. The two couples relaxed for a few hours until Sophie had to leave at nine. Delaney tried to convince her cousin to skip her classes tomorrow and stay an extra day, but Sophie made it very clear that this was impossible or else she'd stay in a heartbeat.

When it was time for her to leave, Stephen let Delaney be the last to say goodbye, which both girls thought odd but shrugged off.

“Your boy has been acting mighty odd today,” Delaney pointed out.

Sophie sighed. “Yeah, I noticed. No idea what's up with him. How has he been since you've been here?”

“Er, he gets really down right after you leave, but other than that pretty much like normal,” Delaney fibbed. :I don't know if he or John told you, but we've had a few spats outside of this weekend.” She decided to leave anything else she wanted to reveal to her cousin out of this conversation.

“Yeah, I've heard about a few of those. Both of your personalities are the same in that aspect, though. He likes to argue and you like being right, so that actually doesn't surprise me much,” Sophie said. She was full of surprises this weekend. Delaney had, yet again, expected her to react much differently to this news than she did. “Okay, I really gotta hit the road. Tell your parents and whoever else that matters about your decisions for school, and come home for a weekend soon. Alone. We need to have a no-boys weekend.” Delaney laughed and nodded, hugging her cousin goodbye.

When Delaney reentered the house, the two brothers seemed to be in a deep conversation. Not wanting to interrupt, she waited in the foyer for what seemed like a good time to go back in. When she realized what they were talking about, she was first confused, then decided to listen for a bit longer.

“Are you sure everything is okay with her?” Stephen asked his brother.

“Again, yes. If something was going on she would tell me. Why are you bringing this up now, anyways?” John asked back.

“It's just...I don't know. She seems to be acting-oh, hey Dels.” Stephen abruptly cut himself off and waved to Delaney awkwardly. “I was just, uh, leaving.” He made an even more awkward exit, as if he couldn't decide whether to go downstairs or up. He finally settled on up, and nearly tripped over the third step.

“Uh, okay? What was that about?” Delaney questioned her boyfriend.

“I have absolutely no idea. When you and Soph went outside he was all 'Is everything with Delaney okay?' and I said yeah, why, and he said that you were acting weird and he wanted to know why,” John stated, shrugging his shoulders. What, how did Stephen think Delaney was acting weird? She was more than confused and this showed on her face. “Apparently you have no idea what he's talking about either.” The couple laughed before Delaney announced that she should get home.

“I'll call you tomorrow when you're out of school,” she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before she walked away. John quickly pulled her back and began to kiss her more passionately. She pulled away after a few minutes. “You have to wake up early for school tomorrow, mister. Go to sleep.”