Love By Our Side

Taylor and Josh ended up winning with their suggestion, and the group ended up at a party. A lame one, at that.

“You are never choosing what we do ever again,” Jess growled towards Taylor before chugging the remainder of her beer.

“I don't know why you guys aren't having a good time, I'm perfectly content right now,” Taylor retaliated, turning back to his game of beer pong, which he was clearly losing based on the amount of alcohol he'd consumed.

“You're drunk, of course you're having a good time!” Delaney yelled at him, laughing as he stumbled away from the table and towards her, finally falling into place next to her on the couch.

“You have to have a good time. You need to drink. Here, come play with me and you can drink a lot!” he slurred at Delaney, who rolled her eyes and followed him back to the table to shut him up. “It's your boyfriend's turn to play against us, so maybe we can beat him!”

“No way your drunk ass is gonna beat me! And Delaney can't take me and Josh out on her own,” John boasted as he made his way to the table. “Sorry sweetie, you're going down this time.”

“We'll see about that.” Delaney grinned as she sank her first shot. Taylor jumped and hooted before high-fiving his partner. “Okay bud, it was the first shot. Calm down and take your turn.” He missed, of course, but Delaney was successful with her second ball as well. She laughed as she called out “heating up!” and waited for John and Josh to take their turn. Both misses. She shot and sank her third ball and mocked her opponents as the balls were returned to her side.

“Holy fuck, how did she beat us by herself?” Josh asked before downing the final cup on the table. Delaney and Taylor had four cups left on their side, and Taylor had only taken out three of the opposing cups. “I call a rematch!” Josh, John, and Taylor quickly re-racked the cups as Delaney wandered around the empty basement to find something stronger than beer. She laughed as as she came across an asleep Stephen who was cradling a bottle of Jack Daniel's.

“I'll return this soon,” she said as she opened the bottle, took a few swigs, then replaced it under his arm. “All right, I'm ready to rock this shit again!” She announced, sauntering back towards the table. She, yet again, took down the self-proclaimed “dream team” of Josh and John, before everyone decided to call it a night.

“Stay the night tonight?” John whispered to Delaney on the way back home.

“Of course!” she nearly yelled. “Oops, I drank more of that JD thank I thought, oh well!”

“Goddamn, it was you that drank my alcohol? I need that shit,” Stephen mumbled incoherently, causing a discussion of his apparent depression to be brought about.

“Maybe tonight isn't a good night, actually. I'm tired, and really, really drunk,” Delaney said to John, giggling. “Tomorrow though? That would be better. I need sleep anyways.” What Delaney really wanted to do was call Sophie, though she'd just talked to her some five hours previous. She wanted to tell her everything that she was feeling now, not wait like she'd intended to.

“Okay, you gotta promise me tomorrow night will happen,” John said, smiling in his goofy way.

“You know it will, now that I'm here I can't go more than 24 hours without-”

“No. No no no. Stop this talk until you are alone and not by me,” Stephen yelled, covering his ears. He tended to act like a child when drunk.

“Bro, just cause my girl's here and yours isn't doesn't mean I'm gonna talk any different,” John responded to his brother with a slight laugh.

“That's not the reason I don't want to hear that shit. Well maybe a little, but whatever,” Stephen mumbled again, trying to settle back into a comfortable sleep for the remainder of the drive.

Wait, was Stephen jealous of his brother? That can't be right. Delaney was suddenly looking at things in a different way. She wasn't the only person that wanted, no, needed Sophie here. She didn't know if it was just the alcohol that was affecting Stephen, or if he really was feeling that way towards her being here and her cousin not. She knew that she was looking too much into things, likely because of the alcohol, which was why Stephen had said what he did. Or was it? Delaney was confused and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep. Calling Sophie would have to wait until morning.
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Delaney woke up feeling the same way as when she fell asleep. She couldn't push the feeling that Stephen somehow resented her for moving to Scottsdale without bringing her cousin along. Sophie always told her that she and Stephen weren't ready to move closer to each other (while subsequently calling John and Delaney immature for their quickly progressing relationship, but that was beside the point), but was she the only person in the relationship that felt that way? Delaney was getting a headache thinking about it. She decided to bring it up to both John and Sophie later on, to see what they thought about it, but now, she needed food.

She rummaged around the kitchen, but nothing looked good to her, and she was too lazy to cook for herself. The clock flashed 9:26, too early to call anyone to suggest getting breakfast. She sighed, deciding to take a long time getting ready, and hoping someone would call her before eleven sharing the same thoughts about food as her. When she reached her room, she saw that her phone was lit up, indicating a new text message. Curious as to what the sender, Stephen, wanted, she opened it up.

”I figured you'd be up right now, but maybe not. If you are, wanna grab some food?”

She smiled, sending a ”sure” in response. It seemed that she and her possible future brother-in-law had some things in common; waking up early and picky eating habits. Deciding against a shower, Delaney threw on a different pair of sweatpants and a new shirt, completely neglecting her face and hair before a new text announced Stephen's arrival. As she jogged out to his car, she contemplated bringing up last night's comment and hoping to dismiss any unsavory feelings directed at her. If the conversation leaned that direction, she thought, she'd bring it up. Otherwise, it was unlikely.

“Hey girl!” Stephen laughed while giving his not-so-funny greeting.

“Hey...bro,” Delaney returned the greeting with an eyeroll.

“Jeez, I was trying to communicate with you on your level, and I'm thanked with hostility. Not so nice,” he said, continuing to laugh. Delaney stared at him incredulously, unable to form a sentence to crack back at him. Instead, she shook her head and changed the subject.

“Why are you up so early?”

“Couldn't sleep too well last night, drinking does that to me sometimes,” he responded, shrugging his shoulders.
“Are ya happier today at least? I don't enjoy sharing breakfast with a grouchy Gus,” Delaney stated, her turn to giggle. She got a death glare in response. “O-okay, someone doesn't like talking about his feelings then...”

“Sorry. I get made fun of enough, I don't need another person to add to it,” he admitted. “I mean, I don't care, obviously, it's just, ah-”

“Yeah, I get it. It's cool.” If she was going to bring last night up, now was as good a time as any. “So-ah-when do you think Sophie will come down here again? I kinda miss her, too.” Maybe not.

Once at the restaurant, the two instead discussed some of Delaney's concerns involving her cousin-and not Stephen-which is something she didn't think she'd talk about with Stephen. Turns out he was a pretty good listener, though. She also learned some things she didn't know about John, like the fact that he, too, was somewhat worried about Delaney's moving to Scottsdale. She didn't bother mentioning her own worries on the subject, just listened to what Stephen had to say. When she was possibly about to bring up the previous night, she was interrupted by her phone's vibration. Her boyfriend, of course. Stephen laughed as she stepped out of the booth, rolling her eyes, to answer the call.

“What do you want.”

”Are you with my brother? No one knows where he is...”

“Yes, we're out to eat right now. Why are all of you awake anyways?” She absentmindedly looked at a clock, 11:33. Shit, had they really been there that long already? “Never mind, didn't realize how late it was. We're coming back soon.” She shut her phone, not bothering to wait for or give a goodbye.

“Anything fun going on back at the ranch?” Stephen asked, still not very humorous, as Delaney sat back down.

“He couldn't find you, so he called me?” she remarked, laughing. Stephen, confused, pulled his phone out of his pocket. Three missed calls.

“Oops, must still be on silent. Ah, we should get going then, yeah?”

“Probably. Your brother misses you, apparently.”

“Good, he can see both of us at the same time. It's easier to bring you back to my house for the day rather than dropping you off,” he stated, ever-lazy. As the bill was placed before them, he grabbed it before Delaney could. “My treat. We had a good talk, I needed one of those, so I owe you.” She must have made a strange face, because Stephen went on to explain that all of his friends are all fun and games, and no one will ever sit down and have a “real talk” with him, unless it's something serious. That's one of the things he loved about Sophie, but having talks over the phone weren't the same as face-to-face. Plus one for their argument for her to move to Scottsdale. “Anyways, guess you're my new go-to discussion girl.” Delaney could handle that role.