Love By Our Side

Delaney quickly adapted to college life, and she loved every aspect of it. She felt that her peers were finally on the same intellectual level as she was in her strongest subject, English. Her favorite parts of the week were Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 11:30 AM when she had this class. It was only the third week of school, but her class had already gotten into many heated debates concerning 1984 and the government. Delaney lived for these discussions (many times turned arguments,) and they had her thinking about changing her major. She didn't mention this to anyone yet, wanting to talk it over with Sophie, who was coming to visit the next weekend. Sophie was the person who had always given Delaney the most sound advice, even if she didn't want to listen to it. Other than that, Delaney simply missed her cousin.

When Friday afternoon came around, Delaney was hanging out with John and the ever-anxious Stephen, who wasn't paying attention to anything but the clock. It was 4:54, and Sophie had given an ETA of 5, which Delaney and John took as “somewhere around five, give or take a half hour.” Not Stephen, who deciphered it as “if you aren't here by 5:01 I will call you worried that something happened.” He took after his own, and many other, mothers in this thought process.

“Dude, chill out. Your eyes look like they're about to fall out for lack of blinking,” John said. “The clock only changes every sixty seconds, no need to look at it constantly.”

“Shut up. I'm just...happy. Or I will be when Soph gets here,” Stephen answered, not moving his gaze.

“Stoic would be a better suited word, or crazy...” Delaney trailed. She was startled as a pillow made its' way to her face. “At least we know you aren't immobile.” John and Delaney moved their focus back to the TV which was playing SpongeBob, one of Delaney's new favorite shows. When the episode was almost over, the doorbell finally rang. Stephen dashed over and greeted his girlfriend with an enveloping hug.

“Okay, move over and let me get a second of face time with my cousin,” Delaney declared, nearly shoving Stephen out of the way. She, too, happily embraced her cousin before Stephen made a comment about her being a hypocrite. “Shut up mopey, did you know he stared at that clock for the past hour waiting for you to get here?”

“I think that's cute. It's nice to know you're missed,” Sophie answered, not averting her gaze from her boyfriend. Delaney wondered why she and John didn't act this way during their reunions, then remembered that the physicality came later in the night.

The two couples made their way back to the living room, John and Delaney reclaiming their previous spots and Stephen and Sophie settled for the love seat on the side of the TV. Another episode of the Nickelodeon show came on, and Delaney was more than willing to give Stephen a whole half hour with Sophie before her cousin claimed her.

“Hey Soph, wanna grab lunch or something tomorrow?” Delaney asked as the ending theme played.

“Definitely. Two sound good?”

“Anytime is good, so yeah.”

”Wait, I thought we were gonna hang all day tomorrow?” Stephen almost whined to Sophie.

“Dude, you can have her all day if you want, lemme have an hour with her,” Delaney snapped.

“Chill out, Jesus. You can have an hour with her if you need it, damn...”

“Are you serious right now? You sound like a fucking pussy. She's my cousin for Christ's sake.” No one was expecting Delaney to have an outburst like that, let alone herself. She made no move to apologize, and rather settled back into the couch and stared at the TV. Stunned, no one said anything, not wanting to set her off again. After nearly an hour with no talking, Delaney spoke up.

“Jesus, I'm sorry I went off on you like that, Stephen,” she said in a monotone voice.

“Yeah, it was uncalled for and fucking weird,” Stephen replied, unable to decide if her apology was sincere or not.

“I don't get why you have to be with Sophie 24/7 for the two days she's here, but I would like some family time with her,” Delaney stated, calmed down. Stephen nodded in what seemed like agreement. “I love you bro, don't be mad?”

“I'm not mad, just taken aback I guess. Love you too...sis?”

“I like the way that sounds; you and Stephen can be brother and sister,” John spoke for what seemed like the first time since Sophie arrived. Both his brother and girlfriend rolled their eyes. John grinned, thinking that his comment was what caused everyone to settle down. “Okay, are we seriously gonna sit here and watch another episode of this show?”

“It's a marathon, it's not my fault nothing else is coming on!” Delaney shouted, trying to defend her choice of TV programming.

“I think moving here may have decreased your maturity level,” Sophie stated, earning a chuckle from the boys and a glare from her cousin.

“I'm sorry that I find a yellow sponge entertaining,” Delaney shot back, holding her tongue for anything else she wanted to say. One fight a day was enough for her. “Why don't we go grab food or something, then I'm sure we can find a party tonight somewhere.”

“That sounds like something I'd love to do,” Stephen exclaimed, already halfway to the door.

“Dinner it is, then,” Delaney sighed, following suit by pulling on her shoes. She was hoping the eldest couple wouldn't choose a vegetarian restaurant, as they often did. Stephen had nearly broken his brother down with guilt for eating meat, but there was no way Delaney would ever give up her beloved cheeseburgers.

“How about we hit up that new café in downtown Tempe? I've only heard good things about it,” John spoke as the group exited the house. “Good salads and burgers.” Delaney silently blessed her boyfriend as he gave her a grin. Sometimes, he was really great, and the reasons Delaney moved to Scottsdale in the first place came back.

“Sounds good enough to me,” Stephen shrugged while Sophie nodded her head in agreement. “Let's take my car, it's easiest to get to.” He got into the driver's seat while Sophie took shotgun, and John and Delaney disdainfully climbed into the backseat. There seemed to always be a fight with who got forced to sit in the back of the regular cars. When Josh drove, no one wanted to accompany him in the front; the benches were always more appealing.

There was a “golden” rule of sorts with driving, though: whoever got shotgun got it the whole day (24 hour period, the rules were very strict about this) and they couldn't claim it again for three days. This rule originated when Stephen got his license, as he was the first. He had to cart everyone around and fights were constantly breaking out about who deserved the front seat. This rule was actually originally John's idea, though it had changed a few times before the final form of it was accepted. Now, anyone who ignored or defied the rule got to ride bitch for the next week, or front seat in the van. This was one of the few things the group of friends took seriously, and Sophie and Delaney remained obedient when they were introduced to it.

An addendum to this rule was that significant others got first dibs on shotgun without calling for it, but after the allotted 24 hours, it was up for grabs and normal rules continued. One would think that after so much time and alleged “growing up” the group had done since this game had begun that they'd be less strict with the rules, yet this wasn't the case at all. It was one of the few sacred things the friends had; more of a tradition than anything, and they wouldn't let anyone break that up. They thought that it represented that they could still be kids even though they were getting older, while everyone else thought they were idiots that enjoyed yelling at each other (which was often times the case).

“Where exactly is this place?” Stephen spoke up after a few minutes of driving towards Tempe.

“Right across from the McDonald's on Mill,” John answered, and his brother steered them in the correct direction. When they arrived, the group was quickly seated and ordered in seemingly record time. Sophie got her standard salad, Stephen got a vegetarian wrap, and John and Delaney both got burgers. Within forty-five minutes they had finished eating and could only rave about their meals.

“Okay, I'll hit some people up and see if anything's going on tonight,” Stephen stated as he led the way out of the restaurant. “Is anyone up for ice cream? There's a diner right down the street we could go to.” Everyone nodded, expectedly, and they walked the few blocks to the new location, while Stephen made his calls. Delaney could tell it was going to be a good night, she was only hoping that it wasn't a calm before the storm, and that the blowout earlier would be the end of any drama.