I'll Be Your Friend, I'll Help You Carry On

two

“Hey babe?” Chantal asked Sidney one night as they were getting ready for bed.

Sidney didn’t look up from the television, “Hmm?”

“When are your parents coming?” She asked him, pulling her hair down from the pony tail she had put it in this morning.

“I don’t know,” Sidney mumbled back.

Chantal rolled her eyes and rubbed the rest of the Nivea cream into her skin. She took off her small, terrycloth robe, leaving her in a black silk nightgown, and went over to her side of the king size bed. She climbed into the bed and pulled the remote from Sidney’s grasp, sliding onto his lap.

“Sidney?” She asked, looking into his eyes and kissing his nose.

Sidney stared right back at his girlfriend, “Chantal?”

Chantal giggled, “Just wanted to make sure you were listening.”

Sidney quickly scoffed, waving his right hand, “I’m always listening to you.”

It was Chantal’s turn to scoff as he gripped her small waist.

“When are your parents coming?” She asked again, this time knowing she had his full attention.

“I’m going to pick them up tomorrow from the airport at four o’clock. They said that they had a surprise, but I have no idea what it is,” Sidney said loudly and clearly.

Chantal nodded and moved to slide off of his lap, but giggled when Sidney flexed his fingers, tickling his girlfriend’s waist.

“Sid, no!” She giggled, stretching out his nickname.

Sidney let out a loud laugh, rolling her over so he was hovering on top of her. He buried his face into her neck, pressing his lips into the crevice between her collar bone and neck. He quickly nipped at her, and brought one of his hands down her side to her right leg.

“Sid no, not tonight. I’m so tired,” Chantal semi-whined to her boyfriend.

Sidney let out a playful groan, “S'il vous plaît, mon cheri. Mes parents viennent demain!”

Chantal laughed this time, still shaking her head, “I love when you speak French.”

Sidney smiled and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, “And you still don’t want to make love? I must be losing my touch.”

Sidney rolled off of Chantal as they both got situated under the blankets and curled around each other.

“You still have it, don’t worry.”

---

The next afternoon, Sidney kissed Chantal on the lips, and headed off in the direction of the Pittsburgh International Airport as Chantal went in the direction of the local Walgreens to buy food for the big dinner she was going to make tonight.

Sidney sang along, quietly, to the song on the radio as he drove along the highway. He had a half an hour before his parents plane landed, and wasn’t in that big of a rush. If the plane landed early, his parents would only have to wait a few minutes.

By a quarter to four, Sidney was pulling his car into the underground parking garage and into the first parking spot he could find. He twirled his keys on his fingers as he pushed his hat onto his head, hoping to give some kind of ‘disguise’ to himself.

He walked through the airport, being stopped by a few people for an autograph, and finally found the gate that his parents would be coming out of. He sat in the hard, blue, plastic chair for only a few minutes before he saw his mother walk towards him.

A huge smile went over her face as she caught sight of her son waiting for her.

She walked slightly quicker until Sidney wrapped his large arms around his mother’s smaller body. He pulled her tight against his chest, letting the feeling of comfort float over his body.

“I missed you Sidney,” Trina said into his shoulder.

“Missed you to mom.”

Sidney looked up just as his father was walking towards them. Sidney slowly let go of his mother and gave his father a manlier hug.

“How was the flight?” He asked his parents.

“What, you’re just going to skip over me?” A quiet female voice asked from behind his parents.

Sidney spun around on his heels and looked past both of his parents to his a small fourteen year old girl with light brown hair and the biggest grin on her face.

“Taylor?” Sidney asked, incredulously.

Taylor smiled and opened her arms, “C’mere big brother!”

Sidney laughed and walked up to his little sister, pulling her into a bone crushing hug, lifting her up slightly.

“No one told me you were coming down!” Sid yelled out.

Taylor just laughed at him, “I’m your surprise silly!”

Sidney rolled his eyes and looked at his parents, “Why didn’t you tell me that my favourite sister was coming down too!”

Sidney’s father shrugged, “We knew you’d be surprised.”

The family of four went to baggage check and picked up all of their bags, taking the short walk down to the underground garage and to Sid’s car. They quickly loaded up the truck and Sidney took off down the road.

“So, Chantal went out to get things to make a big dinner tonight, I doubt she’ll be home when we get there. When she does get home, we’ll do the grand tour and then start on dinner. Does that sound okay?” Sidney asked his family.

He could see his mother nod in the front seat, as his father answered with a small ‘yeah’, but it was his sister who caught his attention.

“Who’s Chantal?”

Sidney made a face at his mom, who bit her lip back at him.

“She’s my girlfriend. Didn’t you know that?” Sid asked his sister, turning around a fraction.

Taylor made a gasping noise and shook her head, “She’s your what? And you already moved in with her?”

Sidney looked over at his mother again, “You didn’t tell her? All of the times I’ve been down and haven’t seen her, you didn’t tell her?”

His mother simply shrugged, “We thought you should tell her.”

Sidney changed his attention back to his sister, “We’ve been dating for two years, we just got the new house a week ago.”

They pulled into the driveway and to Sidney’s surprise, Chantal was already home. As soon as he turned the car off and opened his door, the front door opened and Chantal bounded down the steps. Her short blue shorts were almost completely covered by the flow-y white tank top; her blue flip flops kicking up the small rocks on their driveway.

She ran over to Sidney, a huge smile on her face and held her hand out to Trina and Troy.

Taylor looked at her critically, eyeing her long, tanned legs and larger than average chest. She immediately gave her the stink eye.

“No fucking way. Sidney, I’m not staying here, with her!”