When It Rains

The next day, Sydney stared at window with a sigh. It was raining and storming badly and it reminded her of the day her parents died. She pulled her knees to her chest, and rested her chin on top of her knees. She closed her eyes, remembering when she and Hunter got the call.

Feeling her eyes start watering, she blinked them away and grabbed for her phone with a sniff. She quickly text Emmett telling him she wasn’t going to school today, and that she would see him later.

Are you okay?

She smiled softly, well, it was more like a grimace, and quickly replied back.

Yeah, I’m okay.

She tossed her phone on the bed, and sighed, blinking back the tears. She hated days like this. “Syd?” She looked up to see Hunter poking his head through her door.

“Hey, Hunter,” she said quietly, lifting her head. He walked over to her and sat down next to her on the bed and leaned his head on her shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He asked softly. She nodded, her lower lip quivering in her attempt to hold in the tears. He lifted his head and held open his arms. “Come here,” he said. A small sob escaped her lips and she threw herself into her brother’s arms. “I was wondering when you were finally going to let go,” he murmured, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

“Yeah, me too,” she choked out through her tears. A clash of thunder and lightning not even a second apart hit, making the redhead flinch.

“Shh, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” he muttered, continuing his mantra until she seemed to have calmed down slightly.

“Thanks, Hunter,” she mumbled into his chest. He just held her tighter in response.

“Anytime, Syd. Do you wanna go back to sleep?” He asked. She shook her head.

“No, let’s go downstairs and see how Zac is doing,” she suggested. Hunter nodded, and got up, offering her his hand. He lifted her up and they walked down the steps to see Zac sitting at the kitchen counter top, his head in his hands, and unfinished cup of tea off to the side. Sydney and Hunter moved to both sides of him and sat down.

“You two okay?” He asked softly, now leaning on his chin on his palms, staring ahead.

“Yeah, we’re getting there,” Hunter said. Sydney leaned her head on Zac’s arm, and rubbed his back softly.

“One of those days, huh?” He tried to joke. Sydney smiled slightly and Hunter grinned, but both looked pained and kind of forced.

“Yeah, Bro,” Hunter agreed. “One of those days.” Sydney snuggled more into her brother’s arm, sighing contently. The door burst open, and Marissa came barreling in.

“Whew,” she said, shaking the water off of her rain coat and hanging up. She took one look at the three siblings cuddled together, and smiled softly. “I’ll make some soup,” she said, walking over.

“Thank you,” Zac said and looked up at his beautiful girlfriend. She smiled and pressed her lips to his softly.

“No need to thank me, honey.” She walked along the other side of the counter and got everything together to make chicken noodle soup. Zac watched her with a fond smile on his face while Hunter and Sydney glanced at each other and decided that they should leave the two love birds alone. They both went outside and sat on the porch swing.

Sydney had her legs propped up on the table in front of the swing and Hunter had his head resting in her lap. She was running her fingers through his dark hair absent-mindedly, her thoughts everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “Hey, Syd?”

“Hmm?” She answered, looking down at him.

“You know it’s going to get easier, right? The pain,” he adds. Sydney’s face softens, and her hand stills in his hair.

“I know, but it hasn’t even been a half a year yet, Hunter. I don’t even think we properly grieved to be honest.”

“We didn’t have the time too, Syd. None of us,” Hunter said, sitting up. “We had to be at Zac’s by a certain time.” She sighed.

“I know, but still, they were our parents. We should’ve done something more than just sit there shell shocked.”

“We did do something more, Sydney. We lived,” he whispered. “And that’s all mom and dad could’ve wanted from us.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

The next day at school, Sydney was stuffing her books into her locker when a cold pair of lips pressed against the back of her neck softly. She sighed contently and turned around to come face to face with a worried Emmett Cullen. “What happened yesterday?” He asked.

“Family stuff, Em,” she answered, leaning up to press her lips to his in a chaste kiss. “I promise I’ll explain but not in school.” He nods in understanding, and laced his fingers with her’s.

“Take all the time you need,” he said. She smiled and he walked her to class.

When it was lunch, Mel was waiting for at the door with Jesse. They were talking quietly when she walked up, and she grinned, knowing they didn’t hear her. “Hey,” she said, right next to Mel’s ear. The brunette let out a shriek and jumped about a foot in the air.

“What the fuck, Sydney?!”

Sydney, fighting off a grin, stared at her. “My bad?”

“You’re damn right, you’re bad,” she gasped, clutching at her chest. She continued to scold her redheaded friend, while Jesse just stood back and laughed at his girlfriend’s antics.

“I’m glad you find this amusing,” Mel snapped.

“Sweetheart, it was funny,” he said, wrapping an arm around her.

“I disagree.”

“I agree.”

“Shut the hell up, Syd.” By that time they were all grinning at each other. “Alright,” Mel finally caved. “It was funny. Just don’t do it again, please.” Sydney placed her hand over her heart.

“Mel, I’m hurt. I’d never do that to you twice.” Her grin widened and she walked away from the couple to the Cullen’s table.