Walls

Sydney awoke early the next morning, with the twins getting ready, semi-quietly around the apartment.

“Oh shit.” She mumbled sleepily. “I should probably go to my bed.” She walked to her room, and curled up under the sheets.

A few hours later she woke up and decided that she should lie out at the beach. She got into her blue mustang and drove to Huntington. Once there, she picked a spot and laid out on the towel, sunglasses on her face.

Twenty minutes later, she sat up to see two guys walking towards her. She propped herself up on her elbows and they grinned sitting on either side of her.

“Hey.” The one with the black hair said. “Hello.” Sydney said smiling at the two.

“I’m Nick.” The one who addressed her said.

“I’m Jon.” The other one said. “Sydney.”

The three chatted for a bit, and then a figure walked up. “Nick, Jon, are you guys ready to grab a bite?” Sydney cursed her luck, and she was sure that the girl was cursing hers as well.

“Yeah.” They stood up and then faced her again, “Wanna come too?” Sydney hesitated and then shook her head, “Nah. No thanks.”

“C’mon. Please? For you new friends?” Jon asked. Sydney groaned and V did too. Both knew that it was useless to try and argue.

Sydney got up and walked with the group back to where Zack was standing. Sydney was shocked at the muscles of his body. Last time she had seen him he was pretty small, and now he was buff.

“Lil bro! This is our new friend, Sydney. Sydney, this is Zack.” V was standing beside him, her faded blue jean shorts unbuttoned at the top and showed off two sparrow tattoos on her hips. Sydney found herself curious of how many other tattoos the girl had. She noticed that Zack had a few himself. ‘Well...they do love their ink.’

“Uh, hi.”

“Hey.”

The air was somewhat tense and then the five walked over to Zack’s car. V hopped in front, and Zack leaned over and gave her a quick kiss before starting the car. The ride was silent except for the Imogen Heap C.D. that was playing.

When Zack pulled up to a Subway, Sydney wasn’t all that surprised. V pulled on a crop top right before group went inside. They got their food and then walked back outside.

Sydney could feel the awkwardness at the table, and Nick and Jon seemed to feel it too. “Okay, so is there something going on that we don’t know about?”

The black haired girl hesitated, and then sighed, “Yeah.” She looked at Sydney through her sunglasses, “There is.”

They waited and the girl swallowed the bite of sandwich and took a sip of her tea. Then she opened her mouth and said simply, “Sydney is the one who fucked Alex in Vegas.”

The whole table was quiet and Sydney swallowed the bite of sandwich she had. “Oh.” Nick said awkwardly.

“Weren’t all of you friends?” Jon asked.

“‘Were’ being the operative word there, Jon.” She took a sip of her drink, “I wouldn’t say we are anymore. Not after that.”

“But wasn’t that just to Alex? I mean, he doesn’t seem to care anymore.” The girl shrugged, “I’m not Alex. And I thought that Sydney and I were close friends, but you don’t just do shit like that to your friends. She didn’t even have the balls to tell me herself, she had to ask Manny to tell me she’s sorry.”

“I’m sure-”

“‘Tell V I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave her like that either. I hope that she and Zack are happy, and that she remembers all the talks we had.’” She looked at Sydney, lifting the sunglasses off her eyes. The pale blue pools were harsh and cold, “Isn’t that what you wrote, Sydney?”

Sydney nodded, her body going numb. “Y-yeah.”

Zack wrapped his arm around the girl, moved her chin so she looked at him and he pressed a kiss to her lips. “Calm down, baby.” He said softly against her lips. Sydney knew that he could calm her down. And she hoped he could this time.

She shook her head, “I’m sorry. I can’t.” she got up, “I’m going for a walk.” She gave Zack a kiss on the cheek and walked away.

Zack sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry Sydney.” He said after a short while, “But you understand why.”

Sydney nodded, “I know.” She waited a few beats, “So how is everyone else?”

Zack shrugged, and took a bite of his sandwich. “They’re okay.” Sydney bit her lip, “Just okay?”

Zack sighed, “Look, a lot of stuff has happened since then, Sydney. I don’t really know what all you want me to tell you.”

She sighed and nodded, “Makes sense.” She paused, “Are Jack and Amanda still together?”

Zack nodded, “Yeah. They moved in together recently.” He paused, “And if you think that Evie is bad, Jack is the same.”

Sydney sighed and nodded, “I get it. And I understand.” There was a silence that followed, Jon and Nick trying to wrap their heads around everything that just happened. “I didn’t mean to hurt Alex. And I didn’t mean to hurt V.” Sydney sighed, “I just did what I thought was best at the time.”

“Wait...I just realized something.” Jon said. Sydney looked at him and he continued, “You’re the girl that V was talking about. With the brother who served with hers.” Sydney felt her chest tighten. She hadn’t talked to anyone about Ashton since she lived in Maryland.
“Yeah. They served together.”

But before anything else could be said the black haired girl was back. “You okay, babe?” Zack asked, pulling her to him. They kissed and the girl sat on his lap.

“Yeah.”

Sydney bit her lip and sighed, “Well I should probably get back.” They nodded and took her back to the beach. She walked back to her car, and right before getting in, she realized that Jon and Nick were following her.

“Hey, I think we can help. I mean, V basically lives with us since Zack basically does, and we’ve heard some things about what happened.”

Sydney nodded, and they walked back out to the beach.

“See...what we know about V’s feelings on it is what she’s said while plastered.” Jon warned. Sydney nodded, “Okay.”

Nick sighed, “Okay, well she said that she felt betrayed. You were one of her closest and best friends and then you slept with Alex and left. She couldn’t understand why you would do something like that.” He paused, “That’s all we really know. Minus Zack and her almost broke up a month after Vegas.”

“That, and once they returned from Vegas, her brother was home. And informed her that he was rein-listing.”

Sydney took the last bit of information in. “Wait...Damiean rein-listed?” The two boys nodded, “Shit. That actually explains a lot.” They looked at her confused, “See, Damiean being in the Marines always stressed her out. So I guess my ‘abandonment’ and then the Damiean thing stressed her to the point where she thought it would be better for Zack if they broke up.” Sydney paused, “See, she was always worried about how he felt. Because she...well that isn’t my story to tell, but she was always worried about how he felt about her.”

They nodded, “Yeah. She told us that. But she said that Zack showed her that he loved her. When she suggested they break up, he wouldn’t allow that to happen.”

Sydney nodded, “Makes sense. Those two were so crazy about each other.”

There was a silence, “She said the same about you and Alex.”