Walls

Sydney awoke, and stretched. She had a shoot on the beach, and had a feeling in her gut that V was going to be doing her make-up again. She sighed and made herself get out of bed, and pulled on some clothes.

She got into her car, and drove to the beach, the twins in the car with her. They were all booked for the shoot so they carpooled.

“Hey, Sydney? Are you okay?” Samantha asked.

Sydney nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine.” She said, getting out of the car. The trio walked to the hair and make-up tent. When they entered, Sydney knew that her gut had been right.

Markus had his back turned to them, and was talking to V. “So, Miss V, when are you going to bring by that boy of yours again? He was a cuteee one.”

“Built too.” said the hair guy, David.

The girl laughed, “He’s out surfing today. They leave Cali tomorrow.”

“I bet you’ll miss having those muscled arms around you.” Markus raised his eyebrows suggestively. The girl laughed and shrugged, “I miss him when he’s gone. But I visit him a lot when he’s on tour.”

“I bet you do. Does it get lonely in that house of yours?” she shrugged, “Most of the time, if he’s gone and the guys are home, I’m either at their house or they’re at mine. But if all are gone, then yeah it gets a bit lonely.”

“Why don’t you ever say their names?” Markus asked, leaning against one of the stylist chairs.

She shrugged again, “I don’t want it to seem like I’m name-dropping.”

Parker cleared his throat and all three turned to him. “Oh you’re here. So sorry. We were being nosey little whores.” Markus said, smiling. The girl cleared her throat and Markus sighed dramatically, “Fiiine. We were being nosey little whores about V’s life.” Five other models walked in and looked at the group with complete disinterest.

After explaining to them, and the other five models what the plan was, they sat in the chairs and the hair and make-up people started on them. And of course Sydney’s shoot was the last singles one, and V was her make-up artist.

Sydney was left alone in the tent with V, and the girl was silent, minus her singing softly along to Silverstein that was playing in the background. “Can you and I talk? Please?” the girl paused and sighed.

“Sure. After your shoot, if there’s time.” Sydney felt a weight lift off her chest, even though it wasn’t set in stone that she would be able to talk to the black haired girl.

A few minutes later, Sydney was out of the tent and in front of the camera. Sydney posed, and saw the girl watching out of the corner of her eye. She knew that V was being generous, well generous for her, by letting Sydney try to explain.

When she had to couple up with Parker for a couples shot, she spied Zack coming up behind the black haired girl. She smirked when he wrapped his arms around her, and pressed a kiss to her neck. The photographer snapped that picture and Markus called out, “Sydney! Where has that smile been this whole time?”

She saw Zack look at her, and she looked away. “It’s not that common of a smile.” She said finally.

“Well we know that.” Markus said, a slight smile on his face, “Okay, well continue.”

An hour later; and a couples shoot, Sydney had changed back into her normal clothes and she walked out, the twins waiting for her. “You hungry? We were thinking that we could grab a bite?” Parker said. Sydney shook her head, “No. I need to take care of something.”

“Oh, we’ll come with!” Samantha said, eyeing Zack. Sydney took a deep breath, “I don’t know about that.”

“Come onnn. I wanna meet that guy.” Samantha said pointing to Zack. Sydney turned and saw Zack’s arms around V’s waist and he was talking quietly in her ear.

“Samantha, that’s his girlfriend.” Samantha shrugged, “I still wanna meet him. He looks like he’s someone famous.” She rolled her eyes and sighed; then V walked over, Zack in tow.

“Ready? Zack and I have to do some last minute stuff while he’s still here.”

Sydney bit her lip, “Can the twins come, too?” she asked quietly, gesturing to the twins. V and Zack exchanged looks and then the girl sighed.

“Sure.”

The five headed to V’s silver Audi, the three models getting in the back seat, then Zack slid into the passenger seat, and gave V a brief kiss. When the car started, Third Eye Blind started to come out of the speakers.

“What band is this?” Samantha whispered to Sydney. Sydney took a deep breath, hoping that the two in the front hadn’t heard the question.

“Third Eye Blind. You know that song you like, Semi-Charmed Life, they sing it.”

“Ohhh.” Samantha sat back quietly, and Parker was just looking out the window.

A few minutes later they pulled into a parking spot, in front of a California Pizza Kitchen. The five got out, Zack lacing his hand with V’s and the three models walking slightly in front of them. Once they were seated and had ordered drinks, there was an awkward silence.

“So...” Samantha started, “Sydney said that you know her from back when she lived in Maryland.”

“Yep.” The black haired girl replied, “We both knew her.”

Samantha turned her attention to Zack, “Oh, you lived there too?”

“Yeah.” He said, draping his arm around V’s shoulders. Samantha realized that to get information out of the couple she’d have to ask more complex questions. But she didn’t know what to really ask, so she stayed quiet.

“Are you guys on tour right now?” Sydney asked. Zack nodded, “Yeah. We have today off but then we start up again tomorrow.”

“Wait, so you’re in a band?” Samantha asked. Zack nodded, “Yeah, All Time Low.” Samantha’s jaw dropped.

“That’s one of my favorite bands!” Sydney rolled her eyes, and muttered at the same time as V “No one ever recognizes the bassist or drummer.” Zack chuckled, “Well that’s good to hear. Were you able to come out to the show last night?”

Samantha shook her head, “No. I had to go to bed early last night. The shoot this morning and all.” Zack laughed and nodded, “Makes sense.” Zack’s phone beeped and he pulled it out, then showed the text to V. She bit her lip and shrugged.

Zack texted back and Sydney got a bad feeling about what was about to happen. “Two of our friends are going to be joining us.” Zack said off handedly. Sydney’s eyebrows rose, and Samantha grinned. Parker looked indifferent, and Sydney knew he only came along because he knew his twin wasn’t the best judge of character, and didn’t want anything to happen to her.

“Who’s coming, Zack?” Sydney asked, although she knew she really didn’t want the answer. “Amanda and Jack.” He replied, as the waitress set down their drinks. Sydney felt her heart start to race, remembering what Zack had said about Jack.

“Oh.” The twins looked at her, confusion apparent on their faces. “So it’s only going to be Amanda and Jack?”

“Yeah.” Zack said, knowing what she was really asking. Not five minutes later did the couple arrive, and Sydney saw Jack stiffen when his brown eyes landed on Sydney. Amanda pulled him to the table, and Amanda sat down next to V, and Jack sat down next to his girlfriend.

“HI!” Samantha said, smiling at the couple.

“Hey.” Jack said, his gaze not wavering from Sydney.

“Hi.” Amanda said, giving the three a wave. The waitress came by and got their drink and took all of the group’s food orders and then walked off.

“So, Sydney, how have you been?” Amanda asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

“I’ve been pretty good.”

“So this is where you ran away to. Without a fucking warning or anything.” Jack said his voice bitter.

“Y-yeah.” The twins eyed the four across the table from them.

“Looks like you’ve done pretty well for yourself. Found any other people’s lives to fuck up?” he continued.

“Jack.” Amanda said, and hit his shoulder. “Not here.” Jack looked at Sydney and then his girlfriend. “Fine.” He said curtly.

Sydney sighed, and mentally prayed that she’d get away with not running into Alex. Because she didn’t know what she would do if she ever saw him again.