Walk in the Sun

After a quite...interesting day at school, I couldn’t wait to go home. I had seen very little of Kaitlyn all day and had no idea what was going on. I had a slight idea, but couldn’t ask her since I didn’t get more than 5 minutes with her. Once I got home, I ran up to my room. Placing my bag on my bed, I pulled my phone out of my purse.

I dialed his number and waited for him to answer.

“Hey babe. How are you?”

I smiled into the phone.

“Hey, I’m ….well, I’ve been better.”

He responded quickly.

“What’s wrong?”

I didn’t know exactly how to word what I wanted to say. I didn’t want to go into details, but I needed some advice.

“It’s Kaitlyn. She’s going through something and I don’t know how to help her.”

I heard silence on the other end, which only told me he wanted to know more.

“I know something that she doesn’t know I know and it could hurt her. I don’t want to say something because I don’t want her to know I know and…this is getting too confusing for you, isn’t it?”

I heard him lightly chuckle on the other end.

“Just a little bit. So, what’s wrong with Kaitlyn?”

I gulped.

“I don’t know if I can tell you. I haven’t even talked to her about it. Sorry Sid, I don’t want to get into details.”

He sighed.

“Well, I hate to break this to you, babe, but I can’t really help you if I don’t know what the problem is. What I can tell you, however, is if it were my friend, I would do whatever I could to make sure they were happy.”

I thought about what he said and realized that he was right. I had to do whatever I could to make sure that Kaitlyn was happy. And right now, there was clearly something bothering her.

“That’s the best advice I’ve heard all day. Of course, you are the only person I’ve asked for advice, but still.”

He chuckled lightly.

“Well, I’m more than happy to help. I hate to let you go, but I’m about to go over to Mario’s for dinner. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

I sighed lightly.

“Well, if you must go,” I joked. “I’ll call you later. Love you.”

The phone call couldn’t have ended at a more perfect time. Just as I hung up, my mom called me down for dinner. When I got downstairs, I expected to see the table set for four and have my eyes roll in the back of my head when my mom’s boyfriend made an appearance.

“Stu’s not going to eat with us. He’s got a listing to go to.”

My mom spoke from the kitchen while I surveyed the dining room. Turning to face her, I walked into the kitchen shrugging my shoulders.

“What about Derrick?”

She poked her head up from behind the door of the fridge.

“He’s meeting Tab’s parents tonight.”

I smiled at that thought. My brother’s girlfriend was awesome. We clicked from the start. It wasn’t over making fun of Derrick, it was over common interests, and I liked that. I can remember the time Derrick asked me about my opinion of Tab.

“You’d be an idiot to lose her. She’s amazing, and I’ve never seen you happier.”

I wasn’t sure why he thought my opinion mattered, but I was touched that he asked me. I walked over to the counter, picking up the tray with the two lone pork chops on it and brought it to the table. My mom followed close behind with the salad and baked potatoes. Sitting down at the table, my mom gave me a lopsided grin.

“So, Derrick’s meeting his girlfriend’s parents. When do you think Sidney’s going to mee his girlfriend’s mother?”

I smirked at her and shrugged my shoulders.

“I don’t know, mom. Soon, I hope, but his schedule is crazy.”

She nodded and took some salad to put on her plate.

“Yet he has a whole week to spend with you.”

I lightly scoffed and rolled my eyes.

“Oh mom, I told you about that. Kaitlyn and I surprised the boys. They thought we were on the trip to Stratford. They could’ve made their way here, but they had practices and games.”

She took a bite of salad, and kept her eyes away from me. I rolled my eyes and continued.

“I’ll talk to him, okay? You’ve talked to him on the phone and you see him on tv as much as I do.”

Her eyes glanced over to me. I thought I was seeing things when I saw a small smile form on her face.

“I’ll take that. At least make the effort. It makes me feel like you can’t wait to get out of here to spend time with him and forget about the people you leave behind when you do.”

I stood up from the table, feeling the blood begin to boil. I looked down at my mom across the table.

“I don’t forget about you at all! I just happen to want to spend time with my boyfriend, is that too much to ask?! I’m not against him meeting you, in fact, I can’t wait for it, but he’s a busy guy. I can’t ask him to change his schedule to come here to meet my mother. That would be rude.”

As soon as my mom’s head fell, I felt guilty. I didn’t mean to blow up on here, but after everything that happened at school with Kayla practically avoiding me, I just felt like I couldn’t please anyone. My mom finished her salad and stood up from the table. She walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to make you upset. I really just wanted to know how your week in Toronto went. I meant the part about meeting him. I do want that, but I understand that he’s a busy man. Whenever’s convenient for both of you is good for me.”

I smiled at her. My mom was one of the only people that could make my mood change from bad to good in seconds flat, Sid and Kaitlyn being the other two. I pulled her in for a tight hug.

“Thanks for understanding mom. Let’s finish eating, yeah?”

She nodded and we say back down and she smiled over at me.

“So, how was it?”

I could feel the smile on my face grow as I opened up about my week in Toronto. I left out some of the intimate details, of course. Moms don’t need to know everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sid’s POV

My mind racked with my phone call as I walked into Mario’s house. I may have technically lived with them, but I still felt like I was walking into someone else’s home when I went over for dinner. I stepped in the door and slipped my shoes off. Natalie met me at the door.

“Sid, how are you?”

I smiled at my “second mother”, as I called her as she pulled me in for a hug.

“I’m good, thanks.”

She pulled away and her smile grew into a smirk.

“Mario tells me there’s a girl.”

I could feel the blush creep up into my cheeks as I nodded.

“There is. She is amazing. I met her in the summer back home.”

I followed her into the living room, where Mario was sitting with his son Austin. I sat down beside Mario and Natalie sat down in the chair that was facing myself and Mario.

“So, she’s from Nova Scotia?”

I shook my head.

“No, she’s from Ontario. She was just visiting family for the summer. I met her in a Tim Horton’s parking lot of all places.”

I heard Mario chuckle lightly. I looked over at him with a lopsided grin.

“Well, we’d love to meet her. Mario says that all you talk about is this girl. What’s her name, again?”

Once again, the blush crept up in my cheeks.

“Her name is Steph.”

Nodding, Natalie stood up from her chair.

“Well, I ask that you bring her for dinner the next time she’s in Pittsburgh.”

With a small smile, she left the living room to go check on dinner in the kitchen. I let out a soft, almost inaudible sigh and ran my hand through my hair. Mario turned his head to look at me.

“Something bothering you?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I don’t know. Steph called me today and wanted my advice on something that was going on with Kaitlyn, her best friend and Tanger’s girlfriend, but wouldn’t tell me what it was.”

Mario chuckled lightly and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I wouldn’t think about it too much, Sid. It’s probably just something between the two of them. Something school related, most likely. If it’s really important, she would’ve told you, believe me.”

I let a small smile show and nodded.

“You’re probably right, I just can’t help but feel like she’s keeping something from me.”

“Well, I wouldn’t tell you to meddle in other people’s problems, Sid. Just forget about it for right now. I don’t want you too distracted for the game tomorrow.”

I chuckled lightly and turned to face him.

“That’s the Mario we know and love. Always looking out for the game.”

He smirked.

“You know what I mean. If you think it’s going to bother you going into the game tomorrow, please forget about it. It can’t be that important if she didn’t tell you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steph’s POV…

After dinner, I ran up to my room to quickly change my clothes. Running back down the stairs, I heard a light knock on the door.

“I’ll get it, Mom.” I yelled up the stairs, since my mom was folding laundry in her room.

When I got to the door, I was shocked at what I saw.

“Trent…”

He gave me a small smile.

“Look, I don’t know exactly what I’m doing here, but Kaitlyn won’t talk to me. I was wondering if you could help me. She’s not answering my texts or phone calls and when I saw her today, she said she was with someone else. I need her back.”

My eyes almost bulged out of my head. I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to come here and ask me for help to talk to my best friend, the girl whose heart he ripped out and stomped on like he was putting out a fire on a lawn. Then it hit me. She saw him. That's why she was odd today.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but have you lost your damn mind? Why the hell would I help you? What could you all of a sudden want to do with her that you haven’t already done?”

He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

“Look Steph, I don’t expect you to understand, but I love Kaitlyn. She’s the only girl who stuck by me through all the bad times.”

I scoffed.

“Well that’s only because you made her feel like she was worthless without you. Look Trent, you have a whole lot of nerve asking me to help you put my best friend back in that dark place I worked so hard to get her out of. She’s happy now. She found someone new, and you’re just going to have to accept the fact that she won’t come back to you.”

Hoping he got the hint, I brought my arm back to slam my door in his face. Just before the door could shut, he blocked it with his foot. I rolled my eyes and opened the door once again.

“What about what I just told you don’t you get? She’s done with you.”

He shook his head.

“I can’t accept that until I see proof. Until then, she’s mine.”

I normally was never afraid of Trent or what he was capable of, but the look in his eyes was beginning to instill fear in me. I feared for Kaitlyn. I didn’t know what he would do, not only to her, but to her relationship with Kris. After staring me down for almost 30 seconds, he turned on his heel and walked off my front porch, and down the street. I closed the door and leaned against it, closing my eyes. I had one thing to do, and I needed to do it fast.