Broken Lullaby

Sydney reached the kitchen and dropped the car keys on the counter, her eyes staring at the neon colored oven’s clock.
It was still early, at least for a regular Friday night with the guys, and Sydney felt the urge to do something. She drummed her fingers against the counter’s stone before walking toward the refrigerator and taking a big bucket of ice cream.
Already barefoot, she sat on the sofa and turned the TV on, eating the ice cream directly from its bucket and a Bacardi bottle keeping her company.
Yet, her restless body didn’t want to sit around for the rest of the night.

“Hey, do want to go out for a while?” She yelled at Morgan, who was already upstairs.

Already in her pajamas, Morgan appeared at the living room’s door. “Really Syd? Sorry, but I’m not going to change back. Besides, I’ve got a lot of important stuff to do tomorrow, I need my beauty sleep,” she scratched her back and headed upstairs again.
Only a few minutes later, Sydney had put her high heels again and was stepping out of the front door.

Brian had taken his jacket off, wandering around the kitchen while trying to find something to drink. They had run out of beer.

“Brian, I’m going to bed,” Michelle appeared at the kitchen. “Aren’t you coming?”

“It’s too early for me,” he smiled after looking at the clock. “Unless you want to have some fun,” he smiled and took two big steps, holding Michelle by the waist and kissing her deeply.

“Not tonight,” she giggled at his seductive look. “You know I have a plane to catch tomorrow. I’ll have to wake up at 5 a.m., ” she kissed him before turning around and walking up the stairs.

Brian had turned the TV on when his cell phone started to buzz. Looking at the ID caller he immediately took the call.

“What’s up Sydney?”

“Brian, are you awake?”

“No Syd, I’m sleeping. Some people sleepwalk, I just answer phone calls in my sleep,” He couldn’t help but laugh at the end of his sentence.

“Stupid,” she snorted. “Then drag your ass outside.”

“What?”

“Are you deaf now? Come outside, I’m here.”

Brian opened the front door, his cell phone still against his ear. Sydney was next to a cab, standing on the sidewalk.
“What are you doing here?”

“Why are you still on the phone?” Sydney hung up and Brian laughed. “Are you up for some quality time with me?” She showed the Bacardi bottle she was holding, now half drunk.

Brian glanced at his house and then back at her. “Where are we going dressed like this?”

“Well, get in and you’ll see,” she gestured towards the taxi.

After a twenty minute drive they were out on the street again, standing in front of a bar where people lined up to get in and two bouncers controlled them. The music was not very loud, it could barely be heard from the outside and everybody was dressed in a somewhat more fashionable way.

“Come on Brian, work your magic,” Sydney winked at him and he gave her his arm for her to hold. Brian addressed to one of the bouncers and five seconds later they were inside the bar. “This is why I like being your friend,” she mocked, referring to the fact of him being famous.

The conversation was flowing between them and so were the drinks. They talked about nothing in particular, from stupid nonsense to memories they shared, but it was amusing and Brian found himself not wanting to go home.

“And thanks to me you didn’t get that speeding ticket,” Sydney swirled her drink as they recalled one of their moments together. It had happened five years ago, during spring break. She hadn’t seen them for over a month and all her excitement and anticipation of being back home had almost cost Brian a ticket.

“You were just lucky,” Brian took the final sip of his beer. He remembered how she pretended to be injured so that the police officer would let them go to the hospital as soon as possible.
Brian had to admit, she was a good liar. Even he had been convinced by her performance. “He was probably a rookie; any other wouldn’t let us go that easily.”

“Still,” Sydney finished her drink as well. “I saved your ass.”

Out of nowhere a girl approached them, asking Brian if he was who she really thought he was and, between Sydney’s laughs, Brian managed to sign her top and talk to the girl for a second.

“You’ve got some classy fans, man.” Like its usual self, Sydney always teased him about everything, including his fans. She ordered more drinks and they kept on talking.

Another two beers arrived at the table and Brian started picking the label off the glass bottle.
“You know Syd, I’ve been wanting to tell you something for a while.”

“What is it honey?” She smirked and giggled as the liquid from her bottle disappeared in the blink of an eye.

This was his chance, he had drunk enough to have the guts to say it and she was drunk enough to probably not remember it tomorrow. “Actually, I’ve been wanting to tell you this for the past four years.”

“Geez! And do you still remember what it was?” She laughed hard.

“I’m trying to be serious Sydney; do you remember when you and Morgan went on the U.S. tour with us?”

“Of course I do!” She leaned toward him above the small table, keeping their faces apart only for an inch. “I wish we could have done that again,” she had suddenly backed into her former position. “It was an amazing summer.”

“Well then you and Morgan finished college and started working, but that’s not the point,” he took a deep breath. “I wanted to say I’m sorry for acting like a jerk when you met that guy, but I-”

“Who, Kevin?” She suddenly remembered the Italian-descent guy she had met during the last couple of weeks of their tour. Let’s just say that they had become very close to each other during those weeks and Brian hadn’t liked it. That was actually the only time when they had gotten really mad at each other, to the point of stopping talking at each other for several weeks. But she never really understood why he had acted like that.

“Yes, I just didn’t like him and,” he recalled all the bad things he had said to her and the fight he had got into with that guy “and I was in love with you.”

Sydney stared at him wide-eyed for a while and out of the blue burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that the people at the tables beside them started staring with an offended look on their faces.
“Sorry,” she covered her mouth, the chuckles still escaping from her lips. “Don’t be a liar.”

“I’m not lying,” he sounded serious, but that only made her laugh again.

“Fuck you,” Sydney crossed her arms. “I thought I was the one who was a crazy liar.”

“Okay, you’ve drank too much for the night,” Brian got up and held Sydney by her arm. “It’s time to go home.”

They hit the concrete streets and Sydney tried to walk straight when out of a sudden she stopped.

“Damn shoes,” She grumbled as she started to take them off.

“What’s the problem?” Brian stared at her feet, her fingers drumming on the cold concrete sidewalk.

“My feet are hurting,” She held her high heels. “Will you carry me to the taxi?” She skipped to his side and suddenly jumped on his back. Brian couldn’t help but chuckle; she could be such a child sometimes that he found it sweet.

“You’re going to ruin your dress.”

“Don’t care. You know that I’m not a big fan of dresses anyway.”

A sudden scream came from across the street. Brian placed Sydney on the floor as the girl, in her late teens, started calling for his name and running towards them.
To his surprise, he saw Sydney start running toward the girl, who was now in the middle of the street, screaming at her and asking for her autograph. Brian was traumatized with her insane reaction, and the poor girl got so scared that quickly stopped and ran away from them.

“What was that?” Brian had to drag Sydney from the middle of the road.

“It’s called reverse psychology,” she stated like if it was the most obvious thing. “You should try it sometime. Whenever a hysterical fan starts running at you if you act like they do, they should run away.”

Brian laughed at her matter-of-fact tone. “But why did you do that? She was just a fan.”

“Well darling, that’s easy,” she crossed her arms around his neck. “Did you hear her saying she was your biggest fan?” Brian nodded and she pressed her body against his. Her breath stunk of alcohol, but still, as he stared at her half closed eyes, her small nose with the scar of a former nose piercing and lips that showed the hint of an evil smirk, his only thought was that she had never looked so beautiful as she did in that moment.
“Well, she’s lying.” The evil smirk was revealed. “I’m the one who’s your biggest fan.” Their noses touched and moments later so did their lips. He could feel her smirk against his lips, her hands slowly sliding for his neck to his chest and before he knew it, he was kissing her back.