Sydney didn't have much, but that was fine with her. She didn't need much. Growing up on the Washington coast in a lonely beach town, working quietly behind the scenes was what she was good at. Living on the beach was much less glamorous than most p...
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How would I know that this could be my fate?
The studio was awesome. Sydney was like a kid in a candy store around all of the sophisticated equipment, and Chris smiled to himself as he watched her poke around. He was so happy that she was here, and that he didn't have much to do today. Today was mostly for Hiro and Matt to record their last few parts. They then would begin the process of fine tuning each song and mixing it for the album. "Holy shit, it's Kim Thayil." Sydney smiled jokingly, seeing her bearded friend enter the room at last. "I thought you'd never get here." She hopped up from where she had been sitting and wrapped him in a hug. "Hi Syd." He greeted, looking a little surprised. "What's with all the touchy feely shit?" "I gave her the demo." Chris explained. "Oh, I see. You heard your intro then I take it." "My intro? I was literally just fucking around, I didn't write shit. It sounded way cooler when you did it." Kim gave a short laugh, smiling down at her. "Well it wouldn't be on there if I hadn't heard you do it first. You earned partial writing cred for that." Her excitement was endearing, and they finished the day's recordings strong. Terry the producer adored her energy, and the way it bled into the rest of the band. He was more than happy to explain the equipment to her, and she had to resist the urge to pull it all apart to see how it worked. Eventually Kim convinced her to play on the SEGA with him as the rest of the band wrapped up for the day. "Sydney! Kick the son of a bitch!" He was screaming at her as Chris came to let them know that they were ready to head out. "Dead people don't get to speak, Kim." She deadpanned, not looking away from the screen as she worked the controller furiously. "They get to speak when the living are failing miserably." After a few moments, she defeated the enemy and the round was won. "Eat that, ghost-man." She gloated, setting the controller down with a triumphant smile. "I would have killed him in half the time." Kim argued, setting his own controller down as well. "If you wanted an opinion on the game play, you should have stayed alive." She shrugged, rising to her feet and stretching her arms over her head. "She's impossible." Kim joked to Chris. "Yeah I know." Chris smiled as she turned to him. "We're done for the day. You ready to head out?" "Yep!" She stood, collecting her things and saying goodbye to everyone. She hugged Kim once more, still in disbelief that he had turned her nonsense into an actual intro. She followed Chris out to her truck and climbed into the driver's seat, putting the key into the ignition and starting the engine. "That was fun. I really missed hanging with you assholes." She smirked playfully. "Well we missed our favorite asshole too, Sydney Lee. Actually, you should come by more often. After the mix on our last release, I need someone around who will vouch for our sound, make sure it stays true to what we want." "And you want me to do that?!" "Who else? You like us more than we like us half the time." He joked, flashing her that genuine smile that made her knees feel like jello. "That's probably true." She laughed. It was then that she realized that it was time to go home. Adam wouldn't be there until much later, so she would have to spend the evening alone again. It wasn't really a big deal, but she wanted to spend more time with Chris. It had been weeks since she had been able to, and their time seemed to go so quickly. "Want to hang out for a bit?" Chris asked, almost as if he could read her mind. "Hell yeah." She smiled. "What should we do?" It was a windy, rainy and cold day, so outdoor activities probably weren't ideal. "I don't know. Maybe we could watch a movie or something." "Okay." She agreed, shrugging her slender shoulders. They made their way down the dreary highway toward his house, but as soon as they got through the door Xana informed Chris that his mother had called. As he went back to the kitchen to return her call, Sydney stood in the living room awkwardly. "Hey." Xana nodded. "Hi." She replied with a small smile. "How's life?" "It's... good actually. How have you been?" "Livin' the dream, you know." "Cool." There were a few moments of awkward silence before she made her way after Chris. She barely got through the threshold of the kitchen before he hollered, "Hey Syd! Oh." He stopped once he saw that she was right behind him. "What's wrong?" She asked, leaning against the wall. "My mom needs my help with something in her garage. She said she called my brothers too but neither one has called her back yet. Would you want to come along?" He asked doubtfully. "Sure." She shrugged. "Cool. Let's hurry and maybe when we get back you can help me cook something for dinner." "I'm not setting fire to your house, Christopher. I'll drive." He chuckled as he followed her back out to her truck and climbed back in. They made their way to his mother's house in under a half hour. It was an average house, completely normal looking. She imagined Chris as a kid playing in the yard, and she smiled to herself. As she followed him through the front door, they immediately heard his mother cursing followed by the sound of a pan being plunked onto a countertop. "Mom?" He called, leading the way to the kitchen. "Oh, Chris. I didn't hear you pull up. Thanks for stopping by." She breathed turning to them. "Oh. Hello. Who's this?" "This is Sydney Lee. Our sound technician." "I remember you and Sue talking about her on Christmas. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Karen. How did the cranberry sauce go over, sweetie?" "Great." She replied, reaching out to shake the woman's hand. She was surprised when the woman pulled her in for a hug instead. Meeting Chris's eyes over her shoulder, he shrugged. Once she was released from the embrace she took a step back, shyly tucking her hair behind one ear. "What are you two up to today?" She eyed them both curiously. "Recording in the studio. Although Sydney spent most of the time there playing video games with Kim." "Winning video games, you mean." She joked, earning a smile. "Susan is working then I'm guessing?" Karen asked. "Mhm." He agreed, peering over her shoulder at the sunken in loaf of what looked like undercooked bread on top of the oven. "What's going on there?" "Oh, the damn oven. I swear this house is falling apart all at once. It won't heat up all the way anymore, and I can't seem to find the damn user manual. This is the third loaf of bread I've messed up because of this damn thing." "Have you had anyone out to look at it?" Sydney asked. "No. It just started acting up. It's an old oven, it probably just needs to be replaced." She explained. "So you said you needed help moving some things out of the attic?" Chris asked, attempting to get whatever it was she needed done quickly. "I need almost everything out of the attic. There's a leak in the roof. I have a crew coming out next week, but I don't want everything up there getting ruined." "Everything?" Chris sighed. "Yes. I've asked everyone else and you were the first one to show up so I hope you brought those muscles you're so proud of." "Mom, okay. I'll help you. Syd, feel free to watch tv or whatever until I'm done. Sorry." "It's no problem. Take your time, let me know if you need any help." She offered politely. "Nonsense. He's a strong young man, he can handle it." Rolling his eyes behind her back, he followed his mother out of the kitchen. Sydney giggled quietly. It was strange seeing him around his mother... endearing in a way. Finding herself alone, she eyed the broken oven. Confident that she could fix it, she headed out to her truck for her toolbox.
