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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Head high, you got to smile.
March, 1989
The band and their entourage had been all packed like sardines into the very first tour bus that they had ever used. It was a rental, as they were doing a tour across the US before jumping the pond to Europe. It had been a lot to get used to. They had been accustomed to the van and Sydney's truck, but Soundgarden had generated enough of an audience that Susan was able to swing their finances enough to take a tour bus across the country before going off to further, more unknown places. Everyone was excited, and the shows that they had performed in the states had been great even despite the occasional chaos. After their last show on the east coast of the US they had just over a week to kill before heading to Europe. Most of them had decided to stay and wait it out, but Adam had purchased a round trip ticket for Sydney to come home for a few days before flying back. The time at home with Adam was mellow, and lonely. The excitement of being on tour left her restless, and with Adam's busy work and school schedule she had a lot of time to herself. She had stopped in at Chris's mom's house to replace the heating element of her oven. She had done it voluntarily, because after she had previously fixed it she had decided that a new element couldn't hurt. While she was there, she had met his sister Maggie and his brother Peter. They were both so nice to her, just as his mother was. She had also gotten in touch with Liz again, calling her up and inviting her out to lunch one afternoon. After a good talk, and a lot of catching up, she had come back to Sydney's apartment to see how it looked now that Adam had moved in. "Wow... how does it feel to sleep in an actual bed?!" Liz asked. "Amazing... although for the last few weeks I've been sleeping on the tour bus." "Oh, yeah. What's that like?" "Cramped... there's seven of us and eight tiny cots in the middle of the bus. Trying to sleep while trusting someone you don't know to drive definitely takes some getting used to." "I can imagine. I still don't know how you spend that much time in close quarters with a bunch of dudes." "It has its pros and cons. I'm so excited to go to Europe though.... I can't stand it. Being here and sitting around waiting for Adam every day has been torture compared to being on the road. There's always people around.... getting five seconds to yourself is nearly impossible. Yet it's nice to know that your best friends are right there, morning and night." "It sounds surreal. I can't believe you get to travel the world and get paid for it. How is Adam doing with you being away for so long?" "Well... I don't know. I feel like he'd be fine if I was on tour with a bunch of girls. He seems to think that I'm going to turn into some road-whore. What he doesn't understand is that the last thing I'd want to do with a guy after watching him scratch his balls and then use the same hand to eat a bag of chips five minutes later, is sleep with him." "Oh, no. Really?!" "Unfortunately yes." "You are a brave soul, Ms. Sydney Lee. I could never do what you do." Sydney shrugged, opening her mouth to answer when the front door opened just then. Adam entered, pausing a moment at the sight of Liz sitting opposite Sydney at the kitchen island. "Good evening, ladies." He greeted charismatically. "Hey." She smiled, leaning in to him as he wrapped her in a one-armed hug. "What kind of trouble are you two getting in to tonight?" "Lots of wine. We were thinking about watching a movie, want to join us?" Sydney asked. "I can't. I'm sorry, I've got work. Just came home to shower and see you, beautiful." He kissed her on the cheek and headed toward the bathroom. They resumed their talking late into the night after Adam left again, as if their friendship had never skipped a beat. When Liz left, the loneliness encased her once more. She thought about calling Chris's hotel room, but when she remembered about the time difference she decided against it. Instead she popped the Loud Love demo into her boom box and fell asleep to Chris's voice carrying her off into her dreams.
