A Twist Of Fate (PREVIOUSLY A Purple Garden)

Chapter 16

*Eight Years Ago*

Sydney struggled to look over the large box she was carrying in her arms as she followed Hannah down the school hallway to the band room. Thankfully, the door was propped open, so nobody had to try to pull it open with their hands full.

"Have you seen the shirts yet, Syd?" Hannah called back toward her friend.

Sydney adjusted her grip on the box, the cardboard rubbing uncomfortably against the skin of her hands as it started to slip. "No, not yet. I'm sure they look great though," she said, resisting the urge to grunt as she struggled to hold on to it. She stopped to kick the box up with her knee so she could grab it better. "Your mom always designs nice shirts for us."

Hannah's mom was one of the more active band moms and every year since their freshman year, she had volunteered for band shirt duty. This involved designing them, collecting shirt size orders, and then overseeing that they got made for each member. Sydney knew it wasn't an easy job and she was grateful that if anyone was going to do it, it was someone as meticulous as Hannah's mom.

While Sydney had stopped to adjust the box, she felt the box being carried behind bump into her. She hopped forward best she could to keep from dropping what was in her hands. "Sorry, I was slipping!" She yelled back.

"Same here," she heard Jonathan struggle to reply behind her. "Where do you want these things?" He called out directed toward Hannah.

"In the bandroom by Matthews's desk!" Hannah shouted back. As they crossed the short distance that was left, Sydney heard one box drop to the floor that had to have been the one Hannah had carried. Sydney felt Hannah grab the box she was carrying and guide it until it was on top of the other box.

"You're going to love them, Syd," Hannah chirped eagerly as she led them into the large band room. "They're super cute!" Sydney stepped out of her boyfriend's way as he placed his box on the floor next to the ones the girls had brought in. "Oh, and thank you, again, Jonathan for bringing your strong arms to help us carry them in."

"Yeah," he breathed out tiredly, pulling the bottom of his shirt up to wipe his forehead. "They seriously need to get the A/C working in here again. It might be in the 80's outside but it feels like a sauna indoors."

Sydney turned towards Jonathan's voice as she worked to catch her breath too. The heat inside had left her winded too. She couldn't help but notice the defined abs that he was unintentionally showing. She felt like she should have been more impressed but to put it lightly, she simply wasn't. Things were still relatively rocky between them and no amount of muscle of his toned body could make that better.

What Sydney appreciated was how he had volunteered to help them carry all the shirts in. Seriously, if there was a way to win brownie points from her, charming acts like this were a good place to start.

As Sydney turned away and toward her friend, she noticed how Hannah was eyeing him and she couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Hannah was just too boy crazy.

"I'm going to grab a water," Sydney said as she made her way to the multiple coolers sitting on the other side of the room. When she was just a few feet away from the stocked coolers, something underneath her slipped as she fell to the ground, sending a sharp pain through her ankle as she went down. As she hit the floor, she realized what happened as her clothes quickly became saturated in ice cold water. "Damn it!" She yelled as she quickly yanked her tennis shoe off, tossing it to the side as she gripped her aching ankle better.

"Oh, gosh!" Hannah called out as she and Jonathan both headed towards where she was laying on the ground, careful of the large puddle around her. "I think one of the drains of the coolers was left open."