Follow the Echoes // Ryan Lindgren, New York Rangers

Chapter Eight

Ryan is beyond annoyed that he is stuck babysitting Sydney Kreider and being responsible for making sure that she gets home safe. The boys had been playing darts in the corner of the bar. He had been winning and trying to hold Adam off from coming for his score from behind. Everyone was engrossed in this game, including Ryan. Unfortunately, his eyes accidentally wandered to Sydney across the bar. He saw her slumped over, nursing her drink and flirting with the guy sitting beside her. He could not help but keep a watchful eye on her to make sure that the guy did not do anything inappropriate.

Even when it was his turn, he could not completely lose focus on Sydney. His half-hearted attempts throwing the dart towards the board cost him his lead, which gave Adam a chance to win it all. The strange part was that he did not care. This was just a game. The possibility that Sydney would be roped into whatever that guy wanted with her was far more concerning for him. Ryan had no idea why he cared that much. It was Sydney Kreider. He did not care about her. For all he knew, she was the vixen trying to draw the poor, unsuspecting man in.

Ryan saw the man put an arm on her thigh and his instincts immediately kicked in. When they were still friends, he naturally developed the propensity to look out for her. He tensed up and his friends seemed to notice it too. Everyone was watching Sydney at the bar at this point. Adam was clearly uncomfortable and did not know if it was in his place to step in. Ryan could tell he was warring with himself. On one hand, he did not want to appear the jealous ex because Sydney was clearly into it. On the other hand, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that she was way too drunk to have the capacity to consent to any sexual advances made by that man.

By then, Igor and Sydney's friend, Aurora, rejoined the group. Ryan decided that he needed to be the one to step in and take care of Sydney. Aurora made him promise to take her home safely, and as much as he did not want to put up with Sydney for the rest of the evening, he wanted to make sure she got home safe too.

He is undoubtedly regretting his decision now. Sydney is currently hunched over on the side of the road, nauseous from the alcohol consumption this evening.

"Are you going to throw up or waste my time?" Ryan asks impatiently.

"I'm not sure actually," Sydney climbs up the steps of the closed shop in front of her and sits down on the top step, "I might sit and rest for a bit."

Ryan rolls his eyes. He should have called an Uber and tossed her ass in it. While the thought has crossed his mind, he has no way to guarantee that she will make it home in one piece. Besides, he did not want some poor Uber driver to be stuck with the job he is doing right now.

"Get up, Kreider," Ryan says sternly.

Sydney shakes her head.

"You can't make me!"

She is so annoying, Ryan thinks to himself. He knows she is doing this to get a rise out of him. Besides, she is too drunk to care that his patience with her is running thin.

"Don't make me ask again, get your ass up."

Sydney scoffs.

"Or what?" She slurs.

"I can always leave you here," Ryan suggests nonchalantly.

He most certainly will not leave her alone to fend for herself at this time of the night. She doesn't have to know that.

"How about a deal?"

"Excuse me, you want to strike a deal with me now?"

Sydney nods enthusiastically.

The audacity of this woman to try to bargain with him when all he is trying to do now is to get her home. Nevertheless, he cannot help but be intrigued.

"Very well then, what do you want?"

"Can you carry me back to the loft?" she asks innocently.

Oh god, no!

"How is this a deal? What do I get out of it?"

Sydney winks.

"You get the pleasure of carrying me across town..."

"How on earth is that a pleasure?"

"And then you can have your way with me once we get to my place."

Ryan balks at the suggestion.

"Syd..."

"You said so yourself, Chris and Jade are at Mika's!" Sydney wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

Ryan is speechless. Sydney is clearly out of her mind to make such a suggestion, especially with him.

"I'm not awful in bed, you know?" Sydney clearly took offense to his silence, "just ask Adam!"

"Shut up," he splutters, "you're drunk."

"Rory thinks we're going to hate fuck," Sydney ignores him.

Carrying Sydney back to her place is starting to sound more appealing to him. He has not seen Sydney this drunk in a long time. Her lips are too loose this time around. She definitely said a few things that he can live without knowing.

"That's great, Syd, you're too drunk to do any hate fucking tonight, yeah?"

"You're a good guy, you know?" Sydney's tone changed completely.

She went from playful to serious in a snap of a finger and Ryan is not sure he is ready for Sydney to start pouring her heart out to him. At this moment, he really contemplates picking her up and taking her home. He just wants to shut her up.

"How about this... I get up and do everything you tell me to do, and in return, you help me train for the Bridge to Justice's marathon relay," Sydney proposes.

Ryan tries to hide his shock at her new suggestion. This has been a detour from what they were discussing, not that he minded.

"You're competing in that?"

"Yup! Need to beat Darian. He's getting cocky and I need to wipe that smug look off his face," she explains, "he is a man so he has a biological advantage. However, if a super fit athlete like you can help me, I think I can do it!"

Ryan walks over to her and extends a hand out for her to take. Sydney grins at him and takes his hand.

"Alright, SK, you win!"

"Great, let's go!" Sydney rises from her spot and continues walking down the block.

Ryan sighs in exhaustion but follows her anyway. It is a miracle that she is moving herself back to her place without him carrying her. After helping her carry Jade's painting across Tribeca, he never wants to carry things for Sydney ever again.

"Honestly though, you should've let that guy take me home," Sydney instinctively stops in front of a crosswalk at the red light.

At least she knows to stop.

"No, you're too drunk."

Sydney turns to him with an eyebrow raised. Ryan can tell that she is staring into his soul like the way she does when she has way too much to drink. Unfortunately, he knows better than most what Sydney is like when she is bordering black out drunk. From experience, he is positive that she will barely remember the conversation they are having right now tomorrow, let alone remember whether she consented to sexual intercourse with the guy at the bar.

"I used to fuck lots of guys like this," Sydney slurs, "first year of law school was wiiiiild!"

Ryan gently nudges her to cross the road when the light turns green. He tries to shake off her comment because he knows the first year of law school for Sydney was around the time she broke up with Adam and left him behind.

"So, you drank yourself silly and pounced on anything with legs after you broke up with my best friend," Ryan clarifies.

"You know, when you put it that way, really makes me sound like a bitch."

Ryan raises two hands up defensively.

"Hey, you said it yourself!"

Sydney sighs, turning back to him to give him a look. He can sense some sadness in her gaze but he has to ignore it. She is the bad guy. She does not get to have his sympathy. Ryan fights to remember that fact and settles on looking ahead instead.

"Is it a waste of time for me to explain my side of the story?" Sydney whines, throwing her hands around in her tantrum.

Ryan glares at her in annoyance, gently judging her to keep walking.

"Yes," he answers abruptly.

Sydney shrieks in annoyance but keeps walking anyway. She may be intoxicated at this moment but it is irritating that she is made to be the bad guy and no one even cares for an explanation from her.

"It is nice to feel desired sometimes, you know?"

Ryan groans. Here we fucking go again, he thinks to himself in agony, does she ever shut up?

"I doubt that's a problem for someone like you," he says aloud before he is able to stop himself.

Sydney stops in her tracks and turns to him. Alright, I really have to carry her ass back home if she keeps stopping to talk, Ryan contemplates.

"Oh, so you do admit that I'm not entirely appalling to the opposite sex," she grins.

You're extremely attractive and that is the most frustrating part about you. Ryan is surprised at the thought that just crossed his mind. He does admit that Sydney is attractive. He has always thought that, but his issues with her have always eclipsed that thought. Besides, she used her beauty to charm Adam and she ended up hurting him. That is unforgivable.

"You're not a troll," Ryan says instead.

"Well, that is a compliment coming from you," Sydney concedes and continues walking.

The two walk in comfortable silence for a while, to Ryan's relief. This gives Ryan some time to think about everything that has happened tonight so far. He is alarmed by his instincts tonight. He is not supposed to care what happens to Sydney Kreider, let alone volunteer to take her home. She came with a friend. It should be her friend's responsibility to make sure she gets home safely. Why did it have to be him?

Ryan can tell himself that he is stepping in to do it so Adam does not feel like he has to. He can tell himself that but no matter how many times he does, he knows it is not true. Some sick part of him must still care about Sydney if he is still willing to have her back unfailingly like he used to. While he acknowledges that he did the right thing getting Sydney out of the situation where she may potentially be leaving the bar with the guy, but he did not have to be here right now. Old habits die hard, don't they?

"Alright, we're here!" They stop in front of the building to the penthouse.

Ryan waves at the doorman as the latter opens the door to let Sydney in. Ryan stands at the entrance of the building, contemplating letting Sydney walk back to the penthouse by herself. He has done his part. She can get in an elevator and unlock the door to Chris's place without incident.

However, Sydney turns to look at him expectantly.

"Are you coming in or what?"

Ryan opens his mouth to tell her to shove it, but he caves instead. The doorman keeps the door open for Ryan as he walks in to join Sydney. The two get inside the elevator and Ryan leans over to press the button to Chris's floor. He could have sworn he saw Sydney glance at his upper arm when he reached over her to hit the button.

They arrive at the penthouse and Sydney fumbles with the keys before dropping it. Ryan sighs in exhaustion, proceeding to pick it up for her. However, she quickly bends down to retrieve the item. Ryan accidentally catches an eyeful of her behind as her short black dress hikes up her upper thighs. He quickly averts his gaze when she stands back up with keys in hand. At the moment, Ryan cannot help but think about the feel of his hand trailing up her thigh and how soft her skin would feel against his palm.

"Want a drink? I think we got some wine?" Sydney makes a beeline to the wine fridge on the coffee table in the kitchen.

Ryan shakes his head and practically chases after her to stop her from worsening the hangover she is going to have tomorrow.

"No Syd, you're done for the night," he tells her firmly.

"You got me home safe, no one is going to take advantage of me or make sexual advances at me here so what's the harm?"

I have to be the responsible one here or we're going to do something that we will regret tomorrow morning.

"You're going to be sick if you drink anymore, let's get you upstairs," he suggests.

Sydney wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Syd, I'm exhausted. Let's just go upstairs without all of this shit, okay?"

One of her eyebrows remain raised.

"What shit?"

"This weird flirting thing you got going on here."

She laughs.

"What? Are we going to pretend that you weren't checking me out after that art auction? Or that you were not just doing the same thing earlier?"

Well, I guess I wasn't as subtle as I thought. Ryan gulps.

He swears to himself and to anyone who has ever noticed him eyeing Sydney inappropriately that it was not his intention to do that. He tried to stop himself. He really did. The last person he needs to be lusting after is her.

"We're not doing this right now or ever. You dated my best friend, let's go!" He nudged her towards the staircase.

Sydney huffs, storming past Ryan to get up the stairs.

"You don't have to remind me that I made the wrong choice back then, okay?"

Wrong choice? Ryan ponders over her words for a brief moment before following her up the stairs. He has no idea what she means by that. Her words imply that there had been a choice between himself and Adam. As far as he knew, he was never in the running. For God's sake, he never even expressed an interest in her. What on earth is this woman talking about?

Ryan is also wondering why he is letting himself get this far. Does he really need to help Sydney settle into bed? He walks into her room and quickly turns away when he notices her pulling her dress off over her head. Yeah, I really should not have followed her up here.

"I'm done, you can turn around now."

Ryan turns back to see that Sydney is dressed in a blue silk pajama set. He gestures for her to get into her bed, and she quickly obliges.

"Where's your trash bin? I'm going to move it by your bed," he asks.

She points to the corner of the room where her office table is. Ryan locates the black plastic bin below the table and retrieves the object. He puts the bin by her bed, arranging it to make sure that she had easy access should she decide to vomit in the middle of the night.

"Sleep on your side and closer to this side of the bed," he instructs, "don't sleep on your back, you might choke on your vomit."

Sydney chuckles.

"That'd be a pretty hardcore way to go out."

He grimaces.

"It really wouldn't. That is disgusting."

"It's the rockstar way of life, Lindgren."

"Yeah, still gross," he responds, "I'll be right back. Going to get you a glass of water to drink before bed."

When Sydney does not object, he starts walking out of her bedroom. However, before he is able to completely step foot out the door, Sydney speaks up.

"Ryan?"

He stops and turns back to her. He can tell that she is slowly beginning to sober up since there seems to be a tad bit more clarity in her eyes. Those dark eyes stare into him sadly with resignation. He has no idea why she is so morose. Even though she dropped out of law school and upended her plan for the last couple of years, she somewhat figured out her career path. What else could possibly be going wrong in her life?

"I miss the way things were between us," she admits sadly, "I really do."

Me too.

"I'll be right back with the water, okay?"

Sydney nods, giving him leave to avoid this conversation and retrieve a glass of water for her.

Ryan shakes off the heavy feeling in his chest as he descends from the staircase. He pulls open a cabinet to grab a glass and quickly locates the Brita pitcher by the kitchen sink. As he pours the filtered water into the glass, the sound of the lock turning fills his ears. Momentarily, the front door is thrown open, followed by laughter and chatter.

"How is 'zed' allowed in scrabble? This is totally unfair!" Ryan hears Jade first.

"It is legitimately a word and I'm pretty sure that is in the dictionary!" Chris responds calmly and decisively.

The Kreiders stop mid-sentence when they notice Ryan standing in the kitchen with a glass of water in his hands. Chris raises an eyebrow skeptically and Jade shakes her head.

"Hey guys," Ryan greets them awkwardly.

Jade slowly takes off her shoes and removes the scarf around her neck. Chris closes the front door behind him.

"What did she do now?" Jade asks with a sigh.

"We ran into Syd and her friend at the bar. She's had a bit too much to drink so I got her home."

Chris groans.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine but she's really gonna feel it tomorrow morning though," Ryan walks over to the Kreiders and hands the glass of water to Chris.

Chris nods at his teammate thankfully.

"Thanks man."

"Yeah, don't sweat it!" Ryan walks past Chris and Jade to get to the front door, "I'm gonna head out then!"

Jade places a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Want me to call you an Uber?"

Ryan smiles at the brunette gratefully.

"No, it's fine. I'm going to take the train. It's only a couple of stops."

Jade accepts his answer and gives his shoulder a light pat as he walks out the door.

"Have a good night, Lindy!"

"You guys too!"