Down Under

Chapter 8

The sound of Sidney's laughter has grown to be quite foreign to your ears after the last couple of weeks. To say that your friend was an empty husk of the girl that she once was would be an understatement. Her skin was deathly pale - almost to the point that you could pass it off as costume makeup for a vampire. It seemed as though her eyes were always puffed up or red from the constant crying. Food was a touchy subject in itself that would cause an avalanche of emotions to just tumble out of her, so you and Tatum just settled with passing her small portions of your own food and excusing it as sharing. Her father was trying his best despite having to go through the same feelings of grief and according to Sidney, he was worse off than she was. Substance abuse was something he quickly resorted to and used as his way of completely forgetting.

Although you didn't agree with his methods, you could still sympathize with the man. He didn't set up a whole alarm system like you had, but he still installed newer locks along with more general security measures in case anyone decided to get inspired. Sidney didn't go out on her own, but her father still kept a good eye on her when he decided to hang around.

"Called her dad?" Tatum asked, shaking out your spare blankets to spread them across the rug. You nodded in response, throwing the pillows you'd brought down from your room onto the couch. "Cool. Don't need him freaking out over her being gone." She took a moment to pause as the blanket finally was spread fully, rubbing one of her manicured nails with her finger. "Do you think she's ready for any of this yet? I mean... she still has her freakouts at school and doesn't really talk to the boys that much anymore. Maybe we should have just done this at her place and called it a mini sleepover or something."

Knowing that Sidney was upstairs changing into her pajamas and could be walking down any minute, you rushed to finish the conversation so she wouldn't feel as though you were walking around her. "Tatum, it's Halloween night. I sincerely doubt that she would have wanted to be on her own for this night. Also, I didn't invite any of the guys over, so what's up with that?" You turned around, trying to get her to look you directly in the eye, as the familiar sound of your doorbell echoed. Her eyes danced around the room, attempting to play it off as the ringing continued. "Tatum?"

"Okay! So I may have said something to Randy thinking that he wouldn't care since Halloween is his thing and he would for sure be busy, but he wanted in. And then he bragged about it to Stu and Billy! You know that once those two gang up on anybody, there is no changing their minds. Besides, they would have wanted you to explain why they couldn't come, so I saved you in the long run." She clutched her teddy bear, done pacing back and forth and throwing herself onto the couch instead.

"Who's at the door?" Sidney asked, voice unsure as she tried to read the room while walking down the stairs.

"Just some idiots that invited themselves," you responded, "I'll politely kick them out if you don't feel comfortable with them here, Sidney." She shook her head after sitting with the idea for a few minutes, face grimacing as she thought about how awkward it might feel but deciding to let them in. After all, if it weren't now, then she would have to be faced with a similar situation later down the road.

Slightly groaning and pouting, you opened the door for them. They came barreling through; Randy with both arms full of movies, Stu with a handful of beers, and Billy with a bag full of junk food along with some ready to pop popcorn. It was nothing but a few calm smiles here and there as they all said hi before the volume level escalated. Randy ran over to Sidney to tell her all about some newer comedy movies that were in stock (he toned it down on the horror genre around her). Billy made himself comfy next to Tatum as they got to talking about a shared teacher and their finals.

Stu was the one to target you from the moment he made his way inside; passing off some beers to you as his hands became occupied with the snacks Billy handed him. There was barely any time to react as he gently led you over to your kitchen to start organizing the food.