The Song Of Seattle

Rekindling

Ugh. Saturday hit me like a freight train. Normally I'm all about the weekend, but not now. I have to meet with Ethan at The Brew (coffeeshop) later tonight. That's enough to ruin any girl's Saturday.

Not to mention that my head is still swimming from my encounter with Brandon in the supply closet. What could it mean? That he likes me, or is he just a player like all the rest? I mean, he does have a girlfriend so what am I left to believe?

I was getting ready for the night, when Michaela barged into my room. She looked frazzled and on edge.

"Quick. Give me your cute little black bodycon dress." She said in a rushed sentence. Half of her hair was curled, and one of her fake lashes was falling off of her eyes.

"What on earth happened to you?" I asked in amazement. My mascara wand was halfway to my eye when she came in, and it was still levitating in that position.

"It's not what happened to me, it's what's happening to me!" She nearly shouted in her frantic state. She gets like this sometimes, and I've gotten use to letting her get it out of her system.

"Calm down, KK. What's happening?" I asked in a soothing voice after she finally managed to catch her breath.

"Look, I have a date with a very attractive man that I met in my Organic Chemistry class. I'm nervous. It's been a long time since I was with Alec." She said quietly.

"Okay. Let's get you ready. I'll help."I said reassuringly. I was happy for her. She needed this, especially after the relationship tornado known as Alec.

"Don't you have somewhere to be in a bit?" She asked me questioningly. I didn't really care about the somewhere that I was supposed to be. Ethan could wait. I don't owe him anything and that's for damn sure.

"Nothing is as important as you, Cakes. We'll get you fixed up." I told her earnestly.

Many tears and makeup removals later Michaela was out the door to meet with this mystery man, and I was left alone to finish getting ready.

I glanced at the clock above my vanity, and I was already running a half an hour late. I chuckled to myself and proceeded to put my makeup on. Deciding to take an extra long time just to mess with Ethan.

I threw on my yoga pants and white cable knit sweater. I put my hair up in an extremely messy bun, and added my glasses. Walking to the door I slipped on my converse and grabbed my keys.

I waltzed through the doors of The Brew ten minutes later. I was about 45 minutes late for my "get together" with Ethan, but not even a small part of me felt bad about it.

As a sat my books down at the table I noticed that there was a white mocha waiting there for me, and a very annoyed looking Ethan.

"I went ahead and ordered your favorite, but it's probably cold by now." He said in a stilted voice. A very, very small part of me felt guilty. I decided to put my best foot forward and not be argumentative.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that." I muttered.

"So, should we pick a concept?" He inquired. For a moment I totally forgot the reason for our meeting, but that snapped me back to reality.

"Of course. I thought we'd go for an indie sound. I've been working on lyrics since the end of senior year. We can maybe use one of those songs. You can lay the guitar, and I can mix over that on my laptop to make it sound a little edgier." I said confidently.

"I guess I'm probably the inspiration behind a lot of those songs." He didn't say it like a question. It was more of a statement. He sounded disappointed.

I cleared my throat,"A few. Not every song I wrote is about you. My world doesn't revolve around you, Ethan." I said dryly.

"I wasn't trying to pick a fight. I honestly-" he stopped talking pulling at tufts of his hair in frustration.

"You honestly what?" I asked with a wary sigh.

"I honestly want to fix things. Not necessarily romantically, but I just want our friendship back." He said in an almost begging way.

"First rule of friendship, stop touching me all the time. It makes me uncomfortable. We aren't together anymore, so don't act like we are." I said in a way that was meant to get my point across.

"Absolutely. I can do that." He replied sincerely.

"We can try to fix our friendship, but it's going to take a lot on your part. You really hurt me."I said in a deadly serious voice.

"I know, and I want to fix it. Even before we dated we had been friends. Since our diaper days. I don't want to throw it all away over one meaningless hookup." He looked me dead in the eye, and I could tell that he was being honest.

"Okay. I believe you. So, friends?" I asked holding my hand out for him to shake. He pulled me into a hug instead. Not in a way that made me uncomfortable, but in a way that was familiar and warm to me.

I pulled away and stood up to put my coat on,"Okay, so I guess I'll see you on Monday?" I asked as I reached for the door handle. He nodded in agreement.

I looked back over my shoulder and saw Brandon staring at me from behind the counter, and something in his eyes let me know that he had seen the whole exchange between Ethan and I. He didn't look too happy about what he'd seen either.

I ignored it and walked outside to my Jeep. I had a million thoughts running through my mind on the drive home. Maybe Ethan had really changed and this could be the first step in rekindling our broken relationship. Maybe it could be fixed enough to where things went back to where they used to be. Right now it felt like a better bet to try and fix things with Ethan than trying to figure out what Brandon was after. He's unavailable, and I refuse to do to Allison what some other girl did to me. I don't care if that makes Brandon angry or not. Still, I went to bed that night with more questions than I had when I had woken up a few hours earlier.

A.N. PLEASE READ
I'm trying to decide what direction I want to go with this story, and whether or not to make a sequel. I'd love some of your  opinions on who you would prefer Sydney to end up with as of now. Ethan or Brandon? I used to be 100% Brandon, but now I'm unsure. It's very important to me that I get this story just right, so I'll take every opinion into consideration. Just comment below with the name of the guy you'd prefer. If you would please vote too, that would mean the world. (Picture above is meant to be Ethan).

Song of the chapter: You Are The Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne an extremely poetic artist who can write a mean love song. 

Much love, Gabby❤️