Page 4 of Scoring Chance
“Your fantasy is right here,” he chuckled, “something different. Dying it a darker color. Just something different for once.”
“You’re honestly going to keep that up during the season?” She asked. “That’s a lot of upkeep.”
“It’s for Nike,” he replied, “they want me to do an ad where different sides of me are being shown. Kinda like a stripped down and naked type of venture. Everyone keeps talking about my hair and my eyes and we thought it would be fun to do something different. Freak people out a little.” He glanced over at her. She still wasn’t sold on the idea. “I see it’s working.”
“They have wigs, you know?” She ran her fingers through his hair. It was as soft as corn silk and just as shiny. “You don’t have to cut and dye it!”
“It’ll grow back, Syd.”
“That’s what they all say,” she shook her head, “and then you’re going to be channeling your inner Britney Spears meltdown and shave it all off before you beat up a poor van with a defenseless umbrella.”
“And what the hell?” Dean laughed and Sydney joined in. He wagged an index finger at her. “No more pop music for you!”
Sydney touched Dean’s thigh and he moved his hand on top of hers. He gave it a quick squeeze before moving her hand to his lips and gave it a soft kiss. Things felt right. They felt…normal.
There was still unfinished business they needed to discuss before they moved on. They lived in the same city, but it was too far. They needed space from each other and not be a distraction. They never did distract each other but there was more fights than they both wanted to comfortably admit.
Still, Sydney’s decision to be with Ian during her time of weakness weighed heavily on her. If she wanted to be with Dean, if she wanted any chance of them of being together again, she needed to come clean. “Can you pull over?” She asked.
“Is everything okay?” He glanced over.
“Just pull over,” she shook her head.
“Okay,” Dean signaled right and pulled over on the side of the road. He watched Sydney unbuckle and get out of her seat. He turned off the truck and followed suit. “What’s up?”
Sydney felt her heart pound through her chest. She shook out her hands because the stress tightened the limbs. She spoke so fast, she competed with Mellie fromScandal.“I had sex with Ian when we broke up. It was just sex and he was the one that encouraged us to get back together. He’s going to be my manager but I swear nothing else will ever happen between us. I just wanted to get this off my chest because you’re talking about us having a new start, and you just played one of my all-time favorite Prince songs, and I started thinking about us having babies and you’re teaching our son, Bobby, how to play hockey. And I’m teaching our daughter, Betty, how to paint. And we live back in your big ol’ beach house and we go to the ocean during the weekends, and we have cookouts with my family, because Black people do cookouts and not BBQs, and I just was thinking about our future and I needed to get everything off my chest so we can have one!” She finally exhaled a deep breath.
Dean blinked at his ex-girlfriend as he processed what she just revealed. He only had one question. “Bobby and Betty?”
“Okay, I just revealed all of that and you only took I wanted to name our kids Bobby and Betty from it?”
“I hate those names,” he shook his head, “I…I…no. Just no.”
Sydney gave a soft grin. “I wanted to talk to you about the other thing.”
“I know about you and Ian,” he revealed, as he glanced up to the bright Stateline sky. “I’m not thrilled about it nor am I surprised. But I also know it won’t happen again.”
“How did you find out?” She asked. “Did Ian tell you?”
“In not so many words, yes.” Dean’s jaw clenched at Ian’s words.I didn’t steal Sydney, Dean. You gave her to me.He released the grip he had with his fists.“But I also know it’ll be the last time.” He repeated.
Sydney crossed her arms. A quizzical look appeared on her face. Dean’s reaction wastoo calm. It was almost as if she told him they were having fish instead of chicken for dinner.“You should be more upset about this.”
“How do you want me to react, Syd? Did you want me to Hulk Smash everything in sight?” Dean asked. “I mean, I’m not thrilled but I’m okay with it.”
“Why are you okay with it?” She became suspicious. “Did you sleep with someone else while we broken up?”
Dean looked up at the bright sky again and blew out a small breath. He took off his sunglasses and held them within his hands. “Yes.”
The revelation was like a punch to Sydney’s gut. She didn’t know why she was upset and it was comical she would be. She cared more about Dean than she’d realized. “Oh,” she swallowed. “I guess we’re tied, then.”
“Tied? No, I say we both lost.” Dean raked a hand through his hair. “It was a mistake. I was drunk, pissed off, and missing you. Mad at the world, mad at everyone.” He let out another breath, trying to find the words to convey how he truly felt but fearing he would sound like a babbling fool. “I do regret it because she wasn’t anything to me.”
“Am I going have to read about her in the gossip blogs?” She asked. “I’m serious about this. Is she someone I need to be concerned with later?”
“No,” Dean wasn’t entirely sure with that answer but he wanted to believe it, “you won’t be at all.”
“Okay,” Sydney’s stance relaxed. The air was clear between them but there was still tension. She wondered if it would always be there in some form. “Did you ever want to marry me?”
