-Sydney's POV-
It was too hot. I had sweat so much that I was almost worried about Latte getting sweat stains. I just couldn't stand the tension between Eddie and Jill back at school and as soon as the bell had rang, I'd jumped into my car and left. Their tension was stupid anyways and in this heat I thought that maybe it would just be better to go back and explain to them that they had feelings for each other (then promptly push them together and yell "Kiss!"). But I didn't do that. Instead, I drove to Adrian's apartment.
Parking Latte with care I got out and went up to his floor, picking up the key from under the mat and unlocking the door. I opened it and went in. "Adrian," I said, setting the key on the counter and closing the door behind me.
When I didn't hear Adrian's normal blustering and talkativeness, I wandered into the yellow room with a cup of water (No calories in water!) and sat down on one of the old squishy couches, admiring the paintings that were scattered about the room. I resisted the urge to clean them up because last time I did that Adrian got annoyed and had said that I was ruining his artistic composure or something. Adrian had been in one of his sad/mad moods brought on by Spirit.
It made me sad to think of Adrian slowly loosing his mind and I frowned. There had to be some way to help him... But the more I thought, I realized that that was what he was doing when he painted, releasing the crazy that sprit made him. This made my frown less of a frown and I finished my glass of water then stood. I walked around the room, admiring the paintings as I made my way to the kitchen to put the glass in the dishwasher.
It was at this point that I decided it would be a good idea to snoop around the apartment. I had no clue where this idea came from.
I started with the doors in the hallway. There wasn't anything special and I had almost lost hope of find a secret when I opened his bedroom closet.
-Adrian's POV-
When I found my apartment unlocked I immediately thought the worst of it. So I opened it quietly and walked in on the balls of my feet, not making a sound. There wasn't anyone in the open kitchen/dining room/living room, so that left one room. My bedroom. I didn't know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't Sydney.
She was sitting on the floor outside my closet door, holding something in her hands. I took another step into the room to see what, still careful not to alarm her. Then my mind put it together, and I felt a blush rise on my cheeks. She'd found the painting…
'The Painting' had a bit of an ominous feel to it, but I hadn't titled it yet. Plus, I thought that 'The Sydney' sounded too cheesy. It was definitely one of my favorite paintings I'd done (although that may have had to do with the subject matter than the actual skills put into it…), but I'd never shown anyone, I wasn't sure if Jill knew about it (I trusted her not to reveal my secrets though). It was a painting of Sydney. She was sitting in a boat on a lake, the trees in the distance looked like a dark green border. She was wearing a white dress and was surrounded by white and gold lilies; in fact, I'd filled the entire boat with lilies, a few falling off the sides or sitting in the water. The sun was low in the sky and caught on her eyes, making them seem like nuggets of gold or rays of sunshine captured in a pool. Her hair was down and I'd taken time making sure that her hair fell in the right places. She almost looked real.
But I had more pressing matters than admiring my paintings. She'd seen it.
-Sydney's POV-
It was beautiful. Beautiful. And I couldn't breath. The painting had taken my breath away. Then my mind kicked in and I sucked in a breath. Adrian did this.
I turned around, the painting clutched in my hand and my heart thudding; I'd heard him come in so I wasn't surprised to see him standing there. I was surprised though to see pink in his cheeks. He looked at me and his eyes were like pools of emotion.
"Adrian," I started. He opened his mouth start explaining himself when I interrupted him, "It's beautiful."
His eyes widened, this was not what he'd expected. "Yeah," he said stupidly.
I smiled and decided to play dumb. "Who's the girl?"
Adrian's smile faltered.
-Adrian's POV-
She had to know it was her. Or, was I really so bad at painting people? "It's-it's," my thoughts raced a million miles an hour as I tried to come up with an explanation for the most beautiful creature on Earth. "It's you." I said, my voice small under her scrutiny.
Sydney's face went through various emotions and her golden brown eyes looked glossy when she blinked them fiercely.
My discomfort forgotten I move closer to her, putting a hand to her cheek and whipping a tear away that had slipped out. "Sage!" I said, alarmed. "What's wrong?"
Sydney snuffled and raised the painting. "It's so beautiful, Adrian. And it's me. And you painted me. Adrian." Another tear fell down her face.
"Sage, why are you crying?" Adrian said kindly. He was worried about her. Maybe she was under too much pressure. Maybe this was it and she was going crazy.
"No one's ever done something like that before. No one's ever made me feel like this. I can't think when I'm around you, Adrian. I can't take it."
So I was right about her going crazy.
"Adrian," she said simply and another tear fell.
I wrapped her in my arms, the painting falling out of her hands and hitting the floor lightly. "I dropped it." She said guiltily.
"S'ok, I've got the real thing right here." This made her wrap her arms around me and bury her head in the crook between my shoulder and neck.
"Thank you Adrian." She said.
I didn't want her to say 'thank you'. I wanted her to kiss me. I wanted to kiss her. But I didn't voice any of these opinions, and didn't make any advances; instead I just pat her back awkwardly and said in my best brotherly voice, "That's what brother's are for, driving their little sister's to tears."
This made Sydney laugh and say, "I don't think of you as a brother, Adrian."