Road Trip

Above the Waterfall

Andy snapped a picture of a moose in a marsh off the side of the road. Hey, what was a road trip without taking in the wildlife and sight-seeing the natural beauty along the way? Sid was espying his own idea of natural beauty. Andy glanced incredulously back at Sid who was leaning back against the car with hands in his pockets and lecherously—not even exaggerating, it was lecherous like you wouldn't believe—watching a group of gal pals giggling and sunbathing on picnic tables or playing ball. Andy shook his head hopelessly, rolling his eyes. He turned back to the moose and snapped another picture before going to join Sid.

"We're so ingrained in each other's lives, how do you think we'll fare without one another?" Andy asked, smirking as he leaned against the car next to his friend.

Sid blinked, turning to him, then frowned, turning back to the girls. "Don't know. Guess we'll find out. Damn, you were my best wingman," Sid replied.

"Avoiding it isn't making it go away," Andy sang.

"I'll miss you like hell, okay? That what you want to hear? I literally will not know what to do with myself for, like, ever. Well, for a few months at least," Sid replied.

"Same," Andy admitted. "Well, school I guess, but other than that no idea."

"Think I have a shot with any of them?" Sid asked, pointing the girls out.

Andy looked dubious but then shrugged. "Play it like a bad boy, don't tell them you're a garbage man, and you might have a chance," he answered.

"Wish me luck," Sid replied, patting Andy's shoulder with a smirk and then crossing towards the girls.

Andy shook his head, smirking. "Oh you're going to be shot down so bad," he said out loud, though Sid couldn't hear. Sure enough moments later one of them had slapped him and Sid was quickly retreating.

"Wow she has a good arm," Sid said, rubbing his cheek painfully.

"Watch how a real man does it," Andy replied.

"Yeah, like you stand a chance. You may have gotten more girls genuinely interested in you, but I've gotten like twice the phone numbers you have," Sid said.

Andy smirked, waving his camera in the air, then began going in their direction. He made as if he was heading elsewhere and snapped a picture of a family of swans in the lake. He looked around and snapped a picture of a flower. The girls were glancing over every so often. It was enough. Andy rose and turned. He started as if just noticing them, tilted his head, then raised the camera. They looked dubiously at him. "What are you doing?" one asked.

Andy snapped a picture. "Sorry, photography has always been a pretty passionate hobby of mine," he replied. And it had been, honestly. "Just the background was so perfect, and the way you were all posed and talking. I thought it would make a good shot. Sorry. I'll delete it, I promise."

"Hold on, let's see it," one of the girls replied.

"Huh? Really?" Andy asked, playing naïve and innocent. "O-Okay," he replied, approaching them.

Sid was gawking in disbelief from the car as Andy mingled and laughed and flirted with the girls. By the time he came back, he had all their numbers. He waved them in the air tauntingly at Sid and got into the driver's seat. Sid blinked in shock. "Son of a b**ch," he said. He climbed into the passenger seat.

"Owned," Andy teased.

"Shove it up yours," Sid bit bitterly back.

Toy Story

Sid had always been the more active and restless between them, and so extended sitting sessions did not go over well with him. He was fidgeting now, and impatiently drumming his fingers. "Come on, man, pull over, I need to stretch," he finally and testily said.

"There isn't a rest stop for another hour, can't you wait?" Andy asked.

"No!" Sid replied. Andy inwardly groaned, rolling his eyes. He scanned the road for a safe shoulder or side road to pull off onto. He remembered a dirt one that went off somewhere and ended near to where a waterfall was. That would probably satiate Sid's desire for some adventure. He soon spotted it and turned off the main highway, driving down.

"Happy?" Andy bit.

"Alright, this is what I'm talking about," Sid replied, grinning.

"About time we stopped for dinner anyway," Andy said.

"I'm down with that," Sid said.

Toy Story

The two found themselves hiking up a much steeper trail than Andy had remembered. Which in retrospect probably shouldn't have been surprising. When Andy was little, his mother wouldn't have wanted him to be too near to the falls. Now that he was an older teen, observing from a distance didn't work for him or for Sid anymore. Up close was better.

Andy was shouldering the food. Sid was being less than cautious, taking risks and paths up that Andy wouldn't dare to try. He was more inclined to play it safe. Sid was more inclined to take a dare. Another way in which they were opposite. Sid almost slipped. Andy caught his breath as Sid caught his balance. "Dang it, Sid, will you be careful?" Andy sharply said to him.

"What? Rocks are slippery," Sid defended with a shrug.

"I hope you realize that if you fall into that water, you're not getting out alive," Andy said.

"I'll take that bet," Sid replied, smiling. He looked incredulously at the waterfall and down the river a bit. On second thought… He grimaced and kept climbing.

"Wow these rocks are mossy," Andy said, panting lightly.

"You are so out of shape," Sid said, rolling his eyes.

"I am not!" Andy defended.

"You so are," Sid answered, smiling. He grabbed the back of his friend's shirt and pulled him up onto the next ledge. "Desk jobs are not the way to go, man. Human body was made to move."

"Oh save it," Andy said, shaking his head hopelessly. Sid continued climbing upwards while scatting to his heavy metal/screamer metal. Andy sighed deeply. Metal head. He continued upwards, attempting to keep up to Sid as best he could. He frowned. If Sid could do it so could he! He wasn't about to be bested by his best friend. He gritted his teeth, eyes determinedly set, and picked up the pace, slowly but surely covering the distance between them.

Sid looked back curiously and smirked. "Racing now, Andy? You've already lost," Sid said to his friend. He laughed harshly and climbed faster yet. Andy sped up as well. This was far more risky than what he usually did, and he was out of his comfort zone, but sometimes that could be a good thing, he knew. Sid had always pushed him out of his comfort zone and vice versa. It had helped the both of them to grow not only physically, but mentally and emotionally too. In this case, though, being pushed out of your comfort zone wasn't a good thing.

Andy reached up for a mossy rock and began to pull himself up. He pushed off on another with a foot. That foot slipped and he gasped. He cried out in alarm, losing his grip. "Sid!" he exclaimed, nearly tumbling off the cliff and into the falls!

Suddenly a hand wrapped around his arm firmly. He gasped, looking up, then sighed in relief. Sid was there and laughing, holding onto a firm root. "Easy there, Andy boy. Kind of want to get you to college alive." He pulled Andy up onto a more solid ledge.

"I'm glad you think that was funny!" Andy sharply shot. He saw, though, and had seen, the very real alarm and worry that had been in Sid's eyes for a moment. He examined his hands. They were bleeding slightly, but not too bad. He sighed in annoyance and brought out a couple of napkins, wrapping them around his hands. He smirked and chuckled. "Wow that was close. My heart all but stopped for a second. Thought it was game over for me."

"You thought it was game over? Dude, I nearly had a heart-attack," Sid replied. "Look, you take the lead. Have a better chance of catching you when you fall if I'm behind you."

"And a better chance of falling with me," Andy replied.

"Touché, but hey, what are friends for?" Sid asked, smirking. Andy smirked back and began to climb up ahead of Sid. Sid kept close at hand, but not too close so as to crowd the other or make him nervous. Soon enough the two had reached their destination at the top and began to eat.

Toy Story

Andy watched the sunset quietly, listening to Sid who was on his cellphone. Suffice it to say, the conversation his friend was having was… not exactly an easy one for Sid. Or for Andy to hear.

"I don't care, dad, I don't, okay! Just… Look I'm not in the mood for your apologies right now… Yeah? Well could have, would have, should have, old man! …You can-you can only apologize so many times? Well then say it again! …Damn right I won't forgive you either way! …I wanted to believe that, dad. I wanted to believe that so, so badly that you don't even know… Then why the hell couldn't you stop? …You f***ing a**hole… You tried, you tried, you tried, you tried. No, you didn't try! When you tried it was half-hearted. If it hadn't been you would have gotten over your f***ing addiction! You would have been my father, not some-some guy that mooched in our house! …Yeah, dad. Yeah. When you were sober you were so good. So, so good. You protected us, you played with us, you did everything so right and then-then you'd get drunk again, and then the shouting and yelling and beating would start and then you'd pass out in a rage and leave us battered and broken and hurt… You nearly killed her! You nearly killed my mother! …About damn time you admitted that crash was your fault. I remember you pulling me from the car and away. You were going to beat me. Said it was because I couldn't shut up that you'd crashed. Mom wouldn't let you. She fought back and you nearly cracked her head open on the pavement… I know it was an accident, dad. I do. That doesn't change the fact it happened, and I will never forgive you for that, you hear me? Never! …I want so badly to say that I hate you. You have no idea how badly. But I don't… Because some part of me still is hanging on and hoping and praying that someday you'll get the help you need and get over your alcoholism and be the father I needed and deserved! I didn't-I didn't want to let go… Yes, dad. Yes, I have let you go. I have let you go, and I will not accept you again until you can prove that there is a cure for what you became… Sober for three months isn't gonna cut it, old man. Try three years, and even then it will just be enough for me to have a little bit of hope. But then every time I felt hope, you ripped it away, didn't you? …No, dad. No. I don't hate you. I love you. I always will. No matter how much I try to hate you, there will always still be that little inkling of love somewhere hidden away in the back of my mind. You were my father, I was your son. I was part of you… I don't want to hear your excuses anymore. Goodbye, dad… Begging. Pathetic. I said goodbye!"

Viciously Sid slammed the phone shut, clenching his hand over it so tightly that Andy almost expected to hear a crack. His eyes were shut tight. After a few moments Sid seemed to calm down. He put the phone into his pocket and dragged his feet back towards Andy. He plopped heavily down on the grass, holding his head in his hands.

Toy Story

Andy was quiet, turning attention to his food again. "Here," Andy said, tossing Sid a soda.

"Got a cigarette or a beer or some drugs or something?" Sid deadpanned.

"Not letting you start back up those old high school habits of yours," Andy replied.

"Should I forgive him? Should I let it all go and forgive him?" Sid suddenly asked.

Andy was quiet. "You're asking someone who would have done anything to have a father. Even if he was a crappy one," he finally answered.

Sid cringed, looking for a moment guilty. Andy's old man had taken off, he knew; abandoned them. It was still a touchy subject for Andy. "Sorry," he murmured.

"Don't be… Guess we both have daddy issues," Andy dryly said, smirking. His smile fell and he looked up at Sid. "I can't pretend to understand how you felt, growing up with an alcoholic father. You can't pretend to understand how I felt growing up with none… Your dad was a good man, Sid. At least when sober. Some of the best moments I had were when your dad would take you and me to the park to play soccer. When drunk he was abusive, he was dangerous; but he was still a father… That was the one thing I never got about it… You had your father. He was with you and he played with you and protected you and was good to you. I had nothing. But you always acted like you hated him… When we were little I used to go home crying, after hearing you talk about your dad so coldly. I used to curl up in bed, and mom would come up and ask what was wrong. I told her that I didn't understand why you got to have your father when I didn't have mine. I told her I wanted dad to come back. I told her how angry I was when you said you hated your father or when you said you wished you didn't have one. I told her how I felt like screaming at you or hitting you for saying it because at least you had one… She would tell me that your father sometimes did very, very mean things to you and your sister and your mother. When I asked what, she wouldn't tell me. She would just say that sometimes it was better to have no father… But even still, even after I found out, finally, what your dad did to you, I would have given anything to be in your place and to just even have a father there. I didn't care how violent or dangerous, I just… I missed my dad so, so much…"

Sid was quiet, head hung. "I used to cower with mom and Hannah in a back room or my room. My room had the strongest door and the most deadbolts. We would lock him out and tune out his screaming and yelling and swearing and mom would keep saying one day everything would be okay again… I would look out the window and see you playing in the yard with your mom, or I would see you in your room playing with your toys, and I would wish with all my heart, with tears in my eyes, that I could be there instead of you, that I could be safe again and not have to worry about loving someone so much that it hurt but still being so afraid of them that every time a hand or voice was raised I would flinch or cover my face. I didn't understand why you seemed to be more at ease around my father than I was, or why you could laugh with him without being afraid you would offend him or being afraid he would pick up a beer and gulp it down and then become a monster and stranger you never knew or wanted to know," he said quietly.

"Maybe if it had been the other way around, we would have had different thoughts and ideas about whether having no father was better than having a bad one or vice versa," Andy murmured.

"Here's to never having to know," Sid dryly said, raising his soda. Andy smiled and raised his own. "Looks like both our lives were f***ed up in some way or another," Sid added, drinking from his soda. He looked at it a moment. "Think my dad will ever… ever be sober?" he asked.

Andy was quiet, looking at his own soda. "Let me put it to you this way. There's a far better chance of your dad sobering up than there is of my dad ever coming back," he answered. Sid nodded, eyes for a moment sympathetic. "Now, let's drop the dark talk crap and focus on something more upbeat."