Dream Come True Ch. 02

Thanks so much for all the feedback. Even the criticism is good, helps me improve. Love you guys. Excuse all the errors... here's Ch 2.

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"Wake up!" Joe came running into the room way louder than necessary. She rolled over in bed turning away from the noise. Taryn and Joe played tug-o-war with the covers. "Get up!" He was on the bed poking her now.

"Go away." She said muffled by the covers.

"What's wrong you don't love your little brother anymore?" He laughed.

"At 5 in the morning, no I don't love you. Get out of my bed." She rolled over facing the wall.

"Jamiee!" He shouted. "I'm calling for backup." He informed her. Jamiee appeared at the door in a heartbeat. Seizing the opportunity he got a running start and leaped on to the bed.

"Morning. You gonna get up and make me breakfast?" Now both Jamiee and Joe were on the bed and in her personal space. It's way too early for this. The boys were serious morning people and she seriously wished they'd take some meds for it.

"No. Leave. Now." She was sticking to statements rather than sentences.

"But I love you." Jamiee pleaded.

"You love Jessica Alba too but I don't see her ass making you pancakes." She countered. It's an ungodly hour and sleep was the only thing on her mind.

"Holy shit. Can you make that happen? Oh lord what would do to have Jessica Alba making me pancakes. You think she makes apple cinnamon ones?" Jamiee was drifting off into his own little world.

"What?" Joe was so confused.

"It's not even anything sexual. She just looks like she makes really good pancakes!" Even Taryn had to laugh at that one.

"Damn this bed is comfy." Joe bounced up and down on it, enjoying the softness. "Now I see why you don't want to get up. I would never leave this bed."

With one swift kick she knocked him to the floor and on his ass.

"You know... eventually you're gonna have to get up." Jamiee said ignoring Joe's painful moans from the floor. She regretted letting her little brothers stay with her.

Hours later Taryn jumped out of bed. Those extra hours gave her tons of energy. She was glad it was finally the weekend. No classes, no work, just her doing whatever she pleased. She scrolled through the contacts in her phone wondering who had a free weekend like her. After exchanging a couple text messages she realized she was on her own. She sat on her couch looking around her apartment; it was bland, dull, and boring.

"Paint!" she yelled a bit too loud. She had discovered her weekend mission, grabbed the boys and headed off to the nearest Home Depot. There was no way she was going to tackle a task this big on her own.

"Let's paint it silver." Joe was scanning metallic color swatches.

"Black!" Jamiee picked up the darkest swatches he could find.

"You guys are not interior decorators... you're just the labor. You have no say in anything. So shut your faces." She scanned through bold colors looking to see if anything really popped for the living room. She was hoping for something that would give it an open and bright feel.

"What's brighter than silver?" Joe was still trying.

"When you get your own place you can paint it silver."

"Hell no! That would be stupid." He couldn't even convince himself to do it.

"Exactly. So why don't you just put down the metallic's and go wander aimlessly." He gave her a smile, kissed her cheek and headed to the auto section. Jamiee followed. She loved her little brothers and at ages 15 and 16 they were especially entertaining. They all shared the same dark and sometimes plain mean humor that everyone else considered the jokes of assholes. They were going to be staying with her for a few days while mom was off in Vegas at a conference. Or so she claims. Didn't really matter to Taryn, she enjoyed their company.

She finally decided on a bright tangerine color, she had big plans for her apartment. She was going to finally make it fit her.

"Excuse me." She meekly said to the man with his back turned behind the paint counter. "Sir, excuse me." She was trying to be louder without being rude. He still wasn't listening. "Sir" She was getting frustrated. "Hello!" She finally shouted. He still didn't answer. She walked around to the other side of the counter to find the man propped up on his elbow sleeping. He looked somewhat familiar and Taryn wasn't sure why but for some reason this pissed her off. She thumped the man on top of his head causing him to jerk his head up and look directly at her. It was of course the last person she wanted to see.

"How did you know I worked here?" He blinked a couple of times and shook his head. He looked surprised but absolutely thrilled to see her. Taryn took a mental note of that.

"I didn't." She simply stated.

"So you didn't come looking for me?" Cydney cocked an eyebrow.

"No. I came looking for paint. So if you could just mix this up for me, without getting me banished from Home Depot, that would be great." He picked up the cans and started mixing.

"You're not curious at all?" He obviously couldn't mix without talking.

"No." It was a pretty unconvincing 'no'. Taryn scanned his facial features. He had some stubble on his jaw that wasn't there last night. As the paint shook he walked back towards her and she clicked her heels together wishing the boys would come back and be a distraction. She wasn't sure why but she didn't know if she wanted to face him or not. Which really made no sense because nothing had happened between them. For a while he just stood there looking at her, staring. Taking a deep breath he finally spoke.

"You're not going to give me a chance are you?"

"Why should I?" Taryn crossed her arms defensively.

"I thought about you all night." He couldn't make eye contact. "It's not fair for me to have seen all these things, all this happiness in my life, but not be allowed to actually have it."

"But how do you even know..." He cut her off.

"I don't know how it happens or how it ends but I know it's you. What could it possibly hurt to just get to know me?" He had a point. If she didn't like where things were going she could just break if off between them. But the song... that damn song. What if she actually ended up falling for Cydney? She would get hurt. So hurt that she would wish she never met him. She remembered how he said there were kids, they would get hurt too. Was a couple months, maybe years, of happiness worth the pain she would end up feeling?

"It was a dream Cydney. Just a dream." Even though she was telling him no he smirked when she said his name. It sounded good coming from her lips.

"Just take a chance with me. I swear to you I'm not insane, I just want my future to come true." He was staring so hard she was sure he could read her thoughts. Suddenly Taryn was extremely aware of the silence.

"The paint's done." Cydney reluctantly walked away to return to his duties. From behind the machines she could see him stealing glances at her. All of a sudden she was shy. Since when is Taryn shy around anyone? She has always been the type to not give a damn about how other people feel. She turned her back to the counter so he wouldn't see how she was feeling.

"Hey" He slid her paint onto the counter. "I'm about to go on break. Can we talk? And not just me begging you to be my buddy, I mean really talk because I sound pathetic." Taryn turned to face him. She shrugged her shoulders and nodded. "I'll carry this out to your car for you." Cydney picked up the 2 cans of paint and nodded for her to follow.

As they silently walked out to her car Taryn watched his arms flex as he held the cans up at his waist. She saw him smile to himself and had to stop herself from asking what the grin was for. As they reached the car she opened the trunk so he could set the paint down.

"Thank you."

Cydney stood there analyzing everything about her. She could see his eyes move from her thighs, to her stomach, to her chest and finally up to her lips. "Don't make it weird." Taryn waved her hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his little trance. "Are we just gonna stand here in silence? Because I have things to do."

"Don't. Don't do that."

"What?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't act like you don't want to be here with me." The look on his face was serious. It made her regret her words. Taryn had a habit of being rude when she was nervous. It was sort of a defense mechanism for her. Silence took over.

"So this is harder than I thought," He smiled at the ground. Taryn focused on his dimples. Things were getting awkward and he obviously didn't know how to fix it. "I thought I would know what to say to you once I got out here. But I'm kind of at a loss for words." He ran his hand through his hair and glanced at the ground. What happened to the Cydney from last night? He was pretty outspoken when it came to something he wanted. What had changed? She hated to admit that she was a bit nervous that he had changed his mind. Maybe he had decided Taryn was more work than she was worth.

"Look obviously this was a mistake. We can forget everything."

"Whoa. Who said this was a mistake?" Cydney stepped closer preventing her from making a run for it.

"You wanted to talk. But now you have nothing to say."

"I don't know how to talk to you. I feel stupid because you just stare at me like I'm crazy."

"Well this kind of new to me. No one's ever told me I'm going to spend the rest of my life with them."

"Then forget about that. I'm just a normal guy who just happened to notice your beauty. Let me take you out."

"I have a thing to do... somewhere." She stumbled over her words.

"Really. You have something to do? I didn't even tell you when." He was on to her. "I'm not just going to give up. This is gonna happen." He chuckled. "Why are you making this so hard?" He shrugged his shoulders and looked her in the eye. "I like you. I like your bad attitude and how you suddenly get shy around me but you think I don't know it. And I love that beautiful smile that I have yet to see. I'm really trying here. Work with me." She could see he was giving up. For the dumbest reason Taryn wanted him to keep trying. She'd never had a guy fight so hard for her. It made her feel special.

"Look," Cydney took his time getting Taryn's cell phone from her front pocket. She found herself holding her breath as he pulled the phone out of her jeans. "I'll just give you my number ok? Call me or text me. I know you're wondering about that dream." She held out her hand waiting for her phone. He ignored it and stuck it back in her jeans. Was he always this bold?

~*~*~*~*~ Driving home she couldn't stop thinking about him. This was becoming a serious issue. He was so sincere about his intentions it was hard to not fall for him.

"You should call that guy." Jamie spoke over the radio.

"What guy?" She pretended not to know what he was talking about.

"Tall, dark hair... I saw you talking to him."

"...yea..." Ugh.

"Call him. He'll help you get over what's his face." Jamie had a point. She wasn't obsessing over her ex, but she wasn't happy either. Cydney wanted to make her happy.

Later that night she decided just to go for it. She pulled out her phone looking for his number. She kept scrolling and scrolling but there was no Cydney listed. Why would he not put his number in here? Taryn scrolled to the very last name on her contact list oddly named 'Your future'.

"Don't make me regret this." She said to herself as she sent a simple text saying 'You're right. What could it hurt?' She didn't even have to wait an entire minute before he text back.

'I knew you'd txt me'

'Don't get cocky' Taryn smirked.

'What are you doing right now?'

'Nothing. Watching tv' Why does he care?

'Meet me at the Krohn Conservatory.'

'It's like 10:30. Aren't they closed?'

'I can pull some strings. Just be there?' She sighed and typed.

'Ok.' Taryn hated to admit she was excited. She put on a pair of cute, but casual jeans and a dark grey tee. She was giving him a chance and praying he wouldn't majorly fuck it up. She didn't want to invest her time or get her hopes up in something that would turn out to be a disaster.

Taryn drove slowly, she was nervous and excited all at the same time.