Love Without Rules (Contemporary Romance) (6 page)

***

By the time they reached the restaurant, Sydney felt like she had been through another interview. Drew was so incredibly curious about her. She thought he had been joking when he said “everything,” but he really meant it. He now knew her favorite color, her favorite animal, and all other kinds of favorites.

“Can I ask you something?” Drew asked as they got out of the car.

“Seems like you’ve been doing that all day. Why ask for permission now?” Sydney joked. She looked at the outside of the restaurant. It was a place called La Rouge, which meant red in French. She did love French food.

“Because I’m a gentleman.” He flashed her a dazzling smile. “Let’s sit first.” He opened the door for her. “Seats for two, please,” he said to the waitress, who led them to a cozy table. There was a romantic scented candle lit on the table, and a very pretty red rose served as extra decoration.

“Wow, this place looks great.” Sydney loved the classy atmosphere. Light jazz played quietly, the perfect background music. She settled into her very comfortable seat, and stared right into Drew’s eyes. “So, what was your question?”

Drew’s eyes sparkled. “I want to know… How do you feel?”

“W-what do you mean?” The question caught her off guard. He was acting so seriously about such a simple question, she just didn’t get what he meant.

“I mean… How do you feel about everything? About Scott, about your book, all of it? I want to see you happy, Sydney. I genuinely care about you. And if you’re feeling upset… I want to help you.”

“It’s still hard,” she admitted honestly. “But I think about him less. At least, I try to. This…” She gestured to the dinner. “Just going out, with Anna or my mom, or you, helps keep my mind off it. I’m really grateful.” A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, and she wiped it away hurriedly. “I’m sorry, I must look like a mess.”

“Don’t be sorry. You look beautiful,” Drew said genuinely. “You always look beautiful.”

Sydney sighed as she made sure her eyes were dry. “Let’s look at the menu.” She didn’t want to think about
him
anymore.

Drew ordered a bottle of wine, which arrived very quickly. He poured some for the both of them before lifting his glass to clink against hers. “To new beginnings,” he said with a smile.

Sydney liked the sound of that. “To new beginnings,” she echoed. Their glasses clinked together, with a delightful little tinkle that truly did bring new hope into Sydney’s heart.

Time really flew as Sydney and Drew turned the conversation to something much lighter. She felt like a teenager again, because of the way she and Drew giggled and talked about everything. It was odd, but it was as if all the heartaches and all the years of pain just melted away and for the next few hours, she felt like everything was perfect.

It was late by the time they left the restaurant. Drew drove her home quickly, and made sure that she was safe. “So, can I take you out again sometime?” Drew asked sweetly, as he reached for her hand.

“Of course.” She smiled back at him. He leaned forwards, and kissed her gently on the cheek. It was a romantic gesture, and it said to her that he didn’t want to take things too fast and mess it up. “Good night, Drew.” She took one last look at him before turning away and heading into her apartment. He was still smiling as she closed the door.

“Phew.” Sydney said as she collapsed onto the sofa. The night had been so fun, and so exciting. It scared her a little, how fast she found herself being able to trust him. It was just something about his kind, childlike demeanor which led her to believe that he would keep her secrets safe.

Sydney realized that she had not checked the mail for a couple of days, and slipped on her shoes to go downstairs to check it. There was a package waiting for her, and some bills. She took the mail up to her apartment, where she inspected the package.

The return address revealed that the package had been sent from Kelly.

“Oh, Mom… What did you send me?” Sydney tore open the package to reveal her book. “Wha?” Sydney was confused. Sydney opened the cover, to find a note from her mother tucked inside.

Sydney, honey, this is to remind you that you’re successful. I’m so proud of you, and you don’t need a man to make you happy. You’re so clever, and I love you so much. I always show this book to my friends, and tell them that my daughter wrote it. They’re all green with envy! Don’t worry, Syd, you’ll make it through. I believe in you.

-
         
Mom

Sydney smiled as she read her mother’s kind words. Though it was true that the book’s sales hadn’t been going so well lately, she was still proud of it. Sydney began to flip open the book, reading the words she had once written about relationships with such certainty. Sydney’s mind kept wandering back to Drew and how he was breaking all of these rules. It was weird, but she liked it.

Eventually, Sydney yawned, and pulled out her phone to check the time. She realized it was nearing one in the morning, and also noticed that someone had sent her a text. It was Drew.
Hey, beautiful, are you still awake? You need your beauty sleep, so you better not be reading this right now!

She laughed.
“
I’m just about to go to sleep!” she read out loud as she texted him back. “Good night, Drew,” she whispered, holding the phone to her chest. This was her chance. Her chance at a new beginning.

Love List #1: Ready or Not…

We’ve all been there. After a relationship ends, there’s always that awkward period of time. How long does it really take to get over a breakup? I asked around. I got all sorts of different answers: one week, one month, one week for every month you were together, one year, and the craziest one – one hundred drinks, exactly. I don’t believe that there IS a set time. It’s different for every relationship. So since there isn’t a perfect number, then how DO you know when you’re ready to move on?

·
        
You’re fantasizing about other people. (Not just the “oh I think he/she’s sort of cute” kind of fantasy, the “I think we’d be fantastic in a relationship” kind.)

·
        
You’re not looking for a rebound. (Rebound relationships don’t help
anyone.
In fact, they just make things worse. You’ll probably end up hurting someone else’s feelings, and that’s only if you get out of it scot-free yourself. Which you probably won’t.)

·
        
You realize that nobody’s perfect. (Yes, your ex had a lot of flaws. But your future partner will too. Everyone has
some
sort of baggage, and it takes maturity and understanding to look past that and see the person as who they are, not their past.)

·
        
You don’t trash your ex. (Sure, your ex may have done terrible things, but when you think about them, you realize that all of that is in the PAST. It doesn’t matter now that they snored in bed, or that they never took out the trash. That doesn’t mean you have to be friends or speak positively about them, though.)

·
        
You’re not getting into a new relationship just because you feel lonely. (Yes, loneliness gets to the best of us. But that doesn’t mean it’ll help if you get into a new relationship just to have someone to cuddle with at night.)

·
        
You just know. (Sometimes, there is no sign. You just feel that you’re ready and you’re completely prepared.)

Good luck!

Time passed so quickly that Sydney could barely keep up. She was finally beginning to return to a normal routine of blogging. Her finances had somewhat stabilized with the advertisement revenue from her website. The TV disaster had actually helped, because more people than ever went to her site to check out what it was all about. And some of them had stayed as new fans.

All the buzz from the disaster faded after a couple weeks. Love Doctor Sydney Stone was no longer a horrible topic of gossip, more like last week’s news. And Sydney could not have been more grateful. She was no longer being recognized when shopping at the grocery store or at the mall.

Sydney had also picked up a new hobby: running. Almost every morning, she would wake up bright and early to go jogging. It was doing wonders for her health, and her body began to grow stronger. Sydney felt great. Even her book sales picked up a
tiny
bit.

Sydney was on the streets, coming home after a tiring run. It was still early in the morning, and she felt liberated. Running allowed her to free her mind, and she loved thinking about things as she ran. Things like Drew. Drew had asked her to be exclusive with him a month ago. She had said yes, happily.

Drew was like a breath of fresh air, blowing through her life, making sure that she looked at things differently. In fact, he had changed her entire perspective on relationships. Sydney realized that rules and tricks were not everything. She didn’t need those things to make a relationship successful. Scott had been the finest example. She had done everything perfectly, by the book,
her
book, and things still didn’t work out. Scott himself had faded from her mind, and she no longer felt that aching in her heart when she thought of him.

The thought had struck Sydney that she should write a new book, about all the new things she had learned from this wonderful new relationship with Drew. But because the sales for the first book were still doing only averagely, no publishing house would take that leap of faith without a lump sum of money to start off. A lump sum of money she didn’t have.

Sydney pondered if she should put the time and effort into creating another book as she walked back to her apartment building. She thought about calling Drew, but it was still early in the morning and he was probably still sleeping. Sydney rounded the corner to her apartment.

“Surprise!” Drew exclaimed.

Sydney jumped. “Oh my gosh! Drew! It’s eight in the morning, what’re you doing here?!” Drew pulled her in and kissed her passionately.

“I wanted to see you. And look, I brought breakfast!” Drew held up a Starbucks bag. There were also two drinks sitting in a tray on the ground. “Come on, let’s eat! I’m starving, and it is way too early.”

“Nobody told you to get up!” Sydney laughed as she unlocked the door and pulled Drew inside. Drew was always doing little things like this, which she greatly appreciated.

They went inside, and Drew showed her the contents of the bag. “It’s a blueberry scone, and a pretzel chocolate stick. Your favorite.” He smiled as he kissed her. “Oh, and a vanilla latte.”

“You’re so perfect, Drew.” Sydney giggled as she began to eat. She felt happy. There was no other way to describe it. Just, happy.

***

After Drew left her apartment to go to a meeting, Sydney found herself alone, and somewhat bored. She had already finished her blog entry for today. She opened her laptop and decided to browse some of the comments on her latest couple entries. One particular one caught her eye. It was a long comment, and was obvious that it took a lot of time to write. The user statistics showed that it was a newly made account.
Interesting…

“Hi, Love Doctor!” Sydney read out under her breath. “If you’re reading this, that would be super amazing. I haven’t been a fan for very long, but I’ve almost been through everything on your site, and I’ve got a copy of your book! Actually, I’ve bought so many copies of your book from my local bookstore that they probably think I’m a little crazy. I gave them out to all my girlfriends, and they told me that once they read your words, it really helped them. So I’m just here to say that you’re so inspirational. I’ve read your book from cover to cover and I’m still hungry for more! Are you going to write another book? I’m sure many of us here on this site want you to! I love you so much!” Sydney smiled happily as she read these words. There was still more to her comment, praising her and asking her to write another book.

She deserves a reply.
Sydney thought as she hit the reply button. “Hi! Thank you for being such a great fan. Unfortunately, I will not be…” Sydney trailed off and took her hands off the keyboard. Was she really not going to write another book? She wanted to, yes, but would anyone publish it? Was it possible to find the money needed? 

Sydney held off on replying to the comment, instead picked up her phone and called Daphne, the woman from the publishing house. It only rang once before Daphne picked up. “Hey, hey, hey, Sydney Stone! How are you?” Daphne greeted warmly. “Hope everything is going well?”

“Hey Daphne! Everything is good! Thank you for asking. I know you’re really busy, I just had a quick question.” Sydney could hear a lot of talking and noises on Daphne’s end.

“Shoot!”

“I was just wondering, how much would it be if I wanted to publish another book? Just an estimate.” Sydney admired her manicured nails while she waited for Daphne’s reply.

Daphne sucked in air through her teeth, which put a frown on Sydney’s face. That sound was never good. “Um… Honestly, honey, it’ll have to be a lot of money. Since the first book…” She didn’t want to say it but Sydney knew what she meant. The book was popular only within certain circles, and though she had gotten some new readers for her website, there was still a deficit caused by the TV fiasco. Therefore, the publishing companies thought there was no need to publish another book if there was no guaranteed big income.

“How much is a lot?” Sydney felt afraid to hear the answer. She had a feeling it was going to be an impossibly big number.

“Probably around twenty thousand…” Daphne reluctantly answered.

Sydney sighed. “Alright, thank you, Daphne.”

“Sorry, hon. Anyways, I’d love to stay and chat but I really must return to my work. Bye!”

“Bye…” Sydney mumbled before returning to her laptop.

She noticed that several other readers had commented on that first big comment. They were agreeing with her, that Sydney should write another book. It was so inspiring, Sydney felt that she just couldn’t let them down. So she deleted some of her comment, and rewrote it. “Hey, thank you for being such a great fan! I am currently working on a new book, and I don’t know when it’ll be finished, but please look forward to it!”

The minute Sydney pressed send, she felt like it had been a mistake. Where was she going to get the money to pay for this new book? “Ah, whatever. I can’t delete the comment now. I want to do this,” she said out loud, trying to convince herself it had been the right thing to do. “I can do this.”

Her phone rang, and Sydney saw that it was Drew. Before she answered, she thought about whether or not she should tell Drew about it.
She decided against it, for now. Not until she had an idea of what she was going to do, first. “Hi, Drew!”

“Hey, baby! Come out with me tonight! I have some exciting news for you!” Drew said happily. “Can I pick you up at around six-thirty tonight?”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll see you then!” Sydney grinned and hung up. She wondered what kind of exciting news it was going to be.

There was still some time till six-thirty in the evening, so Sydney decided that she would get cracking on the book.
It will be bigger, and better than my previous one,
she thought determinedly. For the next few hours, nothing but the sound of Sydney’s fingers tapping on the keyboard filled the room.