don't worry be happy ;

Barry smirked at her comment and nodded with  his own soft hummed. “I guess that is true… We could just text them later, make sure everything went okay, but from the looks of that it looks like everything went plenty well.” And if Taylor showed up at home later he supposed that would answer that as well. “Nah, it doesn’t,” he said as he shook his head and smiled down at her. “I mean… I hate to be the guy that leaves his own party, but…” he trailed off. “By the looks of the fun by the bar, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have an empty house tonight…”

“Why... Mr. Carter... Are you inviting me back to your place?” She grinned widely, raising a brow at him in mock surprise. “So forward.” She felt giddy and she knew it wasn’t just from the drugs coursing through her system. “But I will take you up on that offer. Because you’re just too damned cute.” She kissed his nose again and then kissed his lips, getting caught up in how he tasted, and forgetting the fact that there were people around them. She just couldn’t help it -- he was delectable.

Barry couldn’t help but laugh right along next to her. After all of Taylor’s worries, after everything she’d told him over the last long while… there she was making out with the one thing she’d been afraid of facing for months now. If he would have known it would turn out that way he probably would have forced them together a lot sooner. He pulled his hand away from her own grip and moved to wrap both of his arms around her instead. “They are idiots,” he echoed, leaning forward to nuzzle his nose against her temple. He blamed it on the whole ‘cuddly high’ thing. “Do you think we should go talk to them or find something else to do?”

“I don’t think we should interrupt.” She grinned at him, kissing his cheek, her own arms wrapping around him. “I mean... We wouldn’t want to be rude...” She trailed off, biting her lip. “They have just reunited after all -- that’s pretty personal. Even for us. We’ll just have to... Find something else to do?” She leaned in to kiss his neck softly, and then moved up to look right at him, her eyes sparkling. “That doesn’t make up bad friends, does it?”

“Am I now?” Barry asked with a soft grin. “You’re not too bad yourself, princess,” he added. He quickly disposed the last of the joint in a nearby bathroom and squeezed her hand right back when she grabbed his, leading her toward the door. “Ready. Let’s go see what they got themselves into.” He moved out of the room and back into the main area of the party, squinting his eyes through the crowd to see if he could find them. And when he did, well, that wasn’t exactly what he had been expecting to see. “Oh.” He turned to look at Sydney. “At the bar. I guess I wasn’t expecting that,” he admitted with a laugh. “Pretty much anything but that, actually.”

Sydney covered her mouth with her hand and then burst out laughing, throwing her head back, attracting some stares -- so she quickly straightened up and tried to keep her laughter in. “That was... Well. I knew it’d happen at some point. Goddamn, they’re such idiots.” She stared at them, her heart melting really at the way they looked at each other. “Took them long enough. And I didn’t even have to meddle.”

He laughed out loud before nodding. “Yeah, they probably have. Hopefully they worked things out, though, and we don’t walk into World War III in the lobby.” Barry smirked up at her, pretty much disheveled from both the smoking and the kissing before he moved to stand. “Absolutely,” he murmured out, reaching up and taking her face in his hands so he could press a much more tender kiss to her lips.

“We’d have heard the yelling -- I think I have a 6th sense that’s just reserved for Sully at this point.” She kissed him back, feeling her heart lift in her chest. Pulling back, she sucked her lip into her mouth, a bright smile taking over her whole face. Giggling again at his appearance, she mussed with his hair until it was at least somewhat respectable. “You’re so cute.” She entwined her hand with his, squeezing his hand tightly. “Ready, Mr. Director?”

Barry couldn’t help but lick his lips as he watched her and nodded. “Yeah, that was… that was something alright, I can’t quite put my finger on it,” he stated before exhaling with wide eyes. How long had they been in there? Half an hour? An hour? Oh shit. Taylor. “As much as I’d love to keep… doing that, I think we should probably go check on the troublemakers,” he said with an almost half wince. 

“I’d start singing ‘Stay With Me’, but you’re probably right.” She sighed out heavily, before realizing that anything could have happened by then. “Oh god. They’ve been alone for too long -- and neither of them has called either of us. That probably means they’re together. Fuck.” She ran her fingers through her hair, standing up. “But this is definitely not going to be a one time thing, mister.”

The kiss was far from rough, but it was far from chaste as well. It was perfectly in the middle, tongues circling each other lazily and damn, it’d been a long time since Barry kissed someone and actually felt something with it. And sure, he’d only known her for a short while and they’d gotten high together, but there was just something about her he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Finally, the need to breathe arose and he had to pull back, breathing heavily as he pressed his forehead to hers. “Wow,” he said with a light laugh, not quite sure what else to say.

“Wow is right. I might even go for a ‘wowza’ in this situation.” She grinned at him, biting her lip, happiness radiating off of her. She kissed his nose softly. “I mean, I thought you were hot and I figured you’d be a good kisser but that was somethin’ else.” A soft giggle escaped Syd’s lips, and she couldn’t help it, she just dissolved into bell-like laughter, unable to contain her happiness.

“Mmmm, exactly,” he hummed out in a nod. He was honestly just about to ask her if she had anyone else in her life, any other special someone, but he supposed his unvoiced question was answered when she pressed her lips against his to shotgun the smoke over to him. He inhaled properly–it wasn’t the first time he’d ever done this in his life–and smirked when she pulled back. He stared at her for a moment with heavy lidded eyes before finally exhaling. Biting his bottom lip as he looked over her face, he barely had a moment to think before he surged forward and pressed his lips against hers in a hurry in an open mouthed kiss.

He was looking at her and she was looking at him and her blood was buzzing underneath her skin. This felt so right and she’d only met him merely moments ago but fuck, this felt good. And he kissed her and she kissed him back and she felt something click in the back of her brain. Her hands tangled in his hair and she kissed him lazily, slowly, sweetly -- and she realized this was everything a first kiss was supposed to be. And that made her feel warmer than all the weed in the world.

“You know everything, hmmm?” he said playfully, the buzz hitting him decently as he leaned closer to  her on the couch, watching her exhale the smoke. “Yeah, neither has Tay,” he murmured out, though he was pretty sure he was paying more attention to her lips than their actual conversation. “Nah, she doesn’t have a boyfriend. It’s just me and her most of the time. We tried that,  but it didn’t work out. Too awkward.” He continued to watch her and then cocked an eyebrow at her. “You going to share there, princess?” 

“Yep! Everything.” She grinned, looking over at him, feeling the world slow down a little bit and blinking slowly. Goddamn was he attractive. “I can’t imagine how you’d ever be awkward -- but I can see that, actually, since me and Sully would be awkward as fuck.” Her eyes lit up for a moment, taking another hit and holding it in, before leaning over and pressing her lips to his, exhaling into his mouth. Pulling back, she grinned widely. “I always share. Sharing is caring, darling.”

“You knew it?” he echoed with a light laugh. “Am I seriously that obvious? Or is it just the stoner’s sixth sense and ability to pick each other out in a crowd?” He took the joint back from her and nodded as he pressed it to his lips and inhaled, pocketing his lighter as he leaned his head back against the couch. He held it for a moment, thinking before exhaling and handing it back to her. “I knew he didn’t hate her, I figured she was just overreacting. I wish they’d just talk to each other and get it over with.”

“Stoner’s intuition. Plus I know everything so.” She shrugged casually, taking another hit, keeping it in for longer this time and casually blowing it out. She always felt like a dragon when she did that. “I know! He hasn’t been the same since they broke up, honestly. I think they should just break the awkward tension and talk -- I’m sure they’ll feel a whole lot better. Hopefully. She doesn’t like... Have a boyfriend, right? Or a girlfriend, I’m not here to judge.”

Barry laughed a little awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck with the hand that wasn’t carrying his sandwiches. “Is it that bad? I showered twice, Taylor said I smelt like a skunk. I really did try to cover it up… I’m guessing Jamaican Saunaing it before a party isn’t the best way to go.” He lead her into the back room that he’d scouted out before the party started, moving over to one of the couches and sitting down on it, setting his sandwiches on the coffee table. “S’all good, I’m a cuddly high too, no worries. Pretty sure Tay’s sick of me by now.” He chuckled as he pulled out a medicine bottle covered in electrical tape out of his jacket pocket and removed a joint from one of the many in there. He laughed at her second comment, shaking his head. “Nah, Tay doesn’t hate Sully.” He held out the joint and his lighter to her. “Here, take first hit, you’re my guest after all.” He leaned back on the couch and propped his foot up onto his opposite knee. “She actually thinks he hates her.” 

“You are a man after my own heart.” She grinned, sitting down on the couch next to him, hugging her knees. “Good. We can just cuddle together then -- I think Sully thinks I’m a cat. He’s a good sport, he puts up with me most of the time, just nuzzling and shit.” Damn, he had a lot of weed on him, this was brilliant, this was really fucking brilliant. “I knew it!” She clapped once, her eyes lighting up -- and then she lit the joint, taking a pretty large hit and blowing it out, a content expression falling over her face. “Well he doesn’t. They’re idiots, really. I mean, yeah it was messy, but... No one hates anyone. Sigh. Our friends are dumb.” She passed the joint and the lighter back to him, already feeling a tad warmer.

He couldn’t help but look her up and down really quickly and nod. “It is a shame you weren’t.” His agent did good by him though when he was an actor. She had gotten him plenty of good gigs when he was interested in only that and he had her to thank for his career now. “Thank you,” he said softly, ducking his head down at the comment. He was almost embarrassed, really. He was still getting used to people calling him a good director. He hadn’t done that much so far, but he’d done enough. Otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten signed on for Urge. When she spoke, he couldn’t help but look at her a little shocked, cocking an eyebrow at her as a grin pulled up on his face. “Sure, yeah, c’mon, I have a room in the back,” he muttered, picking up about eight more sandwiches before leading the way to the back room. He’d make sure to shoot Taylor a text and tell her he’d be back in a minute. 

“Brilliant!” She shot Sully a quick ‘just keep puffin away, babe, I’ll be back soon <3′ and followed behind him -- but not before grabb Syd was honestly so glad he had said yes -- or it would’ve made things very awkward with the man she was now supposed to work with. “I could smell it on you, if I’m being honest. Not that it’s a totally bad thing -- I happen to like it.” She leaned against the wall, flashing him one of her signature grins. “Oh -- two things. One, I get really cuddly when I’m high, so I’m probably gonna be all up on that. And two, Taylor doesn’t hate Sully, right? Because he doesn’t hate her, but I think they think they hate each other.”

Barry was in the process of shoving about three different types of finger sandwiches in his mouth (the munchies had hit him and hard) when he heard someone walk up to him. Turning, his mouth full, he was shocked to see that it was Sydney, none other than Sully’s casting agent. “Hey,” he murmured around a mouthful of food, quickly realizing himself and chewing and swallowing before he made an even bigger idiot of himself. “That’s very true, and it’s a shame we haven’t. Barry–” He held out his clean hand for her. “You’re Sydney, right? You’re going to be helping out with casting extras and the like?” As director, he at least made an attempt to know everyone in the crew. 

Okay, he was somewhat awkward, but that just made her swoon harder -- he wasn’t absolutely perfect. Although he was to her. She was getting ahead of herself. “Yes, that’s me. It’s a shame I wasn’t your agent, although you make quite a good director.” She shook his hand, her lips curling into a full smile. “You wanna go smoke a joint and talk about how annoyingly wonderfully stupid our friends are?” Syd was nothing if not straightforward. She hoped he knew to what she was referring and that she wasn’t wrong in assuming Taylor wasn’t over Sully just as much as Sully wasn’t over Taylor.

I’m not saying go fall in love with her again. But what if he’d never fallen out of love with her? Was that possible, to still be in love with someone after having not seen or heard from them in two years? But god, just seeing her again made his heart race a mile a minute and made that familiar feeling in his gut spark up again. And that just… killed him. It did. Because he knew that she hated him, that she’d never trust him, and that the greatest love in his life would never come to light again. He turned and gave the blonde a small smile at her final words before he shook his head. “I can’t, Syd. Not tonight.”

“I...” She knew him well enough to know not to press. Meddle? Probably, but press? No. There was pain in his eyes and she felt her chest respond with a pang of its own. “Okay.” She kissed his cheek, leaning into him. “Want to go see if we can find any good booze and drink all of it?” She asked, immediately back to her chipper self.

Sully couldn’t help but down the rest of his current champagne flute and grabbed another one off of a passing waiter, depositing his empty glass on his tray as well. He tried to breathe as the blonde spoke, swallowing thickly as he followed her gaze to where they were both standing. God, the first time he’d seen her in person since… and she still looked as beautiful as always. Two years hadn’t changed a thing. “Yeah, cuter,” he murmured, barely even listening to her. That had the tendency to happen with him and Syd–but she was probably used to it by now. He had a bad habit of zoning out when she spoke. However, the last thing she said came through quite clear and he found himself flipping to look at her. “Are you insane?” he hissed. “She hates me.”

Syd knew he was mostly drowning her out but she didn’t mind, most of what she was saying was for her own benefit. “She doesn’t hate you!” Syd frowned, looking at him. “She must’ve known Barry was gonna hire you, Sul. She wouldn’t have agreed to do this if she hated you! Besides, we’ve talked a few times, and she knows how close we are. Suls, babe, listen to me. You need to talk to her -- or the next however long this show runs is going to be very awkward.” She pursed her lips at him. “I know it was messy and I’m not saying go fall in love with her again I’m saying... Make small talk. Say hi. That’s it. You can leave whenever and come cry in my arms.”