Sydney James

i put the fun in funeral thirty-one. funeral home director. tupelo native. silver linings. late night drives. uncertain paths. stargazing.

[sydneyxjames]

Sydney James || Crystal Reed

thirty-one years old. funeral director. native.

is the youngest james family and overly protected by both her older brother and sister

seriously, don’t mess with sydney if you don’t want either of her siblings involved

grew up in a humble household. they had no more than what they needed and sometimes what they wanted.

they were happy with what they had and that is always has taken priority over materialistic items

always wanted to find ways to help make her family happier in the long run. as the youngest she saw them at their highs and lows when they didn’t even know it.

if she knows you have a crush, chances are she has teased you about it and wants you to pursue it.

a lover at heart and is a huge softie.

but don’t mistake that for weakness, because as she often tells her siblings, she can take care of herself and she really prides her self on that

was a cheerleader growing up, though it wasn’t all that consistent. she could only afford to pay for things here and there with her family not having a ton of extra cash flowing around, but she gave it her all when she was there

hand me downs were her life and she rocked them with pride. sydney was never embarrassed to be seen wearing her older siblings clothes. deacon’s sweaters were the comfiest, even if they did often had strange odor coming from them every one in a while

has always made friends easily, no matter the crowd.

however, she didn’t do a ton of dating. not with her siblings hovering around all the time

but that didn’t stop her from having make up sessions underneath the bleachers.

sydney likes to bake but she really isn’t all that good at it no matter how much she tries, but she wants to be good at it

favorite movies are horror movies and yes, she will try to intentionally scare you during them if you watch them with her

she never really had a career path in mind

how she ended up director of a funeral home? beyond her. it just kind of stuck while she dabbled around tupelo in jobs. she started lower on the totem pole of course, but she found that she was rather good at the job.

do not ever ask her to work out. that’s a not going to happen ever.

can be known to ramble nonsense and often can be found under a good tree with a book in her hand when the days are nice.

[sydneyxjames]

@lawyerromeor​

Dating and Sydney were not exactly two words that went together. She was thirty-one years old and worked at a funeral home. While she was the director of that funeral home, it didn’t make it sound any more appealing. People heard the word funeral home and acted like she carried the plague around. Most of the time, though? The brunette was not bothered by the lack of harassment that came from talking to guys and going on dates with them. And, honestly, it kept her brother off of her back. Despite her age, Deacon merely couldn’t help himself when he found out she was talking to someone. He had to get involved and stick his nose in her business. Yet, she was known to do the same damn thing when it came to him. They wouldn’t make such great brother and sister if they didn’t. Constantly annoying one another with the need to know about each other’s lives. 

And so when she was suggested she go on this blind date. She said yes. It didn’t sound all that serious and Sydney was looking for a change of pace in the company she was handling anyway. It had taken her far too long to find an outfit. For the first time in a long while, the woman was actually a bit nervous. Normally nerves rolled right off Sydney. As she aged, she found less things in life to be so bothersome and annoying to her. She had actually been asked too many times if she was on an sort of drugs because of her demeanor being so relaxed. Sydney always laughed it off - because it was the furthest thing from the truth. She just preferred to be a no drama kind of woman at the end of the day. 

When Sydney arrived at the restaurant, she spotted a man sitting alone. And well, it wasn’t that busy, her watch told her she was about five minutes early for their date and she took a leap of faith. “Alright,” she approached the table with a smile, “I hope you’re here to meet a Sydney for a blind date,” her tongue slipped across her lips, “And if you aren’t, well, I hope I didn’t get stood up.”

[sydneyxjames]

dixiesmith​:

dixie just never thought she’d feel this way about arty and she never really expected things to go the way they did either. she nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. “yeah.” she paused for a moment and pushed some of her hair back behind her shoulder, “i do like him. god, i never thought i’d fall for my best friend but i did and now i’m so, i don’t know, confused on what to do…” she trailed off and looked away from the menu and up at sydney. “yeah, maybe you’re right. i could talk to him but i think i need to weed through some of my feelings first and make sure i don’t say the wrong things.”

Sydney’s lips were curling into a small smile at the thought, “I think it’s sweet.” She nodded her head, “I mean, is it not what every rom-com is basically about? Finding out you’re in love with your best friend?” Her shoulders lifted in a shrug as she tried not to get too invested in those movies but she would be a flat out liar if she said she hadn’t ever watched one. “Feel free to lay ‘em on me if you need someone to bounce things off of.” Sydney wasn’t invested in their relationship, making her a good third party if Dixie might need one. “I mean, I’m not an expert or anything,” hell the woman couldn’t remember the last time she had a date. “but I hear it helps to talk things out.”

[sydneyxjames]

djrcjas​:

“yeah, well, lucy taught me manners.” his mom had no good part in raising him and so he blamed it on his older siblings. “but i get what you’re saying. a lot of high school boys don’t consider other peoples feelings.” he was anything but innocent and he knew that. he’d always just been one to want to have fun. “it’s just better that way, you know? tupelo’s small and everything gets around.”

“Props to Lucy,” she couldn’t imagine being an older sibling, not when she had two older siblings that aided in her own raising. Coming from a modest family, they all played a part, but not nearly as much as it seemed Lucy played for DJ. “Honestly, is that not high schoolers in general?” She raised a brow with a shake of her head. A soft laugh left her lips. “And no doubt about that.” It almost brought a groan front and center, “Too much gets around here.”

[sydneyxjames]

djrcjas​:

“come on, just because i’m a flirt doesn’t mean i’m not a gentleman.” dj pointed out with a slight chuckle. he respected everybody he was ever with and it was mostly because that was common courtesy and he expected the same from everyone he was with. “she’s not so bad once you get past her exterior.”

“I’m not sayin’ you can’t be a gentleman and a flirt, it just didn’t really seem like a thing in high school. Most guys really don’t develop that whole gentleman thing until later in life. Or at least it seems that way sometimes,” not that Sydney was all that innocent in high school but she knew more or less what she was looking for. Or at least she thought she did. Sydney was pretty selective in her dates and one night stands, but she did entertain the ideas. “I get that,” she nodded her head, “nothin’ wrong with not wanting everyone to be in your business.” 

[sydneyxjames]

dixiesmith​:

dixie felt sick just talking about it and she didn’t know what to do. she didn’t know how to fix things between arty and she thought maybe getting it off of her chest would help but somehow, it made her feel a little worse. she just couldn’t stop thinking about it. she sighed, her head nodding slowly, “yeah. you’re probably right. i should just talk to him but i don’t even know what to say to him. i just feel like i’m gonna say the wrong thing, you know? i kinda just want to find an excuse and blame the alcohol but i don’t think he’ll go for it.” or maybe he would. who knew? she just didn’t know what the easiest part was going to be. “he doesn’t look at me any type of way…”

Sydney nodded her head. “I know that’s what it feels like. But not sayin’ anything at all could make things a hell of a lot worse.” She told her with a lift of her shoulders. “Even if you do say the wrong thing, at least you can go on and talk about it and try to find the right things to say, if there even is such a thing.” Sydney wasn’t sure there was always a right thing to say, especially when it came to something so delicate like love. “So it was more than just the alcohol? You actually do like him?” Her brow raised, “I mean, nothin’ wrong if you do. I jus think you should let him know sooner rather than later.”

[sydneyxjames]

deaconxjames​:

Deacon might’ve been exaggerating. It was entirely possible, but there was a big part of him that would always err on the side of overly protective when it came to Sydney. She was his baby sister, after all. He squinted his eyes at her, trying to read her face carefully. “You know how hard it is bein’ your big brother?” His voice made it clear he was joking, because Deacon wouldn’t give up being her brother for anything in the world. “I just think you could’ve gotten your point across without showin’ quite so much skin, that’s all.”

“Oh I’m sure it’s incredibly hard,” she teased him, the corners of her lips curling into a playful smile, “I mean, it’s hard bein’ the baby of this family. You know how hard it was to go on and make out with the cute boys under the bleachers?” She shot back at him, only messing with him further. Sydney knew she was bound to give Deacon a heart attack one of these days, “I’ll keep that in mind for next year,” her elbow shifted out to nudge him .

[sydneyxjames]

spencekinkaid​:

He wasn’t really sure he’d expected Ivy’s name to roll off her tongue quite so quickly. That was the elephant in the room, really, the fact that his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child worked with Sydney at Ivy’s family’s funeral home. He’d managed to get drunk enough to forget about Ivy when they’d slept with each other back in Nashville, but there wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to push her away right now. “Yeah,” he said with a slow nod, reaching up to ran his hand through his hair. “I’m back in town for good.” They’d never really talked about what had happened between them, and while he’d really chalked it up to too much alcohol and a little familiarity in a big, unfamiliar city, Spencer had to admit that didn’t make it any easier to stand here before her right now. The worst part of all of it was how badly he found himself wondering if they could avoid talking about it by falling back into bed together, with or without the alcohol. Preferably with, of course. “You look good, Syd,” he offered up, wondering just how one should address an ex-fling in this situation. 

Sydney nodded her head with his confirmation. What happened between them a few years back should have stayed in the past. The brunette really wasn’t one to explore it, not if it didn’t need exploring. She had never even told Ivy what happened. Her brow flicked up at his compliment, her tongue sliding across her lips. Sydney would have been a fool to not check him out. Of course, she already had, the moment she noticed it was him. He hadn’t changed much, that she was sure of. “Thanks,” she swallowed hard, “we will have to catch up now that you’re on original stomping grounds,” Sydney offered, “get a drink or something.” 

[sydneyxjames]

coachmedina​:

sydneyxjames​:

“Of course you did,” she rolled her eyes at him, though a smile rolled onto her lips. She could hardly find herself mad at Tate, even when he scared her half to death in the middle of the park. Another eye roll followed his little show of offense as he went straight to assuming she would rather hang out with dead people over him. “Well, at least I won’t have to worry about them sneakin’ up on me.” She furrowed her brow, realizing that might not be the case, “Don’t even go sayin’ ghosts are real. I’m convinced Ivy thinks the whole funeral home has ghosts runnin’ around and I’m not ready to think about that.” Despite the number of years she had been working there. “Oh, no, you don’t?” Her brow raised once more in disbelief over Tate’s disagreement with her. Tate was the golden boy. Football star turned football coach. “What makes you think I’d want a spot at the front of your line?” She wiggled her brows at him in a teasing manner. “I’m not tryin’ to get in the way of some crazy girl on a mission.” 

“Unless they’re zombies playin’ dead, then they’re definitely goin’ to sneak up on you,” he pointed out, raising an eyebrow at her. “Ghosts are totally not real, that’s bogus. Zombies, however, very real. That’s why nobody lives after seein’ one in person, ‘cause they make sure they don’t live to tell about it.” Tate’s jaw fell slightly at her words, pretending to be shocked at what Sydney was saying. “Well, I’ll have you know,” he started, “that there are plenty of girls around here who think you are the crazy girl on a mission, Sydney James. Rumor has it, you have been runnin’ off my potential girlfriends for over twenty years!”

“You know, I might buy that one, if it wasn’t comin’ from you. I am goin’ to need some more scientific research to happen about zombies. But ghosts, nope,” she shook her head, “not ready to say either way.” She wrinkled her nose at Tate’s words. Rumor had it? Sydney’s lips parted with a scoff at the idea, “Oh, give me a break.” She groaned, rolling her eyes back with her words. “I have not been doin’ any such thing. You and Brooke managed just find while I was around. We were on the cheer team together and never seemed bothered by little ole me, don’t know why anyone else is. I can’t help it we are best friends,” she shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps it was because she didn’t care about getting in Tate’s pants that the other girls were convinced that she did. “They ought to get down to the health center to get their heads checked out.”

[sydneyxjames]

audreymatt​:

In moments like this Audrey found it slightly difficult to sympathize with Sydney; she rarely felt guilt or regret and it also had to do with the fact she was self-indulgent, if seh felt good about something then that was the end of it. Were she in Syd’s place she wouldn’t be considering anything. “Hmmm.” She hummed whilist listening, her eyes focused in front of her on the table and then broke, watching the balls roll around and hit the sides, none going into the pockets though. “Well, darlin’, that’s all up to you. If it’s in the past and it ain’t happenin’ again I see no point in sayin’ something that might cause drama.” Audrey loved other people’s drama but didn’t want none of her own. She was still bitter about what was said about her when she worked in the previous salon. “Besides, things might get weird if you tell her, too.” The brunette pointed out.

Audrey was making a good point. What happened between her and Spencer was in the past. There really was no good reason to go on and bring it up to Ivy when it could make things weird. “This is why I keep you around, bring reason to my head,” she tapped her temple with her finger, “Especially because we work together, I don’t know, you’re right. There’s no reason to make things weird. I haven’t seen or talked to him since Texas.” She told Audrey, “I mean, why go on and trudge up muddy waters.” 

[sydneyxjames]

djrcjas​:

“he did.” dj agreed and then laughed, shrugging his shoulders in response. “hey, i always kept my hands above the waist unless asked otherwise.” he reassured, teasingly. sure, dj was down for a hookup at any time but he was always respectful. “lucy never needed me to protect her. she pretty much has always been able to lookout for herself.”

Sydney laughed at his candor, nodding her head, “Oh, so you actually are a gentleman,” she teased him back in response. “I’ll admit, Lucy actually scares me,” she told him, shaking her head, “I mean, have you seen her training others down at the gym? I think I’d actually end up crying.”

[sydneyxjames]

dixiesmith​:

dixie hadn’t told anyone about their kiss. she was embarassed by his reaction but she figured if she told anyone about it, sydney was a good one to talk to about it all. “no.” she laughed, her nail tapping nervously against her menu. how was she even supposed to tell her? she figured she could slip it in there, it wouldn’t be that hard. “i don’t think anything’s going to happen with us,” she started, taking a deep breath as she glanced up at her friend. “i kiss him at the halloween party and he didn’t react…i mean, he pulled away and said something like we wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea.” she pursed her lips for a moment, “i haven’t really talked to him too much sense. i think i ruined our friendship.”

Sydney sensed the hesitation coming from the other brunette. It had been quite some time since she had been in a serious relationship. She more or less coasted person to person over the last few years. Her brow raised with curiosity as Dixie mentioned having kissed Arty at the Monster Bash. Now that was some gossip she hadn’t heard yet. Her lips fell into a thin line, twisting at the woman’s words. Rejection. Something that no one wanted to feel when they made a move on someone else. “I don’t think you did,” Sydney didn’t know Arty well and it’s not like she had even talked to him about this, “at least, try reaching out to talk to him. I don’t think the end of a friendship is something that should go without both parties verbally agreeing to it.” That was how she thought - but it wasn’t how things happened typically. “No harm in talkin’ to him and seein’ how he really felt, because, I don’t know, I’ve seen the way that boy looks at you and I know you know boys are a bit dense.”

[sydneyxjames]

dixiesmith​:

“ugh, sorry i’m late.” dixie started as she plopped down in the seat across from sydney. “davis stopped by right as i was leaving and he started teasing me about arty being my date to the halloween party.” she rolled her eyes as she opened up her menu and looked down at it. she couldn’t really focus though because she was thinking a lot about what her twin said and the moment she’d shared with her best friend. “i mean, tell me i’m not completely blind. arty doesn’t have a crush on me, does he?” she asked, looking up at sydney. she figured if anyone could be honest with her, it’d be her. sydney had no reason to hold back. really, neither did davis but she was trying to get a girl’s opinion on the matter.

@sydneyxjames​

Sydney looked up as Dixie fell into the seat across from her with a smile on her lips, “No need to apologize,” she told her with a shake of her head. “He ever have anything better to do?” Her brow raised in a teasing manner to the woman across from her. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I can definitely see something happenin’ between the two of you but,” she held her hands up, “that’s between the two of you.” Sydney wasn’t really one to stick her nose into other people’s businesses. “I see the way that he looks at you and we all know the old age tale that men and women can’t be just friends, but,” her shoulders lifted into a shrug, “there is somethin’ about the way he looks at you that feels a little different than the rest.” 

[sydneyxjames]

djrcjas​:

laughing, dj shook his head. “i know how that is. i wanted to be the shitty guy girls made out with behind the bleachers but i definitely didn’t want my sister back there so i can see where you brother was coming from.” he replied. he was laid back most times but not when it came to his family, “i am pretty overprotective but i’m not that overbearing, i don’t think. i don’t know though, “ he chuckled, “you’ll probably have to ask her.”

Sydney laughed, nodding her head. “Okay, okay, I get it. I guess he had a good head on his shoulders tryin’ to look out for me and keep me from makin’ out with guys like you behind the bleachers,” she teased him, nudging him lightly with her elbow. “I’m sure of any of your siblings, Lucy would be the most honest, even if she is older.” She joked with him one more. 

[sydneyxjames]

audreymatt​:

Audrey gave her friend a matter-of-factly glance with a perfectly plucked eyebrow and a smug smile, knowing there had to be something there. As Sydney kept talking , her own gaze turn curious but she kept setting the game ready for them, still paying attention to know the lastest juicy gossip. “Yeah, yeah.” She nodded, having spent nineteen summers in Tupelo and living permanently there for three years Audrey was more than familiar to faces in town. “Ohh. Naughty girl.” Audrey chanted amused though not judging, she was far from being a moral compass and then again she would never judge a friend. To her eyes, Sydney had done nothing wrong. “You ain’t got nothin’ to be feel shady about. They weren’t together, no harm done.” Audrey shrugged, possitioning herself at the end of the table to break. “Did you tell her? I’m guessin’ no, but gotta ask. Or are you planning on tellin’ her?”

Sydney laughed as Audrey called her out on her actions, knowing her friend meant no harm in the words. “I know, I know, they were both totally unattached to each other but I guess I just never thought I’d be seein’ him back in Tupelo, you know? I mean, really, I know people move back here, but it just didn’t seem like a thought I had at the time,” her shoulders lifted in a shrug. And for good reason - it was only a hook up between the two of them. “I feel like I should disclose it to her, at least as a friend, I don’t have feelings for him or anythin’ like that but I just don’t want it to get out in the wrong way and be all weird.” 

[sydneyxjames]

deaconxjames​:

location: monster mash with: @sydneyxjames​

“Look, the vampire thing is kind of adorable,” Deacon said as he approached his sister for the first time that night. “I’ll give you that ‘cause you work at a funeral home and all, but c’mon, Syd. The whole ‘sexy’ vampire thing? Why you gotta do this to me? I’m just out here tryin’ to have a decent night out and now my baby sister’s flashin’ so much skin I can practically hear half the town thinkin’ about what they want to do to ya.”

Sydney couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Deacon talked about her choice of costume. “Oh c’mon, you are exaggerating and you know it.” She told Deacon with the shake of her head. “It’s really not even that bad,” which she also knew wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop her from flashing a smile at her brother. “As if you didn’t need a costume for you to hear what they’re thinkin’ anyway.” 

[littlemusings]

[photo credit]