Mike felt so happy as they stood there, hugging and holding hands.  But then, he noticed as she looked at her watch and let out a moan.  He felt as if someone had punched him in the gut.  He began to wonder if he had pushed it a little bit too much this time.  That is one of his worst attributes, and it looks as if this time it may have finally caught up with him.  "How could I have been so stupid" he thinks to himself as he braces himself for the let down. "Stupid stupid stupid!"<br/><br/>He looks into her eyes as she tells him about living with her parents.  He understands her plight of course, but he's still angry at himself for being so aggressive this time.  He smiles and nods in understanding.  "I understand that Sydney, I really do.  I know that with such a beautiful daughter as yourself, that your parents must worry about you all the time.  I have no choice but to follow those rules, and I think you should too. No matter how amazing things are progressing between us, I'm still a bit old-fashioned in some ways i guess, and I wouldn't dare ask you to do anything that would in anyway jeopardize your home life."<br/><br/>But then, he heard the words, "Plus I don't know if it's such a good idea to be alone with you", another punch in his gut.  And when she looked at the ground he couldn't help but think he had really screwed things up.  It's funny how he could take what seemed to be the most amazing thing to have ever happened in  his life, and with a few words blow it all to hell.<br/><br/>He really didn't know what to say now.  Deep down inside, he knew that it was probably a very bad idea to even suggest such a thing, even if his intentions we honorable.  And they were.  He suddenly felt so bad about what he had done, what he had said and suggested to Sydney.  Was there even anything he could say or do at this point to make things better?  With these thoughts running through his head, he then realized that yes, he had to say something to repair this.  If anyone was ever worth fighting for, it was Sydney.<br/><br/>He did feel a little bit better when she joked with him about being mature, but still, he couldn't help but feel that he had screwed things up.  He returned he laugh with his own, saying.."Thanks....I think", then gave her a big nervous smile.<br/><br/>He takes a deep breath, and then begins. "Sydney, I really do understand about your folks, and I'm ok with it.  But something else you said made me realize that maybe I've been a little bit over the edge here, and I want to first apologize for that."<br/><br/><br/><strong>PS....(Sure, I wold definitely be interested in starting another with you.  Just let me know. Look forward to talking about it.</strong>