Tears fell down Chelsea's face as Vaughn pushed her to the side, stomping through the doorway and slamming the door behind him. Leaving her alone in her small little farmhouse. Without much thought she threw on her coat and ran after him, little red boots sinking a foot into the cold winter snow outside. She caught up to him quickly, seeing as Vaughn wasn't a man to run even when angry and trying to get away, and spun him around to face her. As soon as he was turned her hand flew to his cheek, a loud slap echoing in the silence of the blistery winter night. He stumbled back a bit, his hand holding his now red cheek as his surprised eyes looked into hers. Quickly his wide eyes became narrow, glaring her down.
It was silent, now.
Chelsea was scared. Normally Vaughn would yell, would scream, would demand answers and explanations. But now, he was quiet. Unnaturally quiet, the calm before the storm, as his body shook with rage. And she was scared.
She couldn't understand why he was doing this. Yesterday they'd been just fine; laughing and teasing and loving. Yesterday they'd been together. A team, a pair, a duo, a set, an item, a...a couple. Fiancés. But now as he glared into her eyes with all the heat he had in him, she felt impossibly cold inside. Like any fire, any soul in her had died. Like thick liquid darkness was filling her.
Today, it was over.
"Vaughn...why? You didn't even tell me why! Any you expected me to just...to just let you up and leave without an answer as to why you're...why you're calling off the engagement?!" she yelled at him, her fists clenching at her sides. She could hear the sadness, the desperation, the pure disbelief in her voice as more tears fell down her cheeks and assisted the icy wind at permeating her body with coldness. She couldn't even believe it was real. Maybe it was a dream and she'd wake up in his embrace, like it was meant to be? Like it should be. Like it wasn't at the moment and might never be again after.
She expected him to get angry, to growl, to stomp away and leave her there to fall to her knees and cry like he normally did when they got into fights. Except this time he probably wouldn't come back after. Yet, instead of doing that, Vaughn sighed and ran a hand down his face as if exhausted and annoyed. That stung. But as she looked into his eyes they no longer glared, and instead became sad and even teary. Vaughn was a man as men were said to be. Men didn't cry. Oh no, men didn't feel sad. But here he was, with liquid that he stubbornly refused to let escape gathering in his eyes. And her heart ached at this sight; this honest and human side of Vaughn. The side she'd always loved most.
"Why did you follow me, Chelsea? I didn't want...I didn't want you to see me like this." He said weakly, brokenly, and turned his back to her. She assumed this was the part where he'd walk away. And she was right, this time. He started to leave.
But this time, she wouldn't have any of it.
She snatched his wrist into her hand and yanked him back. He snapped his head to the side to look at her, his pretty violet eyes surprised and sad. She glared into those sparkling amethyst orbs, and for once it seemed their roles were reversed. He was the one who would cool while she directed her heated rage at him through her eyes.
"No. No! I won't let you just...just walk away from this argument. I deserve an answer. Tell me why! Tell me right now why you don't love me anymore! Tell me why you don't want me anymore! Tell me why I'm not good enough! Tell me everything. Then maybe it won't hurt so much to watch you walk away." She said back, staring deep into his eyes with a fierceness that pinned him to the ground. In all her days with Vaughn, in all of the silly little spats they'd ever gotten in during their awkward romance, never once had he heard her use such an icy tone when she spoke. For a while the only sound was the wind passing through, causing them both to shiver and pulling Vaughn out of his reverie. Yanking his wrist from her grip he steeled himself, glaring back at her with twice the intensity.
"Why? You want to know why!? Because I'm not good enough! You deserve better than me, the antisocial cowboy with demons. You deserve someone who can make you happy. All I ever do is make you cry. I shouldn't have let you get too close to me. All I ever do is hurt people, in the end. No matter how hard I try to get rid of you, you always find a way back! Just leave me alone!" He said bitterly, turning around to face her once more. He watched the emotions dance in her eyes. They were sad at first, then angry. Then desperate, then thoughtful. Then... she laughed. She just laughed, and it felt like she was stomping on his heart. He growled under his breath and turned to leave, when he felt her arms wrap around him from behind. She was still giggling, and he didn't know for the life of him why. Soon the laughter died and for a few moments she just held him close. He wasn't sure what to do or what to say now. He wanted to stay, to turn and pull her closer to his heart that was beating wildly in his chest and tell her that he loved her and could only ever love her, but he knew he couldn't. So he said nothing; did nothing.
She saved him the trouble of speaking.
"Vaughn, you're such an idiot, you know that?" she said breathlessly, and at that he pried her arms from around him rather roughly and shoved her away. He spun on his heel to glare at her, stalking towards her and jabbing a finger towards her. Her grin didn't falter and that only pissed him off more.
"Look, if you're just going to laugh at me and stomp on my heart then why'd you even bother-" he began to rant, but she quickly shook her head and covered his mouth with her cold hand. If looks could kill, she'd have dropped dead. Then again, she had become rather immune to his glares over the years.
"Did you ever consider that maybe by leaving you're doing exactly what you were trying to avoid? If you leave me right now, after all that we've gone through, you'll hurt me more than you ever could by doing anything else. I love you Vaughn, so stay. I'll prove to you that you're nothing but a blessing to me, and that's all you'll ever be." she said back, smiling sadly and removing her hand from his mouth to allow him to speak. His eyes were wide, and he trembled a bit as he looked down at the love of his life. In that moment he couldn't believe himself. As he stared into her icy blue eyes, red and puffy underneath from crying, he wanted to kick himself. He'd almost left her. He'd almost ruined everything. And yet she still wanted him, and only him. He really didn't deserve her.
But Vaughn had always been just a little bit selfish at heart.
"Chels'..." he said, stepping forward towards her and searching for an articulate apology in his mind. When she didn't move and only nodded to him reassuringly, understanding everything he couldn't put into words, he snatched her into his arms and held her tight against him. Tighter than he ever had before. It was like the very first time he ever held her. He took in the way she smelled and felt, the way her arms wrapped tightly around his back and seemed like they'd never let him go. All he could do was hold her to himself and whisper apologies and sweet nothings into her hair.
"It's alright, Vaughn. I love you." She muttered quietly into his chest in a loving voice, needing not say more. To Vaughn those words were enough, and she knew that. He'd spent almost his whole life without the comfort of hearing an "I love you." Thus the completeness he felt at hearing those words, dripping with sincerity and only truly reaching deep inside of him for the first time, destroyed the façade he'd worked so hard to keep up even in front of his fiancé.
And for the first time since his parents died 15 years prior, he allowed himself to cry.