So, I'm at my grandparents' house and I'm bored as bored can be and my phone kind of had a misfortunate event with water and now it won't work and I'm trying to call my friends' but they won't pick up because they don't recognize the number soooo yeah…rejection hurts…..plus, I don't know when I can get my new phone. Anyway, onwards. So, I'm going to make this most of this story in Vaughn's POV because I want to try something new. By the way, the beginning is going to be Vaughn.
Chapter 53
You Give Love a Bad Name
"Are those files on my desk yet, Rodgers?" I rubbed the spot between my eyes and turned to my boss.
"Mr. Bartholomew, with all respect, I told you I'll have those files on your desk by the morning," I said. He stared at me for a minute of two and made his way towards me.
Oh shit
"Vaughn, if I recall correctly, I told you to have those files on my desk by this morning," he said. To save my job, I refused to stand up and stare down at the small man. Gritting my teeth, I quickly finished the report and printed it off. I swiveled over to my printer and handed it to him.
"Here, sir." He took the papers and inspected them. By the way his eyebrows un-creased, I could tell he was satisfied.
"Good work. Make sure you get everything on time. If you couldn't get off by Thursday, it'd be a shame to your little girlfriend," he said turning to walk back to his office. I stood up and started to walk towards the man. Richard saw me stand and immediately got up and grabbed my wrist.
"Let it go Vaughn. He's not worth your time," he said. I ripped my wrist from his grasp and went to sit down, taking deep breaths. Rachel-an intern- came over and squatted in front of me. I glared at her, but she wasn't fazed-in fact, she glared right back at me. I knew it was pointless to get angry at her so I leaned back in my chair. I didn't mean to snap, but nobody, and I really mean nobody gets to talk about my girlfriend in that sort of way. Ever
"Vaughn, he's a dick. He knows the ways to get under your skin," Rachel said. I grabbed my triple shot expresso and began to sip. Yum.
"He's a dick," I said more to myself then to my coworkers. Richard nodded as Emily wheeled her chair over.
"Besides, what'll Chelsea say if you knock Mr. Bartholomew's block off?" Emily had a point. Chelsea would be disappointed and probably end up going to the city and killing him.
Nodding, I repeated, "He's a dick." Rachel shook her head.
"Vaughn, are you trying to reassure yourself?" I nodded and finished off my espresso.
It was Tony who spoke next. He said, "Vaughn, why are you putting in so many hours anyway?" Since Tony was new, he hadn't heard the "gossip" about me having a girlfriend.
"Why?" I said. He looked a little scared as I smirked. I pulled out my phone and found my gallery. I pulled up a picture of Chelsea when we were on the beach. She was wearing her white bikini with a red flower on her left breast and I took the picture in mid-laugh. I showed Tony and he immediately gawked.
"Dude, I didn't know you were married!" I looked at him as if he were deranged.
"No, Chelsea's my girlfriend," I said while looking at Richard. He smirked wickedly and I gave him a glare.
"Whoa, well she's hot…like, damn, she's hot," he said. I gave him a look and he immediately went back to work.
"Quick question though," he said peaking over his cubicle. I gave him a bored look and he immediately stammered.
"Well, I get that you're doing this for your girlfriend, but why?" Again, I glanced over at Richard and he smiled devilishly. I smirked and flipped him off and he laughed.
"Well, I first gave Chelsea a gift and now I'm having a party for her," I said.
"Why?" I smirked and Tony gulped.
"You said a question, not two," I said pulling up a new document. Richard immediately closed it. "What the hell?"
"Come on Vaughn. You haven't left office in two days," he said. "You can't just run off of a caffeine buzz. Bart can go fuck himself, but you can't. Go home and meet in front of Vinnie's at seven."
Sounds tempting
"If you don't, I'll call Chelsea and tell her you're being irresponsible," he said. I glared at him and realized he was holding my phone.
I sighed and said, "Fine, but only 'cuz I'm trying not to get in trouble." By the way he smiled, I knew he was pleased. I put on my jacket and made a beeline to the elevator. When I got to the first floor, I saw Carol with her kid.
"Hey Carol, why is Maya here?" She turned and smiled.
"Boss said I only had to work for an hour, so brought Maya here, but then he said I needed to put in three more hours," she said. I nodded and cursed Mr. Bart.
"Wait, so how are you going to take care of her while you work?" I looked down at the child playing with blocks.
"Well, I was going to ask Johnny to pick her up, but he hasn't picked up his phone. I would take her home myself since I live right down the street, but I can't leave," she said. I looked at Maya and she giggled.
"I'll take her to your house," I said grabbing her bag. Carol widened her eyes.
"No! That would be a burden on you and I don't want that to happen!" I smiled at her gently and she immediately calmed down and blushed.
"I have to walk past your house anyways, so I'll be okay," I said as she bit her lip. I could feel her fear. Though, I would be the same way if I was handing my kid to someone.
"O-okay, but call as soon as Johnny takes her," she said squatting to Maya's level. "Maya, Mr. Vaughn is going to take you home. Be good, okay?" She laughed and saluted. Maya only came up to my calf, so I grabbed her hand to make sure I didn't lose her. She looked at me and jumped up and down. I kneeled and she pulled on my hair.
"Pretty!" I smiled and stood up again. "Bye mommy!"
"Bye Carol," she said. I walked out of the building and started to walk down the street. Maya started swinging my arm and I pulled her off the ground every so often. Her face turned red with delight.
"Awe look at those two!"
"Look, at that little girl! She's adorable!"
"Look at the father. He's hot!" Maya seemed to be aware of the attention we were getting and she stopped and hid behind my leg. She pulled on my pant leg and I kneeled down.
"Those ladies are scaring me," she said. It was true; these women were starting to get on my nerves.
"Get on my shoulders; they can't scare you when your taller than them," I said. She turned and smiled. Resembling a monkey, she climbed up my arm and to my shoulders. I half imagined myself as a tree. The stood and looked at the women.
"Awe look at them now!" I glared at them. The women looked pretty freaked out and I walked past them.
"Mr. Vaughn?"
"Yes Maya?"
"Are you scared of anything?" Chelsea's face flashed in my mind and so did Mirabelle and Julia.
"I'm scared of losing my girlfriend and my family," I said. Maya giggled and I smiled.
"What is she like?"
"Well, she has short brown hair, short, and bright blue eyes. She has a very kind smile and is a loving person. She's also funny," I said.
"She sounds very pretty! Oh, and Mr. Vaughn?"
"Hm?"
"That's the most I've ever heard you say," she said. I chuckled and turned onto her street. I walked past a couple more houses and finally turned into her driveway. I knocked on the door and waited.
"Coming!" I heard from inside the house. A man opened the door. His hair was tousled and his hazel eyes immediately focused on his daughter.
"Hey Mike. I was dropping off Maya because Carol couldn't leave," I said. He smiled really big.
"Vaughn! That was awesome of you to do! You're a cool dude," he said. His enthusiasm made me sick, but I smiled. I handed him Maya's bag.
"Maya, time to go to daddy," I said. Her dad tried to reach for her, but she shook her head.
"I wanna stay with Mr. Vaughn! He's funny!" Mike looked at me then his daughter.
"Don't you want to watch Dora with daddy?"
"Nope, I want to marry Mr. Vaughn instead of that!" I widened my eyes and then looked at her dad. He smiled still.
"Honey, there is no way I'm letting this bum marry you," he said. I glared and Mike and he gave me thumbs up.
That bastard
"Maya," she looked down at me "I'll come and visit, but I can't today because I need to take care of some things. Do you understand?" Mike grabbed his daughter and she looked at me and smiled.
"Okay! Make sure you bring the rings next time you visit!" I nodded and Mike placed her inside the house and she took off down the hall.
"Seriously Vaughn, thanks for bringing Maya over. Carol's boss is being a dick," he said.
"I know. He already bitched on me today, so I just left," I said and Mike nodded. We talked for a while and I departed. I had to meet the guys at Vinnie's in an hour and it took me about half an hour to get home if I walked, but fifteen minutes if I caught the bus. From the house, I saw the bus stop at the next street. I also saw that almost all the seats were full.
Damn it
I booked it to the bus. With my luck, I made it on time right before it closed and also snagged a seat. I pulled out my phone to call Carol. Once I told her, I hung up and looked around the bus. A woman was standing with two bags of groceries. Behind her, I saw some kids whispering amongst each other and looking at the young woman. I stood up and walked to her.
"Ma'am, please take my seat," I said. She thanked me and sat down. Immediately, I shot the kids a menacing glare and they freaked. The lady moved towards the door and I saw those kids move too. Either way this was my stop so I moved closer to her. The bus stopped and we got off.
"If I didn't know any better, you were following me," she said smiling. I grunted and she smiled bigger.
"I have to go this way. I'll take your bags for you," I said looking out of the corner of my eyes to see the kids walked closely behind us.
"Well, that's nice of you," she said handing me the bags. We walked in a comfortable silence and I made sure the woman was always two steps in front of me. "So stranger, what's up?"
"Nothing," I said. I was on edge about these kids.
"Not much of a talker are you? That's cool; my dad's the same way. You kind of remind me of him," she said. I whipped my head to look at her and I'm certain that gave me whiplash.
"Should I take offense to that or not?" She winked and stayed quiet. She turned into an apartment complex. The kids stopped a little down the street.
"I think I can take it from here. Would you like to come in for some cake and coffee?" My eyes landed on the kids again.
"Sorry, I have somewhere to be in a half an hour," I said. She smiled and nodded.
"It's okay. I didn't catch your name," she said.
"Name's Vaughn Rodgers," I said and she laughed.
"That's a funny name. My name is Winter Summers," she said. I smirked.
"And I have a funny name?" She puffed out her cheeks and rolled her eyes.
"Touché," she said. She dug in her purse and pulled out her keys. She opened her door and she took the groceries form my hands.
"Well, maybe I'll see you again Mr. Rodgers," she said. I grimaced.
"Vaughn's fine. I don't want to sound like a pedophile," I said. She laughed hard and walked inside her house.
"Well, I'll see you around," she said. I grunted and she laughed again while closing the door. Once I was sure she locked her door and turned to look at the kids.
"Listen you little pricks, there's nothing for you here so I suggest you take your asses home before I call the cops," I said. The kids didn't move so I took a step towards them and they fled.
Assholes
I made sure the kids ran down a couple streets before making my way back to my place. Chelsea would be proud I helped people today. I pulled out my phone and saw it was almost seven. I swore under my breath and booked it to my house.
"Shit," I said pulling the key out of my pocket and putting it in the slot and quickly turned. I bust in my apartment and collapsed on my couch. Again, I looked at my phone and saw it was 6:40. I sighed and tipped my hat over my eyes.
/
"Vaughn? Get your ass up," I heard. I glared at whoever had woken me to find Rick drunk. Taking my phone off my chest, I checked the time-11:15.
"Rick, what are you doing here?" Rick stumbled over to a wooden chair in the corner.
"Duuuuuuuuuuuude, there was this chick, and *hick* she loved me," he said before collapsing in the chair. Oh I forgot about the meeting. I grabbed my blanket from my room and draped it over Rick, and went to brew a pot of coffee.
About a few hours later, Rick woke up grabbing his head. I was immediately there to hand him the coffee. He grabbed the mug and drained the mug.
"How long were you guys there?" He grabbed his head and I handed him some Advil as I went to grab him the pot. He out the pills in his mouth and drank from the pot.
"We were there 'til ten," he said continuing to drink from the pot. Once he finished, I placed the pot in the sink. After, I went to change clothes.
"You're washing those dishes," I said. He nodded and moved to my couch and plopped down. "So, what did Chelsea say about her gift?" As the words left his mouth, my phone vibrated. I grabbed my phone off the counter and checked to see it was a message from Chels.
"She texted me now," I said. I unlocked my phone and saw it was a picture message. It was the box, opened now and inside that box was a piece of paper with ornate detail along the side.
Another message soon came in and this time it was a video-this time from Julia. Rick had gotten up and walked over to see the video. Chelsea was clearly sleep and Shea was sleeping on the couch.
"Chelsea, wake up! You have a present!" I heard Chelsea grumble and turn to the side.
"Yeah, come on Chels!" The voice belonged to Denny. Chelsea sat up and all her hair went into her face and a dazed look was on her face. I smiled and Rick laughed. She got out bed as if she were in a trance. Chelsea walked over to Shea and lay down next to Shea and snuggled into him.
"Whoa! Chelsea is overly friendly with that guy. Bro, you don't care," Rick said.
"Shea thinks of Chelsea as a sister and Chelsea is very protective over him. Almost like a mother bear thing," I said. Rick nodded and we continued to watch the video.
"Chelsea, Vaughn got something for you," Julia urged. Shea sat up slowly and looked at Chelsea then looked over at Denny. The look that was in his eyes made my blood curl. Julia had the camera on Shea and he shook Chelsea awake and lunged at Denny, knife to his throat.
"Dude! What's wrong with that guy?"
"Denny did something to Shea and Shea never got over it," I said. Chelsea walked over to the table where the box was sitting. Julia immediately moved the camera to Chelsea. Chelsea smiled and opened the box. When the box was open, Chelsea's smile faltered and picked up the piece of paper and read.
"The hell?" Shea said. I smiled at her reaction. She walked over to the camera thrust it in view. It read:
Thank you for your purchase. Even though your order was different, we managed to get it done by your instructions. We'll ship it to our address and I hope it fits your expectations.
R.C.S
"Do you like it Chels?" She turned and looked at the camera. I heard Denny's pleas for help. She walked very close to the camera.
An intense glare on her face she said, "Is this a joke Vaughn? If it is your soooo dead!" The video ended and I started to laugh.
"What'd you get her?" I stopped laughing and turned to look at Rick and smiled.
"Something that'll get rid of her anger."
Well, that's it. The chapters are getting interesting! Anyway, I got my phone. Samsung galaxy s3… AMAZING!
