Title: Just Feel
Author: Mango
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Thank you so much for the encouraging notes and suggestions from everybody. Also, I apologize for taking so long in this last posting but midterms kind of got in the way … damn school.
Utopia. Of all books he had to throw to her. She would have been fine, had he picked any other book. She had become this expert of not showing her feelings, or even feeling them. She wasn't sure if that was due to the training or her experiences. Not that it mattered, she was happy for it. She came to a place where she pretty much gave up on men. And life, for that matter.
When she had given him the book she thought she had given him her heart. And he had ripped it apart with one cold stare. She had received it before, but this time it was without protocol in the back of their minds. It was his free will that had pushed her away for the last time and she was damned if she would look desperate. So she started to leaf through the book. With frustration she decided that reading was not going to happen. Too many distractions.
So she stared at the pages for a good fifteen minutes before she sighed heavily and tossed the book back on to Vaughn's pristine desk. Did he have to be perfect all the time? Honestly. He looked up with mirth in his sparkling green eyes and stared in to the cold, seemingly unfeeling eyes. She relished in the moment because it seemed almost what happened that day in the warehouse. He offered the book and she took it, studied it then she rejected it. Only Vaughn didn't insist that she keep it, as she did. He simply picked it up and placed it back on the shelf that it had come from.
She got up and started to pace. Back, forth, back, forth. "Sydney, you're driving me crazy. Would you sit down?" He said, voice on the edge of being harsh.
"Listen, I was planning on taking a run but somebody called me in earlier than expected. So I have a bit of pent up energy, and of course, I'm stuck in this room. With you, no less. Unless you have any better ideas I'm going to pace." She added that last part just to relish in his reaction. And a reaction she got. One that started with a scarlet blush that pierced his fair skin and concluded with growing frustration in his eyes.
"Sydney, sit down or I'll be forced to hurt you."
"Again?" She asked with such innocence she was sure he was ready to pounce, so she sat down and started searching through her purse for anything that would entertain her. The only reaction she got out of this was his stare. It was rather unnerving, but she could deal with it. In victory she pulled out a rubix cube and started to work on it until his stare got so heavy that she couldn't handle it anymore.
"Listen, this entire situation is a little antagonistic. Let's just agree to stay off each other's back for at least an hour. Then, maybe some of us will be in better moods …" She said with what was meant to be a teasing note.
Apparently he didn't see the teasing in the situation and responded in a cold "Fine."
But the silence was thick. So thick Sydney was sure she was having a harder time breathing. The tension hung in the air and despite the cool air being pushed by tiny vents in the middle of the ceiling she could feel the temperature rising. She began to pull at her sweater until she pulled it off revealing a snug black tank top which gained a questioning look from Vaughn. She tried her best to hide her smile and offered an explanation. "What? I'm hot. Leave me alone."
With a mocking tone he responded with a smile "You broke the deal, young lady, we're going to have to start the one hour of silence over again." She burst out laughing and threw her rubix cube at him.
He caught it with stealth and started to work on it. "No way, Vaughn, you're never going to get it, I've been working on it for …" She trailed off as he set it in front of her completed. "…years." She picked it up and examining it, finding each side being a solid colour. "Okay, what?"
He laughed at her confusion and added "When I was a kid, there wasn't a lot to do, we lived in the country in France, my parents owned a vineyard. Own, actually. Very beautiful, but when you're 12, not very interesting." He said, smiling.
She smiled, relishing in the small antidote of Vaughn's life. She realized at that moment how little she knew about this man. The man that she spent day in and day out with, and the nights she spent wishing he were with her.
He leaned down into his briefcase and pulled out a thermos. "Coffee?" He asked smiling at her. When she started laughing he looked at her with an overdramatic defensive look. "What?"
"Nothing, just, you with a thermos. It doesn't seem like you. Care of Alice?" She asked trying to make it a light inquiry, but Vaughn lifted his one eyebrow and looked directly into her eyes.
"No. Care of Mrs. Vaughn, actually." Sydney's breath caught in her throat as she felt her lungs start to constrict. Vaughn got married … to Alice. "I stayed the night at my mother's place here. She left this morning." He added as he poured the rich dark liquid. "She insists her boy goes out with a hearty breakfast and good cup of coffee. This morning I didn't have time for the coffee, I slept late."
She silently scorned herself. She trusted this man, how could she jump to conclusions? "That's actually … rather adorable." She said smiling in spite of herself. He handed her a mug of the steaming substance and sat back in his chair, watching her.
