A/N: Bah-gasp! You're eyes do not decieve you today either...it is truly a miracle that not one but two chapters (maybe not from the same story but two nonetheless) have come from me. Okay...so it's not so much a miracle as it is my chronic sickness keeping meinside from the snow.... and a sudden ressurection of my muse. But hey, whatever, just as long as I get those chapters out eh?

Okay, momentary rant because I need to get it out of my system and if you dont care, then dont read. But you know what I hate more than anything? The guy who calls whether we get a snow day or not. It snowed at least eight inches yesterday and a few more inches during the night and then this morning when i woke up the roads were barely passable and it was freezing butt cold and the stupid guy had to be from freaking Alaska(no offense to you Alaskans) and was like, sorry but you still have to go to school. in a good foot of snow and impassible roads. and what makes it even worse, in other districts, where they got like five inches of snow, get ready for this, school was cancelled for them. but not us. a foot of snow and impassible roads. ::shakes head:: me want kill stupid guy who decided we get no snow day!!! me want kill badly!

and one more note, about what Vaughn reads (you'll see, it's not dirty btw), I couldn't help myself and I blame my friends. So yeah...

okay, now chapter: :D

"I hate these crowds," Vaughn mumbled, as we tried to make our way out the arena without much luck. People were everywhere. You couldn't walk without running into to someone. And usually when you did run into someone, you touched something you did not want to touch. I think I've touched six guys' asses and completely accidentally cupped a couple of guys as well. It's their damn fault. They ran into me and I'm not changing my view on that, so don't ask.

"Yeah, me too," I agreed, even though the last time I was at a hockey game or any professional sport really, was when I was like nine and my dad took me to a baseball game. I got sunburned and a mild case of heatstroke. It wasn't one of the more pleasant experiences of my life.

Vaughn glanced at me, for less than a second, then turned away but I saw him and I saw the look on his face. He seemed surprised. Why the hell would he be surprised? "What?" I asked.

He shook his head, "It's nothing."

Yeah, I didn't buy that. "Come on, tell me."

He glanced at me again, a small smirk on his lips, before grabbing me by the arm and pulling me out of the way of the herd of people and, I noticed, somehow in a dark corner almost out of sight of said herd. Space was tightly pressed and we were standing between centimeters of each other. So close that I could smell his breath. It smelled like the licorice and Dr. Pepper he had earlier…and that wasn't a bad thing. I like it so much that for a second, I considered inventing a lip gloss with that exact scent so I could always remembered what it smelled like. Whoa…so where did that come from? I think there may have been something in my Dr. Pepper. Maybe Vaughn put something in my drink. No, what am I saying? He wouldn't do that.

I hope.

Shaking my head, very slightly, I looked up at him as he was several inches taller than me. "Are you going to tell me or just stand there?" I asked, with a teasing note.

A grin spread over his face as his green eyes stared at my lips. "I could do something else," He said, in that very unsubtle way of his.

I rolled my eyes, "I'd rather know what you were thinking."

"Fine," He breathed with a heavy sigh, "I was thinking that you don't seem like the kind of girl to go to sporting events much less get stuck in the mass of people afterwards."

Why does he keep saying that? That has to be the thousandth time he's said that I don't seem like the girl to do something. What kind of girl does he think I am? You know, I don't think I want to know what he thinks of me. Not for a very long time. Suddenly I felt the need to defend myself against Vaughn and his conclusions. "For your information, I have been to a sporting event, a baseball game, and we got stuck in the mass of people for five hours after that."

So that's a complete and utter lie. Halfway through the baseball game, I complained that I was bored and burnt and my dad agreed to take me home. I don't think he was having anymore fun at the game than I was. I wonder why he even took me. And the part of being stuck in the mass of people for five hours, well, I read about an after-game traffic lasting that long in the paper three months ago. I wonder if Vaughn reads the papers and that's why he's giving me that look. I wonder if Vaughn can even read.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I asked, "Vaughn, can I ask you a question?"

He raised an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless, "Sure."

"Do you read?" I know that is never a question you ask a guy, especially if you're not-dating-well-maybe-sorta-dating-or-in-the-viewpoint-of-your-best-friend-completely-dating said guy but being the complete geek that I am, I have to know. Call it an unusual standard but I don't like to be friends or anything more with anybody who doesn't read.

"Somehow, I take that as an insult to my intelligence," Vaughn answered with grin.

I couldn't help but smile, "I'm not insulting your intelligence, if you even have any." The look on his face made me laugh, "I'm just curious."

He eyed me with an are-you-kidding-me? look before shrugging nonchalantly, "Yeah, I read. Happy now?"

I couldn't let him get off that easily, "What do you read?"

He shrugged again, "Ya know, stuff."

"You don't want to tell me?" He shook his head. "Then I'll guess." Before he could protest the plan, I asked the first thing that came to mind, "Star Wars?"

He looked at me confused before it dawned on him what the hell I was talking about. The first day we had any form of an actual conversation he was lecturing me on how to pull the Jedi Mind Trick. I still had yet to test if it worked. I don't think it does. "I haven't read any of the Star Wars books." I raised an eyebrow, sensing that he was lying, so he added, "at least not for four years."

I laughed, triumphantly but I still want to know what he was reading currently. "What are you reading now?"

He studied me for a moment before saying, "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"I promise."

He didn't seem to hear me cause he kept going, "-cross your heart-"

"Cross my heart."

"-hope to die-"

He still wasn't listening to me, "Hope to die." I repeated, trying to be patient with him.

"-stick a needle in your eye-"

Okay, enough is enough. I grabbed his face and forced him to look at me. "I won't actually stick a needle in my eye because one, that would be stupid, and two, I already promised not to tell anyone." God, I hope he talks fast because when people pause I tend to make assumptions and my assumptions aren't always innocent.

"Okay, fine." He said, already turning a light shade of red, really making me wonder what the hell he could be reading that was so horrible or in this case, embarrassing. The light red turned into a darker color as he mumbled something that sounded a lot like "larry water".

So here's a question, what the hell is "larry water"? Is he messing with me? Is he trying to be funny? Cause it's not working. "What? I didn't get that."

The expression on his face was somewhere between impatience and complete embarrassment. Again he mumbled something, though it was louder but I still couldn't hear exactly what he said. I think it was something about "airy daughter" whatever the hell that is. "Stop mumbling!" I half yelled, surprising both him and me.

"Alright fine, be that way." I wasn't entirely sure if he was mad or just being difficult.

"I will, now tell me." I answered with a laugh.

He mock glared or what I hope to be a mock glare at me, before saying in a still low but very understandable voice, "Harry Potter."

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. My laughter wasn't doing much to improve the look on his face that said he wanted me to die but that wasn't very relevant to me at the moment. He listened to my laugh for probably a good ten minutes before I calmed down enough to ask, "Does Eric know?"

He shook his head, rather rapidly and his eyes widened, "No! and you swore not to tell anyone, so you can't tell him!"

I snickered at him, "I know what I promised and I wasn't going to tell him." A grin crept up on my face and I knew he what his next question was going to be.

"What?"

I shook my head, slightly, still grinning, "Nothing. Just that only like the coolest guy in school is really just a book geek who likes Harry Potter. Now tell me honestly, who do you think is worse? Snape or Draco?"

"Snape," He answered immediately, and I think before even really thinking about what he said because his eyes widened again and he shut him mouth soon after. Then, without any warning, he started to smile. "You know the characters in Harry Potter?"

I snorted. "Of course I know the characters in Harry Potter. I'm a book geek remember? Reading's kinda my thing, genius."

If he was offended by my retort, he didn't show it. Instead, he was eyeing me carefully, "Did I say that you were a book geek?"

Okay, so where the hell is this coming from? Why does he care if I'm a book geek? It's rather fun here in geekdom and I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. "No…" Okay, so how to explain myself to him. Last time I checked, he didn't have the highest comprehension level.

But he didn't allow me the time to think of a way to explain things before he started talking again, "Then why do you think you're a geek?"

Seriously, where the hell did this conversation start and when the hell can I put a stop to it. Does it really matter why I think that? Course not! It doesn't matter to me and it shouldn't matter to him. So why was he so…concerned looking? This Vaughn is confusing, like a lot. "Does it really matter?"

He shook his head, slightly, "Nah." He grinned before continuing. "It's just fun watching you squirm."

My mouth dropped open and I was pretty sure that my face conveyed my shock. I will say this only once: Michael Vaughn is a jerk. And I hate him. "That's mean."

"No," He countered, "It's funny."

I glared at him and without pausing to think about it, I punched him in the arm. Hard. While I am a book geek, I work out too and let's just say that it hurts when I punch you. To my pleasure, he made a sound that distinctly sounded like 'ouch' I grinned. "Now, that's funny," I retorted.

He rubbed his arm, frowning at me. "No, that's mean."

I shrugged, "You deserved it."

He raised an eyebrow, "I deserved to be hit?"

I nodded. "Yep, it helps get the…" I paused while poking him in the chest. "…ego down."

His frown deepened, "I don't have a large ego."

I shrugged, and turned on my heel to rejoin the rest of the mass of people, though in the five (or maybe it was ten) minutes that Vaughn and I have been talking in our secluded corner, it wasn't so much a mass of people anymore but a slight crowd like something you'd see in a dying mall or a Kmart. I didn't get far as he grabbed my arm just above the elbow and pulled me so I faced him again.

He had this look in his eye, something I couldn't quite place (or name) but whatever it was, it made my heart beat faster and my breath become shallower. I saw him lean in and in a snap decision, I wrenched my arm free and ducked his lips. He fell forward startled and I grinned at him. "Tag, you're it." I touched his arm before turning around and taking off running.

I don't know what came over me to make me start playing tag with him, usually I only played that game with the kids at the daycare. I think it was to keep him from kissing me and I didn't want him to kiss me cause one) I was at him and b) I'm not sure if I'm ready for that. Wait…did I just say one and b? Oh well, what difference does that make? What matters more is that a couple seconds after I took off running, Vaughn starting chasing after me. I have to give the guy credit, he was fast. He caught up to me, and was a couple inches from tagging my arm when I shrieked and ran harder. I run in addition to working and not to brag or anything but I am pretty damn fast.

I lost him somewhere between the arena and his car and I skidded to a stop next to the large fountain outside the arena. Outside proved to be where all the people had gone to –go figure- and that made it hard to locate Vaughn. I squinted and looked around in all directions. It didn't help that the only source of light were the lights from the arena. Five minutes passed and I still hadn't spotted him. Frowning, and thinking that he was off pouting somewhere, I stepped up onto the stone wall of fountain to get a better view of the surrounding area. Bad, horrible mistake because the second I did, Vaughn jumped out of the middle of nowhere and grabbed me by the waist.

"Tag, you're iii-AH!" Unfortunately for the both of us, the force of Vaughn knocking into me out of nowhere knocked me off balance and I fell backwards into the fountain pulling Vaughn with me. We hit the water with a large splash and I was incredibly thankful that this particular fountain was deeper than most, nearly up to my waist. On the upside, that saved us from any serious injuries besides bruised egos and on the down side, we were both soaked to the bone. It was one of the few times that I was grateful that I lived in L.A. and not…say New York.

We took one look at each other, soaking clothes, and plastered wet hair and we both burst out laughing. I could feel the stares we were receiving for standing in the middle of a fountain, drenched solidly and laughing our asses off but I didn't care. It was fun in that fountain and those people need to be knocked into a fountain more often.

"You're still it," Vaughn said through his laughs and that's when it dawned on me that he was right.

I looked down at the water and grinned mischievously. He caught the grin and barely had time to protest before I reached down and splashed him with the water. "You're it," I replied, laughing.

He seemed to grasp the concept that this had turned into a water fight because he reached down and splashed me back. Unluckily, I had my mouth still open when he did that and was hit full force by the splash. I gasped in surprise and sputtered. There was this second of a pause, hesitation, and awkwardness rolled into one during which we locked eyes. I could see it in his eyes that we both had the same idea and in the blink of an eye, we broke the moment and began splashing each other like crazy. The air was filled with our laughter, my shrieks, and lots of splashing water.

I dodged one of his splashes and he seemed to take that as a challenge because he made the same sidestep as me, standing in front of me, sorta. We were separated by the water jets in the middle of the fountain and suddenly this had turned back into a game of tag and I was trapped on one side of something and him on the other and I had to be sneaky to dodge him. I made the move to go right and he did the same. I twisted and changed directions and so did he. I clenched my teeth, determined to get away from him untagged, and quickly faked going left before changing directions at the last second and going right. He caught on to my fake, too soon for my benefit –damn his hockey reflexes- and lunged in the same direction I went in. I tried skidding to a stop and tried going the other way but he was too close and he caught me by the waist.

I struggled against him, and of course he was too strong for me to wriggle my way free. Somehow I ended up turned around, facing him and very close to his body. Instinctively and without my permission, my arms snaked around his neck and before I had the chance to react, protest, respond, object, and/or all of the above he lowered his head.

And kissed me.

A/N: No more bitching and moaning about the lack of S/V romance anymore. There it is and you hate me for ending it there, yes I know. But I enjoy being evil.