"It was my pleasure." He assured her, giving her a dazzling smile. Paige was captivated by his eyes, and found herself smiling back at him. Sydney was well aware of just how close they were; she was holding her breath waiting to see what was going to happen next.
Paige suddenly felt self conscious, her arms still hanging around his neck, only a small distance separating their faces. She broke eye contact with him, and removed her arms, a sheepish smile replacing the more flirtatious one that she had given him only moments before. Sydney let out a sigh, and averted her eyes, so that neither of them would know that she had been watching. Vaughn watched her, an amused smile on his lips.
Without saying another word, Paige and Eric sat down with Sydney and Vaughn. Silence surrounded the four of them, until Paige spoke.
"Sydney? Shall we go and get some drinks or something?" Paige suggested, nodding over at the refreshment counter. Something in Paige's voice told Sydney that drinks were the last thing on Paige's mind, so she quickly accepted.
"Sure. You guys want anything?" She asked Michael and Eric, while taking a ten-dollar bill out of her back pocket.
"Yeah, I'll just have a soda please." Vaughn answered.
"No thanks, I'm good."
Sydney followed Paige to the counter and joined the back of the queue. "So what's up?" She asked, folding her arms infront of her chest, a sympathetic look on her face.
"You're probably going to laugh at me for saying this," Sydney urged her to go on. "Was tonight a double date?" Sydney held her eye contact for a few seconds, before looking to the front of the queue. "Ok…you're not laughing."
Sydney turned to face her again, and opened her mouth to speak, but found no words coming out.
"Sydney!" Paige's voice rose, wanting her to tell the truth.
"Ok. It wasn't a double date as such…but I found out that Weiss was single and I wanted to set him up with someone. And you seemed like the perfect match. We just wanted to get you both to hang out…"
"Wait. We?"
Sydney quickly realized her mistake. "Yeah, me and Vaughn. It was totally all Vaughn's idea!" Paige looked at her questioningly, her eyebrow arched. "Ok, so it was my idea! I made Michael help, even though he didn't want to." Sydney admitted, smiling shyly at her friend. "Look if you're not interested, then that's ok. Weiss doesn't know about me wanting to set you up, so you don't have to go along with it." They moved closer to the front of the queue.
"I never said that I wasn't interested." Paige corrected her, her cheeks blushing slightly from her revelation. Sydney's smile grew as she let out a girlish high-pitched squeal, earning her funny looks from the people infront of her.
"Oh. My. God! You like him! Don't try to deny it, because I can tell that you do!" Paige sighed, knowing that she was never going to get Sydney to believe anything other than the truth.
"Yes I like him. Happy now?"
"Very!"
"Vaughn?" The two guys were sat waiting for Sydney and Paige to return with some drinks. Vaughn had occupied himself, watching the guy in the next lane get strikes each time he bowled. Weiss was too busy thinking about Paige and how close he had been to kissing her before. He had this sinking feeling that if she hadn't of moved away from him when she did, he would have made his move and tried to kiss her. Although they had only properly known each other for a couple of hours, Weiss was attracted to her; she was fun to be with, pretty, smart. She'd never look at me that way…after all it's not like I'm one of the popular jocks or anything…
"Yeah?" Vaughn tore his eyes away from the next lane and looked at his friend.
"Was tonight meant to some sort of double date?" He rested his arms on his knees, leaning forward slightly, his eyes focused on the floor. Vaughn ran his hand through his hair and sighed. There is no way that I can lie to him.
"Yeah kinda. Sydney had this idea that you and Paige would make a great couple, so she wanted for you two to meet and see whether you guys got along or not." Vaughn admitted, knowing that Sydney would probably kill him later for revealing her secret plan.
"Oh."
"I tried telling her that you might not like being set up…"
"Did Paige know?" Weiss sat up, and looked Vaughn in the eye, wanting an honest answer.
"No, neither of you did. Listen I'll tell Sydney to drop the idea, it's not big deal!"
"No, don't do that." Weiss stopped him.
Vaughn paused as he registered what Weiss was saying. "Wait, you like her?" Weiss nodded.
"What's not to like! I think she's great." Weiss admitted, feeling as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Vaughn grinned.
"This is great."
"Maybe I should set up my own match making business!" Sydney joked, causing Paige to roll her eyes. They had just paid for their order and were now waiting for their drinks. Paige was about to respond to Sydney's joke, when somebody behind them started talking.
"Hey." They both turned their heads to see a tall, blonde guy with a strong British accent, smiling at Sydney.
"Hi." She responded politely, throwing Paige a confused look.
"I'm Julian Sark, but you can call me Sark. We go to the same high school."
Sydney cleared her throat. "Yeah I know who you are. You're quarterback on the football team right?" She asked already knowing the answer. She always cheered at the football games, and when her and Danny had been dating; he had introduced her to a few members of the team. One of them being Mr. Sark.
"Yeah I am." Paige looked away, as Sark continued to smile flirtatiously at her best friend. This is definitely one of those 'Three's a crowd' moments!
"So, I heard about what happened with you and Danny. And if you ask me, you're better off without that jerk," Sark was slowly moving towards Sydney, trying to block Paige out of the conversation so that she wouldn't hear him.
"Really is that right?" Sydney replied sarcastically. She could feel a yawn coming on; this guy is boring me now…
"Yeah, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to o out sometime or something?"
Sydney felt a pair of arms wrap around her stomach, and turned her head slightly to see Vaughn pulling her into his embrace. He had been coming over to tell her about Eric liking Paige, when he spotted a guy coming on to her. I've only just got her in my life; I'm not about to lose her.
"Hey baby. I missed you." Sydney turned and gave Vaughn a passionate kiss, both for Sark's benefit, and mostly for her own. They broke away and smiled at each other, Sydney pulling Vaughn's arm's even tighter around her.
"I'm sorry what was that you were saying?" Paige couldn't help but laugh at the defeated look on Sark's face.
"Nothing. It obviously doesn't matter anymore." Sark smirked, trying to hide his disappointment, and walked back to his friends.
The guy behind the counter handed three drinks to Paige, who walked back to their aisle, leaving Sydney still in Vaughn's arms.
"Who was that?" Vaughn asked, his voice showing a small sign of jealousy.
"Some jock from school. You have the perfect timing has anyone every told you that?" She asked, linking their fingers together as they walked back towards Paige and Weiss.
"No they haven't actually." He smiled. "Anyway, I was coming to tell you something. While you two were getting chatted up," Sydney playfully hit his stomach. "Me and Weiss were talking, and he found out that this was kind of a double date. I offered to tell you that he wasn't interested, but then he told me that he was." Sydney stopped walking and looked at Weiss and Paige, a huge grin on her face.
"This is perfect! Paige admitted the exact same thing to me! She likes him. And he likes her! I should really do this more often!" Sydney laughed, watching Paige and Weiss talk.
"Hey, don't be getting cocky!" Vaughn wrapped his arm around her waist, and led her back to her friends.
Irina had the stereo on, a glass of wine in her hand, as she read one of her favourite novels. She was feeling quite pleased with herself, that she had managed to avoid an awkward confrontation with Jack. Hopefully he will forget about the whole encounter, and we can go back to having our usual sarcastic conversations, with now idea of how either of us feels!
She took another sip of her drink, and flipped over the page. Sydney had gone out for the night with Michael and Paige, so the house was silent, except for the soft, soothing music. She heard a loud knock, which definitely wasn't part of the music. Setting her glass down on the table infront of her, she tightened her dressing gown and walked towards the door. Maybe Sydney's forgotten her house keys…She looked at her watch, and seeing that it was ten o'clock, she ruled Sydney out as the person behind the door.
She opened the door, to see Jack Bristow pacing on the doorstep. Irina considered closing the door again and acting like she had never opened it, but Jack turned and looked at her before she had a chance.
"Hi." He stood still and smiled at her.
"Hey Jack. It's late, what are you doing here?" She asked, hoping that he wouldn't mention the kiss.
"I need to talk to you. I tried finding you today, but you were nowhere to be found. It was like you were ignoring me or something."
Here it comes…Irina could feel her heart pounding in her chest, her breath deepening as she searched for an explanation for why she had kissed him.
"I had a lot of things to do today." Avoid the truth…that's good! Now if only I could avoid Jack.
"Oh, ok." He placed his hands in his pockets, his fingers scratching away at the fabric. "About last night…"
"Look, I'm just going to apologise for that now. I don't know what came over me, it was foolish and stupid and will never happen…" Jack stopped her from finishing that sentence, his lips automatically finding hers. She knew in her mind that it was wrong, but she found herself kissing him back.
"So it seems like we drew!" Weiss stated the obvious, as he looked at the scoreboard. Him and Vaughn had come first, Paige second and Sydney third.
"Yep, we did."
"Hey, the important thing is that I didn't come last!" Paige smiled. She couldn't believe that she hadn't lost the game like she always did.
"That is only because Weiss helped you everytime. My boyfriend didn't do a thing to help me!" Sydney teasingly moaned. Vaughn walked towards her, and placed both hands on her hips.
"Will this help?" He whispered, leaning forward to kiss her. Sydney smiled into his lips as she kissed him back, her hands stroking his arms. Paige and Weiss looked away from them, both suddenly feeling awkward.
Paige's eyes wondered over the other aisles, while Weiss stared at the floor, searching for something funny to say, but he couldn't think of anything. That has never happened to me before…
Their eyes met, each smiling nervously not knowing what they should do. Sydney and Vaughn were still having their little couple moment, while Paige and Weiss were definitely having a moment, but neither knew what to do about it.
"Are you guys ready to go?" Vaughn asked, after him and Sydney had finished kissing. They both had huge grins on their faces, their hands linked together.
"Yeah." Paige and Weiss answered in unison.
Weiss talked to Paige on the way to the car, removing some of the awkwardness that had surrounded them earlier. Sydney and Vaughn were too wrapped up in their own conversation to notice Paige linking her arm through Weiss's, whole smiled at her gesture.
Sydney and Paige sat in the back, Vaughn in the front next to Weiss. The car was silent as they left the car park, each of them trying to sort out the swirls of thoughts that had filled their minds.
Irina broke the kiss, her breath caught in her throat. Jack seemed just as breathless, and also a little shocked that she had kissed him back. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked at him.
"What was that for?" She asked, a small smile covering her lips. She had so many emotions about what had just happened. She was glad that he had kissed her, but at the same time she regretted it; it would only cause things to be more complicated between them.
"You kissed me last night, and then ran out of the car before I had time to respond. If you had given me time, I would have kissed you back. I just thought that you should outta know that." The moonlight was shining down on Irina' face, making her facial features even more beautiful.
"I…erm…" She searched for something to say, anything.
"I think we both just need some time." Jack could tell that Irina didn't know what to say, she needed time; and the truth was that he did too.
"Ok." She barely heard her own voice as she spoke.
Jack nodded and walked back towards his car, driving away into the night. Irina remained on the doorstep for a few minutes, reliving everything that had just happened. She then went back inside, and downed the glass of wine.
Weiss pulled up outside Sydney's house, the keys still running in the ignition. They had stopped at Sydney's house first, seeing as it was closest to the bowling alley. Sydney kissed Paige on the cheek, and her and Vaughn opened the door to get out.
"Hey, where's my kiss?" Weiss joked, so Sydney got back in the car and kissed him on the cheek.
"There. Wouldn't have wanted you to moan all the way home now, would I?" Sydney smiled, and walked towards her house, Vaughn by her side.
"So you think love's gonna blossom in the car?" Sydney joked, nodding towards the car.
"Well, he's taking me home next, so who knows what will happen!" Sydney smiled and took a step closer to him.
"I think we make quite a good team!"
"We sure do!" Vaughn agreed, cupping her face and pulling her in for another kiss. The kiss lasted for a couple of seconds, they both broke away, their foreheads resting against each other.
"So I'll see you tomorrow!" Vaughn whispered.
"Yeah. Good night Michael." She gave him another quick kiss, waved to her friends in the car and walked into her house.
Vaughn sat back in the car, ready to be driven home. Five minutes later, they were parked outside his house. He said goodbye to them both, and got out of the car, watching as they drove away.
"So you all ready for the game tomorrow?" Weiss started to make conversation with her, as they drove up Prescot Street, where the Halliwell Manor was.
"Yeah, it should be a great game!" Paige was so psyched about cheerleading for tomorrow's game. The car came to a stop outside the Manor, and Weiss removed the keys from the ignition.
"Do you want me to walk you to your door?" He offered, looking at her in the rear-view mirror.
Paige considered his offer, and smiled. "Sure." They both stepped out of the car, walking up the stairs which led to Paige's house. Some of the lights were on upstairs; her sisters were probably home.
"I had a great time tonight Eric!" Paige told him, leaning back against her front door. Weiss smiled at her, happy that she had enjoyed herself.
"Yeah I did too. Who knew that bowling could be so much fun." He joked nervously.
Paige laughed. "Yeah." They both knew what usually happened at this part of a date, but both were anxious about making the first move. Weiss made eye contact with her, looking for any signals that she wanted him to kiss her. She was smiling sweetly at him, waiting for him to make some kind of move.
He held her gaze as he leaned inwards and placed a soft, gentle kiss on her lips. Before she had time to respond, it was over.
"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school." Weiss said, his cheeks getting hotter and hotter.
Paige nodded. "Yeah ok." Weiss gave her a final smile and walked back to his car.
