Chapter 37

Vaughn flopped down onto Weiss's couch. Weiss had called him twenty minutes earlier and told him to come over to watch a hockey game that was on the TV. Weiss's parents were visiting relatives on the other side of town, so the house was silent apart from the noise coming from the TV. Vaughn hadn't spoken much since he'd arrived and Weiss didn't want to push him to start talking.

Weiss walked into the kitchen and took two sodas out of the fridge, and handed one to Vaughn. He mumbled his thanks, and then went back to staring at the TV, making it seem as though he was really paying attention to the game.

"You wanna talk about it?" Weiss asked, breaking the silence.

Vaughn shrugged. "Talk about what?" He took a sip of his soda, his eyes glued to the screen.

"Don't play dumb with me Vaughn." Michael shut his eyes, his head falling down to his chest. "You wanna talk about what happened last night? About why for the past fifteen minutes you've been staring so hard at my TV, as if you're waiting for it to fix everything?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He replied bluntly, hoping to put an end to the conversation.

"You know that bottling it all up is not gonna help anyone. Especially not you and Sydney." Vaughn grimaced at the sound of her name, causing Weiss to roll his eyes.

"She cheated on me. There's nothing more to say." Vaughn stood up and walked into the kitchen.

Weiss quickly got up and ran after him, to find him sitting at the kitchen table, spinning the can of soda around in his hands. "Sydney did not cheat on you, Vaughn."

"Oh really? So what do you call her sticking her tongue down her ex-boyfriend's throat?" He yelled at Weiss, although he knew Weiss has done nothing wrong; other than try to be his friend. He immediately felt guilty for his outburst.

"It was not like that Vaughn." Weiss replied just as harshly as Vaughn had seconds before. "And if you'd give her a chance to talk to you, you'd find that out for yourself." The kitchen fell silent. Vaughn sighed as he stood up and walked towards the kitchen door.

"Can we just watch the rest of the game?"

Weiss followed him back into the living room, feeling like there was nothing more he could say to him.

"What shop do you want to go to?"

"Huh?" Sydney looked over at Paige, and it was clear that she hadn't heard what she'd said.

"Syd, are you ok?"

Sydney shook her head and started to walk towards one of the benches that was on the side of the road. Paige followed her, and took a seat. "I know you're trying to cheer me up Paige, but I just can't stop thinking about what happened."

Paige put her arm around her and gave her a hug. "It's ok! I knew there was a chance that retail therapy wasn't quite gonna work here!" She joked, and Sydney managed to laugh a little.

"Do you think he's at Eric's now?"

"Probably! But Eric will talk to him."

Sydney was silent for a minute then she stood up quickly. "We have to go back to Weiss's."

Paige looked up at her, shock all over her face. "What?"

"I'm sorry Paige, I've gotta talk to him myself." She turned and ran down the street. Paige watched her go, and then followed her, wanting to stop her from doing something stupid.

Weiss and Vaughn went back to watching the game. They hadn't talked much, apart from making the occasional comment about one of the goals that were scored. The sound of the doorbell ringing, broke yet another silence that had fallen over the two of them.

"I'll get it." Weiss stood up and walked out of the room, glad for the distraction.

He opened the door to find Sydney and Paige standing on the doorstep. Paige had eventually managed to catch up with Sydney, but she was unable to stop her from coming to Eric's.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"I'm sorry Weiss, I just really have to talk to him…" Weiss looked at Sydney, before his gaze focused on Paige. She shifted her head sideways, indicating that they should leave the house and give them some time to talk.

"We'll go for a walk," Weiss told Sydney as he stepped out of the house. "Just make sure nothing gets broken, ok?" He asked jokingly, although he meant every word.

"Ok. Thanks you guys." She walked past them and into Weiss's house, closing the door behind her. She could hear cheers from the living room, so she guessed that would be were she would find him. She took a deep breath as she walked into the living room.

"Who was at the do…" Vaughn turned around and stopped speaking when he saw Sydney standing in the doorway. He stared at her for a couple of seconds and then turned back around to face the TV.

"Michael…" She stepped further into the room.

"What are you doing here?" He asked harshly, his eyes not moving from the TV screen.

"I came to see you. We need to talk."

He looked at her again; his usual warm, loving eyes, were no longer there. "I don't think we have that much to say to each other."

"You might not, but I have." She sat down next to him on the couch, and was relieved that he remained sitting there, as she thought he would have moved away from her. "I know what you think you saw. But it really wasn't what you think…"

"Really?" He replied sarcastically, turning his head to look away from her.

She reached over and turned his head to face her. He immediately moved his face away from her but remained looking at her. "I was coming to tell you something, when Danny stopped me. He was really drunk and said he wanted to talk…so we did! We talked. But then he kissed me, and I didn't do anything. I was too shocked and then when I pushed him off me, it was too late. You'd already seen us." Sydney looked down at her hands that were resting on her lap. She was waiting for him to say something; anything would be better then the silence they were now sitting in.

Vaughn ran a hand through his hair. "What were you coming to tell me?" He asked, his voice emotionless.

"I was coming to tell you that I love you." Sydney's eyes filled up with tears. She couldn't believe that she had just confessed her feelings for him in the middle of a fight.

Vaughn looked at her, and saw the tears in her eyes. He wanted so much just to wipe away her tears and hold her in his arms again; but he couldn't. He was still hurt about her and Danny.

Sydney waited for some kind of response from him, but he didn't say anything. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Vaughn closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the couch. "I don't know."

"Why would I want Danny, when I have you?" She reached over and placed her hand over his, but he withdrew his hand, folding his arms infront of him. Sydney hated him being so cold towards her, but she didn't know what else she could do to change that.

"I know you're saying that you didn't do anything, but I don't know if I can forget what happened." The minute he'd finished talking, he immediately regretted what he had said. But it was too late to take it back now.

A tear ran down her cheek, as she realised that she wasn't going to get anywhere with this. "If you really think that I would cheat on you with Danny of all people, then you obviously don't know me at all." She stood up and walked out of the living room and towards the front door. She knew that she was minutes away from breaking down into tears, and she didn't want him to say that.

She opened the door, but something pulled on her arm. She turned around and found herself in Vaughn's arms, his hands resting on her back bringing her closer towards him. She was taken by surprise that he was holding her in his arms, but she stepped closer towards him, her hands resting on his chest. Without saying anything, Vaughn lowered his lips towards hers.