Ok, I'm starting to update this fic like crazy so I hope you guys are enjoying it. Cause I have a feeling the next couple of weeks are gonna be a little busy for mesince Chemistry is starting to kick me in the ass :) So they made it home... enter Jack and Vaughn's mom...

Chapter 12.

Vaughn's POV

I awakened slightly passed 9 and looked to see that Syd was still sleeping peacefully. Her head was securely pillowed on my left arm and I had no feeling of it whatsoever. It was completely numb. Slowly, trying my best not to wake her, I slid my arm out as the uncomfortable tingly feeling ran all up my arm. As soon as it began to regain some feeling, I slipped out of bed and made my way to the shower.

The hot water felt incredible on my skin as it ran all down my body. Steam soon filled the whole bathroom creating a misty atmosphere. I lathered the shampoo all through my hair and then stuck my head under the water. Closing my eyes, I just stood under the water for a few minutes, letting it go all around me.

Hoping that Syd was still sleeping when I got out, I didn't bother to bring the change of clothes with me in the bathroom. After wrapping a towel around my waist I slowly made my way out of the bathroom. I took a peek at Syd and luckily she was now lying on her back with her eyes still shut.

Creeping over to my bag as quiet as I could, I bent down and took out a pair of boxers, jeans, and a shirt. I nearly jumped in the air when I heard her voice.

"Mmmm. Now that is a good sight to wake up to." I turned around to see Syd smiling at me while her eyes roamed over my half naked body.

"Oh sorry. I forgot to bring clothes with me to the bathroom." I felt my cheeks redden and I quickly ran back into the bathroom to change.

As soon as Syd was freshened up and changed, we packed up our stuff and put it in my car. On the way to checkout I grabbed 2 bagels and cream cheese from the continental breakfast in the lobby.

We were on the road by 11. Syd was sitting quietly in her seat spreading cream cheese all over her bagel. She licked the excess cream cheese off the tips of her fingers and began to munch on her bagel. It was so cute the way she ate her food. She was always so polite and took small bites, never chewing with her mouth open.

Out of nowhere, just as she polished off the last piece, she socked me in the shoulder screaming, "Slug Bug!"

I winced a little, as the power of her punch would sure leave a mark on my arm.

"What the hell was that?" I said not being able to rub my shoulder on account that I was driving.

"Slug bug! There was a blue bug that drove by us." I looked to my left out of my window and saw the small Volkswagen 20 ft. ahead of us.

"Dude, we haven't played that since we were in middle school."

"Dude, I know." She said in a mocking tone.

10 minutes later she slugged me again.

"Out of state!" She yelled and hit me in the exact same spot as before.

"Oh my god Syd. You're gonna leave a permanent mark on my arm!"

"What? There's a Missouri license plate." She once again pointed, this time to the right lane where a white Nissan pathfinder was driving next to us.

"Ok, ok. Enough hitting games for now. Let's play another one and give my arm time to recover."

"I'm sorry Vaughn." She apologized and brought her hand up to rub my shoulder. "So what game do you want to play?"

"I dunno. Whatever." I really didn't care what we played. As long as it didn't involve yelling out slug bug and socking me in my already bruised up arm, I was cool.

"I don't know any other car games though."

"Make up one." I responded.

She leaned back in her seat for a few minutes and I could tell she was thinking hard. My hand sat on her armrest as her hand was fiddling with the sleeve of my sweatshirt.

"Vaughn, who's the first girl you ever liked?" I was a bit taken back by her question.

"What game is this again?"

"It's the shut up and answer my question game." I laughed. I love it when she's pushy.

"Why do you get to ask all the questions?"

"Because you get to ask me one after you answer." It was a fair a deal. Although, there wasn't much that I already didn't know about her.

"You." I responded.

"What?"

"You. It's always been you Syd. I thought you knew that by now." She didn't say anything, instead she leaned over the armrest and planted a kiss on my cheek. "Ok my turn. I can't ask you the same question because I know your answer is going to be Danny." She nodded her head slowly. "What do you think would've happened if Danny didn't move away?"

It was definitely something I wondered about. Since we were playing this game I figured this would be a good time to ask.

"I dunno. I really don't think I'd still be with him right now. But maybe I would've dated him for a few more months. He was a good guy. But my relationship with you is so much more different than what I had with him."

"Yeah? How so?" I asked curiously.

"With you, I always feel the need to be with you. I want to be with you all the time and when I'm not, I feel weirded out. When I was with Danny, I always needed my space. I needed time with my girlfriends and I didn't want to be with him on some days. But when I'm with you, I don't ever want to leave your side."

Syd's POV

I don't know what provoked me to say that to Vaughn, but it was true. I was hoping I didn't freak him out by saying what I said, but to my relief he said he felt the same way. I know that in the future we're going to have fights and not always agree on everything, but for now, I'm enjoying every minute spent with him.

We continued to play our little game for the majority of the ride. We talked about everything from the infamous if you were stranded on an island question, to which celebrity would you give your left arm to meet.

Vaughn apologized numerous amounts of times when we were passing by Santa Barbara. But, both of us knew it would be impossible to stop there for a little bit and make it home at a decent hour.

After a long trip that took more time than we expected, we finally made it home. On the way to my house, we passed by our old high school and the baseball field. Vaughn glanced at it and then smiled. I'm sure he was thinking back on all the blood, sweat, and tears he left on that field.

I'll never forget the day I saw his nose break on that field. During our sophomore year, I just made it to the game. I wasn't even seated yet when Vaughn took a ball to the face on the pitcher's mound. Of course, being the guy that he is, he took his jersey and started holding it to his nose trying to make the blood stop and walked straight off of the field. Not one tear was shed or even a look of concern on his face.

But, that was Vaughn. He is the strongest, most composed person I know. When I walked in to the emergency room 30 minutes later and saw his nose, I remember cringing and going, "Ewww." His nose was tilted to the left and bruises were already appearing under his eyes.

I shook my head of the memory as we pulled into my driveway. Butterflies were going all through my stomach as I anticipated seeing my Dad. I haven't seen him since January and I wanted to get out the small tidbit of Vaughn and I now dating out of the way.

"You ready?" Vaughn said before I stuck my key in the door.

"No." I turned the key and unlocked it. Before entering, I looked at him once again.

"Well, if I never see you again, it's been fun." He said giving me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Shut up."

When we walked into the house, it was quiet. Vaughn placed my suitcase by the staircase while I looked around. It looked exactly the same from when I was a little kid. The white carpet was still fresh with no stains. All of the furniture has never been moved and the picture frames were hanging perfectly on the walls. This place was way too big for my dad to be living here by himself. Aside from my room, there were 2 extra rooms that were unused. But, I know he wouldn't have the heart to move anywhere else.

"Dad?" I yelled out a couple of times.

I looked back to see Vaughn still standing by the doorway looking like he was going to pee in his pants. I motioned for him to come with me. Suddenly, my dad appeared from the kitchen, holding a pen in one hand and the checkbook in the other.

"Sydney!" We walked towards each other and I have him a big hug and a kiss. "I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too Dad. How have you been?"

"Good. It's been quiet since you left, but I'm doing fine." He then looked up and saw Vaughn standing by the stairs.

"Oh, hello Michael." Vaughn walked over and shook his hand firmly.

"Hi Jack. It's good to see you."

"It's good to see both of you home safely. I'm sure your mother is thrilled that you are home." I could tell Vaughn was a bit uneasy as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Yes, I haven't seen her yet, but I'm just as excited to see her."

My dad went back in the kitchen as we followed. I could tell he was paying a few bills as several envelopes were spread out on the kitchen table. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, silently asking Vaughn if he wanted one.

I didn't know how I was going to bring up the conversation that Vaughn was now my boyfriend, so I just decided to spit it out. My dad was a smart man after all. If we didn't tell him right away he would've either figured it out on his own, or read the look on both of our faces. After taking a swig, I put the bottle of water back in the fridge and went to stand by Vaughn. Before speaking, I took his hand in mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Dad, I have something to tell you."

"What is...?" He glanced up from the checkbook and his eyes immediately fell on our entwined hands.

"Vaughn and I are dating now. He's my boyfriend."

I said it. Just like that. No beating around the bush, I straight up told him the truth. I let out a nervous laugh, anticipating what my dad was going to do next.

"And how long has this been going on?" He continued to sit in the chair, but the grip on his pen soon got tighter.

"Umm, about a week."

"Oh." That was his only response for the next minute.

He sat there quietly, bringing his eyes down from our faces to our hands again. Vaughn shifted uncomfortably on his feet and I could feel his hand getting sweaty.

"Listen dad, I know you feel uncomfortable whenever I date guys. But, you know Vaughn and how great of a guy he is." I let go of Vaughn's hand and walked towards the kitchen table.

My dad still refused to say anything. Instead, he started intently at the both of us not looking like he was going to speak anytime soon. Just then Vaughn walked forward to stand by me and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Jack, before you say anything to me, I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to take care of Sydney. She means everything to me and I promise I won't screw this up."

"If you two will excuse me, I need to go make an important call in my office." And with that, my dad got up and left without even acknowledging anything we said to him.

I let out a deep breath as I felt Vaughn doing the same. I knew my dad wouldn't be pleased with the news, but I didn't expect him to just walk out without saying anything about it. It surprised me even more considering he has always seemed to like Vaughn. Since he doesn't show that much emotion anyway, I wouldn't put it in the words that he like Vaughn. Let's just say I thought he approves of him. Maybe I've been wrong all this time.

"Well that went well." Vaughn said letting out a sarcastic laugh.

"Don't worry about it. You know my dad, he'll come around."

Vaughn's POV

"Alright, I need to go home and see my mom. What are you doing later?" I said while Syd turned towards me and wrapped both her arms around my waist.

"I don't know. I want to spend some time with my dad though and have dinner with him. Maybe I can calm him down a little bit. Call me later?"

"Of course."

We walked out of her house hand in hand after Sydney insisted on walking me to my car. Before getting in, I planted a kiss on her forehead.

"I'll call you later, Syd."

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

When I arrived at my house, I felt anxious to see my mother. I missed her so much when I'm in San Francisco. I love being in the city and living on my own, but there's times where I want a home cooked meal or just the comfort of my mom being around. After my dad died, we were all each other had left. We relied on each other to survive and get through the hard times.

As soon as I opened up the door and set my bag down my mom came running from upstairs. A big smile appeared on her face as she opened up her arms to hug me.

"Michael! I am so happy you're here!" She kissed my face about three times before giving me another tight hug.

"I missed you too mom. Where's Donny?"

Just then, my fat little bulldog came barreling down the stairs with his short, stubby tail wagging in the air.

"Donovan! Hey boy! How's my best buddy doing?"

Bending down, I ruffled the hair behind his ears before scratching him on his chest. After a few more kisses from my dog and my mother, I went and took a set on the couch. Sinking into the deep, black leather chairs, it felt incredibly good to rest in my old couch again. My mom came and sat next to me a minute later, bringing a glass of ice tea with her.

"How was your drive home, Michael?"

"It was good. We actually left yesterday, but the weather was so bad we were forced to pull over and stay over night in Fresno." I took a sip of my ice tea and placed it back on the glass coffee table.

"Oh? You and Sydney spent a night in a motel?" I could hear the curiosity, and also the concern in her voice.

"Yes, actually, I have something to tell you. I was going to wait until Syd got here, but I can't wait that long. She and I are going out now." My mom's eyes widened in excitement.

"Going out as in a relationship?"

"Yes, she's my girlfriend." It felt so good to call Sydney my girlfriend. I wanted to scream it to everyone.

"Oh sweetie! That is wonderful news!" My mom pulled me in again for another hug. "I knew it. When I was walking down the stairs you actually looked different. Something was different in your face. I could tell you were happy. Ever since you two were kids I could see it in both of you. Sydney is a lovely girl Michael, I am very happy for you." It was really sweet to see my mom that genuinely happy for the both of us. I knew she would be.

"Thanks mom. We just told Jack when I dropped her off at her house."

"And how did that go?"

"Even though he didn't say anything, by the looks of it, he didn't looked too pleased." She patted me on the leg before inviting Donovan to jump on the couch.

"He'll change his mind, sweetie. Don't you worry about it. You and Sydney make a darling couple."

"I hope so. I'm not going to screw this up, Mom."

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