Hey guys! Thanks again for all the reviews :) How much did Alias kick ass on Wednesday? And the S/V kiss... the sweetest thing. Here's an update! Enjoy...
Chapter 20.
Syd's POVIt took a few days for Francie to stop fuming. Despite her relationship with Will being a short one, it was one that she was wishing would work out. I didn't blame her. Will looked to be a really great guy and by hanging out with him, you would have no idea he was screwing around behind her back.
I went back to sleeping at my place so Fran wouldn't have to be alone. Vaughn and Weiss also spent a lot of time with us trying to cheer up Francie. Everyday she seemed to look a little better and we were all assured that in no time she would be back on her feet.
The only thing we were concerned about was her trust in guys. We could tell that Will totally destroyed her in that area and it would be awhile before she could fully trust a guy again. In the back of her mind she's always going to think about what Will did to her and it will leave a permanent mark in her mind.
Weiss absolutely loved all the attention he was receiving from Francie. She always went to him to cry on his shoulder and he would welcome her with open arms. Francie even commented on how sweet he was being while Vaughn and I rolled our eyes. The girl had no idea.
The school year was actually close to ending since our finals were starting in two weeks. None of us were looking forward to it, but all of us wanted our freshman year to end. I was actually excited to spend my summer in LA with Vaughn and my dad. If my dad promised to change I wanted to be the first one to witness it.
On Friday afternoon, Vaughn and I decided to go to the beach since the springtime weather was beautiful in San Francisco. With the air still cool, but the sun brightly shining, it gave the beach an amazing glow. While strolling near the water, we stopped every once in awhile to watch the dogs run by us.
"I wish I could bring Donovan here. He'd love running on the beach and playing in the little dog park up there." Vaughn said as he smiled at the little Border collie running circles around his feet.
"Maybe in the fall you could bring him up here for awhile. I know your apartment complex allows dogs." I responded.
"Nah, Donovan keeps my mom company at home. I wouldn't want her to be lonely down there. Besides, Weiss would overfeed him and make him fat."
We both let out a slight chuckle and continued to stroll down the beach. A comfortable silence fell around us as Vaughn grabbed for my hand.
"So… I was thinking… tomorrow is our one month anniversary Syd." A big smirk came on his face after he said that.
"Yes, it is. I was just thinking about that. Tomorrow is the one month anniversary of when we finally kissed at Will's party."
"Yep. And I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to dinner tomorrow night. There's this really great French place called Fleur De Lys off of Sutter."
"Vaughn… that place is really fancy and expensive." Even though I was flattered by the offer, I didn't want Vaughn to be spending that much money on us.
"But Syd, it's perfect. Don't worry about how expensive it is. I want tomorrow night to be different from all our dates. I want it to be special. So… are you game?"
Knowing it would mean a lot to the both of us, I decided to agree.
"Of course I am." Leaning over, I planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "Then after dinner… I dunno… we could go back to my place. I know Weiss and Francie are hanging out at your apartment tomorrow night."
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Vaughn doing his eyebrow thing again. You know, the one where his right eyebrow lifts when he's talking or looking at something interesting. It was so uniquely Vaughn and sexy as hell.
"Are you inferring what I think you are Bristow?" He said, nudging me in the elbow.
"I don't know. Like we said, we're not going to plan it. We'll see what happens after dinner, ok?" I asked.
"Ok."
Vaughn's POVFriday night, I didn't get a wink of sleep. Most of the sleep depravation was because I was unbelievably excited about my date with Syd on Saturday night, but it was also hard not having her sleeping next to me.
I missed the feel of her warm hands on my chest and her smooth legs tangled up with mine under the blankets. I especially missed inhaling the intoxicating scent of her hair when I woke up. She loved to nuzzle her head into my neck and I loved bringing my nose down to the top of her head and inhaling deeply.
When I walked out of my room the next morning I found Weiss doing sit-ups next to the couch. He claimed he did 60 in a row when I really knew he was lying.
"Good morning sunshine!" Weiss exclaimed a little too loudly.
"Sit ups working?" I asked.
"Yeah, pretty soon this pot belly is going to turn into abs of steel my friend."
Letting out a sarcastic laugh, I gave him a 'yeah right' look.
"So what's this I hear about a romantic date with Sydney tonight?" He questioned taking a swig of water.
"I'm taking her to this French restaurant tonight. It's supposed to be one of the best places in the city. Francie is hanging out here with you, right?"
"Yeah, we're going to watch a movie and order some food I guess. Why? Is tonight going to be The Night?"
I paused before answering him. In my mind I could hear it screaming, 'I sure as hell hope so!' But, I didn't want to jinx myself.
"I don't know. Maybe. Syd and I already agreed that we weren't going to plan it. We're just going to see what happens." Trying to sound as casual as possible, I shrugged my shoulders.
"Ok, I know you're trying to be a nice guy and all Mike, but tell me the truth, you're hoping you guys are going to do it, right?"
"Yes, I'll admit it. If things get close again, I don't think I can hold back tonight."
"Wait a second..." He put down the bottle of water on the coffee table and walked swiftly into the kitchen. "What do you mean if it gets close again?"
"Well, when we were in LA, Syd was sorta trying to initiate things, but I stopped."
"Are you out of your mind? Why did you stop?" Weiss screamed.
"It was the day after she got out of the hospital! I didn't want her to get hurt again." I explained.
"Damn dude, you have more self-control than anyone I know." Shaking his head, he made his way into the bathroom to shower.
A million thoughts started running through my head as the realization of what could actually happen tonight hit me. I guess I was slightly embarrassed to admit that this was my first time. I haven't even had a serious girlfriend before Sydney.
The thought of finally being able to make love to Syd was starting to freak me out. What if I disappoint her? What if she's not ready? What if I do it wrong? Wait, is that even possible?
Shaking my head, I decided that I would have to stop thinking about it or I was going to psyche myself out. This is what happens when you plan it. You start flipping out and thinking of every possible thing that could go wrong. Well, we both said we weren't going to plan it, but in the back of our minds, I think the same thought was going through Syd's head.
I tried everything to stop thinking about it. I lifted weights, tried doing the crossword puzzle in the newspaper, I even watched a program on the Discovery Channel. But, being a guy and all, it was difficult for me to push sex out of my head.
Syd's POVFrancie and I woke up extra early on Saturday morning so we could go shopping. Since this French place was fancy, I needed an appropriate dress for tonight. Knowing how crowded the mall would be on the weekend, we were out of the house by 10am.
"Ok, so what exactly are we looking for Syd?" Fran asked me as we walked into Bebe's.
"I don't know. Simple, but sexy."
"What place are you going to again?"
"Fleur De Lys. I heard the food there is fantastic." I replied.
Reaching a rack full of dresses, Francie and I thumbed through them quickly. Nothing looked to be anything I would wear so we decided to try the next shop.
"So I think tonight could be the night for Vaughn and I." I said while we exited the store.
"It's about time Syd! I'm surprised you two aren't going at it by now."
"Well, we were trying to take things slow and not rush into anything. Plus, Vaughn is the first guy I'm going to be with and I want to make sure everything is perfect."
"Really? You've never been with a guy?" A twinge of surprise was evident in Francie's voice.
"Nope."
"I think that's really sweet Syd. I'm glad that you've waited this long."
Francie and I hit up a few more stores, but were unsuccessful in finding the kind of dress I wanted. While trying on a few dresses, nothing seemed to look right or fit right. I felt uncomfortable in most of the dresses I tried on and I definitely did not want to be uncomfortable during dinner.
We walked into Nordstrom's last as we were both tired from shopping. We were in the mall for nearly three hours trying on every possible dress.
While looking through a couple or racks, I heard Francie call for me from around the corner. Taking a turn around the corner, I found her holding up a gorgeous black dress. I grabbed it immediately and made my way to the dressing room.
I prayed that this dress fit because it was exactly what I was looking for. The dress was strapless, with a thin, satin, black ribbon going around the top. It fell slightly passed my knees with different angled cuts at the bottom.
Letting out a deep breath, I walked out of the dressing room to show Francie.
"Oh my god, Syd, you look beautiful!" She said, bringing a hand to her mouth.
"Really? I think I need to borrow that padded bra again."
"It's absolutely perfect. Michael is going to have a hard time keeping his hands off of you tonight."
"Well, that's the plan!" I said over my shoulder as I walked back into the dressing room.
Finally being able to exit the mall, I carefully put my dress in the back seat of Francie's car and buckled up.
"Oh wait, I forgot!" A sudden thought came to my mind and I was a tad embarrassed to ask Francie about it.
"What? What did you forget?"
"Umm, do I need to pick up… you know… protection?" I found that using the word condom was way too weird for me still.
"Oh, right. I have some in my bathroom. You can use them considering I'm not going to be able for awhile."
"I'm sure Weiss thinks otherwise." I froze after realizing what I just said. I wasn't supposed to let that information out. Cringing, I hope Francie didn't hear what I said.
"What did you just say?" She looked over at my seriously.
"Ok Francie, please don't tell him I told you. But, Weiss has a crush on you."
"Seriously? I'm supposed to hang out with him tonight. I don't know what to say…"
"How do you feel about him?" I asked.
"He's a really sweet guy, but I don't know if I'm ready to start things with anyone right now. But, maybe in the future when I'm fully over Will."
"Yeah, I understand. At least you know now and it's not going to be a surprise if he spits it out at you." We both laughed knowing Weiss would probably pull something like that.
Vaughn's POV"Ok, tie or no tie?" I asked Weiss while walking into his room.
I held up the dark blue tie that matched perfectly with the dress shirt I had on. Of course I almost tripped on the 8 pairs of shoes lying on the floor when I entered.
"No tie." He responded without looking up from his computer.
"Weiss, look at me. I need your honest opinion."
"I said no tie. A tie will make you look like you're going to a business meeting." He said looking up.
"Good point. Thanks."
I was so excited to pick up Syd that I almost forgot to bring my wallet. Now that would've been disastrous. Taking one last look at myself in the mirror, I decided to ask Weiss one more time for his opinion.
"Alright, how do I look?" I questioned.
"I hate you." I looked at Weiss slightly confused. What kind of answer was that?
"What? Why do you hate me?"
"Because, this might sound really gay of me, but coming from a very straight guy, you look good. And that's why I hate you."
"Really? I mean, I think the tie looked…" Weiss cut me off before I could finish my sentence.
"Ok now you're just worrying like a girl. Get the hell out of here and have a good time." He said as he pushed me out the front door. "Oh and pick me up some éclairs. If they're small I want at least two."
The smell of fresh roses filled up my car as I drove to Syd's place. I picked up a dozen red roses from the little market around the corner from my street. I knew how much Syd loved roses and wanted to start the evening off right.
Taking a deep breath, I knocked on her door.
"I'll be right there!" Syd yelled while I could hear her footsteps pounding lightly from behind the door.
When she finally opened up, the sight before me left me breathless. Syd looked so stunningly gorgeous that my breath hitched in my throat and my heart did flip-flops.
She was clad in this strapless, black dress that was hung slightly passed her knees and hugged her body in all the right places. A simple, silver pendant hung from her neck and her face had the minimal amount of makeup. Aside from the lip-gloss and mascara, there was no makeup to hide that beautiful face of hers. Her hair was curled and pulled up neatly, with a couple of strands hanging down the sides of her face.
"Sydney, you look… amazing." Stepping forward, I planted a soft kiss on her lips.
"You don't look bad yourself Vaughn. Let me grab a sweater and we'll be out of here."
We said a quick goodbye to Francie and made our way to the restaurant. The restaurant proved to be just as beautiful as it sounded. The walls were painted in a deep red with each table widely spread apart. The lights were lit low, and each table had two candles sitting on the top of a clean, white tablecloth. They even had a live pianist softly playing in the corner. There was a definite romantic and intimate glow to the restaurant.
Halfway through the dinner my leg was able to stop jittering. It was a good thing I listened to Weiss' advice on not wearing a tie. I would've been tugging at it all night. It was an annoying habit that I had when I felt nervous.
The evening was turning out exactly the way I planned with the delicious food and the live music. Syd and I shared stolen kisses and longing stares throughout our whole meal. Not a lot of words were spoken as both of us felt that words weren't needed to express the way we were feeling.
Syd practically squealed when we were finally ready for dessert.
"We'll have a big slice of the chocolate cake to share, please." She said to the waiter without hesitating.
"Vaughn, this place is incredible. I can't thank you enough for bringing me here tonight. Everything has been perfect." Reaching across the table, her right hand became laced with mine.
"I'm glad you're having a good time. I was nervous as hell you know."
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah, I asked Weiss like a million times if I looked ok. He had to push me out of the apartment." We both let out a chuckle.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I accidentally told Francie that Weiss likes her."
"I'm sure she would've figured it out eventually. The guy wears his heart on his sleeve. I wonder how things are going with them right now."
Before Syd could answer, the waiter brought the chocolate cake and two forks to the table. Every time Syd took a bite out of the cake a small moan escaped from her lips. I didn't think I fully understood how much she loved chocolate until tonight.
We both downed the cake without a flinch and before I knew it, I was signing the bill. We made our way out of the restaurant with my arm securely wrapped around her shoulders.
While waiting for the valet to pick up the car, Syd and I stood at the edge of the sidewalk with her arms wrapped around my body under my jacket. Her warm hands were running endless patterns on my lower back as bliss took over me.
Placing a kiss on the top of her forehead, I took a look down at her.
"You ready to do this?" I asked.
"I've been ready." She replied with a big, dimpled smile.
I took a hold of her hand and started to lead her towards the car when someone called her name from behind.
"Sydney? Is that you?" It was a voice that I haven't heard in two years. Without even turning around, I already knew who it was.
"Danny?"
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