Hello all. I know you guys have been waiting for this chapter so here it is! I'm dedicating it to all of you who have been reviewing religiously and encouraging me to continue with this fic. I couldn't have done any of this without you. Enjoy this chap because I had a great time writing it!
Chapter 22.
Syd's POV"Vaughn! No wait!" I screamed when I ran outside to catch him. But, he was already gone.
Running back upstairs, Danny stood there speechless.
"Get out of my way. I'm going after him. Thanks to you, I might have just lost Vaughn forever." I yelled.
Shoving him out of the way, I swiftly grabbed my car keys and sped after Vaughn. Tears streamed down my face as the look on his face was permanently imprinted in my mind. All I could see was the horror and hurt in his eyes when he saw Danny and I.
I needed to get to him. I needed to explain that what he saw was a mistake. But most of all, I needed him to know that I love him. Danny was in the past and I no longer want anything to do with him.
After dialing his apartment phone, Weiss informed me that he hadn't spoken or seen Vaughn since he left to go see me. Frantically calling his number, his voicemail would come on every time I repeated my actions.
I drove everywhere looking for Vaughn. I went to the beach, the park where he plays basketball, pier 39, and even the parking garage at school. If he went back to campus then his car would be parked in the garage. But, there were no signs of him anywhere.
Tired and frustrated, I drove to his place hoping that he finally went home. I couldn't think of any more places he could've gone to and if I did find him, it was obvious he didn't want to see me right now.
Walking into Vaughn's apartment, I took a seat on the couch and dropped my head into my hands. Loud sobs escaped from my mouth as I realized that everything was my fault. Francie and Weiss immediately joined me on the couch, curious as to what the hell was going on.
"Syd? Sydney talk to me? What happened?" Francie said softly while trying to get me to look up at her.
"He's not here, is he?" I choked out.
"No, he still hasn't come back." Weiss answered.
"He saw me. He stood on the top of the stairs and saw me kissing Danny. I tried to go after him, but it was too late. I screwed this up… he's never going to forgive me for this." I explained.
"What? You were cheating on Michael?" Francie asked.
"No! I told you I was inviting Danny over to tell him that I didn't want to see him anymore and that I've moved on with Vaughn. When I told him, he said he was fine with it. But, when I was walking him out, all of a sudden he just forced a kiss on me and I was so stunned that I couldn't even move. When I pulled away, I saw Vaughn standing on the stairs. He witnessed everything."
Weiss came over handing me a box of Kleenex as the tears continued to flow freely.
"He's going to understand Syd. Really. When he comes back, you just need to tell him it was a mistake." Weiss told me.
"But, what if he doesn't understand?"
"He will. He was going over there to tell you that he was sorry for the way that he acted and that he loved you." Sitting back down on the couch, Weiss forced me to look up at him. "He loves you Sydney. I know he does. He's told me a thousand times already. You're going to get through this, ok? If you want, I can try and go find him."
Slowly nodding my head, Weiss got up from the couch and grabbed my car keys from my hand.
"Alright, I'll be back. Don't you worry, I'll bring him home." He said as he closed the front door.
I was able to stop crying for a while, but the horrible feeling in my stomach would not go away. I continued to sit there with a blank expression on my face. Not wanting to speak to Francie anymore, I closed my eyes and pretended like I was asleep.
When I couldn't force my eyes closed anymore, Francie kept pestering me to eat something. I refused. If I were to eat anything, I would've just thrown it up anyways. I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to talk to anyone and I didn't want to be comforted. All I wanted was to see Vaughn again.
Vaughn's POVMy stomach turned after seeing Syd and Danny just talking last night. Think about how it felt when I saw them kissing in her hallway. When I walked up the stairs, all I could see was their eyes closed and his lips on hers.
The knot in my throat became so tight that I couldn't even yell out at them. Instead, I dropped the flowers from my hand and sprinted out of there. I couldn't see them. I couldn't face that fact that the love my life was going to leave me for her ex-boyfriend.
Driving around aimlessly, I didn't want to stop. I feared that if I stopped, someone would come find me. I didn't want anyone to find me right now. I felt humiliated. I was being stupid for believing that things between Syd and I would work out. She's always just thought of me as her best friend and it should've stayed that way.
Pulling up to Ft. Miley, I got out of my car and made my way down the long, dirt path with a six-pack of beer in my hand. I found this place when I first moved up to San Francisco and got lost driving home. Ft. Miley was this little area that sat on top of a hill with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
It was my secret place that no one knew about. The sky was just getting dark and the fog was slowly creeping in, creating a misty environment. It was perfect for my mood. It was dark, depressing, and lonely.
Taking a seat on the dirty ground, I popped open the first can of beer. I planned on sitting here until I was out of beer and getting myself as drunk as possible. Immediately, I regretted picking up only one six-pack. I decided that this wasn't going to be enough. I thought that maybe alcohol would numb all the pain and make me forget everything in the past three hours.
The bitter taste of beer filled my mouth as I downed the first can in three gulps. Tossing it to the side, I grabbed for the second can. God, how sad am I, I thought. Sitting here, drinking away my sorrows and mourning over the loss of my girlfriend. Well, I guess I lost her. I lost her to another guy.
What's so good about Danny anyways? Ok, so he's in medical school. Big deal. I'm pre-law… sort of. So, I'm not really pre-law. I think that's what I want to do. That's what it is. Maybe Syd is attracted to him because Danny is driven and knows exactly what he wants to do.
I continued to sit there thinking of all the possible things that would make Syd go back to Danny until I realized that I was just torturing myself.
I was on my last can of beer when my phone started ringing again for the 50th time that night. I was tempted to throw my cell phone into the bay when I took a glance at the caller ID and realized it was Weiss. He was the only one I actually wanted to talk to at the time.
"Hello?"
"Dude! Mike! Where the hell are you? I've spent the last three hours looking for you!" He yelled into the phone frantically.
"I'm up near Ft. Miley. I came here to think." I responded.
"Well, you need to get your ass back to the apartment. All of us have been worried sick about you! Syd's been sitting here crying for hours. It's nearly 2 in the morning Mike. You need to come home."
"I don't want to see Syd right now, Weiss. I can't even look at her. She cheated on me with that asshole! I don't know if I can ever forgive her." I explained.
"First of all, she wasn't cheating on you. She explained it to all of us. She invited Danny over to her apartment to tell him that she can't see him anymore. When he was leaving, he tried to kiss her and she was so stunned that she didn't pull away."
"I'm supposed to believe that?"
"She loves you Vaughn. Did you hear me? She loves you. At least come home and let her tell you herself. Ok?"
I let Weiss' information sink in before answering.
"Alright, I'll be right there."
Syd's POVI must've dozed off for a while, because the next thing I knew it was almost 2:30 in the morning and a blanket was draped over my body. Slowly sitting up off of the couch, I heard the front door opening. Assuming it was Weiss, I laid back down on the couch hoping to get a couple more hours of sleep.
Just then, the light turned on causing my eyes to burn. Squinting, I turned my head towards the door to see who was there.
"Vaughn?" I squeaked out.
Immediately, I jumped off of the couch and ran towards him. Wrapping my arms tightly around his neck, I breathed in his familiar scent.
"Have you been drinking?" I asked, pulling away slightly.
"C'mon, let's go to my room." He whispered.
Taking a hold of my hand, he turned off the light and led me into his room. We both took a seat at the edge of the bed as I brought my hand up to his face. Lightly stroking my fingers around his cheek and jaw, I was the one to speak first.
"Let me explain what happened, ok?" I said quietly.
Vaughn just slowly nodded and continued to sit there with his hands tightly clasped together.
"What you saw was a mistake. I called Danny this morning and told him to come over so I could talk to him. When he came over, I told him that I couldn't see or talk to him anymore. After seeing how upset you were last night, I wanted to make sure that you would never have to feel that way again. Danny seemed to take it well. It felt so good to finally have closure and end things with him. But, when I was walking him out the door, he said he had to have one last kiss and quickly leaned in. I froze up so badly that I didn't even push him off. I'm so sorry Vaughn. I'm so sorry that you had to see that. I don't know if this means anything to you, but for that split second after I kissed Danny, I was actually glad that he did it. Because it made me realize that I no longer had feelings for him. I felt nothing when I kissed him. Then, I saw you on the stairs. I saw the look in your eyes and it broke my heart." The tears once again sprung up to my eyes as I tried to make Vaughn understand.
"I know Syd. Weiss called me a little while ago and explained everything. He coaxed me back into coming home." He explained.
"I see. I'm glad you picked up your phone. You wouldn't answer any of my calls."
"I know. I just didn't want to talk to you at the time. I didn't know the whole truth as to what happened and just assumed that you were getting back together with Danny."
"No! I would never do that Vaughn!" I said as I took his hands in mine.
"When I saw you guys kissing, my heart broke into a million pieces Syd. I spent those hours by myself just replaying what I saw in my mind. I kept telling myself that you were getting back with Danny because I wasn't good enough for you. It was killing me inside because I thought that I couldn't give you what you needed. That's why I started drinking. Somehow I figured that if I drank enough, it would wash away all of my misery. That somehow I would forget everything."
"I'm so sorry for all of the pain that I caused you Vaughn. I never meant to hurt you." I said apologetically.
"I'm sorry for acting like a jerk last night." He responded.
"No, you don't have to be sorry for that. It was my fault for not telling you that I was fully over Danny."
Taking my hands out of his, I brought them up to cup his face. The stubble from his chin tickled the palms of my hands while I searched for his eyes.
"I love you Michael. After everything that we have been through in the past month, with the fight with my dad, the accident, Danny… I've come to realize how much I need you. You're my best friend. I can't go through anything without knowing you're by my side. I love you so much."
"I love you too Syd. I always have." Vaughn responded while a single tear dropped from his eye.
Wiping the tear away with my thumb, I slowly leaned in and kissed his lips softly. The bitter taste of beer was apparent on his lips, but I didn't care. I needed him.
Our kiss soon turned more passionate as I scooted myself closer to Vaughn and grabbed at the back of his head, pulling him as close as possible. Bringing his mouth down to my neck, he started placing kisses on the sensitive spot behind my ear.
Pushing me back against the bed, Vaughn came to lie on top of me. I brought my hands down to the bottom of his back, feeling the strong muscles right above the top of his jeans.
Slipping my hands under hit shirt, I swiftly pulled it over his head, wanting to feel his bare skin under my hands. I rubbed my hands up and down his bare chest and felt at heaven when Vaughn started lightly kissing my throat.
He continued his path around my neck and throat while I entangled my hands in his hair, encouraging him to go on. Suddenly, he sat up and motioned for me to do the same. Right before he went to pull off my t-shirt, Vaughn looked deeply into my eyes and I knew what he was silently asking.
"No, I don't want to stop. Make love to me Vaughn." I whispered.
Vaughn's POVWe were wrapped up in each other's arms, limbs entangled, and blissful smiles on our faces as we lay there wide awake. Both of us were dead tired from the emotion spent on the previous couple of days. But, neither of us wanted to close our eyes and ruin one of the best moments of our lives.
"Wow." Was the only word that could escape from my lips.
"I know." Syd answered, pulling my body closer to her.
"If I knew we were missing out on that the whole time, I would've gotten in a big fight with you a long time ago." Laughing, she playfully hit me on my chest. "C'mon, let's do that again."
"Vaughn, you do know it's 4:25 in the morning and we actually have classes tomorrow."
"We do? Let's skip a day of classes and do something fun." I said as Syd laid her head down in the crook of my neck.
"Yeah, what's your idea of fun?" She asked.
"I dunno… We could go over to your place and try this out in your bed."
"Vaughn!" Syd yelled a little too loudly. "Now that we've done it are you always going to be like this?"
"No. I'm just kidding."
Placing both of my arms around her body, I brought the blankets up around her bare shoulders. It was the most wonderful feeling, lying with Syd in bed after we made love for the first time. Words couldn't even explain how amazing that experience really was.
"So, are we really cutting our classes tomorrow?" Syd asked.
"Yep, I'm sure as hell not going."
"Good. Maybe Francie and Weiss will cut with us. I know they were pretty worried about you too."
"Yeah, I'll apologize to them in the morning. Wait, where are they?" I questioned realizing that I didn't see Francie or Weiss when I walked in the door.
"She's sleeping on the air mattress in Weiss' room." She answered.
I could feel my eyelids getting heavy while I struggled to keep them open. But, the harder I fought, the more tired I would get. Feeling Syd's breathing against my neck leveling out, I could tell that she was drifting off too.
Planting one final kiss on her forehead, I whispered into her ear.
"Goodnight Syd… I love you."
"I love you too Vaughn."
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