Here's an update for you all. :) Taking a break from studying... thanks for the reviews! This is gonna be a quick note cause I don't feel like writing anymore, haha. Enjoy!
PART II- Chapter 8.
Vaughn's POVI flipped through my Sports Illustrated magazine nervously. Doctor's offices always made my stomach turn in knots for some reason. Looking over to my mom, I saw that she was calmly knitting a red sweater for Donovan.
It was three weeks till Christmas and my mother was due for surgery a couple of days after. The doctor planned this so she'd be able to celebrate Christmas in case the surgery… were to have complications.
Even thinking about something going wrong almost made me want to vomit. I wasn't ready for this one yet. My mom's whole sickness hit us so fast in the first place. Shifting uncomfortably in my seat, I closed my magazine and stared at the big wooden clock in the corner. The seconds ticked by slowly making me feel like the walls were closing in on me.
Finally, the door swung open and Dr. Martin entered. She was around my mom's age with kids still in high school. Every time my mom had an appointment with her, she insisted that I meet her daughter. I always wormed my way out of it by asking her some irrelevant medical question.
"Good morning Amélie. I have some news that you are going to be pleased with." She said as she took a seat at her desk. "With the recent tests we've performed on you, it looks like the tumor has shrunk a little less than a centimeter. It proves that the Chemotherapy has done its job and you'll be ready for surgery."
"That's great news doctor, thank you." My mother answered, grabbing my hand and giving me a reassuring squeeze.
Funny, in all of this, my mother was the one going through all the pain. Yet, she still was the one having to comfort me. I always tried to follow in my father's footsteps and be the man of the house, but sometimes I felt like a little kid again.
"Your surgery is set on Dec. 27th. Now you'll have to come to the hospital at 6am. The process is to begin sharply at 8:30 and you will no longer be able to eat or drink after 10pm the night before. Now, I'm not going to lie to you, but the surgery can last anywhere from 6-10 hours. It is a long, difficult day, but we have more than enough reason to believe that you will come out of it fine."
I could feel the beads of sweat beginning to form on forehead. Hearing all of this didn't sit well with me.
"How long will I be in the hospital?" My mother questioned.
"Depending on how well you recover, it could be 2-3 weeks, maybe longer. After you have recovered, we will then be able to start the Radiation."
My mom didn't even get a break in this. I felt horrible for her. Even though I understood that the doctors wanted to get everything done as soon as possible to lower the risk of the cancer spreading, I still felt bad for my mom.
The doctor continued to discuss the process of the surgery and what's going to happen after. I took that exact moment to zone out and wish I were back up in San Francisco with Syd. Although, maybe I didn't.
Not that I didn't want to spend anytime with Sydney because god knows how much I want to do that, it's just that the drama going on up there didn't sound like any fun. Apparently Emily likes Weiss and follows him around everywhere. Weiss is torn between dating Emily and holding out for Francie. Francie continues to hide her jealousy and Syd is stuck right in the middle of the whole situation.
I wondered where I would fit in with all of that. I'd probably be right there with Syd in the middle trying to play peacekeeper. I could just imagine Syd having to listen to Francie go on for hours about how she really didn't care about Weiss and Emily. Obviously, if she cared to talk about it that much it was bothering her more than she was going to admit.
Dropping my mom off at home, I made my way to the grocery to pick up some food for the week. I was always the type that didn't like to grocery shop. It bothered the hell out of me to stand in those long lines and push around a stupid cart. Not to mention people in the parking lot being apathetic to the other cars around them and slamming their cart into car doors.
The best part was when people would slyly look around the parking lot to see if anyone was looking, grab the cart, and put it away like nothing happened. Then the owner of the car would come back 10 minutes later and become irate at the new scratch on their car.
Nope, I never got enjoyment out of that. I waited until my refrigerator and cabinets were empty of food before I made my way to the grocery store. It had to be at the very last minute where eating food was a priority.
Of course being in San Francisco was much easier than home. I lived with Weiss. The dude loves food and has endless stacks of it in the apartment. If our apartment ever lacked having any food in the refrigerator it would be because Weiss died.
With much hesitation, I grabbed my cart and began to make my way up and down the aisles. I figured I'd make the grocery shopping a lot less painful by calling Syd and having her distract me.
After three rings, her voice greeted me at the other end.
"Hey Vaughn…" She said cheerfully.
"Hey Syd, what are you up to?"
"Nothing… just got home from class and reading through my new Cosmo. What about you?" I could hear the pages of her magazine being flipped in the background.
"I'm at the grocery store. I ran out of food this morning so I needed to pick some up."
"Oh god, I know how much you hate going there. I swear Weiss goes to the store about every other day."
"I know." I responded, pausing to grab a loaf of bread from the top shelf. "That's one of the best reasons why living with Weiss is fun. You'll never be hungry again."
"Ok so guess what? I have a surprise for you." She said excitedly.
"You got new lingerie?"
"Vaughn!"
"What? That's a good surprise for me." I joked, knowing she was smiling on the other end of the line.
"No. What I was going to say was that Fran and Weiss are coming down to visit you during semester break."
"Really?" I was ecstatic to hear the news. I hadn't seen Weiss or Fran in about 6 months and was dying to hang out with them again.
"Yeah, they're going to fly down to LA a couple days after Christmas. I hope that's ok."
"Oh… well, my mom is going to be in surgery during that time. I might be a little busy or pre-occupied."
"I know, Vaughn. But, I figured you might need a little more support than me when your mom is in the hospital." Syd explained. "If you want them to come later, I can tell them. I'm sure changing their flight is no problem."
"No, it's fine. That's actually a good idea. They can distract me for a little bit."
I continued to walk up and down the aisles grabbing everything I needed. Orange juice, bread, deli meat, chips, boxed pasta, frozen pizza, apples, and salad stuff all sat at the bottom of my cart.
"So how's school going? Keeping up your grades?" I questioned as I searched the bottom shelf for strawberry pop tarts.
"Yes, dad. I am." Syd replied sarcastically.
"Don't call me dad, it freaks me out. It makes me think of your dad and thinking of you and your dad at the same time screws up my thoughts big time, Syd."
Sydney hardly lived at home anymore and I still feared Jack walking in on us. I never once dared to sleep over her house in the summer. I could seriously picture him grabbing me from Syd's bed and tossing me out the window.
"Sorry. I bought a new comforter for your bed, by the way. The other one had holes in it and the color was fading."
"That's cool. As long as my Kings blanket still stays on top."
"Well, I know you're not going to like this, but I bought a pink comforter." Syd laughed loudly into the phone knowing how much I despised the color pink. It was too girly.
"Pink? I have a big pink blanket on my bed. You better take that thing off when I come back. I can't sleep under a pink blanket."
"Oh, come on Vaughn, you sleep with a purple blanket." She argued.
"That's because it's Kings colors. Purple can't be girly if tough, full grown guys are wearing it."
"Fine. I'll take it off when you come back. I hope you like the 5 vases of flowers in here too. It makes your room smell great."
"Syd…" I whined. "You're turning my bachelor pad into a chick room!"
"It wasn't even a bachelor pad to begin with! Don't worry, when you come back, everything will be just the way it was when you left."
"Good. Except you'll be sleeping in new lingerie?" I knew if Syd were here she'd already be hitting me in the arm.
"I think I'm going to hang up on you now." She chuckled.
"I'm about to get into the checkout line anyways. I'll call you later, ok?"
"Sounds good. Bye sweetie."
Syd's POVI stayed till dinnertime at Francie's place again. We had a presentation due in a couple of days for our class together and had to get some work done. We worked hard for about an hour until we started eating candy on her bed and got distracted.
I would've stayed for dinner since Francie was cooking that night, but I promised Weiss I'd be home so he could teach me how to make raviolli's from scratch. I was tired of buying the frozen raviolli's in the box and wanted to venture out there.
We sat in Fran's room the whole time wondering when Emily was going to burst in the door and ask what we were doing. We guessed she would probably take off her shoes and jump on the bed like this was some sort of private girl talk. To our surprise, she never came home. Not like we minded or anything. Emily always seemed to want to bust in on our conversations like she knew what she was talking about.
Saying a quick goodbye to Fran, I sped home hoping Eric wasn't going to be mad at me for being late. I knew how he got when he was hungry and it wasn't a pretty sight.
I quickly ran through the front door expecting Weiss to already be at the kitchen counter preparing the dinner. Instead, he was sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand… next to Emily.
"Hi Sydney!" Emily said a little too cheerful.
"Hey…" I answered distantly. "Weiss, can I have a word with you in my room for a sec?"
Throwing my keys and purse on the bed, Weiss entered slowly, closing the door behind him.
"Yeah, Emily came over after class cause she said she needed help on one of her math problems." Weiss stated flatly.
"Seriously? She was asking you for math help?" I responded astonished. Weiss was a great guy and all, but definitely not the first person I would call for help on any kind of schoolwork.
"I guess. Where did you come from?"
"I was over at Francie's place. We had work to do on some project."
"Oh… well, I can tell Emily to leave since I promised you dinner tonight. She's been here for like 3 hours already." I could tell Weiss was trying to blow her off. Not because he wanted to, but because he wanted to make me believe he was blowing her off.
"No. Weiss, it's fine. She can stay. I'll find something to eat or go back to Fran's or something."
"Syd… I'm telling her to leave right now, ok? Don't worry about it."
I truly felt bad that Weiss was telling Emily to leave. The poor girl was probably sitting out there wondering what the hell we were talking about in private. Shrugging my shoulders, I decided not to dwell on it. I was perfectly fine finding other plans for dinner while Weiss and Emily hung out. He was the one insisting on her going home.
After Weiss made a lame excuse about me not feeling well and him having to run out and buy medicine, Emily left the apartment. She seemed reluctant at first, even offering to make me soup which made me feel even more horrible for having a grudge against her. But, Weiss assured her that he would call after he took care of me.
"We're just friends Syd, you know that, right?" Weiss asked as he took out the pasta sheets from the fridge.
"I never assumed anything Weiss."
"Well, I just wanted to make sure you knew that. And that Francie knows that nothing is going on. Cause I know Emily might be feeding the wrong information. I just don't want you guys to think…"
I cut him off before he could say anything else. He was rambling and it seemed to me he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince me.
"Seriously Weiss, whatever happens between you and Emily is none of my business. You can do whatever you want." I told him while I stuffed the pasta sheets with ricotta cheese and fresh herbs.
"I like Emily, I really do. She's a sweet girl and everything. I'd date her in a heartbeat."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"You know what I'm waiting for Syd. She happens to be your best friend. I'm not asking you to talk to her for me anymore cause I always as you to do that. But, I don't know how much longer I can wait for her to figure out what she wants. One day she gives out signals, the other day she doesn't. I'm losing hope."
Pausing to look at Weiss, I stopped stuffing the ravioli's and wiped my hands with the dishtowel.
"Do what your heart tells you to do Weiss. Francie is my best friend, but she's complicated. I'm sorry that I can't give you any insight on how she really feels, but if you want to date Emily then do it. No one's stopping you but yourself." I explained, trying to sound sympathetic even though I didn't care for Emily too much.
"Thanks Syd. We'll see what happens. How's Mike?"
"Good. I miss him. Told him you guys are coming down after Christmas and he's excited."
"Yeah, I'm excited to see him too."
Weiss was quiet again during dinner. He swirled his food around his fork, eating slowly and staring distantly into his plate. There weren't many times where Weiss wasn't hungry. I could tell the whole situation was bothering him.
Even when I offered him cookie dough ice cream after dinner he refused. Instead of our nightly TV watching in the family room, he went into his room and closed the door. He didn't even stick around for the sports portion of the news. A clear indicator what Weiss wasn't acting like Weiss.
I was worried about him. There weren't many times when Weiss was bummed out and these were one of them.
Tracking back to my room, I closed the door and turned off all the lights. Sleep was catching up to me and I had no way of escaping it. And even though the evening was still early, I closed my eyes and dreamt of much happier times.
FLASHBACK"Ok Bristow, you can't hold your hands all the way at the bottom of the bat. Choke up on it a little." Vaughn instructed me.
It was the second week we were home for the summer and Vaughn insisted on teaching me how to hit a baseball. We had made a deal earlier in the day that if I could hit at least 10 baseballs, he'd take me mini golfing.
"What the hell does choking up on it mean, Vaughn? I'm not Mr. MVP baseball like you." I answered sarcastically.
I stood frightened inside of the batting cage. Apparently those yellow baseballs are thrown pretty fast by the machine and I knew if I stood too close to the white plate that I would get hit. Vaughn stood outside of the cage with a smart-ass smirk on his face. He knew how much I was scared of the ball.
"It means to put your hands higher on the bat. And don't close your eyes when you swing. You actually have to see the ball to hit it."
The first ball practically whizzed by my head, causing me to fall on the floor and have dozens of people look over my way on account of the girlish scream I let out.
"I almost got killed!" I hissed to Vaughn as he held his hand over his mouth, attempting to cover up his laughter.
"Syd, that wasn't even close. Besides, you're wearing a helmet. Get back in there and hit the ball."
The second pitch didn't come nearly as close to my head as the first one. Muscling up as much as I could, I took a hard swing at the little ball and missed horribly.
"Vaughn…" I whined. "Please… teach me how." I asked him, putting on my puppy dog face and batting my eyelashes.
"Oh, you are hopeless." He joked. "I'm coming in."
Despite the rules written in big bold letters outside the cage, Vaughn entered with no helmet and grabbed the bat from me.
Placing two hands on my hips, Vaughn positioned my body in the batter's box and stood closely behind me.
"Ok, bend your knees a little." He told me, placing the bat in my hands and then covering them with his own. "When the ball comes, don't be afraid of it. I'm right behind you, ok? I'm not going to let it hit you." He whispered right into my ear.
I could hardly concentrate on hitting the baseball anymore because of our close proximity. Vaughn had his arms secured around my body with his warm breath hitting my shoulders. Not to mention the fact that he smelled incredible.
"Here it comes, Syd. Are you ready?" He asked as the machine began to wind up.
In a matter of seconds, the baseball appeared right in the middle of the plate. I could feel Vaughn's grip tighten on my hands as he swung both of our arms forward, hitting the ball straight into the back of the cage.
Releasing his grip on me, I turned around to see Vaughn dusting off his hands.
"I did it!" I yelled to Vaughn while I threw down the bat and jumped into his arms.
"No, we did it. C'mon. I think that's enough batting practice for you. Let's go mini-golfing."
END FLASHBACK
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