PART II- Chapter 17.
Syd's POVFlipping through the latest novel I was forced to read for my lit class, I let out a frustrated sigh before slamming it down on the coffee table. A month had passed and all of us had slipped right into the school routine. Work was beginning to pile up, not to mention the midterms and papers due.
I wasn't in the mood to do any work or reading. The weather outside looked foggy and gloomy, making me feel lazy. Usually I had no problem with a heavy workload. School or getting good grades had never been trouble for me. But, it was one of those days where I felt like lying around in my pajamas and watching some old movies.
Picking up my book again, I snuggled deeper into the couch cushions and attempted to read a few pages before Weiss and Francie came home. Usually when they came home, the apartment got a little louder with Weiss talking too loud and Fran laughing at his jokes.
Vaughn came strolling out of our room a minute later, yawning and stretching his arms over his head.
"You have a good nap?" I asked without looking up from my book.
"Uh huh." He answered, flopping down next to me on the couch. "I wish you were taking one with me though."
"Sorry, I have to read 100 pages by tomorrow."
"Mmm, no you don't." He murmured, planting kisses on my neck.
"Vaughn… Vaughn, really. I need to get work done." I choked out.
"You've been reading for the last two hours. You deserve a break."
"Michael…" I murmured, hoping I would get his attention by calling him by his first name.
I had a hard time talking. The feel of Vaughn's lips on my throat was intoxicating and as much as I wanted to push him off, I couldn't resist. Threading my fingers through his hair, I encouraged him on, throwing my book off of the couch.
At first he laughed, knowing I couldn't resist his charm. Before I knew it, his hands had slipped under my sweater causing me to gasp out of surprise. The rough skin on his fingertips slid across my stomach, softly caressing the area above my belly button.
"What time are Francie and Weiss done with class?" Vaughn asked, pausing to look up at my face.
"I think we have enough time." I answered while slipping my hands under his t-shirt.
Tracing every line of his well-defined stomach, I then moved my hands around to his back, feeling the tight muscles relax under my touch. Vaughn continued his assault on my neck and I knew I would have marks the next morning.
Bringing my hands down to Vaughn's belt buckle, I blindly began to undo the loop. It was hard to do without my eyes. With the distraction of Vaughn nipping at my collarbone, I suddenly lost my dexterity. Undoing Vaughn's pants had become a harder task than I imagined while I tugged and pulled at his belt. Finally, I was able to get it loose, throwing it over the top of the couch.
"Syd… maybe… maybe we should go to our room." Vaughn suggested, all of a sudden stopping his actions.
"Why? I don't think Weiss or Francie are coming home anytime soon."
"I know, but just in case. I have a fear of people walking in on us."
Throwing my head back, I let out a long laugh before looking into Vaughn's eyes and seeing that he was dead serious.
"You're not joking?" I asked.
"No. Ever since your dad caught me in my boxers that one morning, I've had this fear in the back of my mind that he's going to walk in on us and hang me."
"Vaughn… my dad is 500 miles away. He's not going to walk in on us." I assured him, running my fingers along his jaw.
"It's not just that. I mean, I always thought of our intimacy as special and something between us. I just don't want Francie and Weiss to come home and find us… you know… on the couch."
I paused for a moment before taking in Vaughn's words. Now there were many times where I had realized I snagged one of the best boyfriends in the world, but this was the one time I was awed by Vaughn's sweetness. The way he described our love life made my heart soar.
Picking up his hand, I brought it to my lips before pushing myself off of the couch and whispering, "Alright, let's go."
When the weekend had finally arrived, all of us were in desperate need of a break. It seemed that everyone was struggling with the schoolwork, including myself. When Friday night rolled around, I really just wanted to stay in with Vaughn and order in some Chinese food. The week had wore me down and I was looking forward to a long nap and cuddling with Vaughn on the couch.
That was the plan until Weiss came up with the genius idea to take a ride down to Pier 39. With much convincing from Fran, we all jumped into the car as I laid my head on Vaughn's shoulder, attempting to get at least a 10-minute nap in.
The wind was biting by the time we reached the pier, causing me to tighten my scarf around my neck while Vaughn threw the hood of his sweatshirt over his head.
"Good one, Weiss. Pick the coldest night in San Francisco to go out." Vaughn said sarcastically, slapping him lightly on the back of the head.
"Oh, quit your whining. You and Sydney need a little spontaneity in your lives. You guys do the same thing every weekend." He answered back.
"We do not!" Vaughn shouted, grabbing my frozen hand.
"Yes you do. It's always dinner and a movie or staying in and doing whatever you two do in that room of yours. You're so predictable."
"At least I'm getting some." Vaughn mumbled under his breath. Fortunately, Weiss didn't hear him.
The four of us walked around Pier 39 slowly, admiring the street performers and looking for a place to eat. I had to admit, being out and exploring the city was one of the best experiences about living in San Francisco. Despite the cold weather, the pier seemed quite busy with all sorts of people eating in the restaurants and riding the carousel.
Watching the dozens of children ride up and down the carousel reminded me of when I was a young child, before my mother had died. My parents would take me to the mall every once in awhile and I would beg them to take me on the carousel. I was too small at the time to ride by myself, so my dad would pick the biggest horse on the outside and sit me on his lap.
Finally, after Francie announcing that she had a craving for seafood, we settled for the Fish and Chips restaurant. While waiting for the waitress to bring us our food, Vaughn had slipped his hand under the table and drew lazy patterns lightly on the palm of my hand. No matter what we were doing, Vaughn and I always had to have physical contact.
"Syd, don't forget on Wednesday afternoon we have that nails and pedicure appointment around the corner from school." Francie reminded me while stuffing a few French fries in her mouth.
"Thanks Fran." I responded while pulling out my phone and putting it into my schedule.
"What's with girls and getting their nails done? I don't see the big deal. You guys dish out like 50 bucks to have someone else paint nail polish on your toes. Can't you do that yourself?" Weiss asked sarcastically.
"No. Putting nail polish on isn't the only thing they do. They file your nails, buffer them, clean up your cuticles and shape them. I can't do that all myself. I'm not that talented." Fran answered back.
While Francie and Weiss continued to argue about pedicures and manicures, I looked through my calendar on my phone, remembering that my first lit paper was due the next week. I groaned looking at the 11th and seeing I only had a week to finish it up.
Suddenly, my eyes opened wide while I peered at the date flashing on the outside of my cell phone. Realizing it was already the 4th of March, I tucked my phone back in my pocket and hoped that no one noticed the worried look on my face.
Vaughn's POV
"So what do you guys want to do next?" Weiss asked, pushing his empty plate of food off to the side.
"I'm cool with anything. Syd, what do you want to do?" I questioned as I nudged her with my elbow. I had noticed she had become quiet during dinner while she failed to finish half of her food.
"I don't know. Ask Francie."
"Let's go to the arcade!" Francie yelled out excitedly, clapping her hands like a little kid.
Making sure I laid down enough money for Syd and mine's food, I helped her up from the table and exited the restaurant. Immediately, the freezing wind hit our faces while I wrapped both my arms around Sydney to keep her warm.
By the time we reached the arcade, Weiss' eyes were already lighting up at all the videogames lined up side by side. Loud music blared from the speakers as a few teenagers strolled around, looking at all the possible games they could play.
Immediately, Weiss spotted the air hockey table and practically ran to it, pumping his fists in the air like some sort of maniac.
"I rule at this game. C'mon Mike, let me kick your ass like I always do in Madden… and Halo… and NBA Street." He said confidently, taking out quarters from his pocket and inserting it into the side of the air hockey table.
Turning to Syd, I could see that she was looking off distantly, not paying attention to anything that was going on. I knew something was up with her, I just didn't know what.
"Hey, you ok?" I asked concerned, tugging on her hand to get her attention.
"What… yeah, I'm fine." She responded quietly.
"You sure? You seem quiet."
"Vaughn really… I'm just tired. With the midterms and the reading, I've been so occupied. You know it's been a long week for the both of us, that's all."
"You want to go home? We can hail a cap so you can get into bed." I suggested.
"No! It's fine. I'm fine. Go play with Weiss. Fran and I are going to walk around a bit."
And with that, she linked her arm through Francie's and they strolled slowly towards the other side of the arcade.
In the meantime, Weiss was tapping the table lightly with the air hockey mallet, silently telling me to hurry up already. He looked determined to kick my ass. Not that I was going to let that happen or anything. Weiss never kicked my ass in anything like he thinks he did.
Rolling up the sleeves of my sweatshirt, I nodded towards him to tell him that I was ready. He wasted no time in starting the game, hitting the puck hard towards my goal. I was thankful I always had quick hands, moving quickly to block the puck from going into the goal.
"Does Sydney seem distant to you?" I asked suddenly, hitting the puck back to Weiss.
"I don't know. She seems normal, why? She was ok when we got here."
"Yeah, she was fine up until we were at the restaurant. All of a sudden she got really quiet and now she doesn't want to talk." I explained.
"Maybe she had a bad piece of fish or something. Don't worry about it, Mike. She'll be fine. You know girls, they have mood swings like crazy. One minute, they're happy. The next, they're not."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
The game between Weiss and I soon turned into an all out war as we vowed to give the winner 20 bucks after it was over. Weiss was a little bit better than I thought, sliding the puck expertly into my goal a few times.
Each time Weiss scored, he'd do this stupid little dance and swing his arms around his head screaming some ridiculous song about how he's the best. Seeing him so confident fueled me even more, wanting to actually beat him so he would shut up. I'd never taken losing too lightly in anything I did. It was safe to say I had quite a competitive side to me.
With the score tied at 6-6, I unexpectedly began to feel really hot, pausing to shrug my sweatshirt off of me. Shaking my head a little and loosening up my arms, I yelled to Weiss that I was ready to go.
A small crowd of teenagers began to form a circle around the two of us as we became way too absorbed in our game to notice our two girlfriends standing amongst the crowd. After hitting the puck back and forth, with a few close calls, I slammed the puck into Weiss' goal while the sirens on the top of the table went off signifying my victory.
Loud clapping rang all of our ears as the small crowd clapped for me and slapped me a bunch of high fives. Weiss hung his head in defeat. He really thought he had me there for a second.
"Yeah! That's right! Who's your daddy, Weiss? C'mon… say it… that's right, Michael Vaughn is the man." I yelled, throwing the hockey mallet back on the table and strolling towards Weiss.
"Ok. You win." He said dejected while pulling out his wallet.
"Save it man. Just buy me a couple of beers tomorrow night."
After slapping him lightly on the back, I walked back towards Syd and kissed her forehead. Her cold hands framed my face while she wiped the beads of sweat that had formed during the game. Meanwhile, Francie made sure Weiss was ok and gave him a sympathy hug for his loss.
I gloated all the way home, making sure Weiss heard all of my irritating comments. Usually, I'm a humble winner. I never try to rub it in because I know how it feels to be on the other end of the deal. But, in this case, if our roles were reversed, Weiss wouldn't give it up for a few days.
Syd laughed at my stabs at Weiss, but for the most part she stayed silent in the car. Unhooking her seatbelt and crawling into my lap, she mindlessly played with the strings on my sweatshirt. I had never seen her like this before. Usually I could read Syd's moods easily, but this one I couldn't.
It didn't look like she was sad, or in a bad mood. Looking down at her face it looked like she was in deep thought, narrowing her eyebrows in concern. I didn't want to bring it up in front of Francie and Weiss, so instead I kept my mouth shut and soothingly rubbed her back.
"We're going to go out and get some ice cream real quick." Weiss announced after pulling up the curb of our apartment. "You guys need anything?"
"Yeah… pick up a Mint Chocolate Chip for me and a pint of Coffee for Syd." I answered, not even bothering to ask Sydney what she wanted because I already knew the answer.
"Ugh, I never understood why you like that stuff, Syd." Francie joked.
"Alright, we'll be right back!" Weiss yelled, pulling away quickly.
The two of us walked quietly up the stairs and into the apartment. Immediately, Syd turned on the heater, attempting to warm the place up a little. Francie had accidentally left the living room window open, causing the crisp breeze to flow into the apartment.
Flipping the light on in our room, Syd quickly sat on the bed and began peeling the layers of clothing off of her. She did look tired. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and her eyes looked red and droopy. I could tell she was exhausted and cursed myself for not bringing her home earlier.
"How about I warm you up a cup of tea and you can climb into bed? I know you're tired." I told her, slipping my sweatshirt off over my head.
"Yeah, that sounds great." She responded quietly.
Padding into the kitchen, I warmed up the kettle while searching the cupboards for tea bags. Syd always loved to drink tea at night, saying it helped her relax and put her to sleep. I waited a few minutes for the teakettle to start steaming before pouring a big cup and walking back into our room.
Sydney sat in the same position as I left her, staring down at her hands while sitting on the edge of the bed. Placing the hot cup of tea on the dresser, I kneeled down in front of her to get a good look at her face.
"I know something is bothering you." I stated. "You can tell me, Syd. Anything… remember? You can tell me anything."
"I don't know Vaughn. I don't know if I can tell you this." She whispered.
Fear struck through me for a moment. Sydney had always been open with me and hardly kept secrets. The fact that she didn't want to talk or tell me what was bothering her scared me a little. Whatever it was, I was sure I could fix it.
"Yes you can. Please Syd, you're starting to scare me." I pleaded.
Looking up into my eyes, a single tear dropped down her face. Her lip trembled with nervousness as she took a deep breath before speaking.
"Vaughn… I'm late."
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