This is my very first fanfiction story, so please read and review!
Title: Close Encounters
Summary: Seventeen year-old Vaughn returns home to Los Angeles after living in France for two and a half years. But Sydney has a new boyfriend, and Vaughn still has feelings for her. Does she still have feelings for him? Total AU.
Setting: Sydney, Vaughn, Nadia, Weiss, Francie, and Will are all juniors in highschool. Sydney and Nadia are both living with Irina. Irina is currently single, and divorced both Jack and Sloane. No one is dead except Vaughn's dad. Keep in mind Nadia and Weiss are dating, and Francie and Will are dating (just so you won't get confused).
Disclaimer: I do not own Alias. Since I am to a point basing this story from the book Maine Squeeze, I will say that I do not own that story either. Kelly Clarkson's Since You Been Gone lyrics are in this song, which I also do not own.
Rating: PG-13, just to be safe, and because of language.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-"Good Morning Los Angeles!"
Now I can see why people throw their alarm clocks at the wall in the morning. I am so not a morning person. I swear, I'm so going to toss that damn thing.
The only thing that stopped me from doing so was the picture sitting on my nightstand. The picture of me, Nadia, Weiss, and Vaughn, downstairs in the kitchen baking cookies. I remember that day. That was when Vaughn blew up a batch of chocolate-chip cookies in the oven. The frame that the picture was in was the beautiful antique one that Vaughn gave me for Christmas the year before we started dating. God, why am I thinking about him? He moved two and a half years ago. To France. I mean honestly, what does France have that I don't have? Oh, that's right, Michael Vaughn.
Sydney, you have a boyfriend. His name is Kevin, not Michael. Why am I talking to myself? This is so stupid. I should have gotten over Vaughn a long time ago. Besides, it's not like he's ever going to come back. I wonder if he ever thought about me. Get over it Syd.
I looked at the clock, it read 7:29. Damn. School started in an hour. I finally decided that getting ready for school was more important then kicking myself over an ex-boyfriend, so I got out of bed to go downstairs for breakfast. I could smell the aroma of my mom's signature panacakes the minute I walked out of my room. They'd better be blueberry.
"Good morning sweetheart," my mother said over the edge of the newspaper she was reading. "I made you your favorite pancakes. They're blueberry."
Score! I love you mom. "Thanks Mom," I said. Now that I think of it, Vaughn seemed to love my mom's blueberry pancakes too. Sydney, stop. "Where's Nadia?"
"She should be in her room getting ready for school," Mom replied. Nadia was always a morning person. How could that girl always be so perky?
"Oh," I said plopping myself down on one of the barstools at the kitchen counter. I notice a burn mark strategically covered up by a placemat. That was from when the cookie tray was still on fire, and Vaughn threw it onto the counter. I quickly covered up the mark with the placemat. Don't go there Sydney. Next, I tossed two of the blueberry pancakes on my plate, and squeeze the life out of the maple syrup bottle. That's how I like my pancakes. Drowning in syrup.
"Sydney, you should be getting ready for school. Have you taken a shower?" Mom asked.
"No, not yet."
"Well then hop to it girlie. It's already 7:43." Damn, time goes by fast.
By this time, I was finished eating my blueberry pancakes, and over at the sink washing my plate. Wow, I eat fast. I rushed up the stairs into my bathroom to take a shower. Hard to believe when we first moved in, I got my own bathroom. That equaled privacy. It was even connected to my bedroom. Convenience. I certainly thought so that one time when I had the stomach flu, and jumped out of my bed and went straight to the bathroom to puke my guts out in the toilet bowl. I seriously didn't think I was going to make it. Of course when I told Vaughn, he just laughed at me. Of course he always laughed at me any time I talked about my bathroom. Seriously Syd, get over him.
I turned on the shower. I could feel the water getting warmer as the seconds passed by. I slipped out of my night clothes, and stepped onto the cold tile. The water cascaded down over my body, and it felt really good. It reminded of the fourth of July three years ago when Vaughn and Weiss thought it would be funny to pour a barrel of warm water on me at the beach after I had just gotten dressed from swimming in the ocean with them. It was totally not funny since, a huge gust of cold air passed through when they were still laughing. I was freezing. I had never been more cold in my life, and I live in freaking California! Vaughn finally felt bad, and took off his wet jacket to drape over my shoulders. It was a sweet gesture, but come on. His jacket was soaked, and I was drenched. I needed something dry. Then he kissed me on the nose. I must say, I instantly felt warmer. I'm totally serious. I loved that about him. The things he could do to make me feel better...
"Sydney. Are you in there?" It was Nadia's voice coming from the other side of the bathroom door.
Duh. Hence the running water. "Yeah! I'm almost finished. I'll be right out," I said, washing the remaining conditioner out of my hair. I stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my body, and walked out into my room. Nadia was sitting on my bed reading a magazine that was there from the night before.
"What did you need?" I asked my sister.
"I wanted to know if you liked my outfit," she said standing up, and slowly spinning around so that I could see. She was wearing a white halter top, paired with a flirty black knee-length skirt. Of course it looked good on her. She always looked radiant.
"It looks very nice. Are you dressing up for Eric, or for that audition after school?" I questioned raising my eyebrow. Nadia was trying out for the leading role in the school play. I had confidence that she would get the part. She wasan excellent actress. Obviously Weiss thought so too. How did I know? They weredating.
Blushing like a fool she said, "For both I guess." I knew it.
"Well since you've nailed your outfit for today, go over to the third drawer and find me a tee shirt to go with this," I said holding up a hanger with a cute denim mini-skirt.
"Uh, Syd. The third drawer is empty," Nadia said confused while looking into the drawer. I was confused too, but only for a second. I knew why the drawer was empty. That was Vaughn's drawer. He'd come over after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays to study, and then he would get ready here for hockey practice. He would always bring over a bag with all of his hockey stuff in it. I finally told him that the bag was getting ridiculous. I had enough of the stupid bag, so I gave him the third drawer. The drawer was his. He loved his drawer. He told me himself. But that was two and half years ago. I don't know why I never filled it back up again after he left. "Sydney, your tee shirts are right here in the fourth drawer," Nadia announced after inspecting all of the drawers. She tossed a yellow tee shirt onto my bed. "What about that one?"
"Yeah, I guess it would look good," I answered. It was the yellow John Deere tee shirt that Michael bought me for my birthday before he left for France. After he gave it to me, we started jokes about it.
"Vaughn, what does my shirt say?" I asked him.
Wrinkles creased in his forehead. He was confused, but he's so cute when he's confused.
"Vaughn, what does my shirt say?" I repeated.
"John Deere," he said, still confused.
"You can ride my tractor," I joked. It was a lame joke, but I love looking at his great smile when he laughs at my dumb jokes. It's smiles like his that make me go weak at the knees. Which I did, and I almost fell over, but he caught me in his arms. He's always there to catch me if I fall.
"No Syd, looks like you're going to have to ride my tractor, because you can't even stand up straight," he laughed.
I snapped out of my flashback, at the fact that Nadia was waving her hand viciously in front of my face, and that I already had a boyfriend. Kevin.
"Sorry Nad, I should be getting dressed now," I said, still dazed. I guess she took the hint that I wanted privacy because she walked out of my room, leaving me to my thoughts.
Sydney, your boyfriend is Kevin. Vaughn left, and there's nothing you can do except forget him. You love Kevin now. At least I think I do. Come on, get dressed. It's 7:53.
As soon as I finished getting dressed, I went into the bathroom to do my hair and make-up. I decided to put my hair into a high, but loose ponytail, with my bangs swepted across to the other side of my face. On to my make-up. I put on all my make-up in a breeze, except when it came to lipgloss. I came across the tube of 'hockey stick red'. Hockey is Vaughn's favorite sport. I opted to go with cotton-candy pink, so I could at least gain back some of my sanity. If I had any left.
Next thing I knew, Nadia was at my door, and ready to go to school. It hit me that I still needed to drive us to school. Being a junior in highschool, Nadia and I both had our driver's licenses, and could drive. Except Nadia hated driving, and I drove us to school everyday in my Acura SUV. Pretty cool, I agree, but sometimes driving is lonely with out him. Michael.
We said good-bye to Mom on our way out the door, and then we were off to school. As we were driving down the road, Kelly Clarkson's 'Since You Been Gone' came on the radio.
Here's the thing
We started out friends
It was cool
But it was all pretend
Yeah, yeah
Since you been gone
You dedicated, you took
the time
Wasn't long till I called
you mine
Yeah, yeah
Since you been gone
Her song made me realize more about myself since Vaughn left. Maybe he didn't love me the way I loved him. Boy, did I love him. I was crazy for him.
And all you'd ever hear
me say
Is how I pictured me with
you
That's all you'd ever hear me
say
Or maybe he really did love me as much as I loved him. Maybe more?
But since you been gone
I can breathe for the first
time
I'm so moving on yeah,
yeah
Thanks to you
Now I get what I want
Since you been gone
I was confused. Why did he leave? He never told me why. If he loved me, he wouldn't leave, would he?
Once again, Nadia brought me back to reality, but this time by turning down the radio.
"Syd, you seem out of it, you almost hit the mailman," she said in a concerned tone.
"Oh, what? No, I'm fine," Yeah right.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, of course," Sure, denial always works.
As I drove into the school parking lot, and got out of my car, I was greeted by Kevin. He's so sweet. But he needed to cut his mangled surfer hair. I liked Vaughn's hair. Not too short, but never too long. Sydney!
"Hey," he said, gently pressing his lips against my cheek.
"Hey yourself," I said back.
"Nice tee shirt. I've never seen you wear it before. Where'd you get it?" Kevin asked.
"Oh, um, just something I found, nothing special," I said. Liar.
But that was probably the most special tee shirt I ever owned.
We walked into the school, holding hands. Of course because that's how Kevin liked it. Actually, it wasn't that bad. Kevin had always been the sweet kind of guy, but today he seemed different. He was still sweet, but different. Here he was thinking that our relationship is going great and so sure that we'll both get nominated homecoming King and Queen. It was really cute actually. It was just the second week of school, and he was already optimistic. I had to argree, I thought we were a cute couple too. But Iwas there thinking about my ex-boyfriend. What kind of girlfriend was I? Maybe I'm the one that was different today. I don't know.
"Hey Fran!" I said as Kevin and I glided down the hallway, arm in arm. She was talking to Will, but broke away momentarily to talk to me.
"How was your weekend?" she asked, with a grin plastered on her face. She was always very smiley. I bet she's a morning person.
"It was pretty good. Didn't do much though," I replied. It's true, I didn't really do anything. I just watched a couple chick flicks with Mom and Nadia.
"The star player didn't even practice for the school's soccer team try-outs? Syd, try-outs are today," Will cut in. Damnit. I knew I was forgeting something this weekend. How could I forget? I've been the captain of the school soccer team since I started here at Brookenbridge High. As far as everyone's told me, I'm the best on the team, but I don't want to brag. I have to too much on my mind for that. I had to make try-outs.
"I totally forgot!" I cried. I hadn't played since last season, and I bet my skills were rusty.
RIIIING! It was the school bell, indicating that we had five minutes to get to class. Kevin gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and left for his next class with Will and Nadia. Leaving me and Francie to walk to trigonometry class together.
As we were walking, Francie was talking about her weekend with Will, something about a movie. I wasn't really paying any attention to her. I was thinking about Vaughn. I know I shouldn't have been, but I just wanted to know why all a sudden, I just started thinking about him. I bet it was waking up to the picture in the antique picture frame. I'll have to take care of that when I get home. Why was I thinking about him?
"...and then we both literally laughed for ten minutes straight," Francie said, seating herself at her desk right behind mine.
"That's so funny Fran! Man, I wish I was there," man, I wish I was listening. I hope I didn't sound too sarcastic to upset her.
Francie was about the say more when Mr. Jason started to clap his hands together, signaling that class was about to start.
"Listen up class. Today we are welcoming a new student," right when Mr. Jason said that, the door opened. But I wasn't paying any attention what so ever. I was thinking about why I kept thinking about Vaughn. It's not like he was coming back or anything. What if he did? What would I do? Honest to Pete, Sydney! The other me was totally right. Why do I keep talking to myself? Whatever. The point is Vaughn wasn't ever coming back.
I looked next to me to see that that kid, Bryan, or something, who usually sat next to me, wasn't at school today, obviously because he wasn't there.I waskind of relieved, because all he wanted to talk aboutwas computer keyboards. Seriously, it's weird. How can one know so much about the Enter key? I decided to finally direct my attention to Mr. Jason to see if this new kid has potential, because at Brookenbridge you have to have potential, right? I don't know, but then I heard Mr. Jason say my name. Congratulations Mr. J, you now have all of my attention. But I was still not paying attention. Damn me.
Mr. Jason repeated himself, "Michael, you can sit next to Sydney. No one is in that seat."
What a coincidence, I was just thinking about my ex-boyfriend Michael. Small world.
Then I heard Francie gasp, so I looked behind me to see why. Her mouth dropped three feet. But I didn't know why. Maybe she thought this Michael guy was totally hot. I didn't know, I hadn't seen him yet. Fran, you have a boyfriend too. Remember Will?
I turned around to see what this new guy looked like.
"Hey," he said with a sweet smile.
It was Vaughn.
Shit.
Good? Bad? Please Review! I'm always open to suggestions!
A/N: The John Deere tee shirt thing, is a joke between me and my friends.