"Squid! Hurry up!" Eric whined from his post by the door. He waved his keys around and sighed impatiently for the umpteenth time that morning.
"I'm eating as fast as I can!" Sydney yelled back before stuffing another mouthful of cereal in her mouth.
"You're wasting all this time on food?" Eric admonished abandoning the door to walk into the kitchen and stare at Sydney who was leaning against the counter, a barely eaten bowl of cereal in her hands. "And you're not even close to being done."
"I just got down here," Sydney shot back giving him a glare.
"And whose fault is that?" Eric returned.
"People are allowed to oversleep once in a while," Sydney growled.
"People who don't have me as their driver to school do," He countered. "But you're stuck with me and my rules and my rules say that we have to leave ten minutes ago!"
She glared at him. "And do your rules cover getting food for me on the way to school?"
Yep, he had walked right into that trap. Great, now he had to waste more time by getting her drive-through breakfast. Ah heck, anything to get out of the house. "Alright, fine. Now get your crap and let's go."
A triumphant smile passed through her eyes as she set the bowl down and grabbed her backpack off the ground next to her feet. She knew he'd cave. He always did.
"Bye Mom! Bye Robert!" She yelled over her shoulder before Eric gave her a shove out the door. He didn't even bother with a farewell as he stalked out of the house, barely refraining from slamming the door. "What's eating you?" She asked, giving him an apprehensive look.
"Nothing except you being late," Eric replied near a hiss.
She didn't believe that for a second. Something was bothering her older stepbrother. It would only be a matter of time before she found out what it was. He wasn't that good at keeping secrets.
"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," She commented, buckling her seat belt.
"Do you want breakfast or not?" He snapped.
"Fine…" She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and turning to stare sulking out the window. He rolled his eyes at her and turned over the ignition. Soon enough they were speeding down the main strip of their quant suburb town of Los Angeles. Their parents have moved them out of the city soon after they married. Only Sydney's father still lived in the city and she didn't see him that often.
"Stop your pouting and eat you food," Eric said, practically throwing the sausage and egg McMuffin at her.
Sydney grinned and caught the food. "You're the best brother ever," She mocked, diving right into the food.
"You might want to take a napkin to your face," He advised, pulling back out into mainstream traffic from the McDonald's. "We're giving Vaughn a ride today."
She almost chocked on her food. Vaughn? The Vaughn? Well, duh what other Vaughn did she know? But still, the day after she realizes that she has a crush on the guy, her stupid brother decides to give said guy a ride to school. Oh, she could kill him sometimes. Now sounded good.
"What? Is it burned or something?" Eric asked, giving her a weird look out of the corner of his eye.
Sydney swallowed the bite in her mouth as she shook her head no. "No… you just surprised me."
"Because I told you that we're giving Vaughn a ride?" He asked, the weird look growing.
"Wasn't it you that said you only carpooled me to school and no one else?" She pointed out.
"Vaughn isn't included in that," He answered nonchalantly.
"Just my friends?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, pretty much," He replied giving her a cocky smirk.
She rolled her eyes at him. "You're such a jerk sometimes."
"Only when you make us fifteen minutes late," He muttered.
"Five at the most!" Sydney screeched.
"Ten," Eric conceded finally.
She glared at him but nodded anyway. "I accept your surrender."
"Surrender!" He cried, almost losing control of the car because he was so shocked. "I did not surrender."
"You did too!" She countered.
"I compromised. That's not surrendering." He pointed out.
"Well, it is now," She retorted.
"Whatever, squid," Eric answered off handedly. She made a throaty growl and lunged to attack him just as he slammed on the brakes causing her to lose her balance. She just barely managed to keep from hitting her head on the dashboard. Glaring daggers at him, she lunged to attack him again when the rear door on her side opened.
"Don't kill him, Syd… we need a driver," Vaughn joked. See, he could do this. He could act like nothing was even a little bit weird between them though his entire train of thought was on how good she looked in that tank top.
"I can't promise anything," Sydney muttered slouching back in her own seat.
"You can if you want to get to school," Eric answered sticking his tongue out at her before turning in his seat to greet his friend. "Hey Mike."
"Hey Eric," Vaughn returned, forcing himself not to look at Sydney as he added, "Hey Syd."
"Hey Vaughn," Sydney mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the dashboard before her.
"She's in a mood, ignore her," Eric told his friend, definitely loud enough for his sister to hear. "Probably on her period or something," He added, pressing on the gas again.
Sydney's eyes widened and she shot a venomous glare towards her brother, barely managing to keep her protests to herself. No, she wasn't going to fight with her brother about something like that in front of Vaughn.
Vaughn raised an eyebrow and looked between them a couple times. Right, so he hadn't heard them fight like this since they were like nine. Something was bothering them if they were fighting like this. Eric he had a guess about what it was, considering he was his best friend but he couldn't decide what was wrong with Sydney for the life of him.
Needless to say, the rest of the drive to their high school was pretty silent.
After throwing another glare towards her brother and not even looking at Vaughn, Sydney grabbed her backpack and stalked off to find her friends, making sure to slam the car door behind her.
"What'd you do to her?" Vaughn asked, tearing his gaze away from his crush to look at his friend.
"I didn't do anything," Eric answered. "She's in a mood."
"She's only ever in a mood because you put her in one," Vaughn pointed out.
Eric rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I have to go."
Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "Okay… where?"
"None of your business," Eric snapped. "I'll see you at lunch."
"Alright," Vaughn answered shaking his head a little warily at his friend. He stood staring at the school for a couple seconds before he headed off for his first period class: team sports.
Of course, Sydney had to be in that class as well. Of course, so was her friend Nadia but he didn't really care about her at all. Scratch that, Nadia was a nice enough girl he just didn't care about anybody but Sydney. That sounds about right.
"God, I hate him!" Sydney ranted to Nadia.
Nadia sighed to herself and steeled her nerves for another of Sydney's infamous rants. "Who? Eric?" She asked.
"Yes!" Sydney replied venomously. "He just had to go and say that in front of Vaughn!"
"But Vaughn doesn't know that you like him," Nadia pointed out. She always was the voice of reason. "And for that matter, neither does your brother."
Sydney threw her a glare. "That's not the point." She countered. "The point is he purposely does this crap to try and embarrass me."
"Purposely?" Nadia repeated. "I know he's jerk sometimes, but I doubt that he would purposely try to embarrass you in front of his friends."
Sydney didn't pause to think that maybe she was over exaggerating this. Not even a little bit. "It's my brother; of course he'd do something like that. He was in a mood this morning."
"Oh?" Nadia asked, sounding a little more intrigued. "About what?"
"Hell if I should know," Sydney answered.
Nadia nodded and shrugged slightly to show her indifference. "Maybe he's got a new girlfriend or something and they had a fight." She predicted.
Sydney frowned, thinking this new idea over. It wouldn't be unlike her brother to have a girlfriend but not tell his family about her. But no, she would have heard about it around school. Then again, maybe he and the mystery girl –if there even was one- haven't told anyone. Oh, she hated not knowing what was going on.
"I think the question is; who would want to date him in the first place?" Sydney said at last.
Nadia opened her mouth to reply when the coach's whistle blew, bringing the class's chatter to a stop.
"Alright!" Coach McCann yelled. "Today, we're starting a new sport! Floor hockey!"
Half the eyes of the class drifted away from Coach to Vaughn. Everyone knew that he played hockey and was pretty damn good at it, even if he didn't play for the school team. Vaughn lowered his eyes and shifted his weight unconsciously making Sydney smile to herself.
"Vaughn! Santos! You're team captains!" Coach went on to yell.
Sydney swore mentally. Of course she wanted to be on her best friend's team but then again… Vaughn. She had to be on his team because if she wasn't then she'd lose and losing was not in her plans. And you know, that little crush of hers now.
"Call it," Coach said tossing a coin in the air to determine who got first pick.
"Heads," Nadia said.
"Tails," Vaughn said after her.
Everyone's eyes followed the coin in its ascent and then its descent. Now if that wasn't a bit strange, no one could really tell you what was. The coin hit the ground with a soft click and everyone leaned in to look at the coin. It was tails. That meant Vaughn got first pick.
"Umm…" Vaughn murmured, looking at the other students. "Sydney."
Sydney stole a glance towards Nadia who nodded her agreement to his decision. After flashing her friend a quick smile, she joined Vaughn on his side. He had to force himself not to look at her. Nadia picked next, then Vaughn, and then back to Nadia until everyone had been chosen for a team.
"Team captains meet in center field for the face-off," Coach commanded.
Vaughn and Nadia each grabbed a hockey stick –like everybody else- and met in the center of the gym for the face-off. Though she put up her best effort, he beat her easily and immediately passed the puck to Sydney.
Sydney had unofficially taken the forward position along with Vaughn and together they scored the first goal of the game within a minute. She flashed him a triumphant grin before taking off down the floor after the puck. He was dazed by her smile for the rest of the game.
Sydney and Vaughn's team ended up beating Nadia's 10-4. Nobody was really shocked by that. They had Sydney the golden sports girl who athletically good at everything and Vaughn the king of hockey. Of course they were going to win.
"Good game," Sydney congratulated to Vaughn as they put away the sticks. They had volunteered to help Coach out a little while everyone else changed out.
"Right back at ya," Vaughn answered.
She laughed and put another stick into the bin. "Thanks."
Vaughn smiled at her and nodded. His mind was screaming at him to just tell her how he felt and he was very willing to listen to the voice. "Umm… Syd?" He asked. Here's goes nothing.
She stopped and looked at him. "Hm?"
"Can I tell you something?"
Sydney felt her pulse start to race as she nodded as solemnly as she could. "Sure."
He couldn't think of how to describe exactly how he felt for her that fast. It would have taken him a least an hour to think of words that would do his feelings justice. So he took the next best option.
With lightning quick movements, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer to him. A slight gasp escaped her lips as she looked up at him, doe eyed. If he was going to do what she thought he was, then she had no problem. He paused only long enough to smile at her before he lowered his head and kissed her.
A low groan tore through his throat. God, did she have to taste so sweet? Well, he should've expected it. It was Sydney for the love of God. And oh by God did he love kissing her.
"Vaughn!" Someone yelled tearing his train of thought away from the girl he was kissing. "Hello! Vaughn! Are you okay?" The someone was starting to sound more like Sydney.
Wait… Sydney? He was kissing Sydney. Wasn't he? Suddenly he opened his eyes and blinked a couple times and Sydney wasn't there anymore. What the hell? Oh… shit, he'd dozed off in the middle of team sports and had a dream about Sydney. Damn.
"Are you okay?" Sydney repeated, looking rather worried.
Vaughn blinked again and nodded. From the looks of things, class hadn't started yet. "Yeah… must have dozed off there."
Sydney gave him a relieved smile. When she'd asked him if he knew if Eric had a new girlfriend and he didn't answer, he'd almost given her a heart attack. "Yeah… in the middle of team sports?"
"Late night," He explained. Yeah, it was a late night because he spent about three hours on homework that should've taken him an hour at the most because he couldn't stop thinking about her. And then, of course he couldn't get her off of his mind long enough to fall asleep for a solid two hours after he lay his head on his pillow.
She nodded understandably. Her night had been a little sleepless as well. "Did you hear my question?"
He shook his head. "Nope."
"Do you know if Eric has a new girlfriend?" Sydney asked. Behind her, Nadia smiled and rolled her eyes.
Vaughn shrugged. "None that I know of."
Sydney narrowed her eyes at this new piece of information. If Vaughn didn't know about any relationship concerning her brother, then there was probably none going on. Then what was his problem this morning? "Thanks." She told him, turning her attention to Coach as Coach blew the whistle to start class.
-break-
The next chance Vaughn had to see Sydney was their Photo class at the end of the day. Eric and the rest of their friends had demanded all of his attention and as he later found out, Sydney had gone with Francie and Nadia to a fast food restaurant during lunch.
Lucky for him they sat next to each other in Photo and neither had any other friends in that class with them. He had her all to himself. That is, after their teacher Ms. Forougi finished explaining their new assignment. They were to take pictures of people at leisure. Easy enough, especially when she asked that they do the project in pairs. Needless to say, Vaughn picked Sydney as his partner instantly.
"When do you want to get started?" Sydney asked, smiling at him.
Vaughn shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. "Friday sound good?"
"Yep," She agreed before frowning and shaking her head. "Wait… no, I can't on Friday."
"Why?" He asked. Somehow the 'can't' turned into not wanting to do the assignment with him in his mind and that well, sucked.
"My dad wants me to spend Friday night until Sunday morning at his house," She explained. Her dad had called her during lunch and said that he was going to pick her up at six on Friday. When she asked why, he said that she was spending the weekend at his house and he'd already cleared it with her mother. Way to include her in plans before they're made.
Oh, okay now he could blame Jack Bristow for his plan of being with Sydney on Friday night being ruined. Actually, no… he wasn't going to blame Jack Bristow. That man scared him senseless sometimes and he's only spoken about two and a half sentences to the man.
Vaughn nodded. "Sunday afternoon then?"
She smiled. "Sounds great," She answered. Oh God, what was she doing? Here she was, making plans with the guy who she couldn't stop thinking about all day long. God was Sunday going to be a long day. "Okay… does the mall or Pier sound better?"
He was a little distracted by the shine of her hair for her question to sink in right away. Of course, when it did so did the realization that he was making plans with the girl who he spent team sports daydreaming about. Shit was Sunday going to be the longest day ever. "Um… how about the mall?"
A sly smile crossed her face. "Not the pier?" She asked innocently.
He could barely refrain from glaring at her. She knew exactly why he didn't want to go to the Pier. She was there when Eric decided to throw him in and see if he melted for crying out loud! "No Pier," He stated firmly.
Sydney giggled. "Don't feel like swimming in the Pacific again?" She teased.
Vaughn shook his head. "Not if I can help it."
"One of these days… I'm going to get you to go back into that ocean," She told him.
Oh he had no doubt that if Sydney asked him to go swimming in the Pacific with her that he would go. No doubt what so ever. He'd beat his life on that little fact. "You willing to bet on that?" He asked as calmly as he could.
She smirked at him. "Only if you are."
He considered it and came to the very quick conclusion that he would lose that bet. Losing the bet wasn't something he really wanted to do, so he shook his head. "Nope, not really."
"We need to work on your gambling skills," She observed.
He chuckled. "Yeah… probably."
She smiled at him and rolled her eyes slightly. "Next weekend, after we get this photo thing out of the way."
"Is that a threat or a promise?" Vaughn asked.
Sydney smirked. "Oh I think you can bet it's a promise."
SSB's note: So, I read over that and realized that absolutely nothing happened! I'll do better with the next chapter, I promise.
Thanks to timeisonyourside, Oreata, livingArtemis, soccerfreeek324, ArodLoverus2001, SuperDuck123, gils, s, BrSoccerChic, Cat, Ren201, vaughloveralwaysandforev, Nicholette, Emmy d, largemarge416, dolphingurl1, Natalie, chickieedee, andluvvaughn0 5 for reviewing.
Next chapter: Coffee with a side of cannon balls