OMG, OMG, OMG! I am sooooo excited. Season 4 is finally starting in Australia tonight! I can't wait.
Anyway, just had to get that out of my system. Once again I want to thank all you for your great feedback.
moshizzle de fizzle: Evicted means that Vaughn's landlord is kicking him out of his apartment.
dandan2300: The reason for the eviction is right at the start of this chapter.
aliaschickita47: Thanks for all that feedback. A dag is a person who, I guess, is slightly odd or eccentric. It's kind of a hard word to desrcibe- I hope that helped.
"Shit!" Vaughn slammed the letter down on his kitchen bench.
"What?"
"I'm being evicted."
"Why?" Sydney sat crossed legged on Vaughn's bed as he paced up and down his bedroom. Following her afternoon with Francie, Sydney had gone over to Vaughn's. They'd spoken earlier that day, and were planning on going to the movies that night.
However, after she had let herself in and seen Vaughn sitting on his bedroom floor, methodically throwing a miniature basketball against his wardrobe, she had the feeling that they'd be spending the night in.
"My landlord is selling all the apartments on the block. I have three months to find a new place and get out." He threw himself down on the bed, his hands under his head. "Damn!"
Sydney, knowing that nothing she said would console Vaughn, simply stroked the top of his head.
"I love this place, you know." Vaughn pulled Sydney down so he could hold her. "I don't want to have to leave it."
"Well, you could just chain yourself to a fixture somewhere. Or set up a fake murder story. Your landlord would struggle to sell an apartment where somebody died."
Vaughn let a short laugh. "Nice try, Syd." He kissed the top of her head.
"So I guess you'll have to start the apartment search soon." Sydney turned to her side.
"Oh, don't remind me." Vaughn groaned, rubbing his eyes. "I've only been here about 7 months- I don't want to have to do the hunt thing again."
"Oh poor Vaughn." Sydney said, a slight smile on her lips.
"You could at least try and sound sympathetic when you say it."
Sydney laughed lightly, putting her hand under Vaughn's shirt and running it over his chest. "I'm sorry."
"No, you're not." He turned slightly, so he could give her a soft, slow kiss. "And for that you need to be punished."
"Oh really?" Sydney replied, wiggling her eyebrows. "And what might that punishment be?"
"You, Miss Bristow are going to accompany to every single apartment I look at. If I'm going to be forced into this, you may as well be by my side.
"So Vaughn conned you into going apartment hunting? How'd he manage that?" Weiss asked Sydney Monday morning. He was going through a little Francie phase and had enlisted Sydney's help in picking an outfit for his date with Ainsley that night.
"He guilt me into it." Sydney replied, from where she was seated at Weiss's desk. "Apparently I wasn't sympathetic enough of his plight."
"Glad it's you and not me- I got dragged around last time he had to find a place. You're lucky though- at least this time he won't be depressed and broken-hearted." Weiss held up a black shirt. "This one?"
"Nah," Sydney wrinkled her nose. "Too much for just the movies."
"Syd, I think I'm screwed." Weiss sighed and sat on his bed.
"Why?"
"It's been awhile since I've been on an actual date, and I really want tonight to go well. Can you help me? What does Ainsley like? What does she dislike? When she goes to the movies, does she like to eat popcorn?" Weiss's voice and face suddenly transported Sydney back to setting up for the Halloween party. He really was channelling Francie today.
"Hey, hey. Calm down." Sydney came across and sat beside him. "I'm afraid I can't help you with the info on Ainsley. The Ainz I know is twelve years old, and I have the feeling that things might have changed since then."
"Oh god. What am I going to do?"
"You're going to go out tonight and just be Eric Weiss. She asked you out remember? Which means that she likes the person that you are."
"So that's how you've got Vaughn wrapped around your little finger. You feed him lines like that."
"Hey Houdini, that Vaughn has plenty of lines up his own sleeve." Sydney smiled. "Now let's pick a top. Just because Ainsley already likes you doesn't mean you don't have to look fantastic."
"How do you think our little Weiss is going?" Sydney asked Vaughn that night. They had just sat down at his table to eat dinner.
"Our little Weiss? You make it sound as if he's our son." Vaughn shuddered at the thought.
"Shut up." Sydney slapped his hand. "I'm being serious- he has such high hopes for tonight."
"Syd, I'm sure that he is doing fine."
"Well, I hope so."
"So what did you want to see?" Weiss asked, looking at the movie programme. It was your typical line-up: action/thriller, kids movie, drama and the ever-dreaded chick flick. He knew it was dangerous territory to let Ainsley choose the movie- Sydney was a perfect example of how that could turn out. Vaughn had been watching more chick flicks lately than Weiss's sister and mother combined. However, Weiss felt that just being near Ainsley was enough incentive to sit through any movie.
"How about that one?" To Weiss's surprise, Ainsley was pointing to the action movie.
"Really?"
"Unless you want to see the chick flick?" Ainsley teased.
"No, I just assumed…Wait, this isn't some psychological trick to get me to unwittingly pick the chick flick, is it?"
Ainsley threw her head back as she let out a peal of laughter. "I'm not trying to trick you. I prefer action to romance any day."
"Oh god." Weiss put a hand to his heart. "You are the perfect woman." He couldn't wait to tell Vaughn this. He'd wait for just the right moment- like after Sydney made him watch Dirty Dancing for the zillionth time.
"I think perfect is a massive exaggeration." Ainsley laughed.
"Hey, I'm just telling it like I see it." Weiss shrugged.
"Here's a hint, Eric." Ainsley leaned into his ear, and whispered. "Save some of the charm for later on." She pulled back and winked at him. "Come on. You go buy us some tickets, and I'll go stock up on some popcorn, ok?"
"Ok." Weiss watched her walking towards the candy bar, struggling to believe that the night was going so well. The rate he was going, a second date was looking to be on the cards.
"Umm, ok…proudest moment?" Ainsley asked Weiss. After the movie the two of them had gone across the street for ice cream. They were now seated opposite each other in a booth, trying to get to know each other as much as possible before the night ended.
"Winning the state basketball championship in high school. It felt great to be part of such an awesome team." Weiss replied. "You?"
"Finally mastering the guitar after years of practice."
"You play the guitar?"
"Yeah, I started when I was 13." Ainsley licked a bit of chocolate topping that had gotten on her thumb. "You're turn."
"Saddest moment."
"Not long after we moved, our new house burnt down. We lost everything we owned. You?"
"When Bill, Vaughn's dad died. I haven't lost anybody in my real family- knock on wood. But Vaughn and I spend so much time together that we see our families as each other's." Weiss paused. "Do you get what I mean?"
Ainsley nodded. "How old were you?"
"We were eight. What made it so hard was watching Vaughn trying to deal with it. I mean, how does an eight year old comprehend the fact that his dad is never coming back?" Weiss shook his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get all serious on you."
"That's ok." Ainsley smiled. "But let's lighten the mood. What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?"
"You're asking me to pick just one?"
"Yup, one."
"That's a tough call. Can I narrow it down to the most stupid thing in the past twelve months?"
"Alright then."
"Vaughn and I were at my place, after we'd been to a party. We were very hungry- and drunk- and I decided that I would bake us some cookies. From scratch."
"Oh no. What happened?"
"Somehow I managed to set fire to the oven. Needless to say, my parents were not happy at all." Weiss said, ruefully. "What about your stupid moment?"
"Well after what you just told, nothing could sound stupid. You, Eric, have taken the cake."
"Uh uh, not fair." Weiss waved his spoon at her. "I'm going to need to hear an answer."
"Ok." Ainsley relented. "It was at a school camp. A friend and I were always really competitive with each other, and she always seemed to come up trumps. Anyway, one day our group was going horse riding and this friend of mine was a fantastic rider, but I figured it wouldn't be too hard show her up, right?"
"I'm thinking wrong." Weiss put in.
"You got it. I tried to canter, fell off and broke both my arms. Needless to say that was the last time I ever tried to compete with Lauren Reed." Ainsley laughed and Weiss almost choked on the mouthful of ice cream he'd just taken. Surely not?
"Did you just say Lauren Reed?"
"Yeah, do you know her? She actually moved to this area for uni. I've been meaning to contact her, we haven't spoken in years." Ainsley looked at Weiss, who all of a sudden seemed very uncomfortable. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." Weiss shifted in his seat. Ainsley used to be friends with the she-devil? Did that mean that Ainsley was like Lauren? No- Ainsley was nice. But then Lauren appeared to be nice. Oh god, how was Vaughn going to react when he heard this?
"Are you sure?" Ainsley was starting to get really concerned. Weiss's demeanour had completely changed.
"Actually, I'm feeling a little off. Do you mind if we call it a night?"
"Uh, no." Ainsley tried to keep the disappointment off her face. The night had been going so well. So why the sudden change in Weiss?
Neither of them spoke until they got outside, to their separate cars.
"Um, so I'll call you." Ainsley said, before opening her car door.
"Yeah." Weiss put his key in his lock. "Speak to you soon." As Ainsley drove off Weiss fought the urge to kick his car door. Would anything ever go right for him?