Weeks went by and the Mark thing never got any less weird for Chelsea. Every afternoon they met up at the café for lunch. He'd bring her flowers. They danced in her kitchen. She'd let him taste test her recipes. They stargazed and made blankets for each other in the winter. He helped her work the land. They'd work late so often that it started to seem odd for her not to invite him to stay the night. And then suddenly she realized she wanted him to. There were anniversaries and birthdays. Pretty soon villagers stopped seeing them as individuals and starting referring to them as a unit.
But the more she saw Mark the less she saw Vaughn. Sabrina thought it would be so fun to go double dating but Vaughn always seemed to have an excuse. Eventually Chelsea felt lucky if she saw him at all. If she did it was usually because he wasn't able to escape out of Mirabelle's back door when Chelsea walked into the shop.
Of course Vaughn was known for his antisocial nature. He was gruff and standoffish. But not to her. Not in years.
At first Chelsea thought this was a sign that she'd be able to get over him. If he wasn't in her life, logically, it'd be easier for her to forget him. She begrudgingly accepted the change. She stopped leaving phone calls that never got replies. She stopped asking Julia how he was. She limited her conversations with Sabrina to books, her father, and the weather.
Now Vaughn was just a lingering thought in the back of her mind. But that thought stopped Chelsea from falling in love with Mark's smile. Or his melodic laugh. Or the way Mark thought his baseball cap made him look cool.
So maybe she shouldn't have drunken so much at the snowman building festival.
Chelsea stumbled around in the snow. Mark bent over in laughter while trying to support her.
"Hey it's Vaughn and Sabrina!" Chelsea waved wildly at the couple. Sabrina and Vaughn were silently standing next to each other. They seemed to be trying to look at anything except each other. There was something strained and awkward about it.
"Chels…" Mark's word quickly shifted to concern. He'd spent numerous nights listening to every desperate complaint since Vaughn had pulled away from Chelsea. "Chels, let's go visit Chen and Charlie."
"No, no. Let's go say hi." Chelsea dragged Mark towards the couple.
"Hi Chelsea. Mark." Sabrina gave a small wave. Vaughn dropped his stiff arm from Sabrina's shoulder and focused his eyes on Mark's shoes. He gave a brisk nod.
"Hey, how have you guys been?" There was Mark as usual, defusing situations with chatter.
"O-Oh, great."
"Look at them Mark! Of course they're great! What couple doesn't stand practically five feet apart?"
Sabrina and Vaughn shared some awkward eye contact after their distance was pointed out.
"Oh Chelsea, you're so silly-"
Chelsea cut off Sabrina's shaking voice. "Remember how close we used to be, Vaughn? We were practically on top of each other half the time!" She broke free of Mark's arms, moving her hands around trying to make a point. "We shared the same bed for the entire summer three years ago." She looked at Sabrina. "Did he tell you that?" Then she looked at Mark, confused. "Did I tell you about that?"
"Chels, maybe we should go home-"
"We? Who's we? It's my home! I mean it could be Vaughn's with the amount of time he spent there."
"Chelsea." This time it was Vaughn's voice through gritted teeth.
"So he speaks!" Chelsea laughed so hard she almost fell over. Mark caught her, rolling his eyes.
"You know how she gets when she drinks." Mark said, forcing a chuckle.
"I know how he gets when he drinks. He made a pass at me one time."
"Chelsea." It was clear Vaughn didn't want to sound like he was pleading. Now it was Sabrina's turn to glare at the ground. Her face was red. She looked like she was about to cry.
"I never brought it up again of course." Chelsea shrugged. She clearly had no idea what she was doing.
"I'm sorry guys. She's been pretty upset lately. She doesn't mean any of this."
"Oh come on Mark! I'm just having a little fun!" She elbowed her boyfriend playfully. "But since you mention it, I guess I have been upset." She pointed to Vaughn. "It's his fault. What kind of friend just blows someone off? What's the deal with that?"
"Chels-It's complicated." Vaughn stammered.
"Oh! Complicated! Like you're not always complicated!"
"Chelsea, I'm taking you home." Mark picked Chelsea up.
"You're such a jerk Vaughn. I can't believe I loved you or whatever!" Chelsea called back as she was carried away. "You're a flake!" And then she threw up on Mark.