A/N: Another chapter! Yay! I really like this chapter, too, so enjoy! 
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Chapter 12-
Sydney and Vaughn spent an hour driving around the city, without saying a word. He had asked her where she wanted to go, and she said that she really didn’t care. So, now they were driving, with no destination, and in no hurry.
“Michael…,” Sydney said, finally breaking the silence.
“I just… I just don’t want it to be weird. We’re best friends, and if something screws up… I don’t want to lose that,” Vaughn replied.
“We could never lose that, Michael; not us. Even if this relationship were to crash and burn, we’d still be friends, because people like us can never stop being friends. Knowing you’re my friend… that’s the only thing that’s driven me,” Sydney explained.
“Sydney-”
“After my mom died, a short while after you left, I felt like my entire world was caving in around me. And it was. I had lost you, my mother, my father was never home, and he’d grown distant, so, in a way, a lost him; I lost my entire family. I know I was just a small girl then, and I’d get over it, but as I got older, things only got worse. I truly did lose everything, except for the hope that I’d see you again. That was the one thing that kept me together. And just when I was about ready to give up, I met you, again,” Sydney said.
“Oh, Syd… I’m sorry. I should have never have made you wait for so long. You were so lonely…,” he said, barely above a whisper.
His guilt was starting to get the better of him, and that was one thing he promised wouldn’t happen this evening.
“If only I’d been there…,” he kept thinking, unable to erase the thought from his mind.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve said it before, Michael; the past is the past, and there is no use in crying over what you just can’t change. It does nothing but make the both of us feel lousy,” Sydney said, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Yeah,” he uttered.
He checked the clock in his car, which read 12:13am. Had they really been out that long? It only felt like a few minutes, or an hour tops.
“I better get you home before your father murders me,” Vaughn said, turning the car in the direction of her house.
“Michael?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad we got to… you know, share this evening… this talk… the dance,” Sydney said.
Vaughn smiled, and rested his chin atop her head, “Me, too, Syd.”
In a few, short minutes, they found themselves back it Sydney’s house, pulled in her driveway.
“Here, I’ll walk you to the porch,” Vaughn said, stepping out of the care.
“Michael, there’s no need; its a ten second walk,” Sydney replied, chuckling lightly.
“Well, I’m a gentleman, and I can walk you,” he replied.
They walked up the steps to the Bristow Mansion, and when they reached the top, Vaughn stood on her doorstep, but before she could open the door, Vaughn stopped her, asking, “Syd?”
She turned around, a confused look upon her face. He stepped forward, placing his hands on her shoulders, and watching her eyes widen slightly. He stroked her shoulders with his thumbs, and she finally spoke, “Well… I should… go… inside…”
With every word, her face inched closer to his, but she wasn’t alone; he found himself moving in as well, “Yeah… you… should…”
He paused, merely an inch away from her. Her eyes were half open, glazed over, and he had never seen anything so beautiful. She made all of the girls at Acme Hills look like crocodiles.
Finally, staring at her lips, he closed his eyes, and she did the same. Their lips met in what was a gentle and tender first kiss. It was everything he expected and more. Now, he had kissed a girl before, but everything was different when it came to Sydney. Sydney hadn’t had the privilege, and the thought of sharing her very first kiss with Michael Vaughn made her light headed. Or was that his lips? They felt so soft against hers, they made her want to faint.
She opened her mouth a little more, giving him more access, and he deepened the kiss, to which she obliged. There was nothing she wanted more than to stay here, like this, kissing Michael forever, but her dad was inside, and she knew they had to take things a step at a time. So, after their one minute eternity, she broke away, staring up into his hypnotic, green pools, which shone like emeralds.
“Michael…”
“Sydney… I don‘t know what to say.”
They both stared into each other’s eyes, smiling; she hadn’t been this happy since before he left her, and her mother was alive. The same went for him, since before you left.
“I do! Sydney, get in the house, now! Its past your curfew!” Jack Bristow shouted, sticking his head out the window a floor above them.
Sydney giggled, and Vaughn couldn’t suppress an embarrassed laugh.
“That’s my father,” she mumbled, “Coming, daddy!”
“So, Syd-”
“I’m going to the movies with Will and Francie tomorrow, but do you want to come over for dinner on Sunday?” Sydney asked, hurrying as her father watched.
“Uh, sure, but your father-”
“He’ll live. Come over around six, alright?” she asked.
“Uh, yep. Sure, I’ll be there,” he replied.
“Great!”
She leaned in quickly, giving him a light peck on the cheek, and then headed inside.
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The Next Day…
“It was like a scene out of a fairytale,” Sydney explained, describing her very first kiss, “It felt like we were floating, in mid air, while everything was exploding around us.”
“Wow… that is so romantic,” Francie sighed, “You and Vaughn are destined to be together.”
“You think so?” Sydney asked, touching her lips with a smile.
“Definitely. You two go together like peanut butter and jelly… like the earth and the sky… like Sonny and Cher,” Francie replied.
“Francie… Sonny and Cher broke up, and then he died,” Sydney said.
“Yeah… well… you know what I mean. They did some pretty amazing things while they were together, right?” Francie asked.
“I guess so.”
“But, that’s not the point. The point is that you were made from Michael Vaughn, and Michael Vaughn was made for you,” Francie said, blowing on her nail polish, watching it dry.
“I thought so, too,” Sydney said, hugging her pillow to her chest, “Enough about me. How are you getting ready for later on?”
“Later on? What about it?” Francie asked, looking up.
“Your date with Will!” Sydney said, smacking Francie lightly with the pillow.
“Its not a date if you’re coming with us,” Francie replied, “And I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, and weird him out.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Sydney mumbled, leaning back against the headboard of her bed, “But I don’t have to come. You’ll find that being alone with the person you’ve been after really… clicks.”
“Clicks?”
“Yeah; clicks. It just feels so right, and you know you’re supposed to be,” Sydney said, whispering the last part.
She leaned back against the headboard, and smiled at Francie, who flopped down next to her, resting her head in the crook of Sydney’s neck.
“If you come with me just this once, I promise, I’ll ask him out next time,” Francie begged.
“Oh, alright! But you’d better stay true to your word!” Sydney warned.
“Scout’s honor!” Francie said, perking up.
“Scouts are for boys, and I take it you were never into the whole Girl Guide thing,” Sydney mumbled.
“Nah, I wasn’t. But help me pick out what I should wear.”
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“You kissed her!?” Weiss asked, deflecting a shot from Vaughn.
“Yeah. It was great. It was more than great. It was… amazing,” Vaughn said, stopping to rest.
“I can imagine. Damn, Sydney… she’s too fine,” Weiss replied.
“Can you believe that all the kids at her old school treated her like garbage? She told me the girls hated her, and the guys wouldn‘t even look at her. They mostly just laughed, and made fun,” Vaughn explained.
“She’s fine, but way too soft. I have to admit, if you didn’t know who she was, I never in a million years would picture you two together. I mean, you’re the popular hockey star who’s aggressive and won’t let anyone push her around, while she… she lets herself be bullied,” Weiss replied.
“Yeah, well, I don’t think so. She told me how Lauren came to her house, and she slammed the door right on her face. She’s learning how to stick up for herself,” Vaughn said.
“Really!? In her face!? Damn, she has guts! I guess a few days at Acme Hills will do that to you. She’ll learn to be a soldier,” Weiss said, as he deflected another puck.
“No, Sydney’s always been soft; that’s just the kind of person she is. Nothing will change that. Besides, as long as I’m around, she doesn’t need to be strong or fight any battles, because I’ll do that for her,” Vaughn replied.
“Oh, wow! You’re already pussy-whipped!”
Vaughn shot a puck into his friend’s gut, hard. Even through the padding, Weiss grunted, and doubled over in pain.
“I‘m just kidding!” he uttered, nearly breathless.
“And I’m not; I’m not pussy-whipped, but I’m not going to stand by and watch my girlfriend get bullied. Its my job to protect her, even before she came to Acme Hills, as a friend.”
