The Edge of Everything I Wanted
- Thread starter i love vaughny
- Start date
i love vaughny
Cadet
i haven't decided yet when i'll post again.
and actually (and i swear to vaughn i'm not lying) my computer [where it's saved] crashed!!!
and actually (and i swear to vaughn i'm not lying) my computer [where it's saved] crashed!!!
i love vaughny
Cadet
honestly, i don't even have the computer at my house. and if i did, i wouldn't be able to access the file. and i'm ridiculously busy this weekend. BUT when i get a chance i'll see if i have it saved on a flashdrive (if i do, i know for sure it doesn't have the most recent chapter that i wrote, which i'm mad about because that was a weird chapter and it took me a while to get through it.)
SORRY!
SORRY!
i love vaughny
Cadet
so
the latest news is that my computer MAY be able to be fixed.
but idk if the files are still there...
the latest news is that my computer MAY be able to be fixed.
but idk if the files are still there...
i love vaughny
Cadet
bad news: my computer is dead.
good news: all my files are saved!!!!
Chapter Ten
Sydney was lying on the inner side of Vaughn’s bed with her left leg draped over his legs, her right arm tucked under a pillow, grasping the other end, and her left arm drooped over his waist. Her head was on the pillow, but resting just above his shoulder so that her chin was touching it. Vaughn’s left arm was also under his pillow, but his right hand met hers at his hip bone, where he joined them sensitively. While Sydney was lying more on her side, Vaughn was more on his back, with his head turned so that he was facing her.
They shared a tender moment then; they lied there with unabridged love that still had the tiniest amount of fragility to it. The feebleness was what made their relationship human. Faults are how one learns and improves life for him or herself the next time around. There is no “perfect,” but there is a legitimate likeness to it.
The funny part was that neither of them was smiling. They were beyond smiling, beyond language, beyond labels.
They were Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn.
They were truly, madly, deeply in love.
“Vaughn,” Sydney said, almost indistinctly, but because her mouth was so close to his ear, he heard.
“Yeah?” he whispered back.
Usually, Vaughn, for whatever reason, was the one to break an ardent happening between them. But this time, Sydney did. “How come we’re not sweating?” she questioned. Feeling the need to clarify when she saw his confused look, she added, “I mean, I’m practically lying on top of you, we’re wearing heavy clothes again, and we’re under the covers. When I got here I was already pretty warm, and then, you know, we had quite a steamy,” she smirked and raised an eyebrow, “encounter. So why aren’t we hotter?”
“They like to blast the heat on during the day,” Vaughn explained. “But at night they turn it down low, hence the heavy comforter,” he said as he picked up a fistful of it. “After eleven, they make the change.” Sydney’s eyes shifted and she saw it was about forty minutes after the hour, which explained the situation.
Soon after, they fell asleep, in the exact same position that they were in.
Thrusting the jagged, metal key into the keyhole, Steve unlocked his room’s door, and practically threw it open. Inside, all lights were turned off. Squinting, Steve could make out that his roommate was asleep on the count of he faintly saw the shape of a body in the bed.
It was a little after twelve-twenty.
“Mike, you’re pathetic,” he said relatively loudly, on purpose, as he flicked the bright lights on. “It’s only midnight and you’re already sleeping,” he supplied as basis.
Vaughn was blinded by the lights at first, and was a bit groggy in general. He realized the comforter was up pretty high, almost covering his and Sydney’s heads all the way, but not quite, and the illumined room was very disturbing. He had to release Sydney’s hand, and remove his other one from beneath the pillow, so that he could shield his eyes. Doing so, he knocked the covers down, revealing Sydney’s head. “What the hell, man?” Vaughn complained. Sydney was also trying to shelter her eyes from the light and let out an irritated groan.
That’s when Steve realized that Vaughn was not alone. “Oh, felgercarb,” he said under his breath. “Look, I’m sorry, I’ll just-,” he was saying quickly as he pivoted back to the door.
Meanwhile, Sydney sat up with her back leaning on the headboard of the bed. “We’re not doing anything,” Vaughn said tiredly as he sat up as well. Needless to say, Sydney was a little bit embarrassed. The room was filled with awkwardness. Breaking the silence, Vaughn said, “Steve, this is my girlfriend, Sydney.”
“Hi,” Sydney said, flustered, as a pale blush crept up to her cheeks. Steve greeted her also. There was another silence. “You know what,” Sydney broke in, “I’m just gonna,” she pointed to a door, “go to the bathroom really quick… give you guys a minute to talk,” she said as she climbed over Vaughn to get to the attached lavatory.
At the same time, Steve sat down on his bed, which was parallel to Vaughn’s. Once she was completely disappeared, he said, “That’s Sydney?” Vaughn simply nodded. “And you let her go to school in California.” He was shaking his head with censure. “Dude, you’re an idiot,” he said plainly.
“I trust her,” Vaughn replied.
“That’s wonderful,” Steve said with a hint of sarcasm, “but that’s not gonna matter to the guys over there. And since really, until May, she’ll only see you in two, maybe three block segments – now, if you’re counting the long weekend, and winter and spring breaks – maybe she’ll see it’s hard to be so far apart,” he concluded.
Vaughn was quiet as he stared at Steve for a second or two. “We had an idea what this would be like before we decided on it.”
Quickly, Steve interjected. “That’s what all future long distance couples say, before they realize it’s too hard and break up.”
“We had an idea of what this would be like before we decided on it,” Vaughn repeated, a notch higher. “But you don’t really know us that well. You know me, yeah, but you don’t know Syd. She’s stubborn as hell sometimes.” Vaughn cracked an admiring grin. “Like when she came tonight, she saw Jess leaving and freaked out on me because she didn’t recognize her at first. She thought I was cheating on her. But she wasn’t upset, not yet, or crying or anything: she was ready to beat the felgercarb out of me.”
Sydney didn’t mean to eavesdrop; in fact she tried really hard to not overhear her boyfriend and his roommate’s conversation at all. Nevertheless, a few words were picked up on her auditory radar, and she began to listen more closely. What Vaughn had to say next interested her greatly as it concerned what was to come for them.
“… And the reason she would rather beat me up than cry is because she’s determined as anything. She’s one of those people that is really devoted to their loyalties. She wasn’t going to leave until she heard everything from my mouth bluntly, then,” he chortled, “she’d scream at me until the whole building heard. Maybe even until security came up to see what was going on.
“She always tells everyone exactly what’s on her mind. I know her in every sense of the word. Pretty damn close to it, anyway,” he said with a shrug. “And honestly, that’s why I’m not worried about her going to UCLA and me staying here. It doesn’t matter where we are. For the time being, we’ll still have each other somehow.”
Steve was blown away by Vaughn’s certainty, mainly because he had never, himself, been in a relationship that was that deep. “You really love her, don’t you?” he questioned, now glimpsing what Vaughn felt for her.
“Yeah,” Vaughn acquiesced assertively. Then, he glanced at the bathroom door. “Syd, you can come out now,” he semi-shouted. “I already know you’re listening.”
Blasé, she walked out of the bathroom. “I wasn’t listening!” she dissented, but the perma-smile on her face said otherwise. Vaughn rolled his eyes.
The three of them talked about random topics for the next half hour.
“All right,” Sydney announced. “It’s time for me to start getting home.”
Vaughn looked at her like she was clinically insane. “No it’s not. You’re not driving home tonight.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, in a way saying he couldn’t control her. “Vaughn, I’m fine, I can make it home fine.
“It’s one now, by the time you get home it’ll be at least three, and this is New York City. You’re not going home tonight,” he countered.
She kept a pretty intense stare up for about five more seconds, but then she sighed, defeated. “Is that okay with you?” she asked Steve.
“I don’t care as long as no funny business goes on in that bed while I’m in the room.”
Sydney cackled with incredulity. “Trust me, that’s not going to happen,” she said with a disbelieved smile.
Vaughn handed Sydney a hoodie, for her collection, he said, and pajama bottoms that he was lending her for the night, and she went into the bathroom to change. About a minute after she walked out of the room, Vaughn walked into the bathroom as well. “Syd,” he said austerely.
“Hmm?” she hummed from the stall she was changing in.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
Although she couldn’t see through the metal door, she knew he was smiling complacently. She chuckled, pulled the sweatshirt completely over her head so that she was wearing it properly, and opened the door. Her long legs were completely exposed. He shut the door behind them. “Hi,” he grinned pulling her into a zealous kiss.
She complied for a few minutes, but when it got a little raunchier, she teetered backward, ending the kiss. “In the words of Romeo and Juliet,” she began, “‘what satisfaction canst thou have tonight?’”
“Syd,” he whined, trying to kiss her again. She backed up.
“Vaughn, come on, seriously? You know we can’t have another round tonight. Steve’s right there,” she said, referring to his room, “and he already knows you’re in here with me, and then there’s still your two other suitemates that are right through the other door, and there’s no telling whether or not they’ll come in, and when that may be.”
He exhaled. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. Then, wordlessly, not because he was annoyed, but because there really was nothing more to say, he walked out and back to his room.
A few minutes later, Sydney exited the bathroom, not wearing the hoodie and drawstring bottoms as planned. Instead, she was holding her clothing and the pajama pants, and only wore the hoodie, which came down to her mid thigh.
Steve was astounded that she was doing that, because he was in the room, while Vaughn appreciated her audacious and risqué approach. She crawled into Vaughn’s bed, and he lied beside her.
“Night, guys,” she said. They turned the lights out. Subsequently, she fervently kissed Vaughn. “What you said before about me, and us… it was really sweet,” she said breathlessly as she smiled.
good news: all my files are saved!!!!
Chapter Ten
Sydney was lying on the inner side of Vaughn’s bed with her left leg draped over his legs, her right arm tucked under a pillow, grasping the other end, and her left arm drooped over his waist. Her head was on the pillow, but resting just above his shoulder so that her chin was touching it. Vaughn’s left arm was also under his pillow, but his right hand met hers at his hip bone, where he joined them sensitively. While Sydney was lying more on her side, Vaughn was more on his back, with his head turned so that he was facing her.
They shared a tender moment then; they lied there with unabridged love that still had the tiniest amount of fragility to it. The feebleness was what made their relationship human. Faults are how one learns and improves life for him or herself the next time around. There is no “perfect,” but there is a legitimate likeness to it.
The funny part was that neither of them was smiling. They were beyond smiling, beyond language, beyond labels.
They were Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn.
They were truly, madly, deeply in love.
“Vaughn,” Sydney said, almost indistinctly, but because her mouth was so close to his ear, he heard.
“Yeah?” he whispered back.
Usually, Vaughn, for whatever reason, was the one to break an ardent happening between them. But this time, Sydney did. “How come we’re not sweating?” she questioned. Feeling the need to clarify when she saw his confused look, she added, “I mean, I’m practically lying on top of you, we’re wearing heavy clothes again, and we’re under the covers. When I got here I was already pretty warm, and then, you know, we had quite a steamy,” she smirked and raised an eyebrow, “encounter. So why aren’t we hotter?”
“They like to blast the heat on during the day,” Vaughn explained. “But at night they turn it down low, hence the heavy comforter,” he said as he picked up a fistful of it. “After eleven, they make the change.” Sydney’s eyes shifted and she saw it was about forty minutes after the hour, which explained the situation.
Soon after, they fell asleep, in the exact same position that they were in.
Thrusting the jagged, metal key into the keyhole, Steve unlocked his room’s door, and practically threw it open. Inside, all lights were turned off. Squinting, Steve could make out that his roommate was asleep on the count of he faintly saw the shape of a body in the bed.
It was a little after twelve-twenty.
“Mike, you’re pathetic,” he said relatively loudly, on purpose, as he flicked the bright lights on. “It’s only midnight and you’re already sleeping,” he supplied as basis.
Vaughn was blinded by the lights at first, and was a bit groggy in general. He realized the comforter was up pretty high, almost covering his and Sydney’s heads all the way, but not quite, and the illumined room was very disturbing. He had to release Sydney’s hand, and remove his other one from beneath the pillow, so that he could shield his eyes. Doing so, he knocked the covers down, revealing Sydney’s head. “What the hell, man?” Vaughn complained. Sydney was also trying to shelter her eyes from the light and let out an irritated groan.
That’s when Steve realized that Vaughn was not alone. “Oh, felgercarb,” he said under his breath. “Look, I’m sorry, I’ll just-,” he was saying quickly as he pivoted back to the door.
Meanwhile, Sydney sat up with her back leaning on the headboard of the bed. “We’re not doing anything,” Vaughn said tiredly as he sat up as well. Needless to say, Sydney was a little bit embarrassed. The room was filled with awkwardness. Breaking the silence, Vaughn said, “Steve, this is my girlfriend, Sydney.”
“Hi,” Sydney said, flustered, as a pale blush crept up to her cheeks. Steve greeted her also. There was another silence. “You know what,” Sydney broke in, “I’m just gonna,” she pointed to a door, “go to the bathroom really quick… give you guys a minute to talk,” she said as she climbed over Vaughn to get to the attached lavatory.
At the same time, Steve sat down on his bed, which was parallel to Vaughn’s. Once she was completely disappeared, he said, “That’s Sydney?” Vaughn simply nodded. “And you let her go to school in California.” He was shaking his head with censure. “Dude, you’re an idiot,” he said plainly.
“I trust her,” Vaughn replied.
“That’s wonderful,” Steve said with a hint of sarcasm, “but that’s not gonna matter to the guys over there. And since really, until May, she’ll only see you in two, maybe three block segments – now, if you’re counting the long weekend, and winter and spring breaks – maybe she’ll see it’s hard to be so far apart,” he concluded.
Vaughn was quiet as he stared at Steve for a second or two. “We had an idea what this would be like before we decided on it.”
Quickly, Steve interjected. “That’s what all future long distance couples say, before they realize it’s too hard and break up.”
“We had an idea of what this would be like before we decided on it,” Vaughn repeated, a notch higher. “But you don’t really know us that well. You know me, yeah, but you don’t know Syd. She’s stubborn as hell sometimes.” Vaughn cracked an admiring grin. “Like when she came tonight, she saw Jess leaving and freaked out on me because she didn’t recognize her at first. She thought I was cheating on her. But she wasn’t upset, not yet, or crying or anything: she was ready to beat the felgercarb out of me.”
Sydney didn’t mean to eavesdrop; in fact she tried really hard to not overhear her boyfriend and his roommate’s conversation at all. Nevertheless, a few words were picked up on her auditory radar, and she began to listen more closely. What Vaughn had to say next interested her greatly as it concerned what was to come for them.
“… And the reason she would rather beat me up than cry is because she’s determined as anything. She’s one of those people that is really devoted to their loyalties. She wasn’t going to leave until she heard everything from my mouth bluntly, then,” he chortled, “she’d scream at me until the whole building heard. Maybe even until security came up to see what was going on.
“She always tells everyone exactly what’s on her mind. I know her in every sense of the word. Pretty damn close to it, anyway,” he said with a shrug. “And honestly, that’s why I’m not worried about her going to UCLA and me staying here. It doesn’t matter where we are. For the time being, we’ll still have each other somehow.”
Steve was blown away by Vaughn’s certainty, mainly because he had never, himself, been in a relationship that was that deep. “You really love her, don’t you?” he questioned, now glimpsing what Vaughn felt for her.
“Yeah,” Vaughn acquiesced assertively. Then, he glanced at the bathroom door. “Syd, you can come out now,” he semi-shouted. “I already know you’re listening.”
Blasé, she walked out of the bathroom. “I wasn’t listening!” she dissented, but the perma-smile on her face said otherwise. Vaughn rolled his eyes.
The three of them talked about random topics for the next half hour.
“All right,” Sydney announced. “It’s time for me to start getting home.”
Vaughn looked at her like she was clinically insane. “No it’s not. You’re not driving home tonight.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, in a way saying he couldn’t control her. “Vaughn, I’m fine, I can make it home fine.
“It’s one now, by the time you get home it’ll be at least three, and this is New York City. You’re not going home tonight,” he countered.
She kept a pretty intense stare up for about five more seconds, but then she sighed, defeated. “Is that okay with you?” she asked Steve.
“I don’t care as long as no funny business goes on in that bed while I’m in the room.”
Sydney cackled with incredulity. “Trust me, that’s not going to happen,” she said with a disbelieved smile.
Vaughn handed Sydney a hoodie, for her collection, he said, and pajama bottoms that he was lending her for the night, and she went into the bathroom to change. About a minute after she walked out of the room, Vaughn walked into the bathroom as well. “Syd,” he said austerely.
“Hmm?” she hummed from the stall she was changing in.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
Although she couldn’t see through the metal door, she knew he was smiling complacently. She chuckled, pulled the sweatshirt completely over her head so that she was wearing it properly, and opened the door. Her long legs were completely exposed. He shut the door behind them. “Hi,” he grinned pulling her into a zealous kiss.
She complied for a few minutes, but when it got a little raunchier, she teetered backward, ending the kiss. “In the words of Romeo and Juliet,” she began, “‘what satisfaction canst thou have tonight?’”
“Syd,” he whined, trying to kiss her again. She backed up.
“Vaughn, come on, seriously? You know we can’t have another round tonight. Steve’s right there,” she said, referring to his room, “and he already knows you’re in here with me, and then there’s still your two other suitemates that are right through the other door, and there’s no telling whether or not they’ll come in, and when that may be.”
He exhaled. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. Then, wordlessly, not because he was annoyed, but because there really was nothing more to say, he walked out and back to his room.
A few minutes later, Sydney exited the bathroom, not wearing the hoodie and drawstring bottoms as planned. Instead, she was holding her clothing and the pajama pants, and only wore the hoodie, which came down to her mid thigh.
Steve was astounded that she was doing that, because he was in the room, while Vaughn appreciated her audacious and risqué approach. She crawled into Vaughn’s bed, and he lied beside her.
“Night, guys,” she said. They turned the lights out. Subsequently, she fervently kissed Vaughn. “What you said before about me, and us… it was really sweet,” she said breathlessly as she smiled.
i love vaughny
Cadet
oh man! i LOVE this chapter!!!
Chapter Eleven
Morning came much too early for Sydney, who did not appreciate the double window right above her, which allowed streaky streams of harsh, lustrous sunlight, that felt too bright for a November day, to creep in sans invitation. She cleared her throat as she rolled over onto her back. It took her a few minutes to realize that something was not quite right if she were able to do such a thing effortlessly: Vaughn was not in the bed with her. Covering her yawn with her hand, and fluttering her eyes open, she soon found that not only was Vaughn not lying beside her, but he was not in the room at all. Upon further examination, Sydney found that she happened to be the only person in the room. Craning her neck to see, square and vibrant green digits informed her it was just after noon. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a, visibly torn right out of a notebook, scrap of paper which appeared to have something scrawled on its blue lines. It read:
morning, beautiful. have a class, it ends at 12. I’ll smuggle some food in for you.
Perhaps under different circumstances, she would find it strange that Vaughn did not sign the note. However, she didn’t notice anything unusual at first. Weeks later, when she did think about it in more depth, she wrote it off for the sole reason of there being little space on the slip of paper. And after all, there was a very thoughtful greeting which was more than enough.
The whole time she forced herself to get up, she dreaded it. She disliked waking so much because she’d be leaving the warm and comfortable niche that had been haphazardly set up for her in Vaughn’s bed. His bed was a cubbyhole, no matter the physical address, where she felt she could always crawl into it to hide, and feel completely at peace. Whenever she was with him, she felt safe and untouchable, regardless of what she was doing. Awakening would mean the beginning of the end of her weekend at home. It would initiate going back to school for another month until it was time for winter break.
Even so, winter break was the blinding fluorescent light at the end of the shadowy tunnel that was December.
Understandably undesirably, Sydney arose and dawdled on the way to the bathroom, and dilly-dallied upon returning to Vaughn’s adjacent dorm, too. When she did get back, a tall, well-built, dark-haired man with soft features, probably in his mid-twenties, stood in the center of the two twin beds. Sure that she had never met him before, Sydney crossed her hands and rested them against her stomach, and stared at him, wanting an explanation of why he was in the room. She was still clad in only Vaughn’s sweatshirt, her long legs kissed with a hint of California sun.
He smirked, partially embarrassed, partially intrigued. “Well, you’re not Mike, and you’re definitely not Stevey,” the man chimed good-humorously.
“Neither are you,” Sydney shot back casually, not interested in anything but his purpose in the room. “And you definitely can’t pass as a college student,” she threw in for good measure, with a smirk of her own.
The guy appreciated her statement, and sensibly dropped whatever charade he and Sydney were playing. “I’m Connor, Stevey’s brother,” he told her. “You are…?”
Looking at him more closely, she did see a resemblance. “I’m Sydney, Vaughn’s girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Connor said, nodding his head slowly as if mentally identifying her. They were both quiet, and Connor seemed to be troubled with his thoughts.
“What?” Sydney asked, wondering what the matter was.
“Well, aren’t you supposed to be,” he shrugged, “oh, I don’t know, halfway across the country?”
She smiled, and was glad to know that Vaughn talked about her enough to others that they knew where she went to school. “Am I supposed to be there?” she asked rhetorically. “Yes,” she answered. “But I’m not, so deal with it,” she grinned.
For about the next fifteen minutes, Sydney and Connor got acquainted with one another, with Sydney sitting on Vaughn’s bed, holding a pillow in her lap, and Connor facing her as he sat on a chair that was turned backwards.
They only chatted for those several minutes because Vaughn walked in, carrying his backpack and a paper bag with the top rolled to encase whatever was inside. Unsurprisingly, he was a little befuddled at what was going on in the room. Vaughn then proceeded to greet them both, and, in turn, they greeted him back. He walked over to his girlfriend, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and handed her the bag. “Chocolate chip muffin,” he said simply.
“Score!” she shouted delightfully as she opened the bag and revealed an oversized muffin to everyone.
Hearing her choice words, Vaughn commented, “You’ve been spending too much time with Weiss. You’re adopting his language as your own.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t care. I’ve wanted one of these, for, like, the last three days,” she said between bites.
Seeing her savagely devour the breakfast food, Connor couldn’t help but inquire, “When was the last time you had one of those? A year ago?”
Sydney smiled angelically. “Actually, it was four days ago,” she said before taking another rather large bite. Both males in the room tried to be stealthy while they chuckled, but she noticed. “Oh, shut up,” she said authoritatively while rolling her eyes for a second time. “I know I look like a pig. And ya know what?” she questioned in a sing-song voice. I don’t care,” she proclaimed before, again, chomping on the muffin, “because this is delicious!”
Vaughn shook his head and said, “It’s okay honey, I still love you… despite your eating habits.” He lightly kissed the top of her head. If it had been another time, then maybe she would have jokingly smacked him, however he had been smart enough to butter her up with a beloved food before teasing, and thus making her too absorbed in the said delivered breakfast to retort in any way.
Within a couple of hours, both Steve and Vaughn had more or less packed up for the long weekend.
Connor glanced at the clock. “Stevey, come on,” he complained, “I told mom we’d try to be home by nine, and you know it takes about four and a half hours to get home, on a good traffic day.” He was getting antsy and wanted to leave already, it being after three in the afternoon. Knowing that they were going to hit rush hour traffic didn’t assist any.
“Four and a half hours, wow,” Sydney noted aloud. “That’s pretty far.”
“Says the girl who goes to a school that’s a six hour plane ride and two hour drive away,” Connor teased.
Trapped in a corner, Sydney conceded. “Touché,” she said with a grin.
It wasn’t long after that that all four of them decided to depart in their two separate ways. Sydney let Vaughn drive her car back home because she knew he was itching to get behind the wheel after not being able to for three months, because of Columbia’s policy concerning freshmen and cars on campus.
They had made it out of the intercity and onto the New Jersey Turnpike, and we making decent time.
“So,” Sydney said, continuing their chatting, but changing the topic, “I really liked Connor. He seems pretty cool,” she nodded, approving. “How often does he come over?” she asked.
In their car conversation, this was not the first time that Sydney had brought up Steve’s older brother. Previously, she had recounted several selections from their earlier talk before Vaughn returned. Frankly, Vaughn didn’t have a problem with Connor; he actually liked him just fine. But Sydney’s persistent speaking highly of him was not very comfortable for him.
“Why?” Vaughn said under his breath. “You looking to date him or something?” he added.
Sydney heard his remark clearly and whipped her head around to look at him curiously. “What are you talking about?” she inquired with a single raised eyebrow and a baffled face.
“You tell me,” Vaughn said, trying to be casual, as he switched lanes. “You’re the one who won’t stop talking about him,” he included.
“Vaughn, come on,” she almost laughed, thinking he was crazy for this allusion. But she looked at him, and he wasn’t laughing with her. He was serious. “Are you jealous?” she asked him resolutely.
He was quiet for a moment, obviously internally struggling with what his answer should be. “Maybe,” he replied truthfully.
She was going to use a pet name, but refrained. “Vaughn!” she exclaimed. “Connor’s, like,” she did mental math, “six years older than me.”
“Eight,” Vaughn responded.
“What?” she questioned, not hearing what he had said.
Vaughn turned for a brief moment to look at her. “He’s eight years older than you, not six.”
“Well, that just proves my point more,” she said in an easy-going manner. “What do I need a guy who’s eight years older than me for?” she asked rhetorically.
Even though it was not meant to be answered, Vaughn contested anyway. “He’s experienced…,” he trailed.
Sydney tilted her head and stared at him for a second. He was actually upset over this silly predicament. Exclusively humorlessly, she remarked, “What do I need experience for?” She was looking right at him. “I just need someone to experiment with, and I already have him,” she revealed with a rascal grin.
Still with his eyes locked on the road, Vaughn smiled, and Sydney caught it in his profile. “Experiment, huh?” he said after a little while.
“Well, yeah,” she stated puckishly, leaning back, relaxed, in the seat. “How am I supposed to become experienced without experimenting?” She smirked. “And, well, I think it would be best if my partner in all of this was on my level.”
“Yeah?” Vaughn chuckled.
“Uh-huh,” she declared with glistening eyes.
They drove blithely for a while longer.
“So, where are we going?” Vaughn asked, seemingly off topic, but really not.
“What do you mean?” she squinted her eyes and scrunched her nose unsurely. “We’re going to your house.”
“My mom’s home,” he informed her.
She caught on now. “Hey, don’t look at me,” she said smoothly. “My dad will be home by the time we get there.”
“Well, you were the one who introduced the subject,” he reported.
“Because I was trying to nurse your ego back into shape!” she cried out, protecting herself from nothing.
Vaughn ignored that particular declaration as he thought harder. “What about the beach?” he said about a half minute later.
“The beach…,” she repeated, warming up to the idea immediately. Then, the rain cloud came. “I don’t have my key with me,” she sighed sadly.
Vaughn twisted his neck so that he was glimpsing at her. “I have mine,” he grinned.
Chapter Eleven
Morning came much too early for Sydney, who did not appreciate the double window right above her, which allowed streaky streams of harsh, lustrous sunlight, that felt too bright for a November day, to creep in sans invitation. She cleared her throat as she rolled over onto her back. It took her a few minutes to realize that something was not quite right if she were able to do such a thing effortlessly: Vaughn was not in the bed with her. Covering her yawn with her hand, and fluttering her eyes open, she soon found that not only was Vaughn not lying beside her, but he was not in the room at all. Upon further examination, Sydney found that she happened to be the only person in the room. Craning her neck to see, square and vibrant green digits informed her it was just after noon. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a, visibly torn right out of a notebook, scrap of paper which appeared to have something scrawled on its blue lines. It read:
morning, beautiful. have a class, it ends at 12. I’ll smuggle some food in for you.
Perhaps under different circumstances, she would find it strange that Vaughn did not sign the note. However, she didn’t notice anything unusual at first. Weeks later, when she did think about it in more depth, she wrote it off for the sole reason of there being little space on the slip of paper. And after all, there was a very thoughtful greeting which was more than enough.
The whole time she forced herself to get up, she dreaded it. She disliked waking so much because she’d be leaving the warm and comfortable niche that had been haphazardly set up for her in Vaughn’s bed. His bed was a cubbyhole, no matter the physical address, where she felt she could always crawl into it to hide, and feel completely at peace. Whenever she was with him, she felt safe and untouchable, regardless of what she was doing. Awakening would mean the beginning of the end of her weekend at home. It would initiate going back to school for another month until it was time for winter break.
Even so, winter break was the blinding fluorescent light at the end of the shadowy tunnel that was December.
Understandably undesirably, Sydney arose and dawdled on the way to the bathroom, and dilly-dallied upon returning to Vaughn’s adjacent dorm, too. When she did get back, a tall, well-built, dark-haired man with soft features, probably in his mid-twenties, stood in the center of the two twin beds. Sure that she had never met him before, Sydney crossed her hands and rested them against her stomach, and stared at him, wanting an explanation of why he was in the room. She was still clad in only Vaughn’s sweatshirt, her long legs kissed with a hint of California sun.
He smirked, partially embarrassed, partially intrigued. “Well, you’re not Mike, and you’re definitely not Stevey,” the man chimed good-humorously.
“Neither are you,” Sydney shot back casually, not interested in anything but his purpose in the room. “And you definitely can’t pass as a college student,” she threw in for good measure, with a smirk of her own.
The guy appreciated her statement, and sensibly dropped whatever charade he and Sydney were playing. “I’m Connor, Stevey’s brother,” he told her. “You are…?”
Looking at him more closely, she did see a resemblance. “I’m Sydney, Vaughn’s girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Connor said, nodding his head slowly as if mentally identifying her. They were both quiet, and Connor seemed to be troubled with his thoughts.
“What?” Sydney asked, wondering what the matter was.
“Well, aren’t you supposed to be,” he shrugged, “oh, I don’t know, halfway across the country?”
She smiled, and was glad to know that Vaughn talked about her enough to others that they knew where she went to school. “Am I supposed to be there?” she asked rhetorically. “Yes,” she answered. “But I’m not, so deal with it,” she grinned.
For about the next fifteen minutes, Sydney and Connor got acquainted with one another, with Sydney sitting on Vaughn’s bed, holding a pillow in her lap, and Connor facing her as he sat on a chair that was turned backwards.
They only chatted for those several minutes because Vaughn walked in, carrying his backpack and a paper bag with the top rolled to encase whatever was inside. Unsurprisingly, he was a little befuddled at what was going on in the room. Vaughn then proceeded to greet them both, and, in turn, they greeted him back. He walked over to his girlfriend, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and handed her the bag. “Chocolate chip muffin,” he said simply.
“Score!” she shouted delightfully as she opened the bag and revealed an oversized muffin to everyone.
Hearing her choice words, Vaughn commented, “You’ve been spending too much time with Weiss. You’re adopting his language as your own.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t care. I’ve wanted one of these, for, like, the last three days,” she said between bites.
Seeing her savagely devour the breakfast food, Connor couldn’t help but inquire, “When was the last time you had one of those? A year ago?”
Sydney smiled angelically. “Actually, it was four days ago,” she said before taking another rather large bite. Both males in the room tried to be stealthy while they chuckled, but she noticed. “Oh, shut up,” she said authoritatively while rolling her eyes for a second time. “I know I look like a pig. And ya know what?” she questioned in a sing-song voice. I don’t care,” she proclaimed before, again, chomping on the muffin, “because this is delicious!”
Vaughn shook his head and said, “It’s okay honey, I still love you… despite your eating habits.” He lightly kissed the top of her head. If it had been another time, then maybe she would have jokingly smacked him, however he had been smart enough to butter her up with a beloved food before teasing, and thus making her too absorbed in the said delivered breakfast to retort in any way.
Within a couple of hours, both Steve and Vaughn had more or less packed up for the long weekend.
Connor glanced at the clock. “Stevey, come on,” he complained, “I told mom we’d try to be home by nine, and you know it takes about four and a half hours to get home, on a good traffic day.” He was getting antsy and wanted to leave already, it being after three in the afternoon. Knowing that they were going to hit rush hour traffic didn’t assist any.
“Four and a half hours, wow,” Sydney noted aloud. “That’s pretty far.”
“Says the girl who goes to a school that’s a six hour plane ride and two hour drive away,” Connor teased.
Trapped in a corner, Sydney conceded. “Touché,” she said with a grin.
It wasn’t long after that that all four of them decided to depart in their two separate ways. Sydney let Vaughn drive her car back home because she knew he was itching to get behind the wheel after not being able to for three months, because of Columbia’s policy concerning freshmen and cars on campus.
They had made it out of the intercity and onto the New Jersey Turnpike, and we making decent time.
“So,” Sydney said, continuing their chatting, but changing the topic, “I really liked Connor. He seems pretty cool,” she nodded, approving. “How often does he come over?” she asked.
In their car conversation, this was not the first time that Sydney had brought up Steve’s older brother. Previously, she had recounted several selections from their earlier talk before Vaughn returned. Frankly, Vaughn didn’t have a problem with Connor; he actually liked him just fine. But Sydney’s persistent speaking highly of him was not very comfortable for him.
“Why?” Vaughn said under his breath. “You looking to date him or something?” he added.
Sydney heard his remark clearly and whipped her head around to look at him curiously. “What are you talking about?” she inquired with a single raised eyebrow and a baffled face.
“You tell me,” Vaughn said, trying to be casual, as he switched lanes. “You’re the one who won’t stop talking about him,” he included.
“Vaughn, come on,” she almost laughed, thinking he was crazy for this allusion. But she looked at him, and he wasn’t laughing with her. He was serious. “Are you jealous?” she asked him resolutely.
He was quiet for a moment, obviously internally struggling with what his answer should be. “Maybe,” he replied truthfully.
She was going to use a pet name, but refrained. “Vaughn!” she exclaimed. “Connor’s, like,” she did mental math, “six years older than me.”
“Eight,” Vaughn responded.
“What?” she questioned, not hearing what he had said.
Vaughn turned for a brief moment to look at her. “He’s eight years older than you, not six.”
“Well, that just proves my point more,” she said in an easy-going manner. “What do I need a guy who’s eight years older than me for?” she asked rhetorically.
Even though it was not meant to be answered, Vaughn contested anyway. “He’s experienced…,” he trailed.
Sydney tilted her head and stared at him for a second. He was actually upset over this silly predicament. Exclusively humorlessly, she remarked, “What do I need experience for?” She was looking right at him. “I just need someone to experiment with, and I already have him,” she revealed with a rascal grin.
Still with his eyes locked on the road, Vaughn smiled, and Sydney caught it in his profile. “Experiment, huh?” he said after a little while.
“Well, yeah,” she stated puckishly, leaning back, relaxed, in the seat. “How am I supposed to become experienced without experimenting?” She smirked. “And, well, I think it would be best if my partner in all of this was on my level.”
“Yeah?” Vaughn chuckled.
“Uh-huh,” she declared with glistening eyes.
They drove blithely for a while longer.
“So, where are we going?” Vaughn asked, seemingly off topic, but really not.
“What do you mean?” she squinted her eyes and scrunched her nose unsurely. “We’re going to your house.”
“My mom’s home,” he informed her.
She caught on now. “Hey, don’t look at me,” she said smoothly. “My dad will be home by the time we get there.”
“Well, you were the one who introduced the subject,” he reported.
“Because I was trying to nurse your ego back into shape!” she cried out, protecting herself from nothing.
Vaughn ignored that particular declaration as he thought harder. “What about the beach?” he said about a half minute later.
“The beach…,” she repeated, warming up to the idea immediately. Then, the rain cloud came. “I don’t have my key with me,” she sighed sadly.
Vaughn twisted his neck so that he was glimpsing at her. “I have mine,” he grinned.
vaughnshoney
Cadet
Great chapter. Poor Vaughn gettin all jealous. I'm sure Syd will find a way to make it up to him. Can't wait for more
HOLY felgercarb!! HOLY felgercarb!! I'M IN SHOCK!! There was only EIGHT days in between updates!! WOW!! This is definitely good shock and shock I would love to have more of!!! 
Why in the world was he jealous!! He has no reason to be jealous at all!!
-But hey now they get to experiment!!
Why in the world was he jealous!! He has no reason to be jealous at all!!
-But hey now they get to experiment!!
i love vaughny
Cadet
now you're just getting needy.HOLY felgercarb!! HOLY felgercarb!! I'M IN SHOCK!! There was only EIGHT days in between updates!! WOW!! This is definitely good shock and shock I would love to have more of!!!
Why in the world was he jealous!! He has no reason to be jealous at all!!
-But hey now they get to experiment!!
truth is, i only have 20 chapters written, total.
and i have writer's block for this story (mostly bc my "creative juices" are going towards my school newspaper...).
and i don't like writing on this computer.
so be happy that was cute and ended well.
i'm glad that's getting you nervous
it was supposed to
