A/N: Hey Everyone! Sorry that its taken me so long to update this. I've been gone for a majority of the summer, so sorry. I'm afraid this might be the last chapter for this fic. More comment and a disclaimer at the bottom. Thanks so much for the reviews! You guys are awesome, so here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter Dedication: To my best friend Erinn, for giving me the idea for the 'finale'.
Normal.
I looked down at the note, seeing that there was more to her response.
I just don't think that I'm ready to jump back into a relationship with you.
She wasn't ready to be with me again. Or at all. What did she want anyways? She was sending all these damn signals. Yes, there were signals. How the hell was I supposed to take it as a, 'I'm sorry I can't go out without you because we had a history and I'm not ready' signal?
I'm a guy, not a psychic.
I stared at the note a moment longer, for good measure. Her eyes. I could feel them trying to study me.
Trying to play her into confusion, I grinned (and tried to make it apparent) before folding the note up and tucking it into my back pocket. Glancing to the desk occupied by Sydney at my right, I received a confused baffled expression. If she was going to confuse me, then I was sure as hell going to confuse her.
At that point, I had really no idea where I stood in the relationship between me and Sydney.
Her expression faded and Sydney quickly faced the front of the classroom when she noticed that I was staring at her. Almost exactly the reaction I was expecting, but not quite. It was a bit more awkward then I thought it would be.
She propped her arm up on the desk and craddled her head there. Sydney fell asleep.
I let out a sigh.
Great. I was in detention and I had no one to talk to. Thought that was probably the point of being confined to detention.
But it sucked.
"Dude. You call that note harsh?" Weiss asked in disbelief. I had showen him the note that Sydney and I had passed back and forth in detention.
After our detention session had ended, I made sure that I was first to leave room. Avoiding awkward meant avoiding Sydney. So I walked to Eric's house. And here we were. Trying to 'read between the lines' in the note. Maybe she meant something other than I just don't think I'm ready to jump back into a relationship with you. But it was highly unlikely. Sydney Bristow usually said what she meant, and was always straight forward. Never vague.
"I didn't say harsh, I said strange," I defended myself. I knew that we weren't going to find another meaning behind what she said. But Weiss insisted. Probably to cheer me up or something. "I guess I was stupid to think that she'd still have feelings for me after to years," I added, scratching the back of my head.
"Are you serious man?" He almost sounded sarcastic.
I nodded in reply.
Then Eric banged his head on the coffee table in what I was guessing, frustration. "Ow."
I shook my head and just stared at him, thinking how much more of an idiot he was.
"Were you not here the past two years?" Weiss inquired as if I was a fool. I hadn't been here the past two years. That was my point. I wasn't here. I didn't understand why he was making such a big deal out of this all. Honestly, you'd think that he'd pick up right away that I had no idea what the hell he was trying to tell me without saying actual words. But no. But then again, he was Eric Weiss. That just changes everything! Yep, I can certainly dub him as my best friend.
"Apparently not."
Eric clenched his fists tight, and let out what I assumed was a 'stress-relasing breath'. Looking at me to be sure I wasn't pulling his leg, he started to speak again.
"Ever since you left, Michael Vaughn was all that Sydney would talk about," he paused before trying to impersonate Sydney in a really annoying high-pitched girly voice. "I miss Michael!" he clapped his hands together. "I need Michael," he batted his eye lashes. "Oh Francie! Oh Nadia! How am I ever to go on without him?" he cried. "Oh Eric! You are such a great friend! I wish Michael were more like you!"
I laughed. "Okay, dude, that was uncalled for."
"Yeah man, I was just making that last one up..." he sighed as if I wouldn't believe him anyways. "She was crazy about you Vaughn. For serious."
"The key word being 'was'," I sighed.
"Mike, she was only with Kevin because she thought that that was the only way to get over you leaving LA." I looked up and stared at him. "And now, Pretty Boy is gone."
"Okay, okay. Let's say that maybe you're right. What do I do now?" I asked. Maybe Weiss really was right. I guess it kinda makes sense. Trying to move on. Maybe Sydney really wasn't over me. What would I do then? It'd be the perfect setup. I could ask her out. But I already did. And she turned me down. So my chances seem to be real slim. But maybe...
"Maybe?" he chuckled. "Eric Weiss is always right. Never doubt that, Young Grasshopper."
I shook my head. "Yes Master."
"Good. Now let me see that note again." I handed Eric the once-crumpled piece of paper, and watched him analyze it. It was painfully obvious that he was trying to make himself look unnaturally intelligent. Just waiting, and waiting...
"You know Eric, if I knew it was gonna take this long, I would have brought my lunch," I coughed jokingly.
"You had your lunch already."
"No, because you ate it," I replied. He looked up at me, eyes twinkling, as if a little lightbulb inside his head had suddenly turned on. A very rare sight, I assure you. "What?"
"This is just too easy," my best friend shook his head in disbelief.
"What?"
"I mean, we could've figured this out long ago..."
"What?"
"Dude, I've gotten tons of notes like these."
Shooting him a quizzical look, he began to explain. "I mean, I've gotten tons of notes like these to understand and try to fix this little dilemma."
"It's not little. It's quite large," assuring him, I arched my brow.
"Whatever man, the point is, we can get her back," said Weiss.
"We?"
"Let me introduce you to my friend, Mister Romance."
Syd-
Today was my first day of school since we got here in France. I'm going to this school with all these other American teenagers. There are some Australians and some British kids here too. We all speak English. Which is good. I was speaking in French so much I almost forgot how to speak English! Dude, that would have sucked.
But anyway, in Ms. Deines' literature class, this guy named Oliver was doing a presentation on the teach's laptop, and Ms. D was trying to figure out how to run the program (I mean honesly. These French women, thinking they know everything about computers. I swear, old people and technology do not go together), but gave up and said, "Okay Oliver, you can come up here and fool around with it." So Oliver goes up to the front of the class room and starts to tinker around on the laptop when this guy, Kyle, says really loudly, but not exactly knowing he's talking that loud, "Awww. I want to help Oliver fool around." It was so funny Syd. You'd have to be there. I almost peed my pants. But you will tell NO ONE that I admitted that.
Other than that, its been pretty boring here. Grandmere is doing a little bit better. I can tell that Donovan is missing home. The only thing that is keeping him interested here is the white poodle that lives next door. And I thought that MY hormones were out of wack...I practically have to hold Donny down to make him resist the urge to jump the poodle. Its quite funny. Ma'man said that I should just let him be. "Michael, you leave that poor dog alone! If he can't get pleasure from his Dog Chow, then at least let him get pleasure from her!"
I miss you Syd. It's so boring here. Hockey isn't even fun anymore. And believe me, it takes a LOT of emotional stress for that to happen. I just want to be back in LA, going to school with you and the whole lot. Hell, I'd go and buy a box of tampons just to see you again. I'd get the economy size box! Once again you will tell NO ONE I've been saying these self-degrating things. Not even Francie or Nadia. God knows how fast it'd get to Eric or Will. And that CANNOT happen!
Life is simply boring without you. I miss you so much. Wish you were here/I was there.
Amour vous,
Michael
I set down the letter. Probably the funniest one out of all the rest, I couldn't help but feel guilty. There was absolutely no reason that I shouldn't have not gotten any of the letters. I most definitely would have written him back. Replying to ever letter that he sent. But no. I didn't get the letters. Well, I probably did, but Kevin went through my family's mail, which is illegal, and stole them.
Funny how life works out, eh? Real hilarious.
It was Friday afternoon, four days after the little detention 'incident'.
Vaughn had left about seven voicemails and thirteen text messages on my cell phone before I had gotten home Monday night. An hour had passed when I finally didn't get anymore. Maybe he gave up on me. No. Because I had gotten six more voicemails and about twenty text messages until Thursday. Then nothing. And I didn't even talk to him at all the whole week. He just tried to talk to me through technology.
Of all the "Syd, we really need to talk"'s and the "About earlier...yeah, this is kinda awkward, SHUT UP WEISS! Idiot, SHIT! It's still recording...damn it. Uh, yeah, anyways, just call me back, please. We need to talk, bye!"'s, I really started to wonder what exactly his reaction was to my part of the note. Was he disappointed? Was he relieved? Or did he just not care anymore?
I honestly didn't mean a thing I said. We were in detention for Pete's sake! I was impaired. And that's the only aliby I've got. I know that I was probably being a bitch, by not talking to him at all, but seriously. I just didn't know what to do anymore. Of course I still had feelings for him. That was painfully obvious. But I had no idea how to act on those feelings. Detention didn't seem to be the greatest place to confess my feelings. Not exactly romantic either. Gum stuck underneath the already filthy desks? Oh yeah. That's hot.
There was a sudden rapping at my bedroom door.
"What is it, woman?" I yelled to whoever was on the other side, assuming that whoever was in the hall was indeed of the female gender.
My mother poked her head through a crack in the door. "Francie's on the phone. She even gave me the recipe to her riotous ginger snaps!"
"Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't say 'riotous' or 'ginger snaps' in the same sentence. Ever. Okay?" I smiled.
She motioned for me to hurry and pick up the phone. "Just because you didn't inherit my coolness..."
Mom? Cool? Ha! Does that make me a bad daughter?
Picking up the phone, "Hey Fran," I sighed.
"Hey Syd! I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping in an hour." Glancing at my clock, it read 6:15.
"Uh, sure," I answered. It's not like I was busy or anythin- "Wait! Are you still staying over here tonight?" I almost forgot about our monthly sleepover.
"Duh Syd," she laughed. "I just had to zip over to the mall to get a dress for this wedding I'm going to Saturday."
"Oh, well, yeah. Sure," I shrugged.
"Well then, I'll pick you up in an hour."
"Okay."
"Bye!"
"Bye."
Have to get a dress for this wedding Saturday my ass. I swear to God. If she even dares to step three feet away from Victoria's Secret...
"Dinner Syd!" Nadia shouted from the hallway.
Untangling my legs from my sitting position, I forced myself to stand up from my spot on the floor and to head downstairs for dinner.
The smell of grilled chicken assaulted my nostrils as I came down the stairs into the dining room.
"Your father, Sydney, will be joining us later tonight. I hope that's alright," Mom smiled, setting a bowl of salad in the center of the table.
"Oh yeah. Nah, that's fine," I said sitting myself down in my usual chair. "Oh yeah!"
"What?" Mom asked.
"Fran wanted to know if we could go shopping tonight before our little sleepover," I replied piling salad on my plate.
"I don't know Sydney. Your father was really looking forward to seeing you again since he got back from San Diego..."
"Mom, I saw him last night. When he ate dinner here, again. For the third time this week." She didn't say anything after that. "That reminds me, why does he keep eating dinner over here? I mean, I love him and all but uh, yeah. It just kinda dismisses the point of divorce." My mother turned just about the shade of red that her cardigan was. Gotchya!
"Why does who keep eating dinner here?" Nadia asked, tying her dark hair back into a ponytail before sitting across from me at the table.
"Jack. I was asking Sydney if she wouldn't mind if he dropped by later after dinner tonight," Mom stammered.
"Again," I pointed out.
"Ah! I see. He has been eating dinner here a lot lately," Nadia cocked her eyebrow and stroking her chin thoughtfully. The look on Mom's face was priceless.
"S-s-so, I t-thought that you were going out with Eric tonight," was what Mom managed to choke out.
"Oh yeah!" Nadia squealed, jumping up in her chair. I was surprised that she didn't stab her tongue with her fork when jumped. You don't need me to tell you how much that girl was into her boyfriend. But not nearly as much as I was into Vaughn...
"So does that mean me and Fran can go to the mall?" I asked Mom with sudden perkiness.
"Fran and I," she corrected me.
"Is that a yes?" I inquired with obvious hope.
"That's fine."
I pumped my fist in the air muttering a 'yus!'. "Right on," I grinned.
"So that means you'll be all alone with Jack tonight, eh?" Nadia wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive matter at Mom.
"How are things going with Michael, honey?" Mom asked me, quickly recovering. Damn, that woman's good.
"What are you and Eric planning on doing tonight Nads?" I asked my sister, trying to avoid a certain conversation.
"Sydney Anne," my mother said sternly.
"Whaaaat?" I whined.
She gave me a pointed look.
"Fine. Everything is just fine," I answered, hoping that this would be enough to pacify her.
Nadia coughed, causing my mother to question me further. Damn.
"Have you reconsidered what we talked about?"
"Mommmmy!" I whined again, sounding more like a four year-old. I haven't called her Mommy since fifth grade.
"Have you?"
"Yes."
"So..."
"I screwed it up, okay?" I said firmly, slamming my fork down on the table top.
"Ah, Sweetie..."
"Well, its way obvious you still have feelings for him," my sister blurted out.
"Now, what's this?" my mother smiled.
"And its way obvious that he still has feelings for her too," Nadia reassured her, shoveling a fork full of salad into her motor mouth. I just glared at my sister. "What?"
"Sydney."
"What Mom?"
"Haven't I told you? You're only doing what your head is telling you to do, not your heart."
"Ouch!" Nadia said, thinking our mother was insulting me.
"Nadia."
"Sorry Mom."
"I screwed it up. To the point of un-repair," I sighed.
"There's a solution for anything and everything. You just need to talk to him and give it time."
"Time that I don't have," I muttered under my breath.
"Well, Sydney dear, that was your fault. For starting a new relationship with someone else, when you were clearly not over Michael."
"How is that my fault? How was I supposed to know that Kevin was some psycho asshole?"
"No swearing at the dinner table," Mom quickly said.
"Sorry."
"She has a point you know Mom," Nadia agreed with me.
Mom laughed. "Well, to be honest, I thought he was psyhco asshole too." Me and Nadia erupted with giggles at Mom's comment. Wait, if she thought this, why the hell didn't she tell me, or warn me?
"If you thought so, then why didn't you say anything to me?" I inquired raising an eyebrow for good measure. She was about to answer when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," I said jumping up from my chair. Strutting out of the dining room, I walked to the foyer and opened the front door.
It was Francie.
"Hey girl," Francie greeted me with a warm smile.
"Come on, I gotta grab my purse. I was just finishing up my dinner," I said, letting her in. We both wondered into the dining room where Mom and Nadia were still eating. "Hey Mom. Fran and I should be back in an hour or two." I ran upstairs to grab my purse, leaving Francie downstairs to be attacked about new baking recipes. Shoving my cell phone in my coat pocket, I returned downstairs to retreive Francie at once.
"It's really a shame because he loves her so much," I heard my mother say to Francie. Surprisingly enough, Francie agreed with her.
"I'm starting to get the feeling that that's mutual between them. But Sydney just isn't doing anything to help herself here." Hey! I thought that she was supposed to be on my side. The side that wants to get with Vaughn, but doesn't want to do all the work. Yeah I'm lazy, who cares? He's had all this time to do something about. I haven't made a move because how the hell am I supposed to know how he feels? Well I do know how he feels, but if I tried to make a move, it'd definitely make it into the top ten of 'Most Awkward Moments'.
I stepped into the room. "You ready to go?" I asked Francie.
"Oh, uh yeah," she said, walking over to join me by the door.
"Bye Mom!"
"You girls be back before ten!" she shouted on our way out the door.
"We will!"
Why was she setting a curfew? We were going to the mall. Nothing happens at the mall except shopping.
Something extravagant, interesting, or even heart breaking happening? Yeah right.
"Hey Mike! How about Jet's 'Cold Hard Bitch'?" Weiss asked from across the different aisles of CDs. We were at the mall shopping around for stuff that we'd need for his idea to 'help me get Syd back'. So far, getting the right stuff was just plain tough. I glared at my best friend. "Okay, I guess that's a no then."
Shuffling through the 'C' section of the CD store, Ryan Cabrera, Cake, The Calling, Anthony Callea...
"Oh! What about 'You Shook Me All Night Long'? Dude, come on. It's AC/DC," Eric shrugged.
"It has to be an original and personal song, Weiss."
"It is personal."
"No its not. Its sex driven." Weiss wiggled his eyebrows. "No."
"Well then you might as well get Bette Middler."
"Your kind of music? Oh, I don't think so," I spat sarcastically. "And no Michael Bolton." And at that Weiss put back Michael Bolton's greatest hits and sighed.
Johnny Cash, Cher, Chingy...
"Well might as well give up then."
Christina Milian, Ciara, Eric Clapton, Clay Aiken... wait! Eric Clapton?
"I think I got it, man," I said picking up the CD I intended to buy.
"Finally."
"Hey guys!" Nadia came up to us. "I only found a purple one. They didn't have any blue," she said, holding up a purple inflatable guitar.
"That's perfect, thanks," I said taking the guitar from Nadia while she linked her arm through Weiss's.
"You're really great for doing this for Syd. Thanks Michael."
"Let's just hope it works."
"Your mom's right, Syd. You should do something instead of sitting around for it to happen," Francie said, pushing colorful tank tops along on the rack. "You'll feel much better."
"Okay."
"What's that?"
"You're right Fran. I shouldn't wait if I want to be with him so bad," I admitted. I'm sick of everyone telling me that I just need to get up and off my lazy ass and ask him out already. Taking charge seems to be the only way I can deal right now. I need to get over the fact that Kevin was a jackass, and that I made a mistake. That was the past. Living in the past doesn't make sense when I can just live now. "Should I call him when we get back to the house?"
"Most definitely."
We heard giggling outside the store we were browsing in.
"Isn't that Vaughn?" Francie pointed discreetly.
"Yeah," I said, slightly confused. He was holding a plastic bag with an inflatable guitar in it- and was with another girl.
"Who's the blond?" Fran asked. The blond was all smiley and whispering in Vaughn's ear while stroking his arm, lingering on his bicep.
That blond bitch, she had her chance. "Lauren Reed."
"Do you want me to do something about it?" Francie asked, this time getting defensive. She was always defending me against the whores of the world. And I loved her for it. Especially with Lauren Reed aka. Whor-en Reed. Hey. Don't look at me. Fran made it up.
But more importantly, why was he with Lauren? Of all the girls at school. Why her? And to think that I actually believed he wanted to get back together with me as much as I wanted to be with him.
"No, let's just go."
Lauren laughed toxically. She was cutting off the circulation in my arm.
"Oh Michael," she cooed. "What are you doing here?"
"I was actually just leaving," I choked, trying to wiggle out of her grasp.
"Now why on Earth would you want to do tha-"
"Hey Vaughn! There you are!" Nadia shouted, walking up behind me with Weiss in tow. "We were looking for you." She stopped to stare at who was holding on to my arm. "What is she doing here?"
"I was talking with Michael," Lauren snapped at Nadia. I could sense that Nadia was getting angry. "Don't you have a drama queen to comfort?"
"Don't you have hair to bleach?" Nadia snorted.
"Hey, these locks are one hundred percent original, count the strands," Lauren reciprocated, pulling on the obviously dyed pieces of her hair.
"Too bad your 1.0 GPA is authentic too," Nadia retorted.
"Huh?" Weiss chuckled at Nadia's comeback. I couldn't help letting one out myself.
"Mike, we really should be going," Weiss coughed, trying to get back to the point.
"Right, well Lauren, I told you I had to leav-"
"Wait Michael. Can I have just a word," Lauren smiled slyly. Then snapping at Eric and Nadia, "Alone."
"Okay, just one word, right?" I asked. She nodded approvingly. "Goodbye," I said, leaving her standing in the middle of the food court.
"That's two words!" she shouted after me, slightly confused.
Nadia rolled her eyes.
"Okay, let's do this," I said swinging the guitar's strap over my shoulder.
"Just call him Syd. It probably wasn't what it looked like," Francie implored, pushing the cordless phone in front of me. We came straight home from the mall after we spotted Lauren hanging all over Vaughn.
I shook my head. "I can't. I was so stupid. This always happens to me."
Francie frowned.
"Whenever I think I find the perfect guy, he turns out to be nothing but shit in the end."
"Sydney, Michael isn't shit, and that wasn't what it looked it. I know it. He cares too much about you to let Lauren get through to him."
I got up from my bed and walked over to my dresser where there was sitting a wooden box. Taking the last letter from the very bottom on the box, I walked back over to my bed where Francie began reading a magazine.
"Read this," I handed her the letter and motioned for her to read.
Sydney-
I have sent you at least a month's worth of letters, so I'll just assume that you didn't want to write back. This is the last letter that I will write because I don't really see a point in writing anymore if I won't get any response. I don't want you to think that I don't care anymore, Syd. I will always care for you, and you will always have my heart.
Ma'man said that we will be moving back to the States, but she doesn't know how soon. I just don't want you to think that its goodbye forever. I'm telling you this before I even tell Weiss. I'm sure he could get over the fact that I talk to my girlfriend more than my best friend when I'm living in foreign country.
This is not goodbye, its see ya later.
Amour vous,
Michael C. Vaughn
As Francie finished reading the letter, she revealed a weak smile. "I told you he still cares about you," she chided.
"Then what about him and Lauren at the mall," I asked. I don't know what I was hoping for. Maybe just reassurance from my best friend.
"I don't know," she sighed. Francie neatly folded the note back up and got up to put it back into its respective home in the wooden box.
Walking up to me, she enveloped me into a hug.
And that was all that I needed...for now.
I woke up to the sound of something tapping. Tapping at my window. Opening my eyes, I realized that it was still dark out. I looked over at my alarm clock. 2:30 a.m. Damn.
Tap...snap! Taaaaap...
"What the hell?" I muttered, then quickly clapping a hand over my mouth when I remembered that Francie was still sleeping next to me. Tap...
Then I heard someone whispering my name. "Psssssssst, Sydney!" Tap, tap...
Getting up and out of bed, I pulled a sweatshirt over my tank top and short shorts clad body, and walked over to the window. Squinting outside to see who the hell was making such an effort to piss me off, I saw someone I hadn't expected to see.
It was Vaughn.
I opened up my window as he bent over to pick up another pebble to throw at my window. He had what looked like to be an inflatable guitar straped around his shoulder. "Michael!" I hissed. "What the hell?" He snapped up went I said his name, and smiled. Walking over to a bush he pressed the button on a small boom box that he had appeared to have brought himself.
The zappy wail of a guitar coming from the boombox painted a smile on my face. He was going to impersonate one of my favorite artists, Eric Clapton. Coughing and quickly strumming the guitar (inflatable, remember), he began to sing.
"What'll you do when you get lonely
And nobody's waiting by your side?
You've been running and hiding much too long.
You know it's just your foolish pride."
Then Vaughn slid on his knees and continued his attempt to match the real Eric Clapton.
"Layla, you've got me on my knees.
Layla, I'm begging, darling please.
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind."
Standing up again...
"I tried to give you consolation
When your old man had let you down.
Like a fool, I fell in love with you,
Turned my whole world upside down."
I bolted from my window and ran out into the hall, then down the stairs.
"Layla, you've got me on my knees."
Running through the foyer, I swung open the front door and smiled.
"Layla, I'm begging, darling please,"Vaughn continued to sing, erasing the confusion from his face. I was beaming with excitement. I couldn't help it. "Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind
Let's make the best of the situation
Before I finally go insane.
Please don't say we'll never find a way
And tell me all my love's in vain."
I closed the door behind me and walked closer to him. His fresh and musky scent assaulting my senses, only just made me want to jump him right there.
"Layla, you've got me on my knees.
Layla, I'm begging, darling please.
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind."
Before the song continued onto a longer guitar solo, I walked over to the boom box and turned the volume down. Not all the way but enough so that it was playing softly the background.
"Layla, you've got me on my knees.
Layla, I'm begging, darling please.
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind," Vaughn finished up, still down on his knees. He seemed really into the song. When he noticed that the music wasn't playing as loud anymore, and that he was singing all by himself, he got up from the ground looking flustered. And me, still smiling. He did a little bow, and I clapped. "Hey," he smiled.
"Hey. But uh, yeah. My name isn't Layla." He laughed and scratched the back of his head, causing me to laugh with him. "You certainly outdid yourself this time..."
"I think we need to talk," he said seriously. I nodded in response and let him continue. "Well, uh. How do I start? We've come a long way since our rivalry in the second grade. Mashed potatoes, putting paste in your hair... Rivalry to friendship. Then from friendship to something more. And from that something more, I realized, that it wasn't even remotely possible to go on without you. When I went to France, all I thought about was you. You were always on my mind. And I can just imagine that it broke your heart when I left." I nodded, then he continued. "When I came home, I had found out that my girlfriend had moved on from my mistake and that mistake was not telling you how much I felt about you," he cleared his throat.
"Sydney, I feel like I'm falling in love all the time when I'm around you. I went insane not being able to see you smile. I'd beat myself up for being such an idiot and not telling you that I was leaving." Tears brimmed the edges of my eyes.
"It's not your fault, Michael. It was my fault. I should have had more faith in us. I should have known that you would come back. But I didn't, and I tried to seek something that I needed in someone else. But I didn't find what I needed. And what I needed was you. I didn't know if you had moved on to someone else or if you were seein-"
Michael pressed his fingers to my lips. "There was never anyone else."
"But what about tonight at the mall, I saw you with Lauren Ree-" then he kissed me. With the was his warm hands caressing my face, and the stealthy way his tongue infiltrated my mouth, goosebumps and an unbelievable high were my only punishments.
"Je t'aime," he whispered in my ear, pulling me into an intimate hug.
"I love you too," I whispered back.
And this was where I wanted to be.
In his embrace.
The best kind of encounters are of the close.
Close Encounters.
END
A/N: I would like to thank all the people who have read this. Even if you didn't review to any of the chapters, I still want to say thank you. Writing this has been fun. This was my very first fanfiction writing and the very first piece of work I let anyone read. Thank you all so much for your support! It means a lot to me. I'm definitely going to do a sequel for it. Definitely. So this should be the very last chapter. I won't do an epilogue. But I'm gonna start on the sequel before school starts again! This was really fun for me, and I really do hope that you enjoyed this fic. Thanks again!
Disclaimer: I do not own Eric Clapton's song, Layla.