quiet

twenty two

"do you remember the time when we fell in love"

☆

with a racing heart and a mind determined to make this date a great one, richie knocks almost too hard on the yellow wooden door. the door opens in a blur, revealing vansssa who wears a shirt stopping above her bellybutton and a denim skirt.

"you look beautiful, i mean- you always do." richie blabbers. "she does." mr. luna interferes, popping his head around the door frame, vanessa rolls her eyes. "hi, mr. luna." "she needs to be home by nine, richie." the older man makes clear as richie grabs vanessa's hand.

"i'll have her home by then, sir." richie nods. the pair get into richie's car and wave goodbye to mr. luna before driving off to the roller rink. "ya know how to skate?" richie asks while holding the door open, vanessa nervously shakes her head. "we'll look stupid together." vanessa smiles, holding richie's hand as they walk through the groups of people to get to the roller-skates kiosk.

"if it isn't the trashmouth." nick, the staff member, taunts with a wicked smile. "cut the bullshit and give us our shoes." richie tells him, smacking cash on the counter. "i thought we were-" "size ten and five." richie interrupts. nick smacks his gum, grabbing the pairs of shoes from the rack.

he glances at vanessa for a brief moment before smirking, "i see you got another girl." "i see you got more ugly." richie spat, taking the shoes and walking off. vanessa gives richie a concerning look, "major asshole loser, don't mind him." richie points out. the girl nods while unlacing her shoes to put on the neon rollerskates with richie following her actions.

"if i fall, bury me next to granny." richie whispers to himself as soon as he stands up, legs wobbling. vanessa grabs his hand for balance as they begin to walk. "i hope we make it." richie stresses, gripping vanessa's hand hard when she loses balance momentarily.

the couple skate slowly and carefully, almost reaching the roller rink until vanessa falls, bringing richie down with her. "are you okay?" richie worriedly asked while adjusting his glasses, hovering over vanessa who smiles. she scrunches up her face, nodding and getting back up. "this is not what i had plan for our first date." richie frowns.

vanessa grabs his face, kissing his cheek. richie swore he died while falling down and is in heaven. "that was definitely not planned either." richie gushes. vanessa giggles and skates into the roller rink, dragging richie along with her. their hands tightly hold onto to one another as they attempt to skate around the rink, stumbling every now and then.

richie rambles to vanessa while she mouths words in response. he gets some words wrong while getting others right, anybody would be confused if they saw the interaction.

"we should request a song!" richie exclaims as they skate towards the dj booth. "i was thinking remember the time by michael. whadda think?" richie questions, vanessa nods her head excitedly. "you like that song? me too!" richie smiles, leading her to along to the dj booth.

"play that mj song where he's in egypt!" richie requests loudly over the loud music. "remember the time?" "yeah!" "you got taste, man. will do!" the dj promises, flashing the pair a toothy grin. minutes later, the song blares throughout the building.

vanessa smiles brightly. the couple jam out to the song while skating around, lip-syncing to each other. the neon lights illuminate a halo around vanessa and with the song playing, richie finds her even more beautiful.

"remind me to play this song at our wedding." the comment slips from richie's mouth, he quickly slaps his hand over his mouth. vanessa is holding back laughter but richie catches her cheeks turning pink. "i didn't mean to say that. please don't think that i think about us getting married, i don't." richie embarrassingly professes.

vanessa makes an 'okay' sign with her hand, winking at richie who gets flustered for the millionth time tonight. "i swear, i don't!" he defends himself, she smiles before kissing his cheek once more. "can you kiss my lips next time?"