𝐕𝐔𝐋𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 ✰ v. hacker

THIRTY | IRL

𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒆

You could hear his laugh across the coffee store...a real, genuine laugh that had only recently begun to be heard more often. They were sharing a bench in the back corner, Riley trying to convince Vinnie to try her coffee. He'd only recently started to drink coffee again, and was convinced that there was only one way that coffee tasted good.

"I'm telling you, I'm not going to like it," he insisted.

"Try it, pleaseee," pleaded Riley, extending her cup over to him, but he turned away, protesting. When he tried to move her cup away, it almost spilled, and the two of them burst out laughing. Realizing they were being loud and everyone in the coffeeshop was staring at them, they tried to quiet down, but that only made them laugh more. Finally, he took the cup from her and took a sip.

"Well?"

He shrugged. "It's okay."

"Okay?" Riley burst out, pretending to be offended. "That, sir, is the only acceptable way to drink coffee. You put wayyy too much cream."

"And?" Vinnie raised his eyebrow at her. "You put too much coffee."

She laughed. At that moment, a younger girl came up to the table they were at. "Hi," the fan smiled shyly, extending a napkin towards Riley. "Can I have your autograph?"

Vinnie felt Riley stiffen next to him immediately. She wasn't lying when she said she got nervous around fans. He glanced at her slightly blanched face and saw her smile barely reach her eyes. Instinctively, he reached his arm around her to comfort her, and she turned slightly to give him an appreciative look.

"Sure," Riley signed her name on the napkin and handed it back before posing for a selfie. After exchanging a few words, the fan finally left. As she did, Riley let out an audible sigh.

Pulling her waist around to face him, Vinnie asked, "You okay? You seem really shook up."

"I'm sorry, I probably seemed super awkward." She flushed a deep color in embarrassment. "I don't know, meeting people scares me. I have serious social anxiety." Shaking her head, she went on. "Which doesn't even make sense. I love people and I don't have anxiety. But meeting people who know me more than I know them is terrifying. Especially since I feel like I have to live up to my internet persona...which is a lot more outgoing than I am."

He chuckled a little. "You don't think you're outgoing?"

"No!" Riley blushed again. "I'm only outgoing with people I like. It usually takes a while for me to get talkative with people."

"That's good." Vinnie smiled, raising his eyebrows at her and leaning back with satisfaction. "That means you like me."

"Only a little bit," she teased, but he could see her hiding her smile as she looked away.

✰✰✰

"So...you said you wanted to talk to me about something," said Riley, as they were walking back to the car from the coffeeshop.

"Oh, right." He looked away, and then stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. She stood there in front of him, waiting for him to say something. Just as he was about to speak, he looked past her and swore under his breath.

"What?"

Taking her hand and leading her away as fast as he could, Vinnie whispered, "It's the Hollywood Fix guy. He's going to bombard us with questions we don't even know the answer to." She started to laugh, but her smile disappeared and the color began leaving her face.

"Hey, Vinnie, how's it going?" they heard that infamously annoying voice begin behind them. Riley exchanged a look with Vinnie, and he bit his lip in frustration, knowing they couldn't leave now.

"Pretty well," he returned casually, turning to face Fletcher. "How are you?"

"Good- but who's this? This is Riley, right? Are you guys dating now?" Before the question had barely left his mouth, he turned the camera to Riley, who was hiding behind Vinnie and clutching his hand. "Hey, Riley, how's it going?" She offered a weak smile in reply.

"We actually have somewhere to go, so we can't talk today," Vinnie lied, leading Riley away to his car. Fletcher continued his unending questions, but they ignored him as they got into the car. Even as they were safely in the car, Fletcher continued videoing them, much to their annoyance. As fast as he could, Vinnie started the engine and drove off.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, reaching over to put his hand on her knee.

"It's alright. Thanks for getting us out so quickly." Riley sighed deeply. "I hope I never have to see him again."

"Honestly, I hope so too. " agreed Vinnie. "And guess what? The tiktokroom comments will probably rip us apart for being rude to him or something."

After a pause, he turned to her. "And, I didn't get to tell you what I wanted to. Will you let me take you out to dinner tomorrow so we can talk more?"

At first, she wanted to tell him to just spit it out and tell her whatever it was he wanted to tell her, but then it hit her. "Wow, dinner?" Riley only half teased, a blush covering her cheeks, "That sounds pretty serious."

He didn't object. "Well, will you?"

Riley nodded. "Of course. I'd love to go to dinner with you."

When she looked over at him, the smile on his face was probably the biggest one she'd ever seen.

✰

AUTHOR'S NOTE
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tbt to when i said this would be a short book 😹😹😹😹😹

i uh don't think this is written very well either so don't attack me 🤠

actually i hate how this is written and no i'm not fishing for compliments so pls don't lol