Chasing Mr. Prefect

Special Chapter - A Sunday Like This

"Vinnie," he said, breaking the long silence.

She refused to look at him and kept her eyes on the ceiling. Cholo sighed, turning on his side and putting an arm around her waist. Their legs were tangled under her blankets. Vinnie put a hand on his arm and drew circles on his skin with her thumb.

"What now?" she asked, trying to be snarky, but her voice sounded frail and not in any way convincing.

Cholo laughed, mostly out of relief that the spell was over, then closed his eyes and kissed her hair, moving downwards, grazing her wet cheeks with his lips.

They went to mass that morning - she had been in a good mood, but only until the last part, when an old woman took the podium and gave a moving tribute for the day's occasion - Mother's Day.

He felt her stiffen beside him then. He grabbed her hand but found a clenched fist instead, solid and unmoving despite his efforts to coax it loose. It scared him when she did that, when she froze and kept her face blank and refused to react to anything.

Cholo remembered that exact moment that he faced her that morning, to tell her it was going to be okay, that they could go now if she wanted to, only to find tears falling her down her pale face like boulders.

Vinnie couldn't speak. She couldn't even move, and they stayed well after the Mass's final blessing as Cholo waited for her to get herself back together. He kept his hand on hers, patiently watching for her internal storms to blow over, until she stood up and asked him to take her home.

They ended up in her bed, with her whole body shaking as she wept, his arms wrapped around her like an armor. He realized he couldn't protect her like that, not when the pain was deep down and somewhere he couldn't reach, not when it was eating her from the inside out.

The thought broke his heart.

She stopped eventually. He didn't have to say anything, he just had to be there. She always told him that was enough for her, but he still felt pretty fucking useless.

"I'm sorry," she said. He sighed for the millionth time that day and lightly shook his head.

"Don't be silly. You couldn't help it. I was ready to walk out of there with you."

"I hate that woman's guts."

"You hate everyone, Lavinia."

"Not you. I love you."

Vinnie finally looked up at him, and he felt his own heart break yet again. Her eyes were wide, scared, and something there looked... dead.

But her words warmed him. Her words, so precious, as she said I love you so rarely. It meant the world to him every time she did it.

And every time, he just always got speechless.

"What. Kilig much?"

He laughed at her remark and just pulled her to his chest, kissing the top of her head multiple times.

"You're back. I got a little nervous there."

"It would take more than that for you to lose me," she replied. "But that was terrible. I'd been okay for a while and it was so long ago."

Vinnie snaked her arms around his torso and pulled him even closer.

"Fucking triggers. I shouldn't have gone to Church."

"Sshh," he scolded. "That's bad."

"We do this every year. Go to Church on Mother's Day. I mostly just don't listen. But this year, I just..."

Cholo waited for her to continue, but she seemed to have lost her train of thought.

"You want to visit her?"

"What. No. Do you want me to lose my shit again?"

"Just asking."

"This coming week, maybe. But not today."

"Okay."

"Just okay? No nagging? No you should go, it would mean a lot to her if you go?"

"No."

"Great," she replied, sounding happy at last. "I love you."

"That's two in a day. Wow."

"Don't you miss your mom?" she asked, after a long while.

"It's hard to miss someone you don't even remember."

They lay there, in each other's embrace, both their minds reeling. It was a miracle that they found each other— two motherless yet resilient souls who found their home in one another.

"Thank you, Cholo," she said, loosening her grip on him so she could face him properly. "That woman's speech... it just... it made me realize I had done a sloppy job of pulling it altogether after losing Mom. It was like she pulled this string and everything just came down. I... these memories I had long shelved in my own head, they just burst out. Pieces of me I'd kept away, pieces of her that just hurt too much to even touch or look at..."

Vinnie gulped. Cholo put a hand on her face and caressed her cheek. She pressed her face onto his palm, feeling his warmth.

"And you... with you here, you just grounded me," she replied. "I don't tell you stuff. I don't say it enough because that's not how I am. But Cholo, you keep those pieces together in more ways than you know."

When she opened her eyes again, his heart skipped a beat. She looked beautiful, vulnerable, and he was grateful that he got to see and hear her open her heart out like this. Vinnie was still an enigma to a lot of people she knew, sometimes even to herself, and it gave him so much happiness to know that he did know her, all sides of her, and that she was letting him see this.

For what felt like the first time in his life, words failed him. There was nothing he could think of at that moment that could properly convey what he felt. He closed the gap between them and kissed her hard, knocking the breath out of her.

Vinnie kissed him back just as fiercely, hoping this was enough, hoping he'd know how much he meant to her through this.

When they stopped, coming up for air, everything seemed right again.

"I love you too," he said suddenly. "Just in case it wasn't clear yet."

She sniggered, that knot in her chest finally easing up, and they spent that entire day just talking, curled up under her blankets.

And neither of them would have it any other way.