𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖞 𝖇𝖔𝖞 - 𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳

003

as the weeks passed, orion was able to settle into seattle. she missed new york like hell, but she was optimistic still about the change it would bring her to have moved. her mom was a bit better, occupying herself with her job; when she wasn't working, she was either at her sister's house or sleeping in her own, leaving orion to herself a lot. fortunately, noor took her in with open arms spending a lot of time with her in and out of school, as well as taking her to as many parties as possible. orion had continued seeing and talking to vinnie around school and parties as well, but there was always a tone of hesitation in his interactions with her, and they were kept short. regardless of that strange feeling, she still got butterflies in her stomach when he said her name, and she would blush a lot. 

to pass the time (and also to save up some money) orion got a job at a bookstore run by her mom's friend downtown, and she was able to have some time to distract herself from everything. she'd spend her afternoons after school in the quiet bookstore, doing her homework at the counter in the middle of all of it as the occasional customer stepped in.

the occasional customer this time caught orion's attention when the bell over the door chimed, and she felt her stomach drop as she caught a glance of the subject of her innocent daydreams. vinnie hadn't noticed her at the counter, and made a beeline for the classics section. hm, he has taste.

orion looked down, pretending to be engrossed in her trig homework for a moment until she heard him walk up to her.

"orion?" he asks, a slightly bewildered smile on his face.

"vinnie! what's up?" orion replied nonchalantly, plastering her friendliest smile on. 

"nothing, i'm good. i didn't know you worked here."

his smile turned orion's into a real one, a light blush on her cheeks as he addressed her directly. "yeah, i've been working here for the past few weeks after school." orion looked up to him to meet his already there gaze.

"wow that's weird, i didn't see you last time i stopped by." he said, the eye contact lingering for a second after and he dropped it, changing the subject to the book in his hand. "i'm gonna get this one."

"1984? aren't we reading that in ap lit?"

"yeah, and i know they give the books to us but i like to write on the pages." 

"cool," orion replied with a small smirk at his queer habit, ringing up the book and opening the register. "that's $10"

vinnie reached into his pocket and pulled out a 10 dollar bill, handing it to orion in exchange for the book. "thanks 'rion. see you in school tomorrow?"

orion shot him a smile and nodded cooly, "yeah, see you tomorrow, vin." as he walked out, she noticed that he'd stolen a glance at her as he opened the door to the store, and he stepped out and got in his car. orion also noticed that when he got in the driver seat, he hit his head on the headrest, as if he was stressed about something, and he drove away.

the image left her curious, but as the bookstore was left empty once more, she couldn't stop the raging blush that splotched her face at the thought of the boy and their minimal interaction. as she continued to mindlessly do her homework on trigonometric functions, she kept spiraling that little daydream of him, of all the nice things he's done and said to her. deep down, though, she felt guilty. even if clementine was a cunt, she was still vinnie's girlfriend, and orion still felt that tinge of guilt when he appeared in her thoughts.