v i n n i e
⊹
I wake up to my phone ringing at eight AM.
Grabbing my phone off my nightstand, I answer.
"Hello?" I say, looking up at the ceiling.
Val's voice comes through the speaker shakily, stammering, he says. "H-hi,"
"What's up?" I ask him.
"I-I-I j-j-just wanted to say h-hi," he says.
And it's a lie. I can tell when my ex-best friend, then best friend again, now boyfriend, is lying.
"Babe." I say firmly. "What's wrong? Don't shut me out."
"I shut everyone out. Don't take it personally. It's easier that way." He says.
I sigh. "Unlock your front door or tell the girls, I'm coming over."
I dress quickly, grabbing my phone, wallet, and keys, walking out of my apartment and to my car. Val and I were best friends from Kindergarten until eighth grade; we got in a huge fight, he said he never wanted to see me again, I said fine. Halfway through school this year (twelfth grade), we started hanging out again. Then, over the summer (in June), we went camping, trying to get closer, then he kissed me. It's September now, so we've been together for about three months. It's been really hard for him to open up since we became friends again.
Val lives in an apartment with two of our friends, Isabella, and her girlfriend, Hannah. I pull in the empty spot beside Isabella's car and grab my stuff, getting out of the car and going to their door.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" Hannah says when she opens the door. "He's been crying but won't tell us why."
I sigh. "Yeah, we're working on the 'opening up' thing." I say.
"Isabella is with him in his room."
I walk down the hallway, into his room where he's sitting on his bed with Isabella. I lean against the door frame, knocking softly on the door.
"Hi baby," I say when he looks at me.
"Good luck," Isabella whispers as she walks past me. I smile, closing the door after she leaves and walk over to Val beside the bed.
"So. What's wrong?" I ask him.
"Leave me alone, Vin," he snaps at me.
I sigh. Are we doing this again?
"Val..." I say. "You can't shut me out forever. I know you feel like it's the safest thing for you, but if we're going to work out, we need to have communication."
He looks up at me, tears pouring down his face. I don't bother reaching out to brush them away, because he'll just slap my hands away.
"I'm going to leave." I tell him. "I'll be in the living room."
The girls look at me as I walk into the living room; I shake my head at them.
"He won't open up to me. I don't know what to do. I love him. A lot. But I'm lost." I say, sitting on the couch and taking a deep breath.
Isabella rubs my back sympathetically.
"I wish there was something I could do." Hannah says.
"I know that something happened in his past, I mean, a lot of stuff. I know what happened when I was there for it, but he wasn't like this before. Something happened after we stopped talking..."
Hannah and Isabella both nod.
"Yeah, I mean, he's told me very little about his past." Isabella says. "But I'm waiting for him to feel safe enough to open up."
We all turn around as we hear Val coming down the hallway.
"Vinnie? I need to talk to you." He says and in this moment, I'm back in eighth grade when he said he never wanted to see me again. I get off the couch, walking towards him. He grabs my wrist, pulling me into his room.
"You are... the sweetest, most caring, loving guy that I have ever known." He says. "And I want to tell you everything, but I'm scared. I don't want to lose you. There's a lot of stuff that's happened in my life..."
"I was there for some of it, love. You don't have to worry about me, I'm not goin' anywhere." I say, looking into his eyes. "We can start small. We're going to play this day by day, minute by minute, okay?"
He nods, grabbing my hand and takes a deep breath. "I never wanted to stop being friends with you. My dad made me. I mean, you know, he's not the nicest man... he called me names, told me I didn't deserve to have friends, he said stuff about you, he hit me a couple of times... I never wanted to stop being your friend, but I wanted to protect you from him. I know you were there for the beginning, but it got worse. I didn't have anyone else, so I just started keeping it to myself. That's why it's so hard for me to open up."
"Oh, baby..." I say softly, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. "You're safe now, okay? I'm never letting you go."
I lean forward, cupping his face and pressing my lips against his as he pulls me closer to him. He smiles, opening his mouth against mine, pausing for a second, and then closing it again, nipping at my lip, pulling gently.
When he pulls away, he looks up at me; By a an inch or an inch and a half, I'm taller than he is.
Val grabs my wrist, pulling me back into the living room where the girls are. They smile at us when we walk back into the living room.
"I opened up to him." He says. "I want to open up a little bit to you guys, too,"
They look at each other and then at me. "Val... only do what you're comfortable with."
⊹
About an hour— and many tears from the girls— later, we're all sitting on the couch.
"Let's go get some breakfast," Hannah says, standing up. "I think we all deserve it, especially Val."
So that's what we do, we go to a local diner that has amazing breakfast, eat tons of food, and enjoy ourselves.
2/20/21
I wish I still had Spotify Premium 😩
