𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 ✰ v. hacker

forty-fifth ❀ irl

| MAISY |

"hey," i smiled as warmly as i could as vinnie opened the front door for me. his gaze wavered between my face and something apparently interesting at his feet, and he gave a weak smile back.

"hi, maisy."

at least he used my name...

"what's up with you?" i spoke up quickly and almost harshly before i realized the words leaving my mouth. "are you okay? you've been so cold to me lately, and i don't know what's going on."

"you're one to talk about cold words," a glower returned to his face and he impatiently held the door open for me to enter. that was all he said, leaving an awkward and heavy silence hanging over the both of us. i didn't have much to say...he was right, after all.

vinnie led us inside to his kitchen, where his books and laptop were set up on the dining room table. no one else appeared to be home, and the whole house was dark except for that room and the kitchen.

"where's the rest of your family?" i asked, trying to start conversation.

he shrugged. "they went down to florida for a funeral for my uncle."

"oh," grimacing, i asked, "and you didn't go with?"

"no." vinnie's curt response added to the awkwardness.

"i'm sorry, were you close to your uncle?" i tried again.

he scoffed, his demeanor hovering over the edge of rudeness. "no. didn't even know the guy. i could care less."

"oh." my stupid self continued to blabber on. "must be nice now that the family's gone. you get to have dance and karaoke parties by yourself. have you done anything to take advantage of this empty house?"

"no. it's lonely, actually." he sighed and dropped into a kitchen chair. "let's just get this started, yeah? i don't want to spend more time on this than we need to."

"right." i nodded quickly. "sorry, yeah."

vinnie stopped for a second, softening a little bit. "can i get you anything? i'm gonna get something to drink."

we worked swiftly for a good two hours, getting a lot done pretty efficiently. the problem was, it wasn't fun. he seemed really off and weird and uncomfortable the entire time, and that was starting to bother me since we'd been close before and i'd had a fun time working on previous projects together with him. i wished i could talk to him, but i didn't want to push him further since any attempt at conversation before had failed.

without warning, vinnie slammed his laptop shut, making me jump. "i'm done with this."

"what?" i looked up at him warily, temporarily pausing my typing.

"let's get out of here." he stood up and shoved his notebook back into his backpack. "there's a party at emily's and i want to go. screw all this work."

"o-h..." unsure, i continued look at him until he came over and closed my laptop, pulling me up to stand. "what happened to that work ethic you've been working on?" i asked teasingly, but he just gave me a look.

"i don't care." he shrugged and turned away. "i need a drink, and to get out of this stupid house, so we're going."

with that, he headed for the door. in a great deal of confusion, i stuffed my school stuff into my bag and hurried after him.

i couldn't believe these school kids were that bored and crazy enough to go to a second FULL BLOWN party in one week. furthermore, i was surprised that vinnie wanted to go - he'd expressed his severe dislike for parties and crowds, and i'd never taken him for a drinker.