Half a World Away // Vinnie Hacker

*19*

"I need to go to the bathroom," Vinnie said, leaning down to talk into my ear so I could hear him over the music. I nodded and we pushed our way out of the crowd, people immediately filling the space we had just occupied. We walked over to a part of the house that was less crowded and Vinnie told me to wait there, "I'll only be a minute." He walked off to where Luke had said the bathrooms were and left me standing, leaning against an empty wall. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time; 9:47. It's been well over two hours now and the house was still seeing new faces appear while old faces left to go to other parties.

I put my phone back into the small pocket I had sewn into my skirt and looked up as My Chemical Romance's Helena started playing. I started quietly humming along to the song and tapping my foot when I saw the black-haired guy from earlier. I immediately stopped, stood up straight and looked at the ground instead of at him, maybe if I didn't look at him he wouldn't notice me.

---TW--- skip to the end of this (there'll be a bit in bold to show you were to go to) if sexual assault or physical assault are triggering 

I felt somebodies presence in front of me and hoped that it was Vinnie but I could tell by the shoes that it wasn't. "Do I make you nervous princess?" The black-haired boy asked. "No, don't call me that and go away," I hissed. The best I could do was put up a strong facade to show that I was too strong a target for whatever it is he has planned in his sick mind. I could be completely wrong about him but I'm not taking my chances. "Feisty, I like feisty," he hissed back and before I could even process what he had said properly, his lips were on mine. I tried to push him off but it was no use, he was too strong and tall compared to my small physique. I went to reach for my phone again to text Vinnie but I remembered that his phone was back at my apartment.

He grabbed my hands and pinned them on the wall above my head with one hand, not only showing how much power he has over me but also stopping me from pushing him off me. He continued to kiss all over my face and down my neck, his free hand travelling freely all over my body. I wanted to cry and scream but I couldn't. I just stood there frozen. The worst part of it was that even though this was an emptier part of the house, there was still almost thirty people here that could see what was happening but in a world full of misogyny, no guy was going to say anything and no girl had any power to say anything. It made me sick to think that he could have been watching me all night and caught me just as Vinnie had left to go to the bathroom.

After what felt like years, the body pressing against mine was ripped off. I looked up to see Vinnie and the guy standing there, the guy in shock and Vinnie looking angrier than I had ever seen him. The guy caught up to what was happening and threw a punch in Vinnie's general direction, only stirring Vinnie up more. I knew that was a bad idea, Vinnie had done professionally boxing training for months earlier this year so I knew that this guy was instantly going to regret starting this up with Vinnie.

Vinnie threw punch after punch, not letting the other guy get anything in. There was blood starting to pour out of his face so I decided that was enough, "Vinnie! Stop! As much as I would like to see him beaten to a pulp, he's not worth it." I looked away from the two and saw a small crowd had gathered, I was just glad no one had their phones out recording. Vinnie looked over at me and stopped. I walked over to him and he let go of the guys' shirt. He started turning to walk away but threw one last punch before we walked out of the room. "Let's go home," I said, earning a nod from Vinnie. We walked over to where we had parked and got in the car.

I could tell Vinnie was still fuming over what had happened, his face was red and he had a slight scowl still lingering on his features. He smacked the steering wheel and then put his head on it. "Are you ok?" He asked, turning his head to look at me. "A little shook up and I want to cry but I'll be ok," I replied truthfully. As much as something like this can be traumatic, I know that eventually, I will be ok, maybe more paranoid but ok nonetheless. "Are you ok?" I asked. He leant back in his chair and turned to look at me and then closed his eyes. "I feel like shit," he said as he covered his face with his hands. I couldn't tell if it was just because he had just gotten into a fight and maybe that made him tired and sore or if he felt some sort of guilt because he wasn't there to stop it or something, I don't know. I'm just grateful that he got there before it escalated to anything worse.

---End of possible triggering area---

After about a minute, Vinnie started driving back to my apartment. I turned the radio on so that I could attempt to drown my thoughts out with the music. I could feel myself starting to crumble as tonight's experience started to catch up with me. The music was helping but I knew I wouldn't be able to make it up to my apartment without at least one tear slipping out. 

After 20 minutes of driving, my apartment came into view and I could feel myself close to breaking down. It was one thing to be assaulted like that and another for it to happen in a place on the other side of the world to where your family and friends are. I'm just glad I have Vinnie, I don't know what I would have done without him.

a/n

Hey Broskis!

I was going to leave this chapter without any sort of drama but I felt like the story was getting a bit bland so some drama was necessary and also I just did a whole assessment on sexual assault and it disgusts me how prevalent it is and how much of a man's world we live in so I felt the need to add something in

word count: 1040