Half a World Away // Vinnie Hacker

*28*

"Are you sure I look ok?" I asked Vinnie as we pulled up to the restaurant. "Yes, you look amazing," he said holding my hand quickly before getting out of the car. "Jaden and Nessa are gonna meet us in a minute and we're all gonna go in together cause they have a reservation too so then if there are people outside it looks like we're going in as a group instead of two dates," Vinnie explained. This whole situation is making me realise how hard it's going to be to hide our relationship for a bit even though I really want to.

Jaden and Nessa came up to Vinnie's car a few minutes later and joined us, "Thank you for doing this," Jaden said as he arrived in front of us. "Thank us? You two are like gods to me right now," I joked, earning a few laughs. When I'm nervous I make really bad jokes. I was extremely nervous about getting seen with Vinnie in a situation that definitely looks like a date so to have Jaden and Nessa here kind of made it less pressure. Vinnie grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug, "It's going to be ok, you don't need to be so nervous". We started walking towards the restaurant and I could see cameras flashing and a group of people standing outside already. "I'm gonna have to let go of your hand, ok? just act like friends," Vinnie said as we got closer to the people with cameras. I took a step away from Vinnie, putting me closer to the wall and our hands disconnected. Cameras started flashing the moment Jaden and Nessa were seen so I put my head down and just walked. We made it to the doors without anyone recognising me and walked up to the front of house. The two groups were seated and turns out we were only a couple of tables a part which I guess helped with the group dinner scenario. The windows were tinted throughout the whole restaurant so that its guests had privacy from the paparazzi outside.

Vinnie pulled my chair out for me which made me smile like an idiot for literally no reason and then the two of us sat down. "You look nervous," Vinnie said from the seat across from me. "I am," I chuckled nervously. He smiled back and then put his hand out on the table signalling me to put mine in his, "You don't need to be nervous, you've done the hard part already. Now, you just have to be you". The waiter arrived just as I was about to answer, asking if we wanted any drinks. I forgot that I couldn't drink in this country so I almost asked for a cocktail but instead settled for water, same as Vinnie. The waiter nodded and headed off to get a bottle of water and cups. "So, how long do you think you'd stay in LA for?" Vinnie asked. I hated that question. It was like our whole relationship was based around that question because what happened if we were still together in a year but I didn't want to stay in LA? And what if one of us didn't want to do long distance? or long distance is what causes us to break up? "Well, I finish this school year in June so, five months away but I might either stay here for a few months because the Australian school year doesn't start until January or I might stay here for school and I'll be here until next June. So either five months, 11 months or a year and a half," I said, not looking at Vinnie. We hadn't even made our relationship official and I was already thinking about what happens when I go home because no matter which option I choose, I still have to go home at some point. "Well, when the end of the year gets closer, you can think about it then," Vinnie replied. I think he was asking so that he could get a gauge on where our relationship could be in however long he was thinking but I don't even know what country I'm going to be in in six months.

We picked up our menus and started looking through the dishes deciding on what to eat. "Are you thinking of visiting home soon?" I asked. Vinnie looked up from the menu and paused as if he was thinking, "Probably not in the next few weeks but if I get a break in about a month or so then yeah, I'd go visit home," Vinnie replied. The waiter came back to the table and took our orders. I settled for the Bone in Kansas City fillet with truffle butter sauce because it was one of the cheapest things on the menu while Vinnie went ahead and got a $150 steak, rich people things. "So, what were you and Lucy talking about earlier," I asked, curious and being very much overprotective. "Oh, you know, just organising a time for her to come around so we can fuck," Vinnie said, causing me to glare at him, "No, I'm kidding she was being all flirty and weird but I told her I already had my eye on someone and didn't think she should waste her time," he shrugged. My cheeks went red and I looked down to try to hide it and my smile. "Don't hide your face when you blush, it's cute," Vinnie said, pulling my chin up with his finger. we talked about everything and nothing while we waited for our food to arrive. The second the steaks landed on our table my mouth started to water. Vinnie and I hungrily ate our food in pretty much silence. We tried a little bit of each other's steak and oh my god you could definitely tell the price difference between the two steaks but both were still so good.

"What are you going to do after college?" Vinnie asked when we finished our steaks. "Well, I'm going to try to get into paramedic training courses and things around Australia and possibly LA because after you do the course you pretty much go straight into the job where you did the course. I don't know though. I thought I had everything figured out. I was going to come to LA for the remainder of the year then go home and finish the course and apply to places in Queensland. But now I don't even know if I want to leave LA at the end of this year so we'll see how it goes"