Half a World Away // Vinnie Hacker

*37*

Today Vinnie and I fly to Sydney and I'm so insanely nervous. We don't go see my parents until the day we leave but I know that's going to be on my mind the whole trip. I can already tell how its going to play out; everything will be ok for the first thirty seconds then they'll see the tattoos and then we'll eat a bit then work will come up and all hell breaks loose. It's not going to be a fun night but it is necessary.

We had our bags packed and we were ready to head over to the airport. Reggie said a quick goodbye before he headed off to school this morning so now it was just Vinnie, his parents and I in the house. We were all in the kitchen eating breakfast and I could tell Vinnie didn't want to leave and his parents didn't want him to leave either. We were all sharing small talk to break any awkward silence and to avoid the topic of us leaving. When everyone finished eating Vinnie and I went upstairs to get our suitcases to put in the car. "Vinnie, I know you don't want to leave. You can stay longer if you want to and then I'll meet you back in LA," I said as we got into his room. "No, no it's ok. I have to leave eventually and I want to be there when you see your parents, I don't want you to go alone. Even if I do make the dinner worse and your parents hate me, I really don't want you going in there by yourself," Vinnie said, holding my hands as he spoke. I brought him into a hug and put my head on his chest. I was so grateful to have him in my life because he knew when to be there and when to step back. I really did want him to come to the dinner with my parents because I wasn't sure how I'd go on my own. I'd almost certainly blow up at them and I'd need someone there to stop me from saying things I'd regret.

We went downstairs and put our bags in the boot. We sat in the back of the car, Nate and Maria sat in the front and then we drove off to the airport. We said our last goodbyes when we got out of the car and headed over to check-in for our flight.

//

We arrived in Sydney 16 hours later; 16 hours of my leg bouncing and hands fidgeting. I woke Vinnie up and we got off the plane, immediately being hit by the warm weather. "Shit, it's hot," Vinnie said from next to me. "Yeah, it's winter too. It's never normally this warm," I said, kind of confused at the temperature.

We went through security and customs and left our gate. I immediately saw Jess standing just outside our gate and dropped my bag, running towards her. She saw me and welcomed me with open arms. I crashed into her body and almost toppled us onto the ground. "What are you doing here?" I asked, excited. I had planned on seeing Jess this trip, obviously but I hadn't expected her to meet us at the airport. "I couldn't wait to see you so I came to pick you up," She smiled. Vinnie and I were staying with her while we were here because she was switching roommates and had a spare room we could stay in for a few days. "I missed you so much," I said, pulling away from the hug. Vinnie appeared next to us dragging two suitcases behind him, one was the one I dumped the second I saw Jess. "Woah, he's even hotter in person," Jess said to me, examining Vinnie. "I know right, those pictures don't do him justice but those thirst traps on the other hand, jeez," I said, fanning myself lightly in a slightly mocking manner. "Hey, I'm right here," Vinnie said, waving his hand in front of my face. "I know," I smiled, wrapping my arms around his side and moving onto my tiptoes to place a kiss on his jawline.

We all walked out and got in Jess's car and she drove us to her apartment. We got inside and Vinnie dumped our bags in the spare room and Jess and I sat on her couch. "So, what are you going to do while you're here?" Jess asked. I pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and put it over my legs, even though it was 30 degrees at the moment. "Well, I think today Vinnie and I will just take it easy cause of jet lag and all that and then tomorrow i think i'm going to meet up with my sisters and show Vinnie around and then the day we leave we're having dinner with my parents," I said, fiddling with the corner of the blanket. "You're taking him to meet your parents?" Jess asked, shocked. "Yeah, I mean, the worst that'll happen is they don't like him, right? Plus we'll be on a flight straight afterwards and the quicker I get this out of the way the better," I huffed. It was going to be difficult getting him to meet my parents because he is pretty much the opposite of what my parents want. My parents are expecting some rich, upper-class businessman with a massive house and yacht who wear suits all the time but I'm bringing them a tiktoker with tattoos who wears tank tops and sweatpants almost 24/7.

"He's going to be right in the firing line all night but he said he wanted to so were going to do it i guess," i huffed. "Yeah, I am going to do it and it'll be fine, I'm expecting the worst so anything more than that means it went amazing," Vinnie said, walking into the room. I looked up from the couch and he gave me a kiss on the forehead before sitting on the couch next to me.

//

i keep forgetting this exists and then randomly coming back to it so yh idk