i hate you

04

soon after the meeting in florida, we were called back to houston. the creators bought us all hotels and vinnie and i shared one. we were setting some ground rules about our fake relationship.

"okay, no kissing. none. as a matter of fact, no physical contact." i said. he nodded in agreement.

"but...if we're gonna do this we have to go on dates. once a week. as a couple for show. and you can't be a douche." he said. i laughed.

"no." i said, smiling in disbelief.

"then no fake boyfriend."

"fine," i rolled my eyes and scoffed. i can't believe i'm doing this. later that day, we had to go to a photo shoot for the tv show cover. the creators got a deal with netflix, making it an original. the girl who suggested the idea quit and her part was cut.

the cover of the show

vinnie had to get his tattoos covered for the photo shoot and the beginning of the show for the "flashbacks" portion. the tattooed vinnie would be the real and current vinnie.

later that week, he told me on a thursday that he was taking me out. i rolled my eyes at the idea and was a little upset.

"where are we going?" i asked. i was wearing a small black dress that stopped mid thigh because he said it was fancy but casual. i didn't know what to wear. he looked me up and down as i widened my eyes and shook my head, laughing.

"woah, calm down buck-o. just tell me where we are going," i demanded.

"we're going to this place i found a couple blocks from here. it's a restaurant my mom made me pay for." he said.

"don't blame me. this was your idea, not mine." i said. a smile formed on his face. i rolled my eyes and walked away, towards he front door.

"bye hon," maria said from the kitchen.

"bye," vinnie called back. "i was talking to nai, not you." maria said. she was clearly mad at him for something...this is gonna be good. can't wait to pull that card out at dinner tonight. vinnie blushed of embarrassment and opened the door. i ran over to her and pecked her on the cheek. i love maria. she's such a sweet woman.

i walked to the car where vinnie was waiting. i couldn't hold it much longer but to ask him why his mom was so mad.

"so, what'd you do to your mom?" i asked him, holding back a laugh.

"nothing." he said blankly. "i don't believe you," i said in a singsong tone. he rolled his eyes at me, giving in. "fine. she found out that we are in a fake relationship." he spit out. a confused look spread across my face.

"wait, but it was my idea?" i said. "yeah, but i took the blame," he said angrily. "you didn't have to do that." i whispered under my breath. "yeah, i did. your relationship with my mom is special. i don't want to do anything to effect that." he said, facing away from me. vinnie hates showing emotion, especially towards me.

he pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant called gauchos de sul. i've heard of this place before, and only good things. i heard it is close to impossible to get a reservation and costs more than most people's rent.

"wait—gauchos de sul?" asked, practically jumping out of the seat. "yeah, my mom made me do the nicest thing since i quote on quote 'dragged you into this.'" he smiled. i opened the car door, eager to get inside. now i wish i would've worn something a bit more covering...but screw it. i'm so excited for this.

i walked inside with vinnie, excited for the food. i hear it's super good.

"reservation for vincent," he says. i make a sarcastic face. "vincent?" i whisper. he scoffes and nudges me with his elbow telling me to shut up. the woman at the front desk thing picks up two menus and silverware things.

"right this way," she says, leading us to our table. this woman walked so damn fast, she turned a corner and we couldn't find her for a second. once we got to the table, we sat down and i squealed. i opened the menu to see what kind of stuff they had here.

"so, vincent, what're you getting?" i asked, emphasizing his name. vincent is his full fist name, but he goes by vinnie because he's not a fancy person. "shut up." he said. he hated it when people called him that, and especially me of all people did it, too.

"what're you gonna get?" he asks me, not even looking up from his phone. "vinnie, i just picked up the menu," i said. "have you never been to a restaurant before?" i said.

"this one? a million times. i can tell you what's good." he offered. i know i probably shouldn't trust him, but i will. "okay....what's good?" i asked. he picked up my menu and skimmed through it.

"this, right here." he said, pointing to the menu. i looked at it. it was adult pb&j. it had vodka, and some type of illegal drug that i couldn't pronounce.

"okay, fist of all, i'm allergic to peanuts, secondly, why the hell do they have this on there, and last how do you know it's good?" i asked. he looked up from his phone (finally) and picked up the menu.

"no, stupid, i wasn't pointing to that, i was pointing to this." he said, basically throwing it at me. i looked at it again, and he was pointing to a seafood burger. what is the cuisine here? also, i hate seafood. "no. i'm not eating that," i said, sliding the menu back over to him and crossing my arms. "then get something else, i don't care." he said, not breaking contact with his phone. i reached across the table and grabbed it.

"what the fuck!" i said a little to loud. "shhh!" i shushed him to make him shut up. "gimme that," he grabbed at his phone but i kept it away from him and put it in my purse. he tried to grab that too. "vinnie hacker, you grab my purse and open it, i will leave this place, take your car and drive to your house to tell your mom do you want that?" i threatened. "no," he mumbled.

"why did you take my phone?" he asked angrily. "because it was your idea to do this and i'm not gonna have you sit there on your phone while i'm over here basically talking to myself." i explained. he smiled a little and i giggled. "you starting to like me?" he asked, a little to bravely. "what the fu—no!" i said with a gross look.

but was it the truth? did i like him? under all that dickwad-type-ness, maybe he was a good guy.