THE NEXT DAY
༼real life༽
He is fifteen minutes late.
I stand on the sidewalk outside my apartment and wait for him, chewing my fingernails. It's a terrible habit, one that gets me in trouble with Sof and Noah constantly.
As I'm waiting for him, I realize that I have no idea what I'm doing. I haven't gone on an actual date in literal years, not since Parker Knowles in the eleventh grade. He drove a BMW and after we went to the Cheesecake Factory he tried to put his hand down my pants in the back of that same car.
The sound of a car honking brings me back to reality, and I look up just in time to watch Vincent pull over. The windows are down, and he's blasting Kendrick Lamar. When he sees me, he breaks into a grin.
"There you are," He laughs, as if I am the one who's fifteen minutes late instead of him "I've been looking for you everywhere."
I roll my eyes, but can't help the smile that forces its way to the surface. With a little laugh, I open the door to his car and get in, trying to pretend like this is the kind of thing that happens all the time. Trying to pretend as if the memory of that night we spent back home isn't playing on repeat in the back of my mind, over and over.
"Where are we going?" I ask, as he takes the car out of park. It's a stick shift, and I watch as he changes gears. The veins in his hands pop as he shifts, and for a second it feels as though all the air is stuck in my throat.
"Lunch."is all Vincent tells me.
∞
Twenty minutes later, the car pulls into the parking lot of a nondescript shopping mall. We are in what Noah kindly refers to as Wannabe L.A, the "desolate" in her words suburbia that stretches out past what she calls Real L.A.
"Where are we?" I wonder out loud. Looking around, all that I see are a massage place, a few empty buildings, and a little diner with a banner that advertises "best coffee in Los Angeles." Vinnie, not answering me, opens his door and steps out into the parking lot.
"We're getting lunch."
I follow him into the cafe. It's empty except for a family of four, two kids crying loudly as their mother tells them not to drink the maple syrup, and a few older-looking men sitting at the bar. The woman serving them drinks smiles to us when we walk in, and motions to an empty table over in the back corner.
We get seated, and soon she comes to give us menus. "Vinnie! You're back!" She's grinning when she gets to our table, a grin identical to the one currently on Vincent's face.
"Of course I am, you know I love your pancakes." He turns to look at me, and his grin widens. "They're the best in Los Angeles, by a long shot."
I resist the urge to scoff. He cannot be serious.
Oh, but he is. We both order the pancakes, even though it's lunch, and when they come out, still hot, they're the most gorgeous and fluffy pancakes I've ever seen.
And when I bite into them, I can't suppress the moan that slips from my lips. "Jesus, you weren't wrong."
Vinnie laughs, and begins telling me how he found this place. I am laughing so hard that I aspirate part of my pancake, and when I can breathe again he keeps talking. The conversation is easy, startlingly so, that I barely notice the time pass, until my phone in my pocket starts buzzing.
It's a spam call, but when I open my phone the time is 7:10 pm. Vinnie and I talk the whole drive back to my apartment. When we finally get there, he opens my door for me and I laugh, surprised.
"You should get used to it, Max. Remember the whole fake dating thing?"
That's not supposed to feel like a shot to the heart, but I am reminded of just how fake all of this is, just how unreal what was starting to seem like a friendship with Vinnie truly is. It is no different from any of my hookups, he has what he wants and I have what I want. This is just our way of getting it.
note: GUYS IM BACK. and for real
this time, I promise. I'm finally done
with exams and out on
summer break, so I'll have time to
edit and write again.
I am so sorry it took so damn long.
