✔️The Greaser and the Skirtchaser [18+]

5. Vance's First Girlfriend

The most embarrassing thing wasn't Danny dragging his unconscious body out of the bathroom or Bianca spraying him with a hose to sober him up or collapsing in his bed with a shoe missing and sopping wet. Those were all close runners-ups, but first place goes to the nonsense he spouted in front of Blake.

Oh, God, kill him now.

He even skipped school because of it. What if he ran into Blake at school? He never did since Blake was usually the one skipping, but Vance wouldn't be able to handle it if he did see him there.

That was why Vance was in the back alley behind Garden Row with Bianca while she smoked. She tossed Vance an icy glance. "What's gotten into you? First you're drinking like Danny and now you're playin' hooky?"

"You guys do it all the time," he muttered, crossing his arms.

She raised a brow. "Yeah, we do it. You don't 'cause you're a good Catholic boy."

"I'm not." Vance found going to church no different to being dragged to parties though he preferred the boring sermons over the loud, hot parties; it was all the same to him. Besides, his mom hated going without company, so he went with her. "How am I supposed to let my ma go by herself?"

"Yeah, I guess." She blew out a cloud.

He was told that she got lonely very easily after his dad died when he was around four. She held onto him so much that Vance barely had any opportunity to "Romano-ize" and turn into something like Danny, so he turned into an overly-sensitive doormat according to his cousins. Vance almost wished his mom loved him a little less, but that was an awful thing to think. He just wanted to be like his cousins.

"Hey." She nudged him. "Why the hell did ya ditch Jenny?"

"Franco just dumped Johnny on me. I didn't have a choice."

"You're supposed to let Johnny sort himself out. He's eighteen goddamn years old and can take care of himself. This isn't the first time that he's drunk himself half to death over Sallie Mae, and it sure won't be the last." She got this real dark look on her face while she was glaring at the wall opposite of them. Bianca could really work up a rage when she wanted to. "And you've got Jenny goddamn Hayesworth. She's been into you since she was fourteen. How could you just walk off?"

"Johnny's my cousin. I couldn't just let him stumble around by himself." It was just too pitiful, and all Johnny really needed was someone's shoulder to cry on even if he did it just about every month. Vance finally registered, "Wait, how do you know she's liked me?"

"She and I are friends."

Vance blinked. Bianca was pretty... unladylike—something that her mom and Danny aren't very fond of—so she pretty exclusively hung out with her cousins. Her only female friend around her age was her own cousin Francesca. "You are?"

"Yeah... she's... she's really amazing." She looks at Vance with flames for eyes. "And she's a helluva catch, alright? She likes you. She really likes you, the way she talks about you. I know chicks aren't your thing, but would it kill ya to be nicer to her? Or at least remember her?"

"What—it's just that I haven't met the right one," Vance shot back quickly. "And I was nice to her... while I was with her."

Bianca made a deep frown but gave up with a shake of her head. "Whatever you say. But you better shape up for your date."

"My... date?"

"Yeah. You're gonna call Jenny up tonight and take her to Rosaline's this Saturday, and you're going to show her a good time." Her eyes flashed when she spotted Vance about to protest. "I don't give a damn if she's not the one; you're going to make her feel like a princess, and she's going to have the time of her life. Got it?"