𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒆

Every time Vinnie hung out with Riley, he was convinced that day was the best day of his life...until the next time he saw her replaced its spot. Life was just more fun and sweet with her there.

He loved her laugh and her goofy jokes. He loved the weird faces she'd make when he told a bad joke, or how her face flushed pink when fell over from a failed skate trick, or how she laughed at him when he couldn't remember the tiktok dance she had taught him 15 times. He loved how excited she got when she landed a skate trick, or how her face lit up when he got a Grey's Anatomy reference (she'd recently convinced him to start watching something other than anime, and although he'd never admit it, he kinda liked Grey's).

Ever since they had started talking, he'd found himself thinking about her often. Sometimes she'd pop up in his dreams and his nightmares happened less often. While he still had depressive episodes and anxiety attacks, they didn't seem to last as long and the inability to smile had left long ago.

But it wasn't just when he was with her or when she was on his mind that he was happier. Riley had taught him how to love life. She taught him to find exciting things about life in the mundane routine or how to appreciate random things like the birds singing or how blue the sky happened to be some days. He'd learned to accept compliments after Riley got annoyed at him from trying to deflect hers. He'd picked up the habit of frequently thanking people because Riley always did.

Kio called his personality change a "great upgrade", and teased him about being a simp, but Vinnie couldn't even deny that. He'd changed for the better, and he hoped it'd stay that way.

Yeah, he liked Riley a lot.

𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒚

The two of them had had an amazing night. He had taken her to dinner at a smaller place so the paparazzi wouldn't find them, and the food was amazing. It wasn't awkward because Riley always found something to joke about or an interesting topic to bring discuss.

Still, Vinnie hadn't brought up whatever it was that he wanted to talk to Riley about. Her curiosity was almost to the point where she just brought it up, but she figured she'd let him bring it up when he was ready.

Of course, she had suspicions on what it was.

Mia had told her Vinnie was gonna ask her to be his girlfriend. Sab, the downer she was, warned her he might try to DTR and tell her he just wanted to be friends. Earlier that afternoon, Kio had texted her and asked what she and Vinnie were doing tonight. When she said she didn't really know, he told her Vinnie had been nervous all day but wouldn't tell him anything. So...now Riley was nervous.

Yes, it was a fact that she liked Vinnie. In fact, she liked him a lot. She didn't know how many times she had caught herself (much to her embarrassment) daydreaming about him. Mia sometimes even complained that Riley talked to Vinnie more than her. If they weren't seeing each other in person, they were texting or sending tiktoks to each other or FaceTiming one another.

Riley loved how gentle he was, and how he'd stopped trying to hide his emotions...she loved watching him gradually open up to her. She loved how weird he was and how patient he could be no matter how long it took her to understand a skate trick. She loved how he tried to hide his smile when she teased him. She loved that he took time out of his day to ask how she was doing. Not many people did that. She loved that he always texted her to make sure she got home safe after he'd drop her off. She loved how excited he got trying to explain some new idea he had and how he listened to her fully when she needed someone to talk to.

At the moment, she had her hand tucked in his as they walked down the boulevard after dinner. They had been discussing their bucket lists and their plans to cross everything off.

"I mean, they don't have expiration dates on them," Vinnie noted, "So theoretically, we could do them whenever."

"Exactly, agreed Riley, "But why would you want to wait until later? The exciting part about having a bucket list is checking stuff off."

He stopped, leaning against a streetlight to think. "I just feel like everything on my list I can't just cross off. They're a lot more complicated."

Riley laughed. "Then just find simple things to cross off. I don't know, like...someday I want to take a parkour class."

"That's so random." Laughing, Vinnie shook his head. "A parkour class? I mean, don't you already know some flipping tricks or something because of dance?"

"Hey! No making fun of my bucket list." Riley glared at him. "After all, how many people can say they've taken a parkour class?" With a laugh, she added, "Not you, that's for sure."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I understand now."

"Come on, how cool would it be to be able to flip over random things?" Climbing onto a fire hydrant, she pretended to do a backflip off of it. When he teased her about chickening out, she flipped off of it, and then jokingly proceeded to try to scale a newsstand, much to his amusement. After she had jumped over a few benches, and Vinnie was laughing at her, she added, "See? I still need to improve my parkour skills." Jokingly jumping around a mailbox, Riley came back to walk beside him.

"You still haven't said what you were trying to tell me the other day."

"Yeah. You're right." He hesitated for a long second before taking her hand so they could continue walking. "I guess I'm just putting it off."

They walked in silence for a short bit, and Riley could feel his nervousness. Finally, he stopped and faced her, sucking in a breath."Ok, I'm just going to say it."

"Riley, I really like you."

When she didn't reply, frozen in shock, he went on hurriedly. "I really really like you. And I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because you've just been the best friend and listener I've had since I moved here. Or maybe because you're so pretty and goofy and it makes me nervous sometimes just thinking about you. I can't express how much you've changed my life since we started talking. And I'm really scared because I don't know if you feel the same, so if you don't, just tell me and I won't bother you anymore but-"

"You silly. Of course I like you too." Riley cut off his rambling by pulling him into a hug with a little giggle. She added in a whisper, "I like you a lot."

Breathing out with relief, Vinnie tightened the hug, kissing the top of her head. "I'm terrified. See, I'm literally shaking. I haven't told anyone my feelings in so long."

"Yeah, well, doesn't it feel good?" She looked up at him with a smile, joy radiating from her face.

"Yeah." A smile started on his face too. "It does."

Just two kids stranded in LA, not so lonely anymore.

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