homegrown 》v. hacker

Absolutely Perfect

"Imagine if Keeping Up With The Kardashians met the hype house." Vinnie mumbled, shoving his head into the pillow.

"C'mon Vinnie. Nikita is hosting and has promised enough chips to put yourself out of your misery."

"Nikita Dragun? I didn't know you guys were friends with her?"

"We are, we just drifted a bit after filming." Jack explained. He glanced as his watch and sighed. "You don't have to dress up, you don't have to stay long and yes, you can bring Max."

"Fuck yea." I exclaimed.

"Just get out Jack." Vinnie hurled a pillow at our friend's head and Jack expertly dodged it.

"15 minutes." And with that he was out of the room.

Vinnie looked at me and sighed. "Can you please fake sick? I don't feel like going out."

"Vinnie."

"Just think about it. We'd have the house to ourselves. For hours."

"Vin. You have to show some support. You can't be a flake."

"Pfft. Says who?"

"Me. Now get your ass out of bed."

Vinnie sighed and slowly got up and out of his bed. He wrapped his arms around me and sighed.

"Go put on some deodorant or something and meet me downstairs."

Vinnie hummed and kissed the top of my head before going to his bathroom. I went back to my room and freshened up in my bathroom and put in fuzzy socks before heading downstairs. I grabbed two RedBulls from the fridge and went to go wait by the front door. Renata and Jack joined me soon.

"Vinnie coming?" Jack asked, looking up at the stairs.

"Yea. Give him a minute."

Jack nodded and I glanced out the door. I stepped outside and cast my eyes over the property as the sun shone the last of it's rays upon the land. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The door closed behind me and I reached for my phone, checking to make sure it was there.

I felt a pair of eyes and turned around, expecting to see someone standing there. No one was there. I glanced around and quickly came back inside, shuddering.

"There you are." Thomas looked up and me and I smiled. "Let's go." I nodded and followed Vinnie to the car. The presence of the eyes didn't leave me until we were miles away from the house.

"You okay? You seem tense?"

I nodded, keeping my silence. I've read too many books to accidentally rope Vinnie into my stalker. If it was even that. "Just excited to see your show."

Nikita's house was huge and expensive looking. And to think she lives here alone. Girl boss. Nikita herself was very sweet. She welcomed me and Renata in, even though we were complete strangers. Offered us food and drinks before making sure we were all comfortable in her living room. I sat next to Jack, Vinnie on his other side. I thought it was for the best. I didn't want to get too intimate in front of everyone.

I only got up once Jack ate the last of the popcorn. I entered the brightly lit kitchen and was filling up my bowl when Nikita came up next to me.

"So you and Vinnie?" I looked up at her and shrugged. "I already know. I was the one that picked up the necklace."

"Oh."

"That redhead seems pretty..."

"Into him? I agree."

Nikita nodded, pursing her lips. "I'm assuming she doesn't know?" I nodded.

"We don't know her. It'd be foolish to say anything. We don't want her leaking anything."

Nikita nodded. "Totally get it but...you might want to claim what's yours before she tries to make a move."

"You don't think she will," I hesitated. "Do you?"

Nikita shrugged. "I've been in LA for a couple years now and I've seen it a million times before. If you don't claim him, just don't befriend her or else she'll stab you in the back."

I nodded, swallowing the fear. "Yea. Thanks for the advice."

"Anytime." I took my bowl back to the living room and saw that everyone had switched places.

Mia looked up from her phone and waved. "We decided to take a break since so many people had disappeared. Feel free to take a new spot." I nodded and glanced around. Renata had put herself next to Vinnie. I ignored it, handing Jack his popcorn and sitting down the edge of the couch. This was going to be a long night.