• ★ •
nyla turned over in her bed, trying to ignore her phone, which kept buzzing with notifications.
a loud knock on the door and bryce's (annoying) voice made nyla sit up, rubbing her eyes and trying to massage away the pounding sensation in her head.
"i'm coming in!" bryce yelled, and a few seconds later the boy walked in, holding one of nyla's extra key cards in his hand. "what the hell is going on?"
nyla scowled, flopping back onto the bed and throwing the covers over her body. "leave me alone, bryce."
"i cant leave you alone, you're all over tiktokroom and everyone thinks you kissed kio."
nyla pushed the covers off her face and looked at bryce, her eyes wide. "what?"
"check your phone, dumbass."
nyla groaned, reaching for her phone and unlocking it, going to tiktokroom and seeing the post from last night. "i'm going to cry."
bryce sighed. "just- actually i don't know what happened on that boat. did you kiss kio?"
"no! i mean, there was a second when i was going to but i pulled away," nyla said, shaking her head. "oh my god, vinnie probably hates me."
"he's hated you for a long time, this is nothing new. i saw him yesterday when we were training together, and he was a fucking beast. not as good as me though," bryce said with a grin. "now get up, you have to come to the weigh in."
"no," nyla said, pulling the covers over her face. "i need to sleep. my head hurts."
"you need some advil?" bryce asked, a worried expression on his face. "i can ask room service for a hangover smoothie."
"thanks, bryce," nyla said, letting the boy give her a quick hug before he stood up again. "i'll be at the conference, i promise."
"bye, lala, if you're at the lobby by eleven you can ride with us to the weigh in, okay?"
nyla didn't answer, she was already drifting off to sleep.
• ★ •
"vinnie, calm the fuck down," his coach said, stopping the boy from hitting the bag in front of him. "we can't have you accidentally breaking a wrist or something."
vinnie sighed, letting his trainer take his gloves off of his hands before he dropped to the ground, exhausted. "sorry."
"it's okay, but what's bothering you? you gotta keep your emotions under control, okay?"
"nothing, just relationship problems," vinnie mumbled.
"take that energy, and put it into your fight tomorrow, okay? and no distractions."
vinnie nodded, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand as he stood up. "i will."
"good. now, you got your press conference in an hour, so shower and get ready to head over there, okay?"
vinnie nodded again, grabbing his clothes and heading to the gym showers.
• ★ •
nyla grimaced as she heard the loud alarm on her phone ring throughout her hotel room. she quickly turned it off, realizing that it was already eleven and that the press conference started in an hour.
she got up, taking the smoothie that had been delivered to her room and quickly gulping it down before grabbing some advil and swallowing it.
she stood in front of her suitcase, biting her lip as she tried to figure out what to wear.
if i wear something hot, maybe vinnie would be willing to talk...or not talk and we just-
nyla sighed, shaking her head as she grabbed a pair of torn gray mom jeans and a tight white crop top, hooking a silver chain necklace around her neck and snake earrings on her ears. she added a few rings to her hand and started on her makeup as she ran around the hotel room looking for her purse.
after grabbing her small black purse and stuffing her phone and lip balm into it, nyla put her shoes on and quickly slipped out the door, running downstairs as she ordered an uber.
"i am so fucking late," she muttered, looking at the time. it was 11:28, and it would take fifteen minutes to get to the weigh ins, and then she would have to find where bryce and the other tiktokers were.
• ★ •
vinnie sat down on the counter, his head down as he ignored what everyone around him was doing. bryce and tayler had walked in a few minutes ago, and vinnie couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when he didn't see nyla behind them.
bryce quickly walked over to him, and vinnie looked up, nodding his head hello.
"she didn't kiss him."
vinnie blinked, his brow furrowing before his eyes widened in realization. "wait-"
"she said she was about to but then she pulled away, vinnie. she's like, in fucking love with you or something. and i know she technically ended shit with you but i promise you she still wants you."
vinnie couldn't help but let a small smile slip, and he shook his head, "thanks for telling me, bro."
"no problem," bryce replied, "she said she would be here, but uh, i guess she's late. but she'll be here. she always is."
vinnie nodded, "you ready for this?"
"born ready, my man. tomorrow's gonna be a rest day for us, yeah?"
vinnie chuckled, hopping off the counter as they started to file out of the room and wait backstage for the event to start.
• ★ •
nyla groaned as she opened the door to the tiktokers' room, only to find it empty. tana was standing next to her, and grabbed her hand, pulling her back into the hallway.
"it's okay, we'll just watch them from the side and then you can talk to him later, okay?"
nyla nodded, taking a deep breath in as tana led her to their seats.
markell gave nyla a tight hug as she sat down next to him, and she smiled, exchanging hello's with him and the rest of their friends sitting around them.
the weigh started off smoothly as fousey introduced the tiktokers, weighed them, then introduced the youtubers, weighed them, and then had them face off. nyla and all her friends around her cheered and yelled for every tiktoker they could, showing their support.
nate and ddg had just walked to their sides of the stage, and nyla's heart beat a little faster at the thought of vinnie walking out on stage so soon.
"bout number six! things are just starting to heat up," fousey said, the crowd quieting down a little so they could hear him speak. "making his way to the stage, standing at five feet eleven inches tall, with 7.3 million followers, from seattle washington, representing team tiktok, please welcome vinnie hacker!"
the crowd went wild as vinnie walked on stage, effortlessly pulling his shirt off and taking his shoes off and standing on the scale.
"ooooh, nyla your man is smoking!" markell crowed, clapping his hands together. nyla smiled, waiting for keem to read out his final weight.
"one hundred and seventy three pounds!"
nyla clapped, along with everyone else, remembering a late night conversation with vinnie where he told her he was worried he wouldn't reach weight. "i'm so proud of him."
markell grinned, squeezing nyla's hand once. "you should go talk to him."
"i will," nyla nodded.
deji had walked onto the stage, and was exactly ten pounds above vinnie, meaning that the two would definitely be fighting tomorrow.
they faced off, vinnie chewing his gum as he stared deji down, his curls covering his forehead.
nyla eyes focused on vinnie and deji, watching as their lips moved as they talked to each other, but obviously, she couldn't hear anything.
fousey pointed towards the audience, and vinnie turned, looking at the front, before turning his head and staring back at deji, who still hadn't moved.
"you're gettin' mad close," vinnie said, grinning, deji retaliating with a simple "you're dead." (a/n they said this like 20 times but i'm not writing it twenty times)
after a few seconds of staring at each other (a/n i was hoping they would kiss), deji and vinnie faced forward and posed before grabbing their clothes and heading back to their respective sides.
tayler and gib were announced, and nyla made sure to cheer and clap, but she was focused on vinnie, who seemed extremely tense.
before she realized it, bryce and austin were on stage, the entire auditorium yelling as loud as they could as the two teams lined up.
vinnie has his arms crossed as he stared the audience down, still chewing his gum.
fousey had just finished his last few announcements, and the crowd cheered once again as the fighters started to walk offstage, and back to their rooms.
"let's go, we gotta go!" tana squealed, grabbing nyla's arm and basically dragging her to the back.
quite a large group of supporters and friends surrounded them as they made their way out of the auditorium and backstage, and nyla sighed, knowing that people would see her walking into the room filled with tiktokers and probably assume the worst.
tana and nyla quickly slipped into the room, the security guards slamming the door shut behind them.
• ★ •
vinnie was waiting in the back room with the rest of the boys, his stomach twisting and turning at the thought of seeing nyla again after almost two weeks.
tayler looked over at the younger boy, a grin on his face. "tana said she's coming back here with nyla."
vinnie nodded, tapping his foot on the floor nervously, his eyes darting around the room as he barely listened to the conversation around him.
his eyes snapped to the door as he heard it open and close, tana stepping inside first and heading straight to bryce. nyla walked in a second later, a small smile on her face as tayler hugged her and walked away.
she looked around the room, freezing in her spot as she saw vinnie, clad in his white purgatory jacket and still chewing his gum.
nyla took a breath, and slowly walked to the corner of the room where vinnie was standing, a nervous smile on her face, which vinnie returned.
"i didn't kiss kio," nyla blurted out, "we were playing spin the bottle and he told me it was just a kiss and i was about to do it but it wasn't you so i pulled away because i don't really wanna kiss anyone but you."
vinnie blinked, taking a second to process what nyla said. he grinned, his teeth on full display.
"i missed you."
nyla let out a breath of relief, lunging forward and hugging vinnie. "thank you for believing me," she whispered.
they pulled away, vinnie grabbing nyla's waist. "you were right that day, about how i needed to trust you. i do trust you, ny, i promise. and i hope you trust me too."
nyla swallowed, nodding her head. "i do. i just wish it didn't take both of us so long realize it."
vinnie sighed, looking behind nyla, where tana, bryce and tayler were trying to eavesdrop. nyla turned, rolling her eyes as she saw the three of them.
"fuck off, guys," nyla and vinnie said together, the boy hugging nyla, his chest pressed against her back as his arms wrapped around her body.
"they're back together!" tana sang out, "they even say the same things! the universe has been restored!"
vinnie grabbed nyla's hand, spinning her around so that she was facing him. he took a breath, trying to get the words to come out of his mouth.
"uh- this isn't how i wanted to ask you but, um, do you wanna go out with me?"
nyla laughed, hooking her arms around vinnie's neck and pecking his cheek. "yeah, i do."
• ★ •
she speaks !
it rly took 44 chapters for vinnie to ask nyla out 🙄
-n
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