October, 2021
talking exclusively to sofia was certainly interesting. they facetimed every other day, texted non-stop and had even sent some not so family-friendly photos. it was like they never broke up, except, it wasn't an actual relationship. they were not there yet.
vinnie was on his way to seattle - actually, the plane had just landed in the city, but he was waiting the pilot authorize them to leave - and sofia was picking him up with his parents and reggie. he accidentally told his mom he was talking to sofia and she told sofia's mom everything. now, their families knew - and, again, there was nothing official going on.
once he was able to leave, he got his luggage and went on to find his family. he hadn't seen them in a while, therefore, he was excited. the same with sofia, whom he last saw in july. he couldn't even attend her birthday last month because of some work he had to do. he did send her some flowers and a cute necklace on the day, though.
he was trying to be discreet, having his hoodie covering his hair and his mask not letting him show part of his face. the last thing he wanted was to see his face on instagram tea pages. so, when his mom yelled his name, he was worried. thankfully, no one seemed to recognize him.
he hugged his parents tight, having missed them a lot. his brother also got a hug and he moved to sofia, who waited patiently for her turn to talk to him "hey love." he muttered for only her to hear and pulled her close
"hey hacker." she smiled, hugging him by the neck "i missed you a lot, i don't know what happened to me." she blushed, being glad he couldn't see her face
the sound of a phone camera made them separate quickly and reggie laughed, shaking his phone at them "i had to take a picture of that, sorry."
vinnie rolled his eyes, holding sofia close by the waist as they walked out of the airport "i came here in my car because i was coming from sav's." she said, looking up at the tiktok star "should i go to your place and we'll see each other there?"
"maybe... or, i could ride with you to my place. we can catch up on the way." he suggested, raising his eyebrows "and, we can stop somewhere to get food. i'm starving."
knowing sofia would agree, vinnie let his parents know he would not be going with them. reggie chose to go along with the non-official couple, as it was more fun to him.
"where do you wanna go to grab food?" sofia turned her car on and waited for vinnie to answer before starting to drive
"let's just go to mcdonald's. it's the closest one to home." vinnie shrugged his shoulders, watching sofia drive "how's things here?"
"kinda boring, man. high school sucks." reggie said, rolling his eyes, making the couple laugh "don't laugh, i remember you used to complain too."
"i mean, true." sofia agreed "anyway, things in seattle are good, apart from reggie's negativity." she stuck her tongue out at her ex's brother "i've started learning portuguese because of my mom."
vinnie knew sofia's mother's side of the family was from brazil, so it made sense she was learning portuguese. she had even mentioned visiting the country, but the plan didn't follow through due to the pandemic.
"oh, that's good. teach me something in portuguese." he requested "like, how do i say my name and my age to them?"
"you say 'meu nome é vinnie e eu tenho dezenove anos'" she spoke slowly with an accent and vinnie tried to copy her, failing terribly "one day you'll get there."
"it's similar to spanish, though. if you know one, it's easier to learn the other." reggie added "i pretty much understood everything you said."
"good to know you're the hacker brother who's great with foreign languages, 'cause i'm not." vinnie joked, making them laugh
soon, they were at mcdonald's making their orders and waiting. after sofia paid, they just waited a few more minutes and their food was ready. so, they drove to vinnie's house to eat and talk a bit more.
on vinnie's first night back in town, he didn't do much. he was tired from his flight, so he just ate, chatted a bit with his family and sofia, kissed her here and there, then she went home.
her father had actually texted his inviting them to an 'nice outing', as he called, on the following day. it would be just the two families and they were supposed to meet up at 9 am. vinnie had no idea what that was about, but he had a feeling sofia knew, because she told them to wear beachwear.
on the next day, they met at the miller family's house. aside from sofia and her parents, noah, her cousin, was also there. vinnie sent her a questioning look, not expecting him to be joining them, to which she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"my mom invited him because she thought reggie would get tired of us after a while." she whispered, so only he could hear "apparently, we'd only be talking about us and acting like a couple."
"didn't we use to do that all the time next to reggie, though?" vinnie furrowed his brows, not understanding what had changed, but not really caring "can you tell me where we're going yet?"
"i can answer that for you, vinnie." andrew smiled at the boy, then raised his voice so everyone could hear him "after much pleading from annelise and sofi, i finally bought a yatch and i figured you should be the first to enjoy it with us." he announced
sofia smiled excitedly at that "i've been asking for years now." she told vinnie and reggie "he didn't want to give in at all. thankfully, he did. they say it's better late than never."
"who's them?" reggie joked as they walked outside, to get into their cars "it'll be fun to spend the day on a yatch, to be honest. i can finally post some new photos on my instagram, man."
vinnie laughed at his brother, then looked at sofia "ride with us, please." he asked, walking with her to his dad's car, the girl not doing anything to protest
"you guys are worse than before." reggie stated, pretending to hate it "please thank your mom for being so kind and thinking of me when she invited your cousin."
"you love us, reggie." sofia replied, laughing "or else, you wouldn't have gone with us yesterday, right?" she playfully winked at him
truth to be told, reggie was really happy for them. he followed their relationship closely since the beginning, because vinnie would always be talking about a friend of harry's brothers that was really cute and he wanted to ask out. reggie would joke that would never happen, the reason being vinnie was too much of a coward to do so.
surprisingly, vinnie did ask her out and they went on a date. then, another and another... the day his brother was freaking out about meeting his girlfriend's parents was the day reggie found out just how serious things were between them. a few days later, he met sofia. and, since them, he was one of their biggest supporters - he already was before, but it was different.
reggie knew all details he needed to know - and, some he didn't need to, but knew either way (like, when vinnie and sofia lost their virginity to each other). knowing they were about to break up was tough because he couldn't help them, even if he wanted to. so, finding out they were together again, even if not dating, made him very excited.
"hop in, everybody!" maria said, entering the car with her husband. sofia, vinnie and reggie did the same and soon, they were following andrew's car "sofia, your mom was telling me next week you'll be going to meet your campus. are you excited?"
"yeah, i am." she smiled "my dad's being so overprotective over this, but he's accepting my choices, thankfully. i was afraid he wouldn't even let me leave our neighbourhood."
vinnie had honestly forgotten about that. her attending college somewhere else could be a problem, with the distance probably increasing. she still hasn't told him where she chose to go, but he'd have to ask her soon.
"your dad still sees you as his little girl." nate added to the conversation "he's just worried, but i'm sure he'll be the first to support your decisions. he's your biggest fan."
clara's world -
being honest here, i
don't like this story
as much as i used to
do lolol. i've started
two new ones (still
on draft tho) and i'm
enjoying them way
more than this one
btw, you might've
noticed, but idk how
to end a chapter