Cleo
Christmas and New Years sort of came and went as we ended off our 2020.
It was January, and now that I was all settled back in to Mila and I's apartment, I've been doing a lot of planning for the future of the podcast, working on my mental health and also hanging out with Vinnie a lot more.
It's been a lot of him coming over here or me going over to his house just to hang out like old times but without a title. It felt like we were in a relationship still because we were also up under each other, being extremely close and whatever but at any given time the two of us could say that we didn't want this and it would be over.
I try not to think of those possibilities even though I know they're extremely realistic.
Vinnie is a good looking guy, girls naturally flock to him, so I can't just expect him to not entertain them in the slightest bit, but I also can't act like that doesn't bother the fuck out of me.
However, I've been working on not letting every little minor problem bother me so we'll just see how things work out.
"Your annoying 'friend' is here to see you." Mila says from bedroom door.
"Are we talking about you...?" I trailed off, earning a middle finger from her.
"Nope, im the annoying friend." Vinnie says, popping up beside her. "Oh hey!" I smiled, getting up from my bed to come and hug him. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me in tightly as I we both stood there in each other's embrace.
I pull away when I hear Mila scoff.
"What?!"
"I come in your room all the time unannounced and I never get a hug." She complained. "Do you want a hug, Mila? I live with you, so I don't see the need of hugging you every time you come in my room. But if that's what you want, I'll be happy to give you a hug." I reasoned.
"I don't want a pity hug... I'm leaving. Have fun doing whatever it is you two do." And with that she was gone, running into her room.
"She's so dramatic oh my god." I laughed, face planting onto my bed next to Vinnie.
"I'm glad you said it and I didn't." He laughed lightly.
"So what are you doing here today. You came over a few days ago and we went out for a drive, you came over the day before that and we watched movies... what's on todays schedule?" I asked, opening up my laptop to my half finished essay.
"We'll I wanted to actually talk to you about something I've been thinking about doing. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do it, I just wanna know what your opinion is on it." He tells me. I paused from my typing, sitting up on the bed now, so we were face to face. "What is it?" I say, typing away.
"Well you know Bryce agreed to do that boxing match with Austin Mcbroom and shit right?"
"Uh... yeah I've heard about it from Ryland."
"Yeah... So they want to make it like this tiktokers vs youtubers boxing match and they asked me if I wanted to be on the undercard for the tiktok side. I think I'm gonna give it a shot." He spoke.
The typing I was once doing halted as Vinnie spoke. I didn't really like the idea of him doing the fight because I thought the whole thing was stupid and dangerous. I was never one for violence, I know but hypocritical of me since I did punch Chris in the face but it was true.
"But why?" I questioned, going back to my typing.
From the corner of my eye I could see Vinnie struggling with answering the question but he spoke, soon enough.
"Because I wanted to do something for me. People think of me as a pretty boy, and they don't take me serious ever. I just want to prove to people I have what it takes you know?"
"It's an ego thing then?"
"I, don't see it as an ego thing. I just don't think people think I have what it takes and it bothers me so if I can prove them wrong, they'll finally understand." He tried to defend. I don't know why he was getting so defensive over me saying it was an ego thing. I mean it was, right?
I don't know who was asked to do the fight yet, but I do know that all of the fighters have something in common... They're all men, or boys, however you decide to view them is your prerogative. But they're all men with egos that they don't want to be tarnished.
Bryce is a prime example.
He has the biggest ego I've ever seen, and it only gets bigger with the amount of people that talk about him.
Vinnie has an ego as well, but his isn't as prominent as Bryce's. Like Vinnie doesn't walk around saying that he's the shit or that he'd beat anyones ass, unlike Bryce. I'm not shitting on him either, He's a good friend of mine, but I've known him for a few years, I know the kind of person he is and the person that he portrays to be.
"It's definitely an ego thing... The male ego is driven by recognition, attention and action. Because of the social norm that men are supposed to be important figures in society like soldiers, political leaders and more, you naturally feel that you always have to prove yourself to someone, to assert your dominance." I rambled.
"That kind of sounds like I'm attacking you... I'm sorry, I just learned about that in my AP Psych class so I just... I don't know." I continued, completely face palming.
"No, No! It's completely fine. I can't lie, that was kinda hot watching you ramble on about men and their egos and why we act like how we act." He smiled up at me, making me roll my eyes.
"You're annoying."
"Am not... But you never answered my question on if I should do it or not."
"Whether I want you to do it or not will not and should not, change the fact that you genuinely wanted to do it." I simply stated. "So it's a no?" He clarified. "It's not a no, and it's not a yes. It's a do what you want, Vincent. I'll be there for you no matter what." I shrugged.
"You sure?"
"I promise."
We looked at each other for a while, before Vinnie put up his pinky finger. "What?" I questioned.
"You promised me. So you have to pinky promise me so I know it's real." He deadpanned.
"Are you serious right now?" I laughed out. "Deadass."
I shook my head before interlocking our pinky's and pressing a kiss to the opposite side, Vinnie doing the same.
"I have to film a video for my main channel today... I haven't filmed one in so long, I've just been posting all the podcast episodes which is good but they've gotten use to two uploads a week... and I've just been doing 1. The thing is I'm running out of ideas for my page. Like I don't know how to make fun content anymore... all I do is cry, talk about my emotions and spread awareness on mental health."
"You know what you haven't done... A mukbang. So many people would watch that." He tells me.
"You know what... that's so true. But because you gave me the idea, you have to eat and film with me. I don't make the rules." I smiled, putting my hands in the surrendering position.
"You're luck I lov- I like you. Like." He says, eyes widening a bit.
"Okay, weirdo. I get that you like me, I would like me too if looked and acted like this." I said, motioning to myself. Vinnie shakes his head, rolling his eyes, before flopping backwards, opening up his phone and I do the same.
"So... What are we eating tonight."
-
A couple hours had passed and I found myself sitting in front of my camera with bags and bags of authentic Mexican food, not that Taco Bell crap.
There's a place in New York that has the same name as this place here in LA so when I saw it on Uber eats I got a bit excited and decided that I was going to treat myself. I purchased $100 worth of food, but I knew I wasn't going to eat it all so whatever was left over I decided I'd either give it to Mila or drive up and down Melrose giving it away to people in need.
"Hello beautiful people and welcome back to my channel. I know I haven't posted in a very, very long time but I am back. I haven't really been giving y'all two post in a week like normally but it's because I've been very busy. However I am back, with a shit ton of food and my bestie for the restie, Vinnie!" I cheered, clapping my hands.
He sat down next to me, giving an awkward smile and a wave before looking back to me.
"I asked you guys to send us in some questions and you guys did just that. Some are very weird, some are very scandalous and some are just regular questions that you wanna know so we're gonna eat and have Mila come in and answer them."
"Mila, get in the camera you weirdo." Vinnie laughed, making Mila flip him off. She pops her head in the camera before taking the phone scrolling through the questions.
"These are some crazy ass questions oh my god." Mila laughed.
"That's what I'm saying!" I giggled, handing both Vinnie and Mila their containers.
"Okay first question, which fictional character would be the most boring to meet in real life?"
"Matt Donovan. They should've killed his ass off of Vampire Diaries in the beginning yet he lived all the way through. It's beyond me." I say, rolling my eyes. "You know he wasn't killed off because he was sleeping with Julie Plec, the director."
"No fucking way?!" I mumbled, mouth full of food.
"I mean that's what I heard but it sounds about right." Mila shrugged. "Anyways next question, what is your best feature? Could be physical or about your personality"
"Honestly I think my hair is my best feature.... It's just curly and all over the place." Vinnie said, looking from me to Mila. "I do love your hair, it's really soft. I remember Vinnie let me braid his hair once and it looked so cute but I haven't done it in a while." I spoke up, taking a bite out of the quesadilla.
"What about you, Mila? Best feature."
"I think my hair as well. No one else in our friend group has dreads and it's very significant to my culture and who I am as a person of color so I would definitely say that." Mila smiled.
"Now what about you." Vinnie asked looking to me.
"Haha... I don't really think I have anything about me that's worth deeming 'the best'." I shrugged. Vinnie shook his head not wanting to hear that, "Everyone has something special about them. You definitely have a number of things about you that we all like."
"Like what?"
"Your eyes are beautiful. They have this doll like essence to them, that makes you look so innocent... I don't know, it's just... never mind." He smiled, looking at me for a very long time. His cheeks had started to flush, getting embarrassed by how flustered he gets when he talks about me.
I couldn't look at him for any longer, so I was quick to turn my attention back to Mila, who was smirking and shaking her head off camera. "What?!" I asked.
"Nothing, you two just make me sick." She laughed.
"Next question!"
We sat there for the next hour just eating and answering whatever questions that Mila could find until we all got full and decided that it was time to end the video.
I cleaned up the food that was touched and put it into a separate bag that I put into the kitchen fridge while the other untouched food I set on the kitchen island.
I threw the brown oversized sweater over my head and slipped on my black ugg tasman slippers before heading back out where Vinnie was. He stood there with the bag of food in his hand, scrolling through his phone not noticing me at first. I cleared my throat causing him to lift his head up, shutting off his phone.
"Ready?"
"Yup. Mila! We'll be right back." I yelled, waiting for her to answer.
"Okay! Have fun." She yelled back.
Walking to the door, I unlocked it letting Vinnie out first before me. I turned back to lock the apartment door, and then I walked down to the elevator where Vinnie was already standing inside.
We got down to my lobby fairly quick, heading to my car before pulling out of the parking lot.
I didn't live too far from Melrose, so the ride there was only around 15 minutes. I parked on the main road, getting out of my car and grabbing the food before closing my car and locking the doors.
Vinnie followed behind me as I walked around trying to find people who looked like they were in need.
It was mainly me going around handing them the food and making small talk, but I didn't mind... I was just happy Vinnie agreed to go along with me to do this.
I was walking ahead of him when I noticed an older lady with a child walking towards us. They didn't look like they needed much, but it didn't hurt to ask. "Hi! I was wondering if you would like the last bit of this food that I have here. I ordered so much but I didn't eat any of it." I asked, stopping in front of her.
"Are you sure? I feel bad but we haven't eaten in a few hours since this morning... The shelter that we stay in is very strict with making it in time for eating hours and we missed the lunch mark. We were just heading back to try and make it in time for dinner." The older lady said, holding her daughter close to her. I felt my heart break a little as she spoke to me. They looked like they've been on their feet all day and all I wanted to do was help them in any way I could.
"I know it's not much, but you both can have the rest of the food in this bag. Its enough for more than two people and it's an arrangement of things. Is there anything else I could do for you? I could call an uber to your shelter If you would like." I proposed.
"Oh No! You've already done so much for me, I can't take more for you." She declines. " I promise, you aren't asking for a lot. I will call an uber for you if you need." I assure her.
She doesn't say anything though, she just nods her head, but that's enough for me.
I slip my phone from out of my pocket, opening up the Uber app. "What's the name of the place?" I ask.
"It's St.Marylands Shelter."
Nodding my head I put in the name, and watch as it pops up. From where we were standing the shelter was like a 40 minute walk. There was no way they would've made it there before it started getting dark out here.
I put in my information, confirming the ride and letting her know that it'll be here in 2 minutes.
In that time the women couldn't stop thanking me, but I let her know there is no need. I've been on the receiving end, not having had the easiest childhood when I was younger. So now that I'm able to be the person who gives makes me feel good inside because I know that I'm helping someone who truly deserves it.
The two minutes flew by as the driver came pulling up right in front of us. I helped them get into the car, and handed them the bags of food we gave them before bidding them a good night.
I watched as they drove off down the road, disappearing as they turned the corner.
When I walked back to Vinnie, he stood with a small smile on his face. "How do you manage to be so good with people?" He asked me, wrapping an arm around my neck as we walked back down melrose to my parked car.
"It doesn't hurt to be nice to people, especially when they deserve that sense of niceness you know... plus I understood the struggle every last person we encountered tonight faced. When I was younger, we weren't as fortunate. I mean I lived in an apartment, and I had a home to call mine, but there were many nights of not knowing where my next meal was coming from because my dad lost his job and my mother wasn't making enough to keep the rent paid and food on the table." I opened up.
"What changed? Like how did life become different for your family." He asked me.
"My dad got a new job, and my mother found a new one as well. My grandmother and Mila's mom helped big time as well. It was a work in progress change but when it happened, we finally started to live the life we had always dreamed. It stood like that for a while until my dad passed. I was scared it was going to revert back to how it used to be but I help my mother out in any way I can." I say.
I unlocked my car and got in, Vinnie climbing into the passenger side as I turn the key in the ignition, the car coming to life.
"Is this something you've talk a lot about, or is it just something only a select few know about?"
"Definitely something only a select few know about. You, Mila, and Nessa know... Chris and Ryland don't know because I don't really have deep conversations about my family life with them."
"Am I top 3 in your friend circle?" He smirked, making me roll my eyes.
"Sadly, yes... You're number 3 though, Mila and Nessa take the first two spots." I laughed, making him raise his hands in surrender. "Hey, I'll take it."
-
merry christmas and happy new year my lovers <3
haven't updated in almost a month because of work, but at the end of 2021 I got really sick so i definitely wasn't in the mood for updating... (it was covid :( I work retail and although we're required to wear mask they don't force customers to so i sadly wasn't protected from it. but I'm all better now, still have a bad cough and congestion tho)
anyways, thank you for almost 50k reads!!
i love you all so much, thank you for sticking with me through my month long hiatus.
i will be back to posting more in the upcoming weeks tho!
mwah😘💖