I totally get why Vincent is not only popular among girls, but boys as well. He does every sport well, he's friendly, relaxed, easy going, and funny. He's not a total jock, he talks to other people outside of his sports team, like gamers who play the ordinary Call of Duty to those who Dungeons and Dragons. He talks to the pseudo-science fanatics who spend their days theorizing about aliens and trying to prove how the Illuminati controls every existing ghost. Of course he 's not best friends with everyone, but he doesn't discriminate when it comes to conversation.
I've been tutoring him for around 3 weeks already, and it has been pretty normal. We got into the habit of always preparing snacks. I would walk to get some fast food, like cheeseburger or fries, or some chips and candy from the grocery store before going to his house. He would do the same, sometimes ordering a pizza to the house. We would eat while we study. It stays pretty quiet, but small talk started to happen after a while. It's mostly my fault since I'm so awkward, replying with one word answers only. His mom and sister are never home, Mrs. Miller is usually taking his sister to her extracurricular actives or shopping. Neither is his dad, although I'm not sure if his dad is even in the picture. I never asked. Vincent drives me home afterward, and I leave him with an awkward "thanks".
"Wendy." I pop my head from my backpack that's laying on the cafeteria table. "Are you going to homecoming?" Vivian asks me with puppy eyes.
"No thanks. Not my kind of thing." I yawn and bury my head back into my backpack.
"Aw, come on! Olivia and Evelyn are. "
"Only because you're forcing us to," Evelyn sighs.
"I don't really mind," Olivia softly replies.
"You never mind anything," Evelyn argues. Vivian and Evelyn continue to argue with each other, trying to scout Olivia to go on their side.
Evelyn is short and has a really small frame. People usually try teasing her, seeing her as an easy target. They're in for the shock of their life when she snaps back. She's the feistiest person I know. She has no problem dissing people, but never her friends. She's too loyal.
Olivia is just as nice and loyal. However, she's the opposite of Evelyn. She's too nice for her own good. She can't turn down people. This usually creates chaos when guys mistook her kindness and friendliness as flirting. Olivia gets so flustered she can't even reject them, usually opting for ignoring the guy until they leave her alone. Evelyn ends up having to help her. The two of them were best friends since elementary, and I met them in the fifth grade when I didn't have any other friends.
Vivian is the mix between the two. She has sass, but she get along with everyone. I'm not even going to lie. I didn't expect her to be friends with us. Vivian is drop-dead gorgeous. I'm not even exaggerating. She fits the standards of supermodels on magazines- tall, small waist, curves, long and natural waves for hair. For someone with looks like her, I would've expected them to join the clique of popular girls. She didn't however. She's still popular, but without the arrogance that comes with it. There's always a bunch of people who come up to talk to her while we're hanging out. Olivia, Evelyn, and I never mind. After all, we know how much of a great friend Vivian is. Naturally, other people would befriend her too.
I'm roused from my nap when I feel a slight shove against my right side. Someone sat down next to me. I look up and my friends are looking in my direction and then at each other in bewilderment. I look to my left and nearly whip my face into the shoulder of Vincent Miller.
"You guys must be Wendy's friends. Hi, I'm Vincent. Wendy's my math tutor," Vincent introduces.
"Wendy never told us anything about tutoring," Vivian smiles. "I'm Vivian."
"Yeah, I know. Vivian, Evelyn, and Olivia, right? You guys have the same English class with me."
The four of them start a conversation with Vivian and Vincent exchanging the most words with each other. I'm still curious as to why he's sitting next to me during lunch. Doesn't he have his friends to sit with?
I sit up to fix my hair and accidentally lean on Vincent's left chest. I freeze. His heart is beating so fast, drumming against the back of my shoulder. I follow his gaze and they land on Vivian. He's smiling so brightly at her.
Against my wishes, I'm dragged by Vivian and Evelyn to the mall. They don't have to bother with coercing Olivia, she tags along with whatever they want.
"I'm not trying any dresses. I'm not going," I protest, shoving the dress back to Evelyn.
"If I have to go, you have to too. I'm not going down alone," Evelyn warns.
"Sorry, every woman for herself. I'm not going," I laugh and take a seat outside of the dressing room. Vivian walks out in a deep purple dress that hugs her curves. The end of the dress ends above her knees and the top is strapless. It's barely holding on with the weight of her large boobs.
"I have to find a dress soon. That way, he can find a matching tie in time."
"He?" Olivia emerges from the dressing room in a dress that so poofy, I can barely see her face from sitting down.
Vivian blushes and pulls the slipping dress back up. "Actually, I'm hoping to go with Vincent."
"Vincent?" Evelyn has on the light blue dress she was trying to make me try on. I don't know much about fashion, but the dress suits her.
"Wendy, do you mind asking him for me? Or at least suggest it? You see him after school everyday, don't you?" Vivian is embarrassed and is avoiding eye contact by examining the rack of dresses near by.
"Yeah, sure." I can't turn her down. Chills already run down my back. It's going to be so awkward later. "I'm meeting up with him soon. You guys should keep trying on dresses." I sling my backpack on my shoulder and start to walk off.
"Wait, don't you need a ride?" Olivia asks.
"No, I'll be fine. I'll just text him to meet me at the Starbucks nearby." I start to leave the mall and head towards the coffee shop.
I order a cup of tea and sit down to start texting Vincent. He gave me his number a while back, but I never used it until now. I nervously start to type.
Me: Do you mind meeting me at the Starbucks next to the mall? It will take me too long to walk to your house.
My phone rings soon after. I'm surprised at how fast he replies.
Vincent: What are you doing at the mall?
Me: My friends went dress shopping.
Vincent: I'll go pick you up.
Me: We can just study here. My friends can drive me back after they're done shopping.
Vincent: I don't mind driving you home. Be there soon.
What do I reply with? Why am I like this? I'm so awkward.
Me: What do you want to drink?
Vincent: What?
Me: I'm at Starbucks. I'll order you something ahead of time.
Vincent: Iced coffee.
I go up to the cashier to place the order and wait at a table next to the window. I see Vincent pull up, and already I'm tensing up. He walks trough the door with his backpack. My knees lock, and my hands start to sweat. I can do this.
He sits down and I slide his coffee towards him.
"Thanks." He takes a quick sip and starts to pull out his math materials out of his backpack. Gulp. I can't do this.
We start on the math homework, but he's less focused than usual. I catch him staring off into space and tapping his pencil against his notebook. I still can't bring myself to mention homecoming, and reluctantly return to pretending I'm still working on my math homework while I wait for Vincent to finish.
"So, are you going to homecoming?" Vincent breaks the silence. Coming out of his mouth, it seems so casual. Why do I imagine it sounding so creepy coming from me? I'm just relieved he brought it up, so I didn't have to.
"Huh? Oh, homecoming. No, I don't like stuff like that." Vincent bites his lips after my reply. "My friends are going though. Vivian's super excited about it. I might go just to see her in a dress if it wasn't for the fact that I would have to pay for awkward social interaction. She's going to look so gorgeous in a dress." I spoke too much. Vincent is giving me an odd look. I never spoke more than a single sentence at a time when I'm around him.
"Sorry if this is too personal, but are you into your friend like..."
"No! I'm just pointing out that she's pretty. Can't a girl just compliment her friend?" I bring my sleeve up to my face to cover it. I can't blame Vincent. I totally sound like I'm totally crushing on Vivian. I'm pretty sure I'm straight. If I wasn't, I would totally fall heads over heels for Vivian, or for any of my friends for that matter.
Vincent relaxes for a bit. I totally get everything now. Vincent is totally into Vivian. His heart was beating so fast when he was talking o her. Even now, he was nervous I also had a crush on Vivian. Everything makes so much more sense now. Why he sat at our table at lunch. Why he brought up homecoming with me. He totally wants to ask Vivian to go with him.
"Are you going?" I ask.
"Not anymore."
"Not anymore? Why did you change your mind?" He looks at me with a confused expression. I do seem more interested in small talk than I usually am.
"The girl I wanted to go with isn't coming."
I'm confused at this point. "But I just said Vivian is going." Crap. That wasn't very subtle.
"I didn't say I wanted to go with Vivian..."
"But I felt your heart-" pausing, I realized it was too late to take back my words. If I don't continue and explain what I meant, Vincent's going to probably think I was planning to say I can feel your heart feel for her or some weird psychic witchcraft. "I mean, I felt your heart beat so fast when you were talking to her. N-n-not like I'm a creep or anything. I accidentally leaned on you. You were sitting very close to me," I rambled.
Vincent's heats heat up and he shyly sips his coffee. "That's not why I was nervous." The conversation has gotten too awkward for me too continue. I get back to pretending to do homework and Vincent starts working on his again. Surprisingly, he finishes with more ease this time around, and faster than he usually does. I wonder why.
Afterwards, he drives us to pick up some burgers before dropping me off at my house. The entire trip was pretty much silent. I always expected Vincent to bring up some sort of conversation during our car trips. However, he is quiet today. The awkwardness in the car was twice as much as there normally is.
*****
Hey to anyone out there who is reading this. If you're there, thanks so much for not giving up on me after the first chapter. I know it was boring. I hope this chapter was a bit more exciting. More drama is to come soon!